Jotul F500 Wood Stove

Check out this video of the Jotul F500 Wood Stove which heats 2,000 sq. feet with a 9 hour burn on low!

Read this before you buy a new Stove or Fireplace

There are many factors to consider when purchasing a hearth product. Below are the types of products with different factors and requirements that need to be considered when choosing the right unit for you.

 

Wood Stove

• Lowest cost to heat with
• Must have chimney to operate
• Clearances must be met on the hearth and to combustible materials
• Some maintenance is required and someone has to stack and carry the wood!
• Great back up heat, no electricity required

Wood Fireplace Zero Clearance

• Traditional wood fireplaces are decorative, you lose 80% of the heat up the chimney
• New high efficiency units are cleaner burning and heat more like a wood stove
• Requires a chimney and usually involves their own unique pipe
• Some maintenance is required

Gas Stoves & Fireplaces

• Very efficient heaters but are tied to fluctuating gas prices
• Can vent out the wall, thru the roof or in a chimney
• Very low clearances on the floor and to combustibles
• Requires No Maintenance
• Great back up heat, no electricity required

Pellet Stoves & Inserts

• Low cost heating
• Can vent out the wall, thru the roof or in a chimney
• Low clearances on the hearth and to combustibles
• Requires regular maintenance
• Not reliable back up heat - requires electricity to run!
• Most can run off a generator

Inserts Wood & Gas

• Must be installed in up to code wood fireplaces only!
• Usually require a liner system up the chimney to vent
• Heats much better than a fireplace which was losing 80% of the heat
• Clearances are modest to combustible mantels & trim
• Great back up heat, no electricity required

Gas Logs

• Installed into masonry or zero clearance wood fireplaces only!
• Not effective heaters – designed as a decorative product
• No Maintenance

Why Buy Wood Stoves?

Wondering if a wood stove or fireplace is right for you? Here is some information you can use to make a good decision for you and your family.

There are five reasons people buy wood stoves. We’ll discuss each one:

1. Save Money
2. Increased Comfort
3. Going Green
4. Electricity Independence
5. Beautify the Family or Living Room

Cost Savings With Wood Stoves

Let’s take a look at the money aspect. Wood heat is low cost heat- wood just cost less per BTU than other fuels or electricity does. And it’s free for those who like to cut their own wood of course. Another reason it costs less to heat with wood is the “zone heating” aspect. Most people find they can heat the area they like with a woodstove and let the rest of the house be cooler. If effect, you just don’t waste energy dollars heating areas you aren’t using.

Today’s stoves are efficient heaters too: often as efficient as your gas or oil furnace in fact. The manufacturers of wood stoves spend huge amounts of money on designers and engineers to make sure they get maximum heating efficiency, as well as keeping particle emissions at all-time lows.

How Much More Comfortable Can You Be?

And increased comfort? Many of us with heat pumps and forced hot air systems know that even though our thermostats say we’re supposed to be comfortable, we aren’t. The radiant heat of a wood stove truly warms in a way that hot air systems can’t. And again, you can make the room with the wood stove or insert as warm as you like, probably much warmer than you’d ever heat it from the thermostat.

A Great Green Heating Solution

The “green aspect” hardly needs explanation. Wood is a renewable and easily obtained source for burning. There’s a zero-sum impact in carbon emission as well. When a tree falls in the woods and takes 50 years to completely rot away, ever so slowly it gives off heat, water and CO2, and leaves its mineral content in the forest. When you burn wood the exact same thing happens only obviously very quickly. No additional-anything is produced. (Keep in mind those minerals are in the partly form of ash and what’s commonly called creosote- which can stick to the inside of the chimney. That’s why there are chimney sweeps!)

One of the great advantages of wood heating is having heat when there is no power. There’s not much more satisfying than being warm and happy around your wood stove when all the lights in the neighborhood are out. You’ll have that pioneer feeling, as you should. You thought ahead.

Finally, today’s wood heating appliances are designed for beauty. A wood stove or fireplace insert can be the focal point of the room. Regardless of your taste, there’s a stove designed for you. In fact, it’s difficult to find ugly stoves or inserts nowadays. So many beautiful stoves… so few rooms in which to install them!