ᐅ Wood-burning stove with a rotating or sliding door? Smoke and ash issues

Hello everyone,

Last week we visited two different stove manufacturers in the Stuttgart area (we want a tunnel wood stove about 56-70 cm (22-28 inches) wide with two glass panes, installed through a wall between the dining and living rooms). Since both unfortunately gave almost opposite advice, we are now a bit confused and wanted to ask about your experiences.

- **Sliding or hinged door:** Stove manufacturer A explicitly recommends a sliding door on the side where the stove is loaded, which opens upwards ("with a sliding door that opens upwards, there is no problem with ash falling out or smoke entering the room – this only happens with hinged doors"). Stove manufacturer B recommended a hinged door for the loading side ("hinged doors, where you swing the glass pane on the fire chamber to the right or left, seal better than sliding doors"). He did not mention any issues with smoke or ash when opening the hinged door.
- **Sizing / heat storage:** Only stove manufacturer B suggested placing about six round heat storage bricks on the stove before the exhaust gases are channeled into the flue. The exhaust gases run in a spiral through these storage stones, which retain heat somewhat. This is somewhat along the lines of a masonry heater, though obviously far from a full masonry heater. We have a KFW 55 solid Poroton house and want to avoid overheating when operating the stove. He said that with these round storage stones, through which the exhaust gases pass, you can reduce a 10 kW stove to 5 kW output and thus have no risk of overheating. Is that correct? Stove manufacturer A intends to build with fireclay bricks (chamotte) where the exhaust gases are led.

My main concern is experiences with sliding versus hinged doors: is ash and smoke really no longer an issue with sliding doors? Or is it also no problem with properly designed hinged doors that open to the right or left?

Many thanks and best regards

A standard door causes no problems with proper use. It also has the advantage that the door can be cleaned much more easily from the inside. I cannot say whether the sliding door is as airtight as the standard door. All I can say is that the standard door is 100% airtight.

We had our wood stove without heat-retaining stones, only for visual purposes. I would not do more than that in the next house either.

I would also prefer the hinged door option.
The sliding door may look sleeker or more original, but in my opinion it is less suitable, especially when it comes to cleaning, as @nordanney already mentioned.
I consider the idea of ash falling out to be more of a myth; at least, I haven’t experienced that in all the years with my fireplace. If some cold ash does happen to fall out, there is a plate to catch it.
For functional reasons, a hinged door is better; it can still be opened easily even after many years. A sliding mechanism is more delicate and therefore probably more prone to problems. Eventually, the sliding door won’t glide as smoothly, and that would annoy me.

Thank you both. Yes, that does surprise me a bit... after all, a large proportion of wood-burning stoves probably come with a hinged door.

Our stoves have swing doors. When opening, a small amount of ash can be drawn out, which is normal when the units are well sealed. Therefore, we first open the door slightly before opening it fully. This is simply a matter of habit. Smoke is not an issue if you have a clean burn – a good, properly installed stove, suitable and very dry wood, skillful lighting, and good air supply control (whether manual or automatic does not matter).

Whether the door opens one way or the other is a matter of preference. Both options can be good or bad.

I would definitely recommend using thermal storage bricks or something similar; otherwise, you'll feel overwhelmed when you turn on the 10 kW stove... We also have a KfW 55 house and a masonry stove with thermal storage/firebrick, and unlike relatives who can’t sit at the table because it gets too hot, it works great for us.