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["Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 11:04 PM, Robert Walton <waltonrp AT gmail.com> wrote:

The other option would be a small cast iron stove, the
> two burner kind, but I'd like a cook stove. I'm wondering how much it
> heats. I'm afraid it might be too much. It sure would be a more useful
> way to heat the house, cause I could cook supper on it, bake bread,
> etc.


In our rental home when we first moved to Floyd we had a Mama bear cast iron
stove, that thing could put out heat--ditto when we lived in Maine. The
stove in the house in ME was in the basement, we had the warmest basement in
all of Maine probably. Still, we had a very warm first story where we spent
time during the day (bedrooms on second story).

A off-grid friend of mine just got a fancy new cook stove after using an
older one for a couple years. The old model was 20-25 years old and would
not keep coals overnight which is the reason she upgraded (using her
stimulus check as partial payment).

I've begun experimenting with our soapstone wood stove and a Coleman
portable camp oven I bought for $30 at (gulp) WalMart. It's a small metal
box with a rack and a temperature gauge. It breaks down and folds into a box
small enough to slide under the couch. We haven't yet had a hot fire, but I
got the oven up to 200 degrees the other night. Not hot enough to bake
bread, as I'm aiming to do, but still useful.

My goal is to use our propane oven much less this fall and winter, but can
only do so if I can make this camp oven get warmer. Will add a layer of foil
over the outside of the oven as it is vented some and hope that holds in
more heat.

Lisa
sw VA

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