Tell us!! Which is better? Cast iron or soapstone wood stoves for heating a house.We now have a newer steel wood stove which we are consatantly feeding to keep the temperature up.I'm anxious to know. Thank you. Sherry

-- Sherry Byington (lucricausa@highland.net), January 24, 2002

Answers

Response to wood stoves

We have iron Earth Stove, controlled damper.

Feed it morning and evening only.

-- Rose in Texas (open_rose@hotmail.com), January 24, 2002.

Response to wood stoves

Thank you for your response. Our stove is an Earth Stove, too. However, it is steel. Could this be our problem...feeding it every hour or so. We only use good hardwood but the stove does not emit great heat until you have it going for awhile and then you must feed it literally every hour to hour and half to keep it hot. Sherry

-- sherry (lucricausa@highland.net), January 24, 2002.

Response to wood stoves

If your stove is too small for the area you are heating you have to keep your stove burning hotter by leaving the vent open or damper open full and that burns wood faster.If your house is poorly insulated you'll be burning wood faster. You might need a bigger stove.With a bigger stove you'll still burn alot of wood but you won't have to feed it with wood as often.

-- SM Steve (notrealmail@net.com), January 25, 2002.

we have a soapstone and it stays hot a long time after the wood is gone. it needs to be fed more than the literature says, though. it is from woodstock soapstone company. the door is a little too little too, the wood needs to be split alot to feed the stove. it heats the dining room kitchen and the living room around 45 by l5 foot space, we use ceramic heaters in the bedrooms at night and leave the doors open during the day....

-- js (schlicker54@aol.com), January 25, 2002.

Hey Sherry, I have had both stoves, and really can't tell a distinct difference either one. The Steel one(in previous 1700 sqft house) heated up faster on startup, and worked great. Our present one, a soapstone job (in 2500 sqft home) takes a longer time to heat up when first started, but does stay hot well after the wood goes out. I've used both as my sole heat source in both houses, and after you get the hang of it, you don't use nearly as much wood. The key is hot coals and slow burn rates. If the fire is flaming heavy, that means the draft through the stove in too fast. All the heat is not heating to stove/room, but flying up the chimney. Get a good coal base and damper that fire down to almost no flames at all (really none). The only caviot I have on either stove is that the stone one does look much nicer, but then again it weren't cheap!

-- TonyG (tony_granados@hotmail.com), January 25, 2002.

I have had both mild steel stoves and cast iron. My mentor has a soapstone. The difference between cast iron and soapstone appears to be that the soapstone has worse cast iron in it (grates). If your steel stove has firebrick lining it is probably the best value for an efficient heat producer. Cast iron can easily be the most attractive while being reasonably effecient.

-- kirby (kirbyj@deskmedia.com), January 25, 2002.

Sherry, We have a Woodstock Soapstone Fireview w/catalytic converter. The stove is fantastic. It will take approx 40-60min to get the stove warm and engage the converter. It is well worth the wait; because of the thermal mass of the stone(stove is almost 500lbs) it will stay warm and heat the area hours after the flames burn out. We are using about 1/2 the wood compared to our old zero- clearance insert. The stone is beautiful. They will even try to match a stone color if you send a sample.

-- john (eli_john_us@yahoo.com), March 02, 2002.