Posted: 2/15/2026 7:35:07 PM EDT
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I would like to get a wood stove for the basement. Supplemental and backup heat for the 1,000sq/ft basement and 1,000sq/ft living area above. Is there any model that you can load up and burn for 8-12 hours, and when you come back there's still a few coals to start the next charge? Bonus if there's an ash tray. Two dealers have steered me towards Jotul Oslo. I know they are American built and have a good reputation, but for going in my basement they are expensive, and neither dealer would comment on a 12 hour burn. I do know the Oslo has a temperature controlled switch to catalyst, that's a bonus I guess. Anyone have personal experience? |
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I sold Jotul for a number of years 20 to be close and the Oslo is a great stove, that said it can be finicky with venting vertical , ya gotta pre heat that flue a bit for a draw, maybe they fixed it no idea.. Burn time wise much depends on the wood you are burning. Most manufacturers I feel have always over hyped their burn times. But with a cast iron stove they hold their heat so well and radiate so much more then a steel stove you will probably be surprised. Space wise you may look at the Holiday originally was the Castile I believe or the Rockwood which used to be the greenwood a mix of steel and cast iron, sold a shit load of those. Either way venting from a basement is going to be spendy, all pending of course. |
| Yeah I know basement vent could be a challenge. In my case, I can go up from the stove, 90° out some block, and up 90° again through a 3 season insulated porch. I hope I could use single wall through the porch and make some warmth there, before switching to double wall at the porch roof. The porch only has corrugated metal roof. |
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Originally Posted By pedaler: My Woodstock Keystone will still have coals after 8-12. By 12 there may not be much left, but it's enough to get a reload going. I think the Woodstock soapstone stoves are some of the most beautiful made. The "ideal steel" model was on my list of considerations, with soapstone liner of course. My only reservation is that it will only fit a 22" log, not 24". |
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We've been using this for 25+ years. 3 floors, 2500 sq feet of living space (ex the cellar). 20 degrees out right now. 72 degrees inside. 8 hour burns when crammed full of wood before bed. Available @ Home Depot. Attached File |
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| An important question is…what kind of wood are you burning? If pine, no stove will make it that long. Oak and hickory might get close. Toss a chunk or two of hedge in with the other wood and good chance. Don’t use too much hedge though….might overheat the stove! Another trick is to fill it with dry seasoned wood and then throw a piece of less seasoned wood in as well. The less seasoned wood will light more slowly and then when it’s finally dry enough, it’ll burn well after the rest of the wood is gone. I’m not talking green wood. Just some that’s not quite as dry as usual wood. |
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By KoolOperator: Yeah I know basement vent could be a challenge. In my case, I can go up from the stove, 90° out some block, and up 90° again through a 3 season insulated porch. I hope I could use single wall through the porch and make some warmth there, before switching to double wall at the porch roof. The porch only has corrugated metal roof. I might stay away from the Oslo in that case. Once you penetrate an outside wall it has to be insulated class A pipe. That's where it starts to get spendy, a clean out or T package with support should be used before going vertical. The pipe/cap needs to extend 10ft away from the roof or 2ft above the peak. Which ever is closer. 10/2 rule. If there is an eve you need to go around it or through it. More $$$ https://woodstovepro.com/articles/understanding-the-10-foot-2-foot-3-foot-rule-how-to-determine-the-chimney-height-of-class-a-solid-fuel-pipe-above-the-roofline/ |
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Find yourself a wood circulator type stove - mine is a Wonderwood (less expensive Ashley) I bought new 20 years ago. Yes, the firebox is a heavy sheet metal but the grates are heavy iron, has a 24" firebox and lined with replaceable fire bricks. Seperate ash door and ash tray so don't have to wait for fire to go out to clean. Thermostatic spring operated draft control. It doesn't have the pretty flames you can watch but also doesn't have the glass you have to clean either. It looks like an old stand-up gas heater with the sheet metal around it. It heats this 1700 sf single story house with the help of a 20" fan and my hvac fan set to recirculating. It came with godawful big holes in the firebox door and the ash door to meet EPA regs back then without a cat converter. After covering those holes I drilled 3 small holes in the ash door to get a constant draw when damped-down for overnite without creating much creosote. I burn only 18-20" oak, cherry, hickory, elm etc. that has seasoned at least 2 or 3 years. I have run this stove as long as 6 weeks without letting the fire go out. |
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My Lopi Endeavor will go overnight no problem. Longer still if you stir the coals. Can go weeks without having to relight (usually fills with ashes before it goes out). My Lopi Answer? Too small...It'll go maybe 6 hours, but not much beyond that. Have to relight every morning. |
Osage Orange is also known as hedge.
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"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
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Originally Posted By Ersatz_Naugahyde: We've been using this for 25+ years. 3 floors, 2500 sq feet of living space (ex the cellar). 20 degrees out right now. 72 degrees inside. 8 hour burns when crammed full of wood before bed. Available @ Home Depot. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/601210/england-s-stove-works-28-3500-furnace_jp-3713932.JPG We have the same stove, for about the same period of time. Works great. |
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Originally Posted By BMSMB: We have a Kuma and if burning a full box, there's no problem finding coals at the 12 hour mark. I think Blazekings can push that out even further to 18-24 hours... Wife and I are shopping stoves for our new house build. Drove in to a dealer to see the Blazekings as long burn times and high efficiency are on our wishlist. We wanted to see them up close and personal before committing. They had Kuma on the floor also. The more I started looking at the Kumas the more impressed I was. The little details were taken care of and not cheaped out on. Will be ordering a Kuma Tamarack next month, possibly going to order a spare cat along with just to have a spare. Semper Fi |
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Luckily you're in PA and have great firewood. assuming its a tight decent stove. Wood type/quality, air management as well as ash/coal management even the thermal mass of the stove all come into play. My Elm stove is a tube and lined with fire brick so it carries heat pretty well. Having a stove go 8+ hours is great but if its burning at too low of a flue temp it will build creosote at a higher rate. Generally at 8 hours I re stoke the stove by raking the remaining coals into a pile, slapping the air wide open to get them revved up, then filling it full of wood. At that point I let it rip paying attention to my flue temp to burn off any build up. I then knock air down to roughly where it will run but check it a couple times to get it fine tuned. This changes with temperature and pressure so watching the weather and getting used to your stove is a thing as well. |
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Having my chimney running up through the center of the house, versus outside of the house is a beneficial factor as well. I let it breathe regularly. When I need it to last, it lasts. 
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All your wheel weights are belong to me.
Patriot
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“We’re surrounded. That simplifies the problem.” - Chesty Puller, USMC
Patriot
Q-Tard
“We’re surrounded. That simplifies the problem.” - Chesty Puller, USMC
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I have a Pacific Energy Summit. No moving parts. No cat. 8-10 hour coals easily. I've had it for 15 years. I had to replace the door seal once, and it could probably use it again. With good seasoned wood It heats our nearly 3000sq ft house all by itself, and the furnace barely runs at all. It also has insanely close clearances, so it can be installed within like 6 or 8 inches of combustible surfaces. A lot of stoves require a foot to 3 feet, which puts your stove out in the middle of the room. I've got about 20' of chimney that goes through my second floor and out the roof. I clean it once or twice a winter, although if I'm burning good dry wood it really could just be done once at the end of the season. Note: "dry" or "seasoned" wood means less than 20% moisture, preferably 15% +/-. Pretty much no wood - even "standing dead," -can be cut in the spring and be "dry" or "seasoned" by that winter. |
| I think I need to add a damper to my stove pipe. I have a pretty strong draft and I'm nowhere close to these kinds of burn times, no matter what I do with the air control. That said I make a point of keeping the stove pretty hot to avoid creosote build up. |
Gotta enjoy the little things.