Products More Dangerous than Wood Stoves

According to Washington's newest regulatory commission the following products are more dangerous than wood stoves:


The Twenty Most Dangerous
1. Bicycles and bicycle equipment.
2. Stairs, ramps and landings
3. Non glass doors
4. Cleaning caustic compounds
5. Non glass tables
6. Beds
7. Football
8. Playground apparatus
9. Liquid fuels
10. Architectural glass
11. Power lawn mowers
12. Baseballs
13. Nails, tacks and screws
14. Bathtubs and showers
15. Space heaters and heating stoves
16. Swimming pools
17. Cooking ranges and ovens
18. Basketball
19. Non upholstered chairs
20. Storage furniture

New York Times: Great Homes and Destinations - Features Good Time Stove Company

New York Times: Great Homes and Destinations
More Than a Warm Memory
By Billie Cohen
Published January 8, 2009.

THERE are some old things you wouldn’t want anywhere near your vacation home, like an ancient furnace or an aging refrigerator. But a wood-burning stove from the late 1800s, now that’s something different.

Patty Reece, who lives in Mission Hills, Kan., and who with her husband, Jerry, often escapes to a second home about 150 miles west in the Flint Hills region, recently recalled how she was converted to that blast of heat from the past.

“Years ago, when we were fairly newly married, we had been visiting my husband’s parents in Oregon, and we came across a little shop that had a wood stove,” she said. “We fell in love with it.” That same potbelly stove now heats one of the outbuildings at their country home. In fact, they enjoyed it so much, they installed three others. “I love to light a fire in the morning when we get up,” she said. “It’s a very cozy warmth.”

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On Stove Pipe

A number of different kinds of stove pipe are available. All of them are primarily, of course, in passing the smoke to the outside. However, stove pipe can supplement the heat transfer process itself. In colonial New England, stove pipe was commonly strung the length of the room under the ceiling to give maximum heating. A word of caution however - this will also cook the smoke and, particularly in a cold room will often cause the smoke to draft back through the stove into the room.


Generally there are two major types of stove pipes insulated and uninsulated. Insulated stove pipe is a prefabricated chimney. This pipe may safely be passed through floors, partitions, and roof by relatively simple construction methods. There are several different qualities of uninsulated stove pipe. The least expensive and least desirable is the galvanized or galvanized and blue sheet metal pipe. We have found that this type will usually last only a couple of years. Sulfuric acid which forms in the smoke condensate will rust out the pipe, resulting in holes which may be dangerous if undetected.


Heavier grades of sheet metal stove pipe can be made on special order. We recommend a heavy gauge stove pipe which is spray painted with a heat resistant flat black. Reducers, thimbles, elbows and other lengths of stove pipe are available.

On Installing a Wood Stove

Wood stoves and free-standing fireplaces can either be attached to existing chimneys or used with prefabricated chimneys installed through the ceiling or wall. Before installing any stove to an existing chimney, care should be taken that the chimney is sound and that there are no cracks or holes for sparks to enter into partitions. Also, the chimney should be cleaned occasionally since accumulations of creosote and soot can ignite and create chimney fires. When planning to attach a stove or fireplace to an old chimney where there are cracks and loose mortar, the chimney should be inspected by an expert, relined or rebuilt.


Stoves and fireplaces should not be installed closed than about 30 inches from an uninsulated combustible wall. Asbestos or insulated sheet metal panels are available to permit a stove to be placed much closer to the wall. Al asbestos or sheet metal plate should be under the stove if the stove is not placed on a brick set or stone hearth.