We are getting a wood stove to replace our old ineffcient Fisher stove that is way too big for our place. Can someone explain the difference and advantages of a catalytic versus non-catalytic stove? And any advice on brands. etc. would help too. We are going to have to purchase most of our wood, we are using it as primary heat for our house which is about 1200 sq.ft (maybe a bit more) and would like to cook on it. (if any of this info helps). I'm also not an experienced "wood-stover" as far as knowing how to regulate heat w/my fire. I had a hell of a year with my old stove ....but I'm learning. We've been looking into a Vermont Casting stove. Thanks for the help!
I would definately go with a catalytic wood stove since they basically do the same thing as they do in a car, reburning the exhast to get more heat out and less polution. A non catalist wood stove is usually cheaper but also less efficient, resulting in more wood burnt to get the same heat, more polution, and since you will be buying wood, more cost yearly. The difference in price between the two could probably be recouped in as little as 4-5 years. Many juristicions prohibit the sale of non catalist stoves to reduce polution. As far as cooking on a wood stove, It is a lot harder to control heat resulting in more work for the chef. It would be really hard to cook on a wood stove that wasn't designed for cooking and other than heating up leftovers or posibly boiling something(even that doesn't work properly except for water) it would be better and quicker to use a gas or electric range. You would really only need a small airtight catalist stove (about 2' by 2' by 3' high (including stand)) to heat a house up to about 1600 sq feet. Getting a stove that is too large for the house could result in more wood use or excessive build up in the chimney due to keeping the wood at too low of a rate of burn, or letting it burn higher but opening windows to let excess heat out of the house.
thanks so much for your quick and clear answer ---- just what I needed! I had talked to a man at a store and he just wasn't understanding that I wanted a stove w/a lower pollution rate. So that answered it. As far as a cookstove - I actually just wanted something with a flat top to boil water and heat things up, as we live in the woods and our power goes out often. I had found an old swing arm for our fireplace to hang a kettle on, but our fireplace was not made for that and there was not enough height to keep the kettle from burning....last winter we had burnt stew for 2 days while our electric was out. We now have a propane stove though ---- but my kids love boiling our tea/hot chocolate water on the stove! Another question - any suggestions on brands? We looked at the Vermont Castings because I like the idea of cast iron, but from the salesmans perspective, that is not so important??
my grand parents have cooked on the same wood stove/oven for nearly 45 years at thier cabin. and it works verry good for cooking. the most important thing to look for in a good wood stove is the thickest metal you can find. thicker metal holds and retains heat better, and makes for more even cooking tempuratures. a lot of old antique wood stoves work better for cooking than new ones because of this. for baking use larger peices of wood, they're slower burning and not quite as hot. for boiling watrer, frying etc. use smaller pices of wood, as it will burn faster and hotter. you can also vary heat by mooving pan/pot closer or further away to heat source
thicker metal takes more energy to heatup and longer to heat, so less suitable if you just need heat for a short time??? (great if it's on for long periods though!)
