Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Wood Burning Stove

We recently had a wood burning stove installed in our living room. Our house was built in 1854, is 2,000 square feet and shaped like an "L". There is a second story over half of the "L" and no basement. All of this information will become relevant in a minute.

We decided to go with a Jotul Castine. The Castine is a beautiful cast iron stove that is supposed to be able to heat up to 1500 square feet. Our plan was to get something to heat the part of the house that is without the second story, but our Castine is heating the upstairs too.

Our furnace kicks on around 6 am and that's it! The wood burning stove keeps our house very warm. Our living room is usually around 79 and the rest of our house is comfortable. Our bedrooms upstairs were 66 today.

I love the smell of the stove and love that it is relatively easy to use. I don't care much for the mess around the hearth, but I will re-work the area this summer when I don't have to risk being burned by a 450 degree stove.

Overall, I am incredibly happy with our purchase. The stove is saving us all kinds of money on heating bills. I've also been hanging clothes on drying racks by the stove instead of using the dryer. I am excited to use the stove for cooking, although that is not a priority right now and my stove is still too pretty and new to dirty with food spillage.

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