With so many heaters to choose from in the market, finding the right one that fits your needs is becoming more and more confusing. Often times, people don’t sweat about researching the specifications of heaters and ultimately end up buying a product that doesn’t fully serve their requirements. Well, we are here to tell you why a little bit of R & D (research and development) is an absolute must before buying anything, especially for a heating device, that can potentially serve you consistent heat for a very long time.
To make this article a little more useful for you, let me suggest an unconventional and efficient type of heater that will serve all of your needs: Wood Burning Stoves. In this article, I’m going to compare wood stoves to all of the conventional heaters and list all of the possible factors that you should consider before buying the optimal heater. Spoiler alert: Wood Stoves rip each one of the conventional heaters on virtually all points.
So, without further ado, let’s put Wood stoves up against the most common heaters, starting with Radiative Halogen Heaters.
Wood Stove vs Radiative Halogen Heaters
I’m going to start off with the type of heating which these two types of heating devices use in order to generate heat. While wood stoves work in the good old-fashioned way of burning wood to produce heat, radiative heaters generate hot infrared rays that later spread in their periphery. Now, let’s compare these two, in terms of scope of heating and utility.
- Scope of Heating
The difference in principle of heating between the two appliances results in a variation in their heating ranges. While modern wood stoves heat up the entire space, radiative heaters only provide warmth to the specific areas and objects which are exposed to their IR rays. The obvious advantage for high efficiency wood stoves here is that along all with objects, they also keep the air warmer and drier. Conversely, heating from radiative heaters is more like being in the full sun on a windy winter’s day.
- Utility
With a limited scope of heating, radiative heaters are constrained in terms of providing a multi-purpose heater. On the other hand, wood stoves come with a variety of utilities. From room heating to cooking and grilling, wood burning cook stoves provide a complete solution to all the heating requirements for your place.
Wood Stove vs Fan Heaters
Fan heaters draw ambient air inside them and run by a heating coil to deliver hot air. Contrary to the radiative heaters, fan heaters specifically heat the surrounding air to provide heating. This is where they are better than radiative heaters, but then again, get outperformed in terms of utility against wood stoves. I’m going to compare these two in terms of portability and noise.
- Portability
This really isn’t a standard black vs white comparison between wood stoves and fan heaters. Of course, mini versions of both types of heating appliances offer portability. On a comparative analysis, though, wood stoves outperform in terms of portability against fan heaters. The number one reason, once fan heaters’ batteries run out, fan heaters are completely useless without electricity, while wood stoves can run as long as there is wood available.
Wood stoves compared to pellet stoves for example, do not require electricity, making them a much better option for off grid applications where the space does not get electricity to power the pellet stove for it to function.
- Noise
This is where fan heaters really bite the dust (pun-intended). As discussed, the fan in fan heaters is used to draw ambient air, and thus, is a vital heating component. With this fan comes an annoying sound that decreases the appeal of fan heaters. Wood Stoves, on the other hand, generate little to no noise at all when they are operating. The sound of burning wood can be very calming!
Wood Stove vs Oil-filled Heaters
Oil-filled heaters, though widely used, are quickly becoming less and less captivating due to a number of reasons. Here is a comparison between a wood stove and oil-filled heaters based on environmental-friendliness and safety.
- Environmental Friendliness
In recent years, the major cause of the decline in oil-filled heaters is the restriction on various oils that have been deemed harmful to the environment. However, they are still prevalent in many parts of the world where they are filled with diesel to produce heat, but that doesn’t take away the fact that even diesel releases harmful pollutants during combustion. As a comparison, wood stoves use the combustion from wood as a source of heat. Also, most stoves these days, including stove made by Cubic Mini Wood Stoves, now have secondary combustion systems which consume the majority of the smoke, which the stove uses to produce more heat. Not only do they emit less smoke, but they are also very eco-friendly since the natural carbon burnt during the combustion of wood has a minimal environmental impact.
It also provides a better environment inside the space. Unlike other heat sources like propane which emit water vapor as a bi-product. Wood stoves pull the humidity out the air making it much more comfortable for all those inside.
- Safety
It’s no secret that oil-filled heaters can be unsafe appliances as they carry highly flammable substances for combustion. They are always vulnerable to cause a blazing ignition in the case of a gas leak or a break in the lines! On top of that, having a tank of propane on a boat, totally isolated from civilization is not the safest either.
Conversely, compact wood burning stoves use wooden blocks that do not catch fire instantly, and hence, are much safer and easier to control than the oil-filled heaters. They also do not have gas lines nor require tanks to sore these fuels. If something ever did occur with a wood stove, shutting the stove off is as simple as closing the air intake. Any space with a wood stove should always have a CO2 alarm, and smoke detector to alert the occupants. But if the stove pipe is cleaned as it should be, leaks are rare, and or do not happen at all.
There you have it, a complete guide to buying the most efficient and effective heaters for your home, RV, boat or any space of your choice. And the best part is, wood stoves are now available anywhere, Canada, USA or even Europe. You can shop for wood stoves based on space and enjoy the most amazing solutions for your heating needs.
This article brought to us by Cubic Mini Wood Stoves