woodstove question

[mama2James]

Hi all! I'm hoping someone here in the village can lend me a hand. My DH purchased an antique woodstove today for $40. It is rusty and old, but it's cast iron and solid as far as I can tell. We do have a double flue chimney, which is used only for our hotwater baseboard boiler/furnace right now. $40 is not a big investment, and I suppose my husband figures we can sell it to someone else if we can't use it. Is there any possibility of safely using an antique woodstove in our basement to help reduce our oil heating costs? Of course we would have the chimney inspected and consult a professional about the installation, etc. Would a professional laugh at us for trying to use an antique stove? I also need to check into how a woodstove would affect our homeowners insurance. Just looking for any insight anyone can lend! Thanks in advance!

[alotofgooddeals]

if it is whole and i mean u can put a fire in their and smoke doesnt come out of it or flames...you are good to go...as long as it hooks up to your chimney...it will make you homeowners insurance go up..

[mama2James]

if it is whole and i mean u can put a fire in their and smoke doesnt come out of it or flames...you are good to go...as long as it hooks up to your chimney...it will make you homeowners insurance go up..

Would it be a good idea to try a fire in it outside first? The idea of a woodstove makes me a bit nervous, my family's safety comes first of course.

[forHISglory]

Hi all! I'm hoping someone here in the village can lend me a hand. We used a wood stove for over 30 years with NO problems. My DH purchased an antique woodstove today for $40. It is rusty and old, but it's cast iron and solid as far as I can tell. We do have a double flue chimney, which is used only for our hotwater baseboard boiler/furnace right now. Be sure it is cleaned and inspected. Use a metalbestos pipe for safety's sake. Be sure the interior of the stove is lined with firebrick. $40 is not a big investment, and I suppose my husband figures we can sell it to someone else if we can't use it. Is there any possibility of safely using an antique woodstove in our basement to help reduce our oil heating costs? Safe? Yes, if professionally installed. But efficient? Probably not. Those old stoves tend to let a lot of your heated air go up the flue. Of course we would have the chimney inspected and consult a professional about the installation, etc. Be sure to have as few angles as possible in the pipe. One reason we had no problems was that we had a straight stove pipe with no angles, which tend to catch and collect soot. Would a professional laugh at us for trying to use an antique stove? I also need to check into how a woodstove would affect our homeowners insurance. Insurance may go up. Our did not, but we had a very efficient stove and a straight pipe. We had firebrick on the wall behind the stove and had nothing near the stove. Just looking for any insight anyone can lend! Thanks in advance!

Honestly, I would try to sell the stove and get something better if you intend to heat with wood. We had a 2500 sq. ft. home and a small Fisher air-tight stove heated our entire space, in fact it overheated it some. We only used about a cord to a cord and a half of wood per winter (this was in MO). Be prepared for some mess with bringing in wood and taking out ashes. Learn how to bank the stove for the night. Using a wood stove is complicated; it's not as easy as turining on a thermostat. But we loved it, and were willing to make the commitment to cut and split and stack and carry wood, clean the stove, maintain the stove, stoke and bank the stove. There is nothing like wood heat!!!

[mama2James]

Thank you! I think that selling this stove is a good idea. I hope that my husband will see that logic. I think that he will once he sees how much needs to go into making it safe. Wood heat is great, I have really enjoyed it when visiting family etc. I just don"t think it's a reality for us right now. My husband tends to put the cart before the horse, especially when a friend is selling something.

[Momto5RN]

depending on where you love it may be against the law to use it also due to EPA rules - old already in place older stoves may be grandfathered in but taking an older one not in use and putting it to use may not be .

we replaced a huge old cast iron one with a smaller more effecient better to control cast iron / ceramic one a few years back -
the old one is now a front garden decor because not allowed to be used as a stove anymore

you need to ck for your state - some state laws are tougher than
EPAs

[mh3rdwheel]

Honestly, I would try to sell the stove and get something better if you intend to heat with wood. We had a 2500 sq. ft. home and a small Fisher air-tight stove heated our entire space, in fact it overheated it some. We only used about a cord to a cord and a half of wood per winter (this was in MO). Be prepared for some mess with bringing in wood and taking out ashes. Learn how to bank the stove for the night. Using a wood stove is complicated; it's not as easy as turining on a thermostat. But we loved it, and were willing to make the commitment to cut and split and stack and carry wood, clean the stove, maintain the stove, stoke and bank the stove. There is nothing like wood heat!!!

You are right we had an old antique woodstove that was rusted, we blackened it with stove blackener, we loved it sometimes when I was by myself it was hard to bank it for the night, but the heat it put out you needed to upstairs open the windows at night to sleep because it was so hot, in January.

You can fix it up and sell it for more. Good luck.

[max]

The problem with an older stove is that it most likely will not be UL approved. Your local town building inspector will not issue a CO for the stove installation unless the stove is UL approved.