Elite Soapstone Stoves by Tulikivi
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 11. 9.05
These stoves bristle with efficiency — they are soapstone stoves from the Finish company Tulikivi. They use radiant heat to warm up your house, which is a highly desirable type of heat — it's even and non-drying. It passes through the air in the room, and warms all of the solid surfaces in the room that it "shines" on. Soapstone is used to build these stoves because holds heat very well, and releases it gradually. Unlike wood-burning stoves, the Tulikivi is not finicky. Any seasoned wood will burn well. In Finland these fireplaces are burned with soft woods like pine and birch.
The stoves are also very effective at burning wood. Because the fire burns so hot, the wood is totally vaporized. There are no ash, creosote, smoke, or charcoal byproducts left behind, only mineral content from the wood. The fumes emitted by the Tulikivi fireplaces are below the requirements of the German DIN 18891 norm (also Washington state and Colorado state), but the efficiency level is higher than stipulated. The nitrogen content of wood is approx. 0.05%. The smoke gases therefore only contain tiny quantities of nitrogen oxide. The sulfur content of wood is also minimal.
In terms of price, you're looking at a range of $4000 to $15000. Distributors can be found on the Tulikivi web site.
:: Tulikivi
I'm wondering why the promotion of a resource depleting product is being promoted here? Rocks should stay in the ground where we can hug them too.
What do you suggest we make stoves out of?
Soapstone is primarily talc and is exceedingly soft. I'd be a little uncomfortable having a huge block of it in my house shedding dust every time something brushed against it.
We built a Tulikivi into our farmhouse kitchen when we built in '98 near Seattle. So I've lived with one of these critters for 7 years now. They do have a personality all their own; bloody expensive but kind of a work of art. As an engineer, I love being able to stuff it with wood, get it roaring, and walk outside: Other houses in the neighborhood have a long trailing plume of woodsmoke, all you can see at our house is a little heat-ripple at the top of the chimney. It's not magic: It takes care to start, especially the first time ever, and the first time each fall. It smokes if the wood isn't decently dry - the Madrona we burn really needs two summers to dry out. Two limitations: The heat is almost entirely radiant, which means anything which is out of sight of the Tulikivi *isn't warmed by it* - if you want to warm adjacent rooms, you'll have to blow air around. And it burns hot and *fast* - a full firebox is vaporized in 20-30 minutes. No leisurely romantic dinners by firelight! A big positive: It never gets hot like a metal stove (our cat sleeps on top of it after a burn), but even if it did a child could touch it safely because soapstone has much lower thermal conductivity than metal: Your reflexes have plenty of time to pull your skin away before you'd absorb enough heat to get a burn.
I don't know of the mineral composition of these stoves' material but I can tell, it's not very soft. I have other things made out of the same material and they don't dust at all.
Crosius - There must be different grades or kinds of soapstone. The Tulikivi doesn't shed any dust - it's a durable, polished surface. Visually it resembles granite but is nowhere near as hard. Inuit carvers use something very similar. It takes a nice polish, almost any metal edge will scratch it, it absorbs oils. I haven't tried acids (like orange juice) but people claim soapstone isn't affected by acids. The stove itself is a little messy - from the ashes that leak out as you open and close the door, and the debris falling off the firewood you feed it.
January 2006 Looked at the stove today in Virginia AFTER seeing them /or another brand in Germany. The USA dealers try to bump you up to the MOST expensive units. Now USA price ranges are 10k to almost 30K for a unit. That does NOT include a foundation or a chimney either!
Way overpriced unless it is your dream home or somthing. People in Europe get the smaller models for rooms under 1000 sq ft. Suggest you do the same. Tulikivi is a Public Stock company in Finland.