Pellet and Wood Stoves information

Pellet and Wood Stoves links

Woodstock Soapstone Company has a handy online calculator to determine the BTUs you need.

Clean Air Revival has information on some of the health and environmental hazards of burning wood or pellets.

The Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association has a locator to help you find a local wood or pellet stove dealer.

The biggest reference site on wood and pellet stoves seems to be Hearth.com, which provides a vast array of articles.

The Chimney Sweep has many helpful articles.

A Sept. 15, 2008, article by Suzanne Barlyn in The Wall Street Journal discusses air quality issues with wood and pellet stoves.

Comparing fuel costs

Bixby Energy has a comparison chart of various heating fuels -- though you should adapt it to your local economy.

The United States Forest Service has a Fuel Value Calculator available for download.

The Pellet Fuels Institute has a similar online fuel-cost calculator, along with information on pellet stoves.

Stoves

Mariette Mifflin, the About.com guide to housewares, has useful articles on deciding between a wood stove and pellet stove, and how to choose each type. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

The EPA website explains what certification means for wood and pellet stoves.

An October 2008 article in the Consumer Reports blog notes recent trends in pellet and wood stoves.

Woodheat.org's "An Environmentalist's Guide to Responsible Wood Heating" can help you decide about a wood burning stove.

Lehman's was founded to supply tools for the Amish and others without electricity. This retailer website has a number of articles about choosing and maintaining wood stoves, and includes a helpful stove comparison chart.

This older but relevant article from the Wood Heat Organization discusses whether older EPA-certified wood stoves have higher emissions than when new. Another article at this site explains how the extra fuel efficiency of a lower-emissions wood stove pays for the price difference within about two years.

Low-cost options

Mother Earth News has an article on building a double-draft barrel stove for lower emissions.

The housewares guide at About.com, Mariette Mifflin, has a good article on finding free firewood. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

The Legacy Foundation has instructions for a fee on making fuel briquettes out of whatever free biomass you have on hand -- leaves, grass, junk mail, etc.  

Fireplaces and inserts

When the award-winning Renaissance Rumford 1000 fireplace is used with its glass doors closed, its emissions meet EPA standards for wood stoves.

Reviews also recommend the Quadra-Fire and Fireplace Xtrordinair fireplace inserts.

Masonry wood heaters

Fine Homebuilding provides two useful links for information on masonry wood-burning heaters -- high in initial cost (*est. $10,000 and up) but the most efficient in the long run -- 95 percent efficiency, using the least wood each year, with very low emissions.

Masonry Heater Association 

Alliance for Masonry Heater and Oven Professionals

Cooking on a wood stove

Most wood stoves can be used for some basic cooking -- soups and stews, for example. You can also insert a simple oven in the stove pipe above the wood stove, but controlling the temperature is tricky.

The Amish are experts on wood-burning cookstoves, and the Lehman's catalog not only sells cookstoves, but also a combination cookstove and heating stove, the Baker's Oven Heat/Cook Stove (*est. $2,600) made in Australia. It includes an oven as well as four cooktop areas.

Pellet and Wood Stove Manufacturers

Englander (England's Stove Works Inc.)

Hearthstone  

Lennox Hearth 

Majestic (fireplace inserts) - (now owned by Monessen Hearth Systems Co)  

NorthStar 

Quadra-Fire 

Rais 

Sedore

Summers Heat  (England's Stove Works Inc.)

Vermont Castings (now owned by Monessen Hearth Systems Co)  

Vogelzang 

Lennox Hearth Whitfield

Woodstock Soapstone