The Elm Stove Blog

Here are some tips on drying and storing firewood for your Elm stove.

I am happy to report that after building a fire with short pieces in the front half of the stove the room temp is over 70 degrees, and that is with 10′ ceilings. The room is warmer than when the stove was 24″ and I am using the same amount of wood. bigger is better!

Wildfire Elm, “U” tubes no holes
Each video I make shows changes to the Elm stove. This time I chose to make the side mounted “U” tubes with no holes. The air enters from the back of the stove and is rapidly heated inside these tubes, then released back into the room at between 500 and 1000 degrees F.

Steve’s brass trimmed Wildfire Elm stove

1976 Elm stove, refurbished like new

This was one of the original Elm stoves, made in 1976 in the Bobbin Mill in Warren, Vermont. It came in for a rebuild, with a customer hoping it was not too late to rescue it and make it a reliable heater for his home here in Vermont. I explained that it was in pretty sad shape and was lacking all of the upgrades added to the stoves over the past 35 years. He agreed it was time to make those upgrades and bring it up to the standards that I show the Clean Air Elms having. to learn more about Elm stoves, go to the my main site. thanks for watching!

In order to more accurately identify the WILDFIRE ELM and CLEAN AIR ELM stoves, lettering was added to the back castings of the stoves. On the inside of the backs were added heavy raised circles to strengthen the parts. On the front rings the company name was changed back to VERMONT IRON STOVE WORKS, which was the original name from the good old days at the Bobbin Mill.

This is Matt St. Cyr’s 30″ Wildfire Elm stove, complete with nickel trim, warming shelves, “U” tubes and soapstone on the griddle. Matt is the man responsible for restoring the boat of my dreams, a 1976 Mako center console with his signature hard top. What a beauty! Oh, yes, and his Elm is a beauty as well! Dressed in tradtitional satin black with 5 rows of firebricks, up to the challenge of heating his large New England cape in Pownal, Maine. thanks Matt!

Elm wood stoves have been around since 1975-76 and are still providing heat and comfort for their happy owners all over North America. I was able to purchase one of the first 6 Elms from a man in Middlebury, Vermont.  He was the original owner and had only good things to say about his treasure.  He was retiring to a Southern state and living in a motor home and was unable to properly care for his stove, so he was happy that I could provide a home for it.  My trusty helper Nate is the proud owner of one of the first two Elms.  Back then there were a number of differences, which were basically trial design features, later to be upgraded and improved.  From a historical point of view we believe it is important to keep these and be able to show them to people.  Of course there is ongoing work to improve the stoves of today as well as providing parts and plenty of valuable advice to Elm owners working to keep their stoves in safe working order.  If you are one of those happy Elm owners looking for parts and advice on how to install them we invite you to contact us.  I try to be available by phone or email and will give you the benefit of my years of experience with this product line.