I was dead wrong about wood stoves for 10 years

My buddy Mike from Worcester kept telling me to get a catalytic wood stove instead of a cheap box stove. I thought he was just trying to sell me on something fancy. After 3 winters of burning through 5 cords a season in my old Jotul, I finally swapped to a Blaze King last fall and cut my wood usage by almost half. Has anyone else made a similar switch and noticed a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

david7398d ago

Mike from Worcester sounds like he knew exactly what he was talking about. That Blaze King is a different beast entirely with that catalytic combustor. I had an old Englander that just ate wood like crazy, probably 6 cords a season easy. Swapped to a Woodstock Progress hybrid and it's wild how much longer the heat lasts from a single load. You get that secondary burn going and it's like the wood is giving you twice the bang for your buck. Your old Jotul was probably just sending most of that heat right up the chimney, especially if it was one of those older non-cat models.

the_henry8d ago

Funny you mention the old Jotul, @david739, because that's exactly what I replaced a few years back. The real kicker nobody talks about is how much your house's insulation matters with those high efficiency stoves. Before I blew more insulation into my attic, my Progress hybrid would short cycle and not even get to a good secondary burn because the house couldn't hold the heat.