Wood Burning Stoves
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 7:53 am
We have three wood burning stoves so I thought it might be useful to compare them for anyone thinking of investing in a stove. If anyone else has a different model perhaps they might also like to chip in and help broaden the range.
In our house we have a Nestor Martin S33
Over in the cafe we have a Dutch West non catalytic 2477
And in my shed we have a Honma of unknown model
Quick Overview
The Nestor Martin has what they call 'Clean Burn' which basically funnels fresh air down from the top of the stove over the glass door and keeps the glass clean whilst also burning the gases and smoke given off by the burning logs a second time gaining more heat and producing less smoke.
The Dutchwest goes even further with what they call tertiary combustion. It does the usual primary and then secondary combustion but also has a ceramic chamber at the back of the stove where it burns the smoke and gases a third time. We found it a little tricky to get working at first but after some help from Johnny LaRue we managed to get the ceramic chamber working properly. I have to say that once the third stage ceramic chamber is up to temperature this stove does burn very efficiently and cleanly indeed.
The Honma on the other hand does not have a secondary or tertiary combustion feature and is a bit of a dirty beast producing lots of smoke. Because it lacks these features it doesn't produce anywhere like the amount of heat the other stoves do and the chimney gets a lot more creosote forming inside.
Nestor Martin S33
The really neat features about the Nestor Martin is the massive double glazed front door and it's air control system. It gives some really pleasing flame effects and is our favourite for watching logs burn. I shot a few videos of it burning on different settings
We really only use it with the air vent set to 3 or 2 when first lighting the stove and getting it up to temperature and then turn it down to 1. The half setting on the air vent is good for overnight burning when going to sleep or if you are going out all day and want to leave it burning. Once you get home or wake up open the air vent back up to get the fire going, throw on a few more smaller logs and it will be blazing in no time. All in all I'd say the Nestor Martin is the most aesthetically pleasing to watch of the stoves we have.
Although the Nestor Martin lacks the tertiary combustion facility found on the DutchWest it still burns very cleanly and you hardly ever see any smoke coming out of the chimney once it is up to temperature.
Dutchwest Non Catalytic Stove 2477
I don't have any videos of the Dutchwest burning but will try to add some once we light it up in November. Having said that when the ceramic chamber at the back is going you can't see any flames at all as they are directed through that and not visible at all. What the Dutchwest lacks in pleasing flame effects it makes up for in efficiency and clean burning. Because the front door is only single glazed it does soot up a bit more than the Nestor Martin so you do have to clean it somewhat more often.
Like the Nestor Martin the Dutchwest also conducts secondary burning but it also has what they call a tertiary burning facility at the back of the stove. Once it warms up to around 250C you can flip the damper over and direct the flow of the fire through the rear ceramic combustion chamber rather than up through the top of the stove and out of the chimney. Fresh air is added to the combustion gases as they enter the chamber and this results in most of the creosote and smoke being burnt off and also extracts more heat from the burning process. When the fire is running through the rear chamber there is absolutely no smoke at all coming out of the top of the chimney. You can hear a low pitched rumble coming from the ceramic chamber when it is running properly and the heat output jumps quite significantly.
Honma Stove
What to say about this little stove without sounding too negative. It makes a great little stove for my shed and has a nice little hatch in the top that is great for doing yaki imo during the depths of winter. It doesn't have an ash pan underneath the main firebox so is a bit of a pain to clean out in that you have to let the stove cool down completely before you can clean it out. Both of the other stoves can be cleaned out whilst they are burning, you just wait till the fire has died down considerably and open up the loading doors before removing the ash pans. The Honma also doesn't have any secondary or tertiary burning facility so you aren't extracting every last BTU out of the wood you burn and I wouldn't want to leave it burning unattended for any length of time as the air inlets are in the lower parts of the loading doors and there is a possibility that sparks could come out when the fire is dying down.
I really couldn't recommend it for heating a house as it just doesn't put out enough heat but for a small concrete or earthen floor shed it does a good job of taking the chill off during the winter and keeps a pot of coffee nicely warm and does cook really awesome yaki imo.
Just in case anyone is interested here are the ratings for the Nest Martin & DutchWest
Dutchwest 2477
Burn Time: up to 8 hours
Heating Capacity: up to 1,400 sq. ft. (130 m sq)
Maximum Heat Output: 35,000 BTUs/hr.
Efficiency Rating: 63%
EPA Emissions Rating: 1.4 grams/hr.
Nestor Martin S33
Max burn rate: 59,000 BTU/hr
EPA output range: 8,600 – 37,300 BTU/hr
Emissions rate: 3.43 g/hr
Heating capacity: 1,100 – 1,500 sq ft
Hope that helps and it would be great to see what other folk think of their stoves
In our house we have a Nestor Martin S33
Over in the cafe we have a Dutch West non catalytic 2477
And in my shed we have a Honma of unknown model
Quick Overview
The Nestor Martin has what they call 'Clean Burn' which basically funnels fresh air down from the top of the stove over the glass door and keeps the glass clean whilst also burning the gases and smoke given off by the burning logs a second time gaining more heat and producing less smoke.
The Dutchwest goes even further with what they call tertiary combustion. It does the usual primary and then secondary combustion but also has a ceramic chamber at the back of the stove where it burns the smoke and gases a third time. We found it a little tricky to get working at first but after some help from Johnny LaRue we managed to get the ceramic chamber working properly. I have to say that once the third stage ceramic chamber is up to temperature this stove does burn very efficiently and cleanly indeed.
The Honma on the other hand does not have a secondary or tertiary combustion feature and is a bit of a dirty beast producing lots of smoke. Because it lacks these features it doesn't produce anywhere like the amount of heat the other stoves do and the chimney gets a lot more creosote forming inside.
Nestor Martin S33
The really neat features about the Nestor Martin is the massive double glazed front door and it's air control system. It gives some really pleasing flame effects and is our favourite for watching logs burn. I shot a few videos of it burning on different settings
We really only use it with the air vent set to 3 or 2 when first lighting the stove and getting it up to temperature and then turn it down to 1. The half setting on the air vent is good for overnight burning when going to sleep or if you are going out all day and want to leave it burning. Once you get home or wake up open the air vent back up to get the fire going, throw on a few more smaller logs and it will be blazing in no time. All in all I'd say the Nestor Martin is the most aesthetically pleasing to watch of the stoves we have.
Although the Nestor Martin lacks the tertiary combustion facility found on the DutchWest it still burns very cleanly and you hardly ever see any smoke coming out of the chimney once it is up to temperature.
Dutchwest Non Catalytic Stove 2477
I don't have any videos of the Dutchwest burning but will try to add some once we light it up in November. Having said that when the ceramic chamber at the back is going you can't see any flames at all as they are directed through that and not visible at all. What the Dutchwest lacks in pleasing flame effects it makes up for in efficiency and clean burning. Because the front door is only single glazed it does soot up a bit more than the Nestor Martin so you do have to clean it somewhat more often.
Like the Nestor Martin the Dutchwest also conducts secondary burning but it also has what they call a tertiary burning facility at the back of the stove. Once it warms up to around 250C you can flip the damper over and direct the flow of the fire through the rear ceramic combustion chamber rather than up through the top of the stove and out of the chimney. Fresh air is added to the combustion gases as they enter the chamber and this results in most of the creosote and smoke being burnt off and also extracts more heat from the burning process. When the fire is running through the rear chamber there is absolutely no smoke at all coming out of the top of the chimney. You can hear a low pitched rumble coming from the ceramic chamber when it is running properly and the heat output jumps quite significantly.
Honma Stove
What to say about this little stove without sounding too negative. It makes a great little stove for my shed and has a nice little hatch in the top that is great for doing yaki imo during the depths of winter. It doesn't have an ash pan underneath the main firebox so is a bit of a pain to clean out in that you have to let the stove cool down completely before you can clean it out. Both of the other stoves can be cleaned out whilst they are burning, you just wait till the fire has died down considerably and open up the loading doors before removing the ash pans. The Honma also doesn't have any secondary or tertiary burning facility so you aren't extracting every last BTU out of the wood you burn and I wouldn't want to leave it burning unattended for any length of time as the air inlets are in the lower parts of the loading doors and there is a possibility that sparks could come out when the fire is dying down.
I really couldn't recommend it for heating a house as it just doesn't put out enough heat but for a small concrete or earthen floor shed it does a good job of taking the chill off during the winter and keeps a pot of coffee nicely warm and does cook really awesome yaki imo.
Just in case anyone is interested here are the ratings for the Nest Martin & DutchWest
Dutchwest 2477
Burn Time: up to 8 hours
Heating Capacity: up to 1,400 sq. ft. (130 m sq)
Maximum Heat Output: 35,000 BTUs/hr.
Efficiency Rating: 63%
EPA Emissions Rating: 1.4 grams/hr.
Nestor Martin S33
Max burn rate: 59,000 BTU/hr
EPA output range: 8,600 – 37,300 BTU/hr
Emissions rate: 3.43 g/hr
Heating capacity: 1,100 – 1,500 sq ft
Hope that helps and it would be great to see what other folk think of their stoves