Wood Burning Stoves Reviews

The Franklin wood stove is actually a metal, free-standing fireplace with doors. Named after its inventor, Benjamin Franklin, it was invented in 1742 and was originally called a “Pennsylvania fireplace”. Franklin invented his stove to produce more heat, have fewer hot/cold spots and less smoke than the then prevailing open hearths.

Franklin’s stove features a hollow plenum at the back of the stove and relied on what Franklin called an “inverted siphon” to draw the fire’s very hot exhaust across the plenum; essentially creating a baffle which transfers the heat from the fire’s exhaust gases to the air in the plenum chamber. The plenum, or baffle, is open to the room’s air at its bottom and at two slots on its sides, close to its top. Inside room air entered the bottom of the baffle which is then heated by the fire and by the fire’s exhaust flowing up the front and down the back of the baffle. Inside the baffle, room air enters through the open bottom, be warmed by the heat-exchanging effect with the then heated air exiting through the slots in the baffle’s sides..

The height of most Franklin stoves is about 30 inches tall with a rectangular, boxy shape. The front side has doors and a decorative panel across the upper part of the box. The back of the box is placed a few inches away from the flue, or chimney. The plates are usually made from cast iron. On the bottom of the back panel there are several holes which allow the smoke to escape up a chimney or up a flue connected to a chimney.

Franklin’s wood stove did not sell well in the first few years. The design difficulty lies with the inverted siphon during the initial lighting. The exhaust fumes have to pass through a cold baffle before the exhaust could exit via the chimney. For that reason, the exhaust is simply too cool and the stove lacks a good draft (draught); at least until the fire has been burning for a while.

Franklin did not patent his design or the invention of the Franklin wood stove. As a result, many others were able to use Franklin’s design and improve upon it. Although his stove was originally intended for both cooking and heating, as time progressed and improved stove designs became available, the Franklin stove’s main purpose became to heat an area.

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