The Elm Stove Blog

The Elm wood stoves by Vermont Iron Stove Works,
formerly of Warren, Vermont and Waterbury, Vermont

The first Elms were made in the Bobbin Mill in Warren, Vermont in the mid 70′s when the price of home heating fuels had begun to get dramatically more expensive. Many people felt that burning wood was a way they could take advantage of the wood that grew on their property and save money in the process.

Small companies sprung up having developed stoves as simple as welded box stoves and as complex as ornate cast iron and soapstone heaters. The design for The Elm was a result of a local design competition. Each of the three stoves had it’s own unique look and features. Vermont Iron Stove Works was formed to manufacture the original Elm stoves. Vermont Castings was started with the Defiant as it’s original model. A third called the Maple was never produced.

Through the years from 1976 to about 1988 the Elm was produced in both catalytic and non-catalytic models in three basic sizes, being 18″, 24″ and 36″ log capacities. As wood stove manufacturers we were subject to a series of strict testing procedures. Both safety and efficiency were tested. In the end it was probably the cost of the testing that finally caused the company owners to decide to end production. It was costly to keep re-engineering and retesting the stoves to pass those standards. As a result the company does not exist, and original equipment replacement parts and procedures are hard to come by.

In 2004 I began to do internet searches to see what was out there regarding the Elm stoves. I was surprised to find very little. Although there are sites that say they have parts for the stoves, a closer look at those sources shows that some parts are not suitable for the home owner to try to install themselves. In some cases copies of original parts have been made in cast iron. The people who made them sometimes made parts that are smaller than the originals, and do not fit properly. In some cases the iron alloy was the problem and the part needed to be re-engineered in another material. I have spent time over the last year gathering information from many Elm owners and by purchasing and disassembling old Elms to analyze the problems. The result of this is that I have replacement parts that are in many ways superior to the original equipment parts. Many of the stoves are 25 to 30 years old, and can remain very useful for many more years to come with some basic maintenance and repairs.

During the past few months Nate and I and several happy Elm owners have experimented with various versions of tubes and box beams. While all systems work, some work better in different burn situations, and we are trying to narrow the choices to what works best for the majority of stoves and owners. The tried and true tubes include the most simple to make and install. We really like the “U” side mounted tubes. They have a long run to preheat the air and are off to the side and allow long fingers of flames to shoot across to the center just under the baffle. From there I built the first box beam which provides a huge reservoir of air in the center. The holes on the sides are quite effective at burning the volatile gases under the baffle. Holes on the bottom do that as well and also shoot down searching for gases as they are just leaving the logs. The most recent addition is holes across the front which wrap up and over the baffle. We also notice that the fire will choose where it wants to take that preheated air, sometimes choosing air from just the beam, and sometimes choosing air from the tubes. Often it is obvious that it is what ever is closest to the most actively burning logs. With an unobstructed view of the fire it is fun just to watch and observe the flames, whether there is lots of primary air or whether it is closed off and the fire is only receiving air from the secondary sources.