As Scott7m said there are others without fans. The fan will just make it get going quicker and have less smoke. I prefer the natural draft, as there is one less thing to maintain, and one less piece to keep on the shelf as a spare.
Recovery time has lots of variables, is there a load on the stove or is it just building back up after load stopped? Is there just a bed of coals, fresh load of wood, or a full load that has cycled a dozen times? Is the load on the stove just the house furnace? Or is the garage heater on also? Along with the shower on in the house and someone washing dishes , too? I can say that it has never failed recover in a timely fashion, I've seen all the draw hit it at once, and yes, it will dip if the fire isn't already going when everything hits it at once, but when that fire gets going, it has never failed to gain ground and hit the 180° mark while still being under load. I will be working close by it today. I can try to time its recovery with no load, if you'd like, but there isn't a big load of wood in it. It won't be the same as a big rolling winter time fire recovering.
One thing I have found with this stove, if firebox is empty, and you know a good load is going to hit it soon(i.e. teenage daughter taking hour long shower as soon as you fill with wood). Don't fill completely with cold wood. If you throw say 1/4-1/3 of a load of wood, let it get burning, come back a little later and fill completely. This does two things, the full firebox of cold wood doesn't suck heat out of the water while the house is drawing, and the smoke is kept to a bare minimum. And if you don't have the time to split the fill, well it'll still do its job just fine, if filled completely. Just thought I'd pass along something I learned while I was thinking about it.
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Topic: Ridgewood stoves (Read 47143 times)