Stove Recommendation for Newer Home

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mdaniel

Member
Nov 15, 2008
41
Central Massachusetts
Great forum, with a lot of very informative information.

I have a home that was built in 2010, it is 2,200+ sq ft ranch style home with open floor plan and cathedral ceilings throughout main living area. I am considering a woodstove for heating the house, to reduce or eliminate the high priced oil that I am currently using. The house is very "tight" with very good insulation and windows.
The stove will be in the main area of the house which is a living room, dining room and kithchen all in one large sized room (~1,100 sq. ft.). I think I want a stove that has a CAT, but not sure. I definitely need to be able to regulate the burn so I don't get blasted out the house. I hear great things about Blaze Kings, if I were to go that route I would consider the "Princess" as I do not believe I need the "King" as my home does pretty well holding in the heat.
What other options are there for reliable, well built stoves that can be adjusted fairy easily to regulate the temerature in and around the stove? I am new to woodstoves, I had a pellet stove in my previous home and did not like it very much. I own a good size piece of land and in the future will be able to harvest my own wood for burning. The first year I will have to buy my wood, as I have nothing cut and split yet. I plan on purchasing 3 cord in the next couple of weeks to be ready for next winter. I hope to buy a stove sometime soon and install sometime over the summer.
I don't have a chimney, so I plan on going straight up from the stove and through the roof.
Let me know your ideas and recommendations for a stove that is easy to use and built to last (hopefully).
 
Haha, you'll get nearly as many options as replies, everyone basically likes the one they have for one reason or another.

How about some questions-

Do you have any clearance needs (some stoves can be as low as 4.25" rear clearance like my Lopi, or up to 24" with some soapstone stoves)?

Any visual preferences (enamel options, shapes-yes, you can have variety there too, from the boxier Englanders and Lopis to the Potbelly look for the Thelin, soapstone)?

What didn't you like about the pellet stove?

What chimney height are you looking at?
 
Not sure about the chimney height. About 17' in the house another 3' in the attic. My roof has a very steep pitch, so not sure about that. The area where I would like to place the stove is almost in the center of the house so the chimney will come out near the peak. I do not think I want to attempt an install myself, so I wil be lookiing to have the chimney installed by someone that actually knows what they are doing ;-)
As far as pellet stoves, I had a Harman XXV and I had to replace the igniter 2x and the main control board once. My experience with pellet stoves has been negative, but some people love them. One other issue I have with pellet stoves is the pellets themselves. I tried different brands. There is no consistency in the quality of pellets, some are very high ash with not as much heat. If I had good luck with a certain brand of pellets and later ordered the same brand, the pellet quality was not the same. That frustrated me to no end. Also since I have land and can get my own wood, I don't have to worry about prices spiking or a shortage of fuel. I remember back in 2008 I could not find anyone that had pellets in stock, I had a stove, but NO FUEL >:-(
To each their own. I tried pellet stoves and was disappointed. At least with a wood stove I have the fuel (although a lot of work) and wood stoves don't have as many gthings to break down on them. Also when I have a power failure I can still get heat!!
 
Ah, ok. I asked about chimney height only because it will effect draft and some stoves work differently with taller or shorter stacks. Or so I understand :D

As far as cat stoves, I am not a fan of the BK stove's looks. Personal opinion of course, but if it's going in my living room and I have to look at it, I want something I like the look of. So...from the ones I'm aware of, I like the Woodstook Progress (which is actually a hybrid) but the clearances were WAY too much for us, and the Dutchwest. We ended up with a tube stove because we have two Lopi gas stoves we like (in our old house), and we felt the dealer would do the best install for us.

I also wanted a front loader vs top or side-again, personal opinion.
 
There are a lot of good stoves on the market that will probably work out fine for you. In catalytic steel stoves there are also Buck and Kuma stoves. From the description of the house it sounds like a convection stove with some good mass would also do the job. The stove's mass will help smooth out thermal cycling by retaining heat and then slowly releasing as the fire burns down. Our T6 is designed around this principal. So are most soapstone stoves. Woodstock makes combination cat/soapstone stoves near you. They offer good service and have several happy users here that can tell you all about their stoves. I am going to recommend getting a 2-3 cu ft stove based on your climate zone. You can run a bigger stove with a partial load of fuel during milder weather.

Here are some helpful articles to read about stoves and wood heating:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/choosing_a_wood_stove
http://www.woodheat.org/wood-stoves.html
 
Thanks for your help. I will review some of these suggestions. All I know is that a BK stove retails for a little over $3k, and the few dealers that sell them around here are getting list for them. If I ca find a nice stove that works for me and I can save some $$$ on the stove, than all id good. I definitely need to be able to regulate the stove temp, so I am not blasted out of the room the stove is in. That is probably my #1 concern with a wood stove is the "blast furnace" affect vs heat that can be adjusted to the actual waether outside. This winter has been much warmer tha normal, but oil is still at ~ $3.60/gallon, I will be burning wood next winter for sure.
 
I think he wants the new F55 out in February!
 
That's a big room, with cathedral ceilings. I don't think you'll have to worry about being blasted out by much of anything. Whatever you do, don't undersize the stove. You'll be disappointed with length of burn, and you might need the extra oomph on the really cold days.
Guess it depends on what you want to look at, and how much you want to spend. Something in the 3ft³ range sounds perfect. I will say, I have my BK in a similar sized room, but with 8' ceilings, and it seems just right. The King is a big stove, though, and takes up a lot of space. I works out perfectly for us, though. I'm out of town for work a couple of nights a week, and my wife appreciates not having to load it often and the ease of operation. It's also the only heat we have.
 
Heat2012 said:
That is probably my #1 concern with a wood stove is the "blast furnace" affect vs heat that can be adjusted to the actual waether outside. This winter has been much warmer tha normal, but oil is still at ~ $3.60/gallon, I will be burning wood next winter for sure.
Click to expand...

I would suggest going to a hearth shop and standing by the stoves. I don't find the woodstove has a blast furnace effect at all. More of a warm to the bone effect, like nothing but a fire can do (the gas stoves we had tried valiently and were close, but not quite the same). Even a tube stove can be controlled by size of fuel load and damper. We only hit 80 in the Cottage once when we first got the stove-and we're running an oversized stove (we're a bit less than 700 sq ft and the Republic 1750 is rated for 1200-2000 sq ft or there abouts). Mind you, we have a former summer cottage, but still, it's more stove than we should need. We just don't "overfeed" it unless it's really cold out (pack it full), although we do try to cruise around 500 degrees-we don't run a cool fire. Since we have questionable insulation and are't planning on completely ripping the place apart, we're good-it was only about 60-65 in the Cottage when it was 5 degrees out, so we sized right on, a smaller stove would have been overworked trying to keep warm.
 
Heat2012 said:
Great forum, with a lot of very informative information.

I have a home that was built in 2010, it is 2,200+ sq ft ranch style home with open floor plan and cathedral ceilings throughout main living area. I am considering a woodstove for heating the house, to reduce or eliminate the high priced oil that I am currently using. The house is very "tight" with very good insulation and windows.
The stove will be in the main area of the house which is a living room, dining room and kithchen all in one large sized room (~1,100 sq. ft.). I think I want a stove that has a CAT, but not sure. I definitely need to be able to regulate the burn so I don't get blasted out the house. I hear great things about Blaze Kings, if I were to go that route I would consider the "Princess" as I do not believe I need the "King" as my home does pretty well holding in the heat.
What other options are there for reliable, well built stoves that can be adjusted fairy easily to regulate the temerature in and around the stove? I am new to woodstoves, I had a pellet stove in my previous home and did not like it very much. I own a good size piece of land and in the future will be able to harvest my own wood for burning. The first year I will have to buy my wood, as I have nothing cut and split yet. I plan on purchasing 3 cord in the next couple of weeks to be ready for next winter. I hope to buy a stove sometime soon and install sometime over the summer.
I don't have a chimney, so I plan on going straight up from the stove and through the roof.
Let me know your ideas and recommendations for a stove that is easy to use and built to last (hopefully).
Click to expand...

I think you'd be very happy with the new Woodstock Progressive Hybrid stove. It is both cat stove and has secondary combustion too. Search on this stove for some pics/comments and have a look-see at woodstove.com

Good luck,
Bill
 
It would be interesting to know how much oil you are using to get a idea of much wood stove you might need.
Of course for you sq. footage it will need to be of decent size and that always helps with longer burns.
Speaking of longer burns you can't beat a cat stove for that.

It is harder to heat a larger one story house like yours somewhat evenly with one wood stove..sometimes two smaller stoves works really well.
Another option is a wood burner in the basement hooked to your forced air or baseboard heat...then maybe a nice stove in you living or family room.
How much of your money can I spend? lol
 
Check out my recent post on my second year with my Keystone. Looks like you are close to Woodstocks factory - making the trip to check them out would probably worth it.

Love my Keystone so thats what I would say
 
With cathedral ceilings definitely do not undersize your stove. Remember you can always burn smaller fires in a larger stove.
 
re. the Blaze King stoves. You should look at the new BK catalytic stove called the Chinook. It is approx the same size as the Princess, but, IMO, is a much nicer looking stove. I would put one in my LR .. but not the Princess!!!
 
Whatever you get, get it big! Small stoves are a good reason to sit and wonder why you spent all that money in a small stove! Cat, non cat, steel or cast iron, soapstone. The choices are plentiful. I'd look at the Progress by Woodstock, the T6 Alderlea by PE, Hearthstone Equinox, Jotul Firelight, Defiant by Vermont Castings. In order of preference. I'm not a big fan of the steel stove look, though they can perform, sometimes even outperform.
 
Thanks for all of the responses and ideas. I will definitely look into Woodstock stoves, as I already took a look on their website and they look fiine to me. Obviously with the range in prices, I want to make sure I get a well built stove that works in my situation.
Looks like Blaze King or Woodstock. I agree bigger may be better, as I can always burn "low", especially on a day like today (50 degrees). Thanks for all your help.....
 
Regarding your concerns about "blast furnace" etc, that is the main difference between soapstone, steel, cast iron and radiant vs convection stoves which Begreen pointed out earlier. I would suggest searching/reading other threads in this forum for some great education before spending the cash and being unhappy.

I would add that each type of stove has its place. In a ski cabin etc, a radiant "blast furnace" stove is great after a day outdoors. In our home, the convection style works great, stove is in the kitchen/family room and the home has cathedral ceilings.
 
Yes, for starters I recommend looking at a Hearthstone Mansfield or Pacific Energy T6 in non-cat or a BK Princess or Chinook in steel box cat, or the soapstone/cat Woodstock Fireview.
 
cealing fans would help too, if you don't have any yet especially with the high cealings. I like the Jotul line and really like the idea of the thermostat on the Blaze King line. i could care less what it looks like as long as it works well, is priced right and does the job (its my wife that has the problem with appearences). since you are starting out with a new install, pipe size is not a limitor. you can get the size stove you require to heat your home. I don't think going from a 6 inch pipe to an 8 inch chimney has the same effect as going from an 8 inch pipe to a 6 in chimney. I'm also partial to cat stoves....although i'm not using one right now. i think the wood lasts longer and you use less overall through a season....but i could be mistaken. also, the thermostat would regulate the burn better for you. you wouldn't have to fiddle with it and you shouldn't get the blast effect.

it will be a long process to do the research and don't hesitate to throw the questions into the forum. visit a few stores and look at some stoves as suggested earlier.

have fun and good luck.

cass
 
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