The heat is on

I had to put a sweater on this morning when I took the dogs out. It's the middle of September here in New England and the temperature range can span 40 degrees from the beginning of the week to the end. The chill made me nostalgic for the warmth only wood can provide. While a quality masonry heater can cost as much as $30 thousand to build, it can provide an excellent primary or reliable back up heat source and will surely be the centerpiece of a living room or kitchen, turning a house into a home. Smaller units can fill a corner and a room with heat for years and there's just no replacement you'll get from watching the flame through the glass doors.

My dad got me an authentic Waterford wood stove as a house warming gift like the one pictured above when I bought my first home (clever, huh?). That thing was awesome - heavy cast-iron and bright red enamel with a matte black stovepipe and beautiful glass doors to gaze at in the evening. Waterford stoves are no longer imported into the United States but I'm sure you could find a used one in great condition. I had the Tara model with accessories to assist with air circulation. The advantages of a unit like this are that they are typically more affordable than a larger stove and they heat up faster. Depending on the particular model, a stove like this is appropriate for a living room but a larger open space might be manageable with ceiling fans.

Dad had a wood cook stove in his kitchen similar to this one. It was in the house when he bought it and he had it restored so it could be used again. Cook stoves are just what they sound like - used to prepare food but maintaining a steady temperature is a real art. We just used it for heat and it did a wonderful job. They're not cheap - this restored model cost $6850.

 

A friend of ours had an old farm house that was practically built around a massive masonry heater that was the heart of the home, similar to the one below. Once they reach optimal temperature, two small fires every 24 hours are all that are required to warm a home with a gentle, low temperature with a quality different from any forced-hot-air furnace you might be used to. They really are beautiful, functional and provide bombproof reliability (literally!)

These warmers count on their sheer mass to store heat and deliver it back slow and steady over a chilly night and are really functioning works of art. These were a few different types that caught my eye. They're great examples of the intersection of Renewable, Reliable and Remarkable. What are some of your favorites?