I want a personal review from someone who has used a wood stove. Can you give me your personal review?

If you want a personal review then you have come to the right place. For the better part of my life I have grown up with some kind of wood stove, wood stove insert, gas stove and/or fireplace in my house. I grew up in the northeast (Pennsylvania) and have experienced many cold winters. My family’s first wood stove, which we still own, was used as a stand-alone wood stove. It was a front-loading stove, meaning you load the wood from the front, through two doors that lock shut. This stove was a little bit older and did not have a fan on it to push the warm air into the room. The stove was also hard to keep at a regulated temperature; meaning sometimes it would get extremely hot, almost unbearably hot. 

 

Our next stove was an insert stove. This stove fit inside our fireplace opening and came with a fan that blew the warm air around the room and house. The fan had adjustable speeds and was a nice feature. This stove had cosmetic elements as well. Unlike our first stove, this stove came with a wire spark shield that was placed in the front of the stove with the doors open. This allowed our family to enjoy the view of the crackling fire and the warmth of the fire. This stove also had glass in the front doors, which allowed the glow of the fire to be seen even when the front doors were closed. 

 

My family had access to some wooded acreage, so we were able to cut wood in the summer and fall to be ready for the winter. Obviously this is the most cost efficient way to heat a house. It seems like gathering wood for the winter is dying away in our culture. Now my family has a natural gas insert in the fireplace and gets the gas tank filled every few months, no more wood, no more mess. My in-laws now have a freestanding gas stove that neither requires wood or a chimney. These highly functional, aesthetically pleasing units are relatively inexpensive and are a great heating source for your home.