Reader Peter Davidson wrote in with a question about the small wood stove we use, the Morso 1410 “Squirrel” Wood Stove, and the Caframo Ecofan, a thermoelectric stovetop fan that helps push warm air around. Here is his email:

In reading your blog post about wood stoves I’m very interested in your follow-up opinion on the Morso stove and Ecofan that you’re using.  Do you have any new perspectives or updates after using them for an extended period of time? Looks like life is good!
Be well,
~Peter

Read ahead for my response!

Morso 1410 Squirrel Stove Performance

We are pleased with the small Morso 1410 stove and Caframo Ecofan. The stove is very small, so it takes a lot of tending, which is not surprising. When fed nice dry hardwood, it will burn happily and very cleanly, and again…. not long, but very thoroughly, which is perhaps more important. You will definitely not achieve the “sacred” eight hour burn, and probably not even two. But: our house is small so this stove is appropriate to the scale. This stove will take more labor than other larger stoves, between the increased tending, and the smaller firewood (10-12″ length) necessary. Even after many hours of burn time, the ash production is rather small, which is a good sign of clean burning, I think. I rarely see smoke leaving the chimney outside.

I really love the large view window, and it definitely enhances the Squirrel — watching the flames lick the glass, watching the smoke burn off is a lovely sight on cold winter nights. I’ve not seen another small wood stove in the same class with the same visual appeal. Is that enough reason to buy one stove over another? Combined with the good performance of the 1410, it might make a difference.

The Ecofan does help move air around, and is a nice “conversation piece” — which is a weird thing to say, but it comes up a lot when people see it. It does not make a hugely dramatic difference, but I do believe it helps move air around effectively. We often point it in the direction of where we are sitting. It’s a bit expensive, but there’s not much to go wrong with it, so it should last a very long time, at least.