"Dan L" wrote in message

Again this is my neighbors, jealous here, his stove is almost new. Does
not
use it during summer, way to hot. Nice item.

Why do you consider it to be a "nice item". I'm asking from the point of
view of a rural housewife who's installed 3 woodburning cookers in 3 houses
over 30 years and who looks for particular things when I buy and install
them (in other words, this is a test of your knowledge of wood burning
stoves :-)))))

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Stoves_...e___1903?Args=

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Dan L" wrote in message

Again this is my neighbors, jealous here, his stove is almost new. Does
not
use it during summer, way to hot. Nice item.

Why do you consider it to be a "nice item". I'm asking from the point of
view of a rural housewife who's installed 3 woodburning cookers in 3 houses
over 30 years and who looks for particular things when I buy and install
them (in other words, this is a test of your knowledge of wood burning
stoves :-)))))

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Stoves_...e___1903?Args=

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

I use propane for heat and cooking. If propane doubles or triples again
over the next few years, I may have to do without some things I like. I do
have some wooded areas on my land. Even if I got a geothermal heating
system, I will still want something to cook with if propane went sky high.
So a wood cooking stove would be a nice item to have that could also heat
the home.

If your thinking from a different perspective. It has a hot water resevor
with a side spigot. The bun warmer on top is great for sourdough breads.
Sourdough starters need mid to upper 70 degrees for bread to rise. I do not
keep my home that warm during winter, about 69 max. So I only make
sourdoughs during summer. Winter is better for tempering chocolate thou. So
for now I dream. Consumerism is bad thing

The drawback wood is the extra work. As I get older it gets harder.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

"Dan L" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Dan L" wrote in message

Again this is my neighbors, jealous here, his stove is almost new. Does
not
use it during summer, way to hot. Nice item.

Why do you consider it to be a "nice item". I'm asking from the point of
view of a rural housewife who's installed 3 woodburning cookers in 3
houses
over 30 years and who looks for particular things when I buy and install
them (in other words, this is a test of your knowledge of wood burning
stoves :-)))))

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Stoves_...e___1903?Args=

I use propane for heat and cooking. If propane doubles or triples again
over the next few years, I may have to do without some things I like. I do
have some wooded areas on my land. Even if I got a geothermal heating
system, I will still want something to cook with if propane went sky high.
So a wood cooking stove would be a nice item to have that could also heat
the home.

If your thinking from a different perspective. It has a hot water resevor
with a side spigot. The bun warmer on top is great for sourdough breads.
Sourdough starters need mid to upper 70 degrees for bread to rise. I do
not
keep my home that warm during winter, about 69 max. So I only make
sourdoughs during summer. Winter is better for tempering chocolate thou.
So
for now I dream. Consumerism is bad thing

The drawback wood is the extra work. As I get older it gets harder.

OK, I'd give you a few ticks for some issues. :-))

Now I'll tell you the things that I consider after spending 50 years living
with various wood burning cookers as a child and adult and what I look for
in a stove and why.

I'd be rather wary of that particular Lehman's stove your neighbour has for
a variety of reasons and one of them is because I'd be very suspicious about
the price as I think it is too cheap to be real quality. And yes, I know
that the cost of it is high, but a really good stove will cost you a
shitload more than Lehman's is asking but it will last for many more decades
than a cheap one will and that is why they can be bought second hand and
still be used many decades after first being bought.

The first thing needed in a wood burning stove (or any fuel stove) is
insulation - the heat need to be kept in the stove so it can heat the hot
plates, the ovens and the water. That means that the oven shouldn't radiate
a lot of heat into the kitchen and should have bolsters to cover the
hotplates when the hot plates aren't in use. (That sounds contradictory for
anyone who wants to heat their house with one but it isn't - if I don't get
to it ask me)

The second thing (for me, but not all cooks/householders insist on this) is
that it must have a water jacket (that means it's integral to the stove
design and runs around/near the fire box - the stove doesn't act as a store
for that heated water). So that means it must heat all the water needs for
the whole house - sink, laundry, bath, heating (if desired). That latter
water heating need means it msut be capable of really pumping out the BTUs -
thus the importance of insulation.

The third thing is at least 2 ovens so that is a roasting oven and a warming
oven (which is just the thing to draw a chair up to on a winter's night and
to shove your feet into).

Fourth, it should be able to run on a variety of fuel from wood to coal.

The creme de la creme of cookers is the Aga.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_cooker
Then down the line is others such as Rayburn, Esse, Everhot, Wellstood etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Range

You can see a whole heap of the sort of thing I'd buy he
http://www.woodstoves.com.au/html/renovations.html
all of these have the features I mention above except that some of them may
not heat water as well. I have never owned one that didn't and don't see
the point of one that doesn't heat water so would'nt buy one that didn't.

Now I mentioned heating - we heat this house using hydronic heating so that
means the water is heated by our cooker and then stored in a big tank
(cistern in USian???) that also provides our hot water forhousehold use and
also runs through the radiators.

We have a very big house and are running 16 radiators so this is a bit of a
challenge to the machine in mid winter when it's what we think of as beign
really cold. If I lived in a snowy climate like yours I'd still have the
cooker with the water jacket but just use it for household hot water and buy
a boiler that ran on wood to heat house with hydronic heating or jsut have a
bakc up wood burning heater. We can't easily buy the sorts of boilers you
can in the US but I wish we could - here they'd be overkill as we dont' get
that cold.

Cost - the last 2 wood burning cookers we've bought were second hand and
there was not a thing wrong with either of them even after years of work.
The Rayburn 3 I mentioned in a previous post was made in South Africa in the
early 1950s so it's a real oldie but still works like a dream - who needs
modern cute retro when the genuine things is still out there and just as
good as the day it was made ;-P

've seen Agas installed in the 1930s which are still being used most of the
year. A really good quality cooker like the ones I've mentioned should last
that long and the other good thing aobut them is that parts are still
available and can be fitted by most home handypersons or country plumbers.

Teh other thing aobut cost is that even in winter when we use our wood
burner and also in mid winter burn wood in a space heater, our expenses
drop. We use electricity in summer for cooking and water heating but in
winter we use the wood stove. We used to collect all our own wood but as
we've aged we find that more of a chore so now either buy ti in or only
bring it in ourselves if we have a good tree fall or soemthign similar
happen. Even factoring that cost of buying wood it's still cheaper than
summer. I could use my stove in summer if I lived in slightly cooler place.
Here it gets into the 80s to 100+ F in mid summer and that is too hot to
fire up an oven, but I have to do it at the other farm even in those sorts
of temps if we want a shower or hot water for the house.

Think that's about it.

"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Dan L" wrote in message
"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Dan L" wrote in message

Again this is my neighbors, jealous here, his stove is almost new. Does
not
use it during summer, way to hot. Nice item.

Why do you consider it to be a "nice item". I'm asking from the point of
view of a rural housewife who's installed 3 woodburning cookers in 3
houses
over 30 years and who looks for particular things when I buy and install
them (in other words, this is a test of your knowledge of wood burning
stoves :-)))))

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Stoves_...e___1903?Args=

I use propane for heat and cooking. If propane doubles or triples again
over the next few years, I may have to do without some things I like. I do
have some wooded areas on my land. Even if I got a geothermal heating
system, I will still want something to cook with if propane went sky high.
So a wood cooking stove would be a nice item to have that could also heat
the home.

If your thinking from a different perspective. It has a hot water resevor
with a side spigot. The bun warmer on top is great for sourdough breads.
Sourdough starters need mid to upper 70 degrees for bread to rise. I do
not
keep my home that warm during winter, about 69 max. So I only make
sourdoughs during summer. Winter is better for tempering chocolate thou.
So
for now I dream. Consumerism is bad thing

The drawback wood is the extra work. As I get older it gets harder.

OK, I'd give you a few ticks for some issues. :-))

Now I'll tell you the things that I consider after spending 50 years living
with various wood burning cookers as a child and adult and what I look for
in a stove and why.

I'd be rather wary of that particular Lehman's stove your neighbour has for
a variety of reasons and one of them is because I'd be very suspicious about
the price as I think it is too cheap to be real quality. And yes, I know
that the cost of it is high, but a really good stove will cost you a
shitload more than Lehman's is asking but it will last for many more decades
than a cheap one will and that is why they can be bought second hand and
still be used many decades after first being bought.

The first thing needed in a wood burning stove (or any fuel stove) is
insulation - the heat need to be kept in the stove so it can heat the hot
plates, the ovens and the water. That means that the oven shouldn't radiate
a lot of heat into the kitchen and should have bolsters to cover the
hotplates when the hot plates aren't in use. (That sounds contradictory for
anyone who wants to heat their house with one but it isn't - if I don't get
to it ask me)

The second thing (for me, but not all cooks/householders insist on this) is
that it must have a water jacket (that means it's integral to the stove
design and runs around/near the fire box - the stove doesn't act as a store
for that heated water). So that means it must heat all the water needs for
the whole house - sink, laundry, bath, heating (if desired). That latter
water heating need means it msut be capable of really pumping out the BTUs -
thus the importance of insulation.

The third thing is at least 2 ovens so that is a roasting oven and a warming
oven (which is just the thing to draw a chair up to on a winter's night and
to shove your feet into).

Fourth, it should be able to run on a variety of fuel from wood to coal.

The creme de la creme of cookers is the Aga.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_cooker
Then down the line is others such as Rayburn, Esse, Everhot, Wellstood etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Range

You can see a whole heap of the sort of thing I'd buy he
http://www.woodstoves.com.au/html/renovations.html
all of these have the features I mention above except that some of them may
not heat water as well. I have never owned one that didn't and don't see
the point of one that doesn't heat water so would'nt buy one that didn't.

Now I mentioned heating - we heat this house using hydronic heating so that
means the water is heated by our cooker and then stored in a big tank
(cistern in USian???) that also provides our hot water forhousehold use and
also runs through the radiators.

We have a very big house and are running 16 radiators so this is a bit of a
challenge to the machine in mid winter when it's what we think of as beign
really cold. If I lived in a snowy climate like yours I'd still have the
cooker with the water jacket but just use it for household hot water and buy
a boiler that ran on wood to heat house with hydronic heating or jsut have a
bakc up wood burning heater. We can't easily buy the sorts of boilers you
can in the US but I wish we could - here they'd be overkill as we dont' get
that cold.

Cost - the last 2 wood burning cookers we've bought were second hand and
there was not a thing wrong with either of them even after years of work.
The Rayburn 3 I mentioned in a previous post was made in South Africa in the
early 1950s so it's a real oldie but still works like a dream - who needs
modern cute retro when the genuine things is still out there and just as
good as the day it was made ;-P

've seen Agas installed in the 1930s which are still being used most of the
year. A really good quality cooker like the ones I've mentioned should last
that long and the other good thing aobut them is that parts are still
available and can be fitted by most home handypersons or country plumbers.

Teh other thing aobut cost is that even in winter when we use our wood
burner and also in mid winter burn wood in a space heater, our expenses
drop. We use electricity in summer for cooking and water heating but in
winter we use the wood stove. We used to collect all our own wood but as
we've aged we find that more of a chore so now either buy ti in or only
bring it in ourselves if we have a good tree fall or soemthign similar
happen. Even factoring that cost of buying wood it's still cheaper than
summer. I could use my stove in summer if I lived in slightly cooler place.
Here it gets into the 80s to 100+ F in mid summer and that is too hot to
fire up an oven, but I have to do it at the other farm even in those sorts
of temps if we want a shower or hot water for the house.

Think that's about it.

Wow, lot of information. I will save the links. I should also say my
neighbor has three regular wood stove and one cook stove in his 4,000 sq ft
home. My home is only 1600 sq ft.. I am still jealous

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)