Need Wood Stove Advice

[magicheater]

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.

I built a 2 story masonry stove to solve my heating problems. It weighs about 4000 lbs. and you only fire it for 1-1.5 hrs. mess in the basement and heat on both floors. It is a lot more involved than a wood stove but inherently safer. On REALLY cold periods you fire it twice a day. I burn scrap pallet wood I get for free. No creosote problems at all. I don't have and hopefully will not ever have duct work.

 

[lockhaven]

I built a 2 story masonry stove to solve my heating problems. It weighs about 4000 lbs. and you only fire it for 1-1.5 hrs. mess in the basement and heat on both floors. It is a lot more involved than a wood stove but inherently safer. On REALLY cold periods you fire it twice a day. I burn scrap pallet wood I get for free. No creosote problems at all. I don't have and hopefully will not ever have duct work.

got any pictures? sound interesting

 

[Baby Grand]

I built a 2 story masonry stove to solve my heating problems. It weighs about 4000 lbs. and you only fire it for 1-1.5 hrs. mess in the basement and heat on both floors. It is a lot more involved than a wood stove but inherently safer. On REALLY cold periods you fire it twice a day. I burn scrap pallet wood I get for free. No creosote problems at all. I don't have and hopefully will not ever have duct work.

Is this what's also called a Russian fireplace/stove? A design where the combustion gasses circulate through a masonry network, extracting heat and slowly transferring it to the living space? I saw something about those in my internoodle journey last night. I'll second Lockhaven - let's see some pictures! I'm just currious - can't really do it here. But we already have a massive, 2 story, 3 flue central brick chimney that I think will work as a heat battery, warming slowly from the fire's high burn and the releasing heat slowly as heat from the fire ebbs.

The floor plan is only 1300 sqft, so I only need something in the 35k BTU range to fire efficiently and get adequate heat.

 

[Baby Grand]

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.

From what I saw of VC, they seem to now be the Land Rovers of the stove world. Very expensive and showy interpretayions of the utilitarian device they once were. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just personally drawn to thing of utility looking like they were meant to perform and taking their good looks from that, not having it added on. An good anvil is a thing of beauty to behold and a joy to use. Painting it cranberry doesn't do anything for me.

I will give the Englander a look, but I'm starting to like what I'm seeing in some of the Jotul stove more and more.

 

[IndyIan]

We've done 100% of our heating for the last 7 years with a Regency F2400.
F2400 Wood Stove - Wood Stoves - Regency Fireplace Products
Nothing fancy, its a box, that burns wood with reasonable efficiency. My wife has had the top a dull red a couple times and it hasn't warped and we haven't even needed replace the rope around the door or glass.
It seems to burn quite cleanly leaving minimal amounts of creosote but we have the insulated $100/ft chimney pipe and we don't get a smokey smell even if we reverse the draft with the kitchen fan and dryer on.
The fire box is a bit small for 16" wood but I cut my own too, so I aim for 14" and that makes it easy to stuff the firebox.
We go through about 3 cords of medium hardwood(ash, red maple) a year.

 

[lampmfg]

I'm starting to look for a wood stove for supplementing our oil heat. Any brand or model recommendations? We have a 1950's ranch with a partly finished basement, which is where the old stove is.

Old stove's an Ashley C-62 from the 70's I think. Seems to have a leak or crack in the main firebox - you can always smell a little smoke when it's running. Plant Manager says it must go. If I can find the leak & weld it up, then it will have a new home out in the "tractor shed", replacing the old Warner that can't seem to make enough heat. The few times that we fired the Ashley up it did a great job of heating the house. Made the floors upstairs on the ground level comfortably warm and generally seemed to reduce the oil furnace firings by 50 - 70%.

Our house is about 1100 sq ft (upstairs living space) with about the same down in the basement. I'd like to get something that is high quality, burns clean and long on a single load. I'd like to avoid catalysts, if possible. I have no interest in pellet stoves as I have lots of hardwood on our property and a bunch that is cut and ready to split. What do you all think?

The VaporFire 200 would be great for your 1100 sq ft and we are currently offering Free Shipping. Watch the video's on our website and read the reviews, because you won't find anyone that owns one unsatisfied. These things are built like tanks with 25 year firebox warranties.

It is the best indoor forced air wood furnace on the market and we have independent test results to prove it...

.45 Gr/Hr. Emmission
99.4% Combustion Efficiency
99% Smokeless Burns
84% Overall Efficiency

You won't find these type of numbers on any other indoor wood burning furnaces. Search Kuuma on Hearth.com as well and read our VaporFire reviews there as well!!

www.lamppakuuma.com

 

[Scooby074]

First advice, GO BIG. Manufacturers recommendations are made under IDEAL conditions. Windows, drafts etc. in the real world make them very inaccurate. I heat 1700 sq ft ranch with only wood. I sized my stove by manufacturer's recommendations and I am WAY undersized.

Brands:

I currently have a 2 yr old Napoleon.. Its junk. Hate it. Avoid the brand. I'll likely have to replace it next season. They suck for warranty and overall the quality of the unit isnt up to the premium brands like PE or Jotul

When i replace it, im leaning towards a Pacific Energy Summit (steel) or a Jotul f600 (cast).

A friend has a PE Summit and it works very well for him. His house is larger than mine and he burns half the fuel!! Warranty is awesome, lifetime on many parts. Easy to get warranty from the company.

I have no friends with Jotul, but looking online and talking to dealers there reputation is stellar, however they can be sticky with warranty.

Vermont, well as mentioned VC today isnt VC of yesterday. Theyve changed hands at least once. Parts now are very expensive. And they basically wrote off all the owners of stoves prior to when the new owners took over (a la GM). This is directly from a VC dealer!

 

[TCowner]

Scooby, I am glad you had luck with Pacific Energy. I did not. I purchased the Pacific Energy Super 27 model back in 2007. For three years it was great but after my annual chimney inspection and cleaning the technician mentioned that the baffle in the stove was warped and should be replaced. I contacted the local dealer who sold and installed the stove and they agreed to look at it but suggested we had "over fired" the stove. Pacific Energy agreed to replace the baffle but would not pay the labor.

In late February of 2011 I noticed the there was a crack in the top of the stove as I was walking past it in the dark one night and could see light shining through it. Again, I contacted my dealer and was told that I was probably "over firing" the stove. Since the stove is supposed to have a "limited lifetime warranty" on the firebox I was hoping to get the stove replaced. I was advised that since I had "over fired" the stove that the warranty would not apply as there was evidence of misuse and abuse.

So much for a lifetime warranty. Of course I told my dealer that I would not replace the stove with another Pacific Energy product. I was offered a $200 credit off the purchase of another Pacific Energy stove. I declined the offer and had a welding shop, who makes house calls, weld the top to see if it would hold. Its been fine ever since but I am going to replace the stove the fall.

So, no Pacific Energy products for me. Lifetime warranty right? I guess I should have asked "whose life time?"

With respect to the claim that I "over fired" the stove I don't buy it. I can't deny that there are times when the fire gets going pretty well before I shut down the air intake. But only for a few minutes. If that is all it takes to destroy a $1400 stove then I will go the cheaper route and purchase the $500 stove at Tractor Supply and replace it every 3 years.

Right now I think the Blaze King is the route I want to go.

 

[Baby Grand]

The VaporFire 200 would be great for your 1100 sq ft and we are currently offering Free Shipping. Watch the video's on our website and read the reviews, because you won't find anyone that owns one unsatisfied. These things are built like tanks with 25 year firebox warranties.

It is the best indoor forced air wood furnace on the market and we have independent test results to prove it...

.45 Gr/Hr. Emmission
99.4% Combustion Efficiency
99% Smokeless Burns
84% Overall Efficiency

You won't find these type of numbers on any other indoor wood burning furnaces. Search Kuuma on Hearth.com as well and read our VaporFire reviews there as well!!

www.lamppakuuma.com

I visited your website early in my research, based on seeing your products featured in Farm Show. See post #27 for my comments. To say the least, I was very impressed. My question is this: How would I integrate your forced air furnace into a very modest sized (1100 sq ft) ranch with oil fired, hot water heat?
Thanks, and congratulations on producing an impressive product that is very kind to our environment.
-Jim

 

[Scooby074]

Interesting TCowner. I DONOT have a PE stove. A friend has one and has had great luck. Im only considering it to replace my piece o'crap napoleon.

Too bad about your problems. From all Ive read they seem to be very well built stoves. I specifically asked the local dealer about overfiring a PE and he said it was nearly imposable with the stainless firebox and even if something happened, its covered.

Compared to Jotul, who refuses to warrant a overfire. There is MUCH on the net about them denying warranty for people who overfire when trying to get the stove to light by keeping the ash drawer door open. Two separate Jotul dealers confirmed as much.

Maybe alot of this comes down to the dealer?

Ive read good things about the BK King stove, but it requires an 8" flue, so no-go for me.