Need Wood Stove Advice

[clemsonfor]

Favorites at Hearth are the Englander 30 which can be had for under $1000, no CAT. I would like to try the Blaze king King. Which is a cat stove but will hold like 80lbs of dry hardwood in a huge like 5cuft fireboz and burn for 40 hours on low.

I have a High Valley Cat stove. i have not had a non cat but after reading what others who have air tube stoves and cant turn theirs way down like i can on mine with the CATS which is where they shine. I have a 3.5 cuft box and can get heat in the shoulder seasons on 1 load for around 24hours.

 

[lockhaven]

baby grand I am sure that you have researched wood stoves, but in the case you have not I will tell you the results of my findings. Plain and simple the soap stone stoves are by far the most efficient and are very good looking, only problem being is they are expensive very expensive. next we have the welded steel plate or cast iron. I found a report which I have been unable to find again that both as far as heating are the same. The cast iron stoves are nicer looking but cost more. I have both, my hunting cabin has a caste iron stove, only because I got it slightly used and very cheap. At my legal address i have been heating 100% with a fireplace I bought a welded plate stove a New England this winter and am installing it as soon as i am sure that the cold is over. The fireplace does the job but I am getting older and want to reduce the amount of wood i have to cut.
You sir are very smart to stay away from coal, a customer of mine has a coal furnace. when oil jumps up so does the coal no good reason it just does. You will find that people want everyone else to buy what they did, that is human nature. Myself being a stupid ignorant racist (recently called that by some in the "friendly Politics" forum) do not care. research your stove get what you want. :thumbsup:

 

[clemsonfor]

Wow your heating your house 100% with a fire place! you must really like to cut wood! I only use about twice the wood i did with a fireplace and instead of heating one room up a few degrees for about 6 hours a day i heat my whole house all winter to 70-80 degrees!

 

[lockhaven]

I have been heating entirely with firewood for ten years, during the cold I get up every 2 hours and throw a few more logs on the fire. I work at home so the 2hour feeding is a 24 7 ordeal. cutting firewood is something I enjoy but not that much. That is why i got the stove, money was the problem but I saved and cut corners till I was able to buy one.

 

[bearcreek paul]

Check out the harman multi fuel furnace.It will heat you house no problem and gives you the option if your gone for a while to heat home without being there.
Oh yes get ready for sticker shock.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Try to find a used Vermont Castings Defiant. They are work horses. Cast iron and built to last. I have one and it heats my 1977 raised ranch all winter. No oil burner even with -25F outside. House is 28x48, 2 floors. Large firebox allows burning all night or day (9-10+hrs).

Go stainless steel chimney liner for added peace of mind with respect to maintenance, cleaning and chimney fires.

I just rebuilt the original fireback for $325 and the stove is like new.

.

My brother has the same set-up. I think it will take a 22' or larger log(?). He uses about 3-4
cord a year depending on wood type. I have the next model down - Resolute - without the catalytic piece. I replaced my fire back for $145. There's a thread here somewhere showing the rebuild. About 8 months later I found a used one in better shape for $250.
Now I have all the parts I will ever need - hopefully. We heat a 200 year old somewhat drafty house with 3-5 cords of wood a year with some oil/hot water BB back-up. House size is just under 1800 sqft. I move the air around with strategically placed fans, plus we have a direct grate to master bedroom(which is against today's code) but heats the bedroom plus several other rooms. The stairway provides a route for heat as well. You should look at Jotal stoves too. I originally did but found a deal on the first Resolute 12+ years ago that I couldn't resist.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Baby Grand]

Oh - you guys are killing me - so much homework!
Thanks, everyone, for helping with your suggestions.


Looking at the furnaces, they all seem to assume you have duct work, which I don't. Got sidetracked for hours reading about the Kuuma furnaces. All good info and even if I don't use a furnace, there's lots of great heating ideas on the furnace websites.

LloydE: I checked Craig's List, and in my area there's lots of Vermont Castings and an unbelievable selection of Jotuls to choose from.

Thanks, Lockhaven, for the moral suport!

Clemsfor - thanks for your suggestions and the insight on the low burn issue. I'll have toi research that some.

Moss - thanks for the Napoleon suggestion - more to research.

KennyG - thanks and I have been considering putting some registers through the floors, upstair, to help get the heat up. Just don't want to cut holes in the nice oak flooring, but it may come to that. Have to check our local building codes, too. Basically, we keep the basement door open all the time, so a lot of the heat comes up the stairs into the kitchen and then to the rest of the house. Some of the heat stratifies under the floor joists and that tends to warm the upstairs floor in a very pleasant way, so I'd like to keep that aspect. Starting to research piping in outside air to the stove to increase chimney draw and address potential smoking issues.

 

[logdog]

This is a rather timely subject for me. We are having a soapstone stove delivered today. Our research lead us to believe it would be the best option for us. Price-wise is was on par with the Vermont Castings stoves we looked at. Within 200 dollars actually. We are getting a Hearthstone Mansfield.

 

[KennyG]

I don't think there's any restriction on vents through walls/floors in residential construction since the only requirement for fire barriers is usually to an attached garage. The old two story farm houses often had a central pot belly stove on the first floor and had vents cut through the ceiling to each 2nd floor room. My recollection (dim as it may be now) is that they heated pretty evenly.

 

[peterc38]

In regards to vermont castings, just my opinion but i think the new ones are junk. They are not your fathers Vermont casting. Do some research before you consider one.

Someone else mentioned Englander NC30 which is a great bang for your buck. My personal choice would be Jotul, very efficient/reliable.