Page 4 ~NEW WOOD HEATING STOVES A Guide to Selecting Your New Heat Source At the same time that more people are starting to use wood as a fuel, older wood heating equipment has become difficult to get. In fact, central heating furnaces are virtually non-existent. New wood stoves are being manufactured at an ever-increasing pace to keep up with the "new" demand. Many of the new stoves incorporate versions of the many efficiency oriented patents granted from 1800 to 1870 by the U.S. Patent Office. Some of these are: pre-heated air inlets, automatic drafts, and baffle arrangements inside the wood burner to increase heat transfer. Most manufacturers tout their own stoves as having the finest design, producing the greatest combustion efficiency. In truth, there are a great many new wood stoves whose efficiency is good. There are also a great many inefficient, over-priced monstrosities being produced by inept, unknowledgeable or'greedy people. It is sad that, with the huge public demand, many of these poorly designed energy-shortage expediencies have been distributed so widely. Even some of the older manufacturers ,have decreased their quality by using cheaper door gaskets, aluminum door handles, lighter grates, painted finishes (instead of porcelain), lighter weight jackets and more spot-welding. Safety should also be considered as a major factor in picking a stove. Small children are most easily injured by contact· with sheet steel stoves. When an arm or hand is removed from the hot stove, some skin may be left in place. Skin is less likely to stick to cast iron. The safest stove is obviously one with a jacket extending around the firebox: A stove with an exterior Jacket can also be placed closer to combustible materials, such as walls, furniture and inside woodboxes. Franklin-style "Olympic," Washington Stove Works In addition to efficiency and safety, there are other important considerations in the choice .of your new stove. If you have an abundance of fuel, perhaps the best stove for you would be a pseudo-"Franklin" style heater. This stove is one of the least efficient styles available. Two manufacturers still produce good quality Franklin-s: Portland Stove Works, Portland, Maine, and Washington Stove Works, Everett, Washington. All other manufacturers produce units of lesser quality. _Tlie poorest quality Franklins are distributed by Hearthcraft Industries, Sears-Roebuck and Montgomery Wa.rd. If nostalgia is an important factor, but efficiency is an • existing need, perhaps you might consider the cast iron parlor stoves being produced by Portland Stovt; Works or Washington Stove Works. These are both basically good units, having pleasing nickel ornamentation. Recently, Washington Stove Works has allowed Hearthcraft Industries to assemble some of them.·This disaster likely will not be repeafed,' but I suggest checking closely to make sure you don't get one 0£ these shoddy units. Box Heater "King," Martin Industries Another basic stove style is .the box heater. As in the Franklin and parl,or stoves, these stoves should be made of cast iron. Cast iron does n_ot warp or change shape under heat as does sheet or plate. Washington Stove Works and Portland Stove ' Works again make the best; Martin Industries units are passable; Montgomery Ward, Sears, Hearthcraft Industries and some other imports are useful as scrap iron. Another highly available heater is the lightweight sheet metal airtight heater. These oval, flat-topped stoves boast low cost and quick radiative heating. They tend to last only a season or two, but may be preferable to a four-hundreddollar oil bill. The King and Ashley radiant heaters are more sophisticated airtight heaters with an iron top, bottom, door and door frame. They use an automatic draft control to maintain a slowburning, efficient fire. Medium price is a big factor for most people choosing these stoves. The most popular modern heating stove seems to be the "circulator," incorporating an automatic draft control. A circulator is any stove with an external shell or jacket enclosing the firebox in such a way as to produce a convection air current for increased transfer of heat into the room. The famous Ashley of thie late 1940s was the first of this type of heater. Few real improvements have been made on Ashley's original stove. Actually, time'seems to have eroded the quality in all bf the new circulators except for the "Warm Morning" produced by Locke Stove Company. In picking a new wood circulator, I would recommend avoiding Wards and Sears as well as units made by United States Stove Company. The external shells of these stoves ate only slightly heavier than painted foil. Sometimes they don't even have cast iron doors and frames. Another group of heating stoves is the electrically-welded units, which have arrived on the market during the last few
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