By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN
With heating prices expected to significantly rise this winter due to consumer demand and the war in Ukraine, more homeowners are seeking a traditional way of keeping their homes warm through to the spring—by burning wood.
On the Cape, stove shops and installers are witnessing this in the number of customers who are adding wood stoves and pellet stoves to their homes. “We’re having an onslaught of people who are having us install stoves for them,” said Falmouth Chimney Sweep owner Joe Bento. “I guess with the oil crunch, a lot of people automatically fall back to wood because they know they can get it.”
While Falmouth Chimney Sweep does not sell wood-burning stoves, they do install and offer yearly routine maintenance on them. A good first step for a homeowner in the market for one is to consult someone with expertise like Mr. Bento.
“They don’t have to call me. They can call any certified and licensed chimney sweep,” he said. “We can ask them all the pertinent questions for the info the stove shop is going to need. This way, they can be prepared when they go to the stove shop and do some serious shopping. That’s the advantage of talking to someone like me first.”
In August, Mr. Bento said stove installations were roughly a month out. After Labor Day, the time frame for scheduling that work extends to roughly six weeks. “People should strike while the iron is hot,” he said. “If everything goes smoothly—when I say smoothly, once the customer has decided which stove they want—if they contact me, we can make arrangements to pick it up, deliver it and install it.”
Mr. Bento said the primary consideration is for homeowners to determine how much area they want to heat. “That is the first thing they should take and bring to the stove shop, and they can properly choose a stove that will fit their needs,” he said. “One of the biggest mistakes a lot of people make is they buy a stove bigger than their needs. What happens is they end up not burning the stove as they should, and it ends up burning creosote and you may cause a chimney fire.”
Consumers should also determine whether they want to purchase a wood or a pellet stove. Pellet stoves can be installed closer to combustible materials than their counterpart. They can also be vented straight through the wall, as long as it meets the building code, and “dead end there versus going into a chimney like a wood stove,” Mr. Bento said.
Wood stoves, he said, are stylish with more design options. “Obviously with a wood stove, you’ll buy one with a glass door, so you’ll get heat and also ambiance,” he said. “A pellet stove has just a little flame flickering. For me, wood stoves are much prettier.”
Over the past 31 years, Gale Loveland has helped consumers heat their homes as owner of Bow and Arrow Stove Company located for the past 24 years in Marstons Mills.
Bow and Arrow sells wood and gas stoves as well as wood and gas inserts along with accessories for both. “The advantage of a free-standing wood stove is you’re going to get all that radiant heat from the body of a stove,” she said. “With inserts, it’s dependent on a blower system, which is something to be aware of. With the blower system, one of the drawbacks is you need to be concerned about power outages. Without a blower, you don’t get as much heat from the insert.”
Ms. Loveland’s store provides free estimates and works with two different insured and licensed installers that it recommends to customers. “We sub out the installation work essentially, but it’s always worked well for us,” she said.
While wood stoves have their advantages, Ms. Loveland said homeowners should pay close attention to the wood source. “If you wait until now to buy green wood, it’s not going to be ready to burn properly,” she said. “You have to buy wood six months to a year before you know you have dry, seasoned wood, which maximizes efficiencies.”
At Fireplace and Stove Center in Cataumet, consumers can purchase wood, pellet or gas stoves as well as a variety of fireplace inserts. “A great place to start is having a consultant like myself or one of my colleagues come out to your house or meet up at the shop to talk about your living space and whether you have existing masonry and whether you’re looking to convert to a wood or pellet stove,” said general manager Corey Conant.
In-home consultations, Mr. Conant said, allow his staff to take pictures and measurements and to identify potential pitfalls when it comes to sizing and placement. “This way we’re making sure we’re adhering to all of the clearance-to-combustible requirements,” he said. “We want to make sure the stove is safe, number one, and properly sized for the home and living space.”
His store not only sells stoves but also can manage the installation of them.
Mr. Conant listed several differences between wood and pellet stoves. The former, he said, “are more laborious because you’re dealing with trying to find a consistent and quality source of wood around here on the Cape. You want to make sure you have good, dry wood and you’re not burning bad wood, as it can cause problems.
“The advantage of a wood stove is in the event of a power failure, which can happen a lot down here on the Cape, you still have a source of heat, whereas a pellet stove requires electricity for combustion and exhaust blowers,” he continued. “On the flip side, if you’ve got a generator and you’re looking for something easier to manage, you may want to consider a pellet stove.”
Wood pellets, he said, are relatively easy to keep in a home in comparison to wood, which should be stacked outdoors and covered and needs to be seasoned.
He estimated the cost to purchase and install a stove, he said, ranges from $4,000 to $7,000, a price that includes venting materials as well as labor. Currently, there are tax credits available that cover up to 26 percent of the purchase and installation costs in 2022 and up to 22 percent in 2023, for newer stoves that meet energy efficiency standards.
Having been at Fireplace and Stove Center the past four years, Mr. Conant said he enjoys helping people. “We’re very customer-service-forward and a friendly business. I enjoy the challenges we help people overcome, and I enjoy shaking hands, meeting families and helping people stay warm in the winter here in New England. It’s something we take pride in, being a part of the community.”