Our site of advice told you how to make a long-burning stove with your own hands with minimal costs. However, many people prefer to purchase ready-made mobile ovens that can be installed immediately anywhere. Therefore, we decided to help you make the right choice of a stove.
The advantages of a purchased potbelly stove are obvious – purchased, brought, installed – provided warmth and comfort. However, choosing a factory-made furnace must be thoughtful, guided by clear criteria:
- Weight. If a potbelly stove weighs no more than 300 kilograms, you can simply put it on the floor. If more – you need to strengthen the site, and if the weight of the stove reaches 500 kilograms – you need a separate foundation. However, standard potbelly stoves rarely weigh so much. Perhaps with a stone or tile cladding;
- Power. Many manufacturers of stoves indicate the heating of what area of the room the stove is designed for. It’s easier to navigate this way, because heating a standard garage is one thing, and a stove for the kitchen-living room of a country house is quite another. If the capacity of the stove is indicated in kilowatts, be guided by this indicator: 1 kWh = 10 square meters of a room with ceilings not higher than 3 meters. That is, a potbelly stove with a capacity of 2 kW per hour is potentially capable of heating a room with an area of 20 “squares”. It should also take into account such an important point as the capacity of the firebox. The more firewood is placed at the same time, the more powerful the stove. On average, 1 kilogram of birch firewood produces 4 kW of heat;
- Chimney location. It happens vertical when the pipe is on top, and horizontal – the pipe comes from the back wall. The second option is more popular. In addition, there are universal chimneys that are connected to any chimney.
Correct chimney design is very important. If it is too narrow and short, it may not cope with the removal of combustion products. An excessively wide and long chimney will lead to significant heat loss. This moment is especially important for long-burning stoves, which are capable of heating the room for at least 6 hours on one tab of firewood. The portal devoted a separate article to potbelly stoves of long burning without grates..
- Availability of additional features. One of the most popular is the presence of a stove on top to cook food, boil the kettle. If you plan to cook full meals on a stove, there should be at least two places for pots and pans. In this case, the flue gas vent usually comes out of the rear wall so as not to take up space at the top of the stove. In addition, it is convenient if there are “wings” on the sides of the stove, allowing you to hang things to dry. Some models have an oven;
- Door. It shouldn’t creak anyway! And it should close very tightly, have a latch. The door can be located in the upper part of the front panel – it will be convenient to lay long and narrow firewood. But the most popular are the side doors, which are designed for standard-sized firewood. The glass door is very beautiful, you can immediately see that it’s time to report the firewood. But, as we already wrote, such an option will raise the cost of the oven;
- Welding quality and metal thickness. The thicker the walls of the oven, the longer it will keep warm. All seams must be smooth and secure;
Important! Ordinary potbelly stoves heat up during operation, you can get burned. Either expensive cladding, for example, brick, stone, tiles, can help. Or a cheaper metal convector that will convert radiation into soft convection heat.
- Price. It can be very different. From 5 thousand rubles for the simplest thin-walled stoves without additional functions up to 100 thousand rubles and even higher for exclusive models decorated with forging, made of thick cast iron, with hobs, ovens and glass doors.
