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Amish Stoves

A traditional Amish stove, like much of their lifestyle, would not have looked out of place two hundred years ago. Well, they may have looked slightly out of place. The new versions are shinier, made of steel instead of from cast iron. The Amish dedication to what works and doesn’t threaten their way of life is truly impressive.

Since they shun electricity (and also utility delivered natural gas) Amish must use wood burning stoves for their cooking and heating. This is one of the few uses of wood burning stoves in a developed country. The first wood burning stoves were heavy cast iron pieces. Modern stoves are still heavy, because one of the important properties of a wood burning stove is that it stores heat.

This means that an Amish stove doesn’t just burn the wood, it acts as a heat sink. It draws the heat of the burning wood into itself, staying warm long after the fuel is spent. If you think about it, there’s no other way to go. If your stove didn’t store heat after the fire went out, you would have to add wood to the fire all night long on a cold winter’s night, and nobody wants to do that.

 

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