Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Wood Burning Stoves

The EPA certifies wood burning devices. You might look at their listings to see what's efficient to narrow down to some manufacturers, then can start looking at prices. I have no need for a stove at this time, but have looked at a few. What I found was Seraph had a "pellet" type stove that burns on pretty much all "pellet" type fuel, including things like walnut shells, corn, etc. I *think* (but don't quote me), it's the most efficient wood burning device you can buy. They are made in USA which is nice too. Hope that helps.

Here's a link to the EPA certified wood burning device pages:

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/monitoring/caa/woodstoves/certifiedwood.pdf

Seraph's site is:
http://www.seraph-industries.com/

82% or so is about typical for most pellet stoves, although it will vary with the quality of the fuel. My Enviro is about that. (BTW, I believe that Tuliviki/masonry heaters are probably more efficient, and Viessmann has a wood-burning boiler that is better than 90%! Both are pretty pricey, though.) When Home Depot here (Bellingham, WA, where my gf is) had Western Oregon Woodworks pellets on for $3.57/bag it was a reasonably good deal as I only use the pellet stove to help to reduce my gas consumption, although I have HW baseboard heat from a Viessmann condensing boiler, so my gas bills are not all that bad. But this year the price went up to $4.97/bag, basically the same as the local stuff back home in B.C. ($4.99). If they go on sale again I'll buy a pallet but eventually I may just put in a good woodstove, which I can probably mostly feed from my property. Wood stoves also radiate heat better than most pellet stoves, and I really dislike the noise from fans.

Stuart

oober cool if you can afford one. We built one last year that incorporated a pizza oven They will save about 2 cords a year.

The only Tulikivi certified by the EPA are around 63% efficient (20% less than the Seraph), with twice the emissions as the Seraph. It's my understanding pellet stoves don't have to be certified, so manufacturers can make any claim they want. Although those that are certified, are measured against all other certified stoves in the same manner. I would take any manufacturer that doesn't choose to have their stove rated by the EPA with a grain of salt. Although Enviro (Sherwood) claims on their website an efficiency over 80% for some of their models, EPA tests show them to be between 63% - 78%, with some stove emissions similar to the Seraph, but many of the Sherwood (parent of Enviro) models have twice (or more) emissions.

Very interesting, if a bit depressing. I'm surprised by the Tuliviki-type stove's performance, though. I was given to understand that combustion was pretty clean and complete as they're always fired up at high heat. As I recall now, the Viessmann boiler is a "gasification" design, which may explain their high efficiency. Pity they don't do a regular wood stove. I would imagine that German emissions standards are very high.

I guess manufacturers can claim (or interpret) whatever specs they want if there is no effective regulation for them to have to adhere to. When I get back home I'll check the Canadian standards for such devices; they may be different than in the US. I read somewhere that Washington State has pretty stringent regs. for wood-burning appliances.

If I end up moving down here, we'll be building a new house, which will be VERY thermally efficient and require very few BTUs to heat. I'd still like to have a small wood stove, though. Can't beat that quiet, warm glow on a winter's night.

Stuart

I grew up with wood stoves and fireplaces, and couldn't agree with you more.

Temps in the 30's - having a hard time dialing the Blaze King down enough. Getting 12 hrs on partial load.

Been a pleasure not to have to stoke the fire all the time as the heatilator required.

Draw back is glass is harder to keep clean - have to run it pretty hard to have a nice viewing flame. Get it burning good and turn down the aurora effect is cool.

Ahhh another slave to the wood pile. My hunting camp is heated only by wood and we go through about 14 full cords a year. It sucks making that much wood every year. I was just up there this weekend with 2 other guys. We moved next years wood down next to the building under the wood shed to clear out the pole barn so we can put up the following years stuff up the first weekend in may. Sorry but I don't find anything about that job therapeutic accept the massive dose of alieve I need to take afterwards.