# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > General Homesteading >  pot belly stove.

## Trabitha

We're in the market for a wood stove.  The ONLY place we can put it is in the living room, but it's size is a factor.  We're considering a multi-fuel (coal and wood), pot belly.  Do y'all have any favorite companies?  We're obviously looking for efficiency.

----------


## Camp10

I would only use a potbelly for burning coal.  If there is a airtight potbelly, I've never heard of it so you will be either freezing cold and out of wood or to hot to wear clothes (then freezing cold and out of wood) with one in your house.  The two stoves I use and like are Jotul and regency.  For your house, I would use a Jotul #3 or the Regency F1100 (or F2400 but you will run it closed most of the time).

Edit: The two stoves I mentioned are wood only

----------


## gryffynklm

My stove is wood burning only but I really like it. I chose the Hearthstone soapstone stove. The main considerations were the efficiency with an 8 hour burn and radiant up to two additional hours and the clearances to the wall. They are not cheep but I liked that the soapstone thermal mass held the heat. I really like it. I bought two, the Heritage and the homestead. They are both wood burning as the only recommended fuel.  

http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/stove-guide/select

----------


## Old GI

Hey "POTBELLY????"  I resembl ....nevermind.

----------


## randyt

probably not super efficient but I've been going to make a vertical 55 gallon drum stove. With the installation of a baffle performance should be better. I will admit it wont be pretty but it will have character. lol

----------


## Rick

My grandfather had a large potbelly stove in his living room. Camp is right on the money. It's either twice the surface of the sun or just plain cold. There's a reason folks are standing with their backside to them in the pictures.

----------


## hunter63

Wood/coal stoves are a real good example of "You get what you pay for".
Bit the bullet and purchased a Quadrafire, works well, but priced about $1500 w/blower.
http://www.quadrafire.com/ppc-landin...Fc4M2godXySiJA

Jotul's a good as well, almost bought one for about the same money, but liked tha side load option on tha Quadrafire.

Hearthstone soapstone stove is a very, very nice stove....little higher priced.

Keep in mind that the cheaper the stove, the more fuel you will burn, and the less usable BTU's (ones that don't just go up the pipe) you will have.

----------


## Trabitha

You guys are giving me a lot to look into.  THANKS!!  I have to think about appearance...we live in an old farm house, and I really want it to fit in as we hope to sell the house as soon as the market shifts.  Our hope is to get something small with land ASAP...but in the mean time we need to stay warm.  :Wink: 

I'm leaning toward the Quadrafire visually though!  It's is lovely!!  

I guess I'm looking into coal/wood because out here EVERYONE has wood, and the price per load is almost as much as I'm paying for oil at times. Plus I don't have a lot of  place to store it.  Coal takes up a lot less space.  If I can get wood for the beginning half of a year and coal for when I run out...I can buy coal when the price is low...saving me a lot of money.  
Plus...well...coal heat is always so warm.  :Smile:

----------


## Longjohn

I have read on a coupla of homestead/cabin forums that these are the cats meow. our last stove was a Timberline double door insert. Being an insert and with the screen hanging on the front lost lots of heat, but was nice to look at. lol  one guy lived for about ten years or so on an off grid  homestead plot and swore by this  stove , i lost the forum info when hard drive crashed , but he moved to maine and was living in a friends cabin and sadly passed  due to an on going battle with cancer..
http://www.alaskastove.com/site/inde...mart&Itemid=53

----------


## RCKCRWLER

You are in the heart of coal country!!!  Anthracite coal even!!!  Check out the coal chubby. http://www.chubbystove.com/Pages/Chu...stove%20co.htm
 There is a guy in Rhode Island that refurbishes them and brings them back to life.  My wife and I wanted to get one but we can only get sub bituminous coal out west.  The closest reliable source of coal is three hours away.  I was after the long burn times as well.  The other issue is that sub bituminous coal is known to pollute more than anthracite.  Here si a great resource on anything coal related and the people over there are as nice as the ones here!  http://nepacrossroads.com/

Another stove you may want to check out is the sedore.  I posted links in another thread below this one.

----------


## Rick

> Check out the coal chubby


That wasn't a very nice name to call her. Oh, I see, you meant the stove. Sorry.

----------


## RCKCRWLER

> That wasn't a very nice name to call her. Oh, I see, you meant the stove. Sorry.


LOL  I was waiting for that one!!!  Only you, only you....

----------


## crashdive123

> LOL  I was waiting for that one!!!  Only you, only you....


Well nobody else was gonna say it.  We've heard that she has a temper.



Of course none of us believe those stories that Rick tells.

----------


## Rick

Hey, temper or not she owns a firearm. Well, sort of.

----------


## Trabitha

HA-HA!!  Pour a little more salt into that wound. LOL!!

Thanks for the link!  That is the cutest stove EVER!  I wonder though...what makes a coal unable to burn wood?  I would think that wood wouldn't get as hot as coal...and if you burn it RIGHT you don't get creosote.

----------


## RCKCRWLER

I know you have to use wood to start a coal fire, but I'm not sure why wood wouldn't burn effeciently in a coal stove.

----------


## gryffynklm

Coal stoves need a bottom draft and are designed to allow a pile of burning coal to rest in a basket so the ash falls away from the coal preventing the fire from smothering. There is more to it then that. Here is a decent article I just found that explains more. 

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-an...?msg_id=0009En

----------


## hunter63

GF, thanks for the link........I had never really realized there was that much of a difference, and reason, other than salesman spiel.

----------


## Trabitha

Ditto!  Thanks a LOT!!!

----------


## OhioGrizzLapp

This is a really good place for all things non electric, including all types of stoves to include Pot Bellys. They really know their stuff and they will not blow sunshine where it does not belong. 

I get much of my non elctric wood working tools from this place. Mostly Amish folks working and buying there. 

Some call it the Non-Electric Store, to the locals it is just Lehmans

https://www.lehmans.com/

----------


## hunter63

Lehmans does have a lot of stuff, but very pricey.
And true, you get what you pay for.........Just be sure to shop around.

----------


## OhioGrizzLapp

GASP - we have to spell right here, man o man am I in real trouble..... now I have to vett all my writings through my daughter... dag nabbit, that means more allowance....I wonder if she ill take ammo as a barter  :Smile: )

----------


## gryffynklm

Only if you catch it and care about it. Sounds like Hunter does.

----------


## OhioGrizzLapp

I do try, but I am sure some syntax, punctuation and spelling errors get though on my posts.

----------


## Rick

Knot manny

----------


## crashdive123

Hoose Manny?

----------


## OhioGrizzLapp

That Chubby stove does have some very good qualities.....I kind of had a bit of a sticker shock though.....I will be needing an extra stove for the garage workshop up at the cabin. I had a wood pellet stove there but really did not like it, noisy, only one shop near me had the pellets. I just need a small, simple stove to take the edge off the chill in the garage. I have enough wood scraps from the furniture making to keep it going all year. Very hard to get coal where I am at in NW PA, Crossingville / Edinboro area for a reasonable price. My fire wood is basically free, already there and I have enough expendable woods on the land to last more than 3 lifetimes.

----------


## RCKCRWLER

> That Chubby stove does have some very good qualities.....I kind of had a bit of a sticker shock though.....I will be needing an extra stove for the garage workshop up at the cabin. I had a wood pellet stove there but really did not like it, noisy, only one shop near me had the pellets. I just need a small, simple stove to take the edge off the chill in the garage. I have enough wood scraps from the furniture making to keep it going all year. Very hard to get coal where I am at in NW PA, Crossingville / Edinboro area for a reasonable price. My fire wood is basically free, already there and I have enough expendable woods on the land to last more than 3 lifetimes.



Sticker shock, yes but compared to the new ones. :Ohmy:  Must be nice to have three lifetimes of wood for free!  Although I wouldn't want to live where that is! :Cold:

----------


## aflineman

The Wife and I have been eyeballing one of these for a couple of years. Not cheap, but they work well, and You can cook with them. I like the soapstone, helps keep the house a bit warmer after the fire goes out in the night. You can also get a water back for them. Either set up a radiator in another room and circulate warm water to it. Or use for hot water in the house.
http://www.vermontwoodstove.com/vermontbunbaker.htm

Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

----------


## Rick

Gosh, instead of paying that kind of money for a new wood stove why don't you invest in an original? You'll have a larger cooking surface and invest a lot less money in the process. 

http://stovehospital.com/

----------


## aflineman

> Gosh, instead of paying that kind of money for a new wood stove why don't you invest in an original? You'll have a larger cooking surface and invest a lot less money in the process. 
> 
> http://stovehospital.com/


Because I don't have the room for one. If I did, that would be my first choice. I learned to cook on an old Glenwood. Kind of surprised my Wife before we got married. I cooked her an entire Thanksgiving Dinner on the one I had at my old Cabin. Tried like heck to take that stove before I sold the place, but the purchaser insisted on the stove or no sale. Needed the money for my Grandparent's doctors bills, so it went in the sale.  :Frown:

----------


## copybiz

Go for any branded company not for cheaper ones.

----------


## gordy

http://http://thefireplace.com.au/wood_fired_cookers.html

This one is the stove top, and low oven combined, but the one I have has the hot water service copper piped through the fire box.

----------

