Are you happy with your stove choice?

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eclecticcottage

eclecticcottage

Minister of Fire
Dec 7, 2011
1,803
WNY
Since joining, I've learned about a lot of options I didn't know I had when I bought the Republic. I'd never heard of Blaze King or Woodstock, and hadn't looked closely at Englander stoves. I forgot about Thelin.

I chose the Republic because I drooled over the Endeavor on the showroom floor of the stove place we bought the two DV stoves from since day one (we don't have clearances for a wood stove there). We originally had a deposit on an Endeavor, but as the costs added up for the chimney, install, stove, then the major reno on the livingroom (replace floor structure, sill, add doors) I decided to revisit the options thinking I might go with the Answer, but was hesitiant knowing Lopi's numbers for heating sw ft can be a little on the optimistic side in a older home. Then I found the Republic, which they hadn't mentioned. And I liked it a bit better-same great clearances and burn times, and low emmissions, but less price and it looked like it would fit in more.

After hearing about all the other options I missed, I started to wonder if I picked the right stove. Then I looked more closely at design, clearance, etc. About the only stove I find I might have considered is the Progress. I dont know about the side load only, it would have ended up almost in the middle of the hearth, hence the middle of the peak in my roof, so there would have been bends in the stack...and I couldn't set up the hearthpad like I have with the Republic. I like the Fireview but the clearances would take it off the list in a flash. I LOVE the Thelin, but the actual numbers aren't that great and it wouldn't fit in, in the look of the living room.

So, after really looking, I think I AM happy with my choice. I wish it had the burn time of the BKs and I drool over the soapstone on the Woodstocks, but it seems somehow we ended up with just the right stove. I might feel different after a few years of burning, but I dont think so....

{this is more for the other ladies...but I also find it to be an excellent hair dryer :D In fact, that is what I am doing now, whilst using my laptop computer}

So-are you happy with your choice? Did you research, or just chose from a few models on the showroom floor of your hearth dealer? Would you change anything about it?
 
Am I happy with my choice? 98% of the time . . . yes. Once when it is very, very cold I think about how I could have possibly gone up to the F-600, but with three years of trouble-free heating and comfortable temps I cannot really complain about the Oslo . . . even though I sometimes find stoves like the Progress Hybrid make me start thinking.

As Shari will be quick to point out though . . . I do wish I had splurged and bought the Oslo with the blue black finish instead of matte black . . . just because it's so pretty.
 
I love the look of the Oslo in the blue black but you can't load 18" N/S,with the Rangeley i would like a little higher firebox but i'm burning big splits this yr and next yr that will change.Drying will speed up and the stove will load much better not to mention more heat.Happy? VERY! Zero temps and only have to run 400 °F that's nice.
 
Not real happy with my stove i could have done much better...

It does the job but i am not happy with it.
 
My initial purchase was the PE in the FP in the den. I can honestly say that if I had my druthers, I would have put a wood stove in a more central part of the upper level

Live & learn.


I have figured out the moving the heat around thing, and with modifying/moving some walls, we'll be good on the upper level. A kitchen update is in the cards, at some point :)


The 13 is great for the apartment. When we installed it, the Dixette was unemployed, and home most of the time. Now that she's back at work, the 6 hour burn times are a PITA. We manage.
 
Initially I had purchased the Jotul F400, after getting it home and a bit of contemplation I returned it and got the Rangeley instead. Im way happier with the Rangeley I just wish the F55 had been out at the time LOL
 
I'm happy..wife is happy..grandson and the two cats are happy also!
Electric company..not so happy..lol.
 
I caught my oil delivery guy weeping as he was rolling up his hose last month.........that made me happy. I am completely happy with the f600.
 
Remkel said:
I caught my oil delivery guy weeping as he was rolling up his hose last month.........that made me happy. I am completely happy with the f600.
Click to expand...
Guess I gotta ask why he was there at all?
 
I should have bought a bigger stove. At the time we bought the stove we were on a tight budget so I looked mostly at the Lopi Republic and Englander stoves which were similar in price for approximately equivalent stoves and seemed the best deal among the stoves I could find locally.The Republic 1250 I have (more or less equivalent to an Englander 13NC) is fine most of the time but I'd like longer burns and more heat on occasion. The Republic 1750 is a step up in size and would have been a better choice for me for just a little more money. I looked at the Lopi stoves because they require only a non-combustible floor, whereas the Englanders require a minimum R-value for the floor. before we chose the stove I built a raised hearth with wood covered by cement board and tile, and I don't quite meet the R-value for the englander stoves. I might have considered an Englander 30NC which would roast us downstairs but would be better at heating the whole house.

Now that I know more about the whole topic of stoves I think next time I will consider a big cat stove. I would like longer burns which would allow me to be less reliant on the electric baseboard heaters to help out when we are away from home and the fire burns out.
 
We are very happy with our Avalon Ranier Insert....wanted to go with the bigger Olympic, but just a little shy on the fit into the fireplace. The Ranier has served our purpose, but I wish I could get better burn times (4-5 hours at best now)....but thats ok, I'm at the age where I gotta get up in the middle of night anyhow....might as well reload.
 
For the most part I am happy. As I have posted else where I live in city, I have neighbors, not many burn. I have the best wood I have ever had and plenty of it. The only thing I would do different is insulate the attic and crawl space. Our house is a 1941 and not well insulated... The stove is an insert and sits on the ground I almost think it would heat better if it were up a bit, better yet if it were a free standing. I love the size I load NS / EW and use big wood or small. The only stove I liked better was the Country 310, that was before I knew about Blaze King. I still went with the Country 210 because I knew the products worked and it fit the fire place like a glove.
 
I have a PE Summit Pedestal. Best stove I ever owned, and I've been heating with wood for 32 years. Nothing else comes close.
 
Second time around I'm pretty darn happy. I'm sure it's not the last stove I'll buy but it'll last for a while unless one of the deals you can't pass up comes along. :lol:
 
I wouldn't do anything different. A couple months of research and a lot of luck I guess. Honestly, my stoves rocks! I wanted a large unit for the masonry fireplace. An insert limits choices. Only 5° outside now and very comfortable in here. Now if I ever could go with a free standing stove, I'd do a lot of studying. I'm very pleased with this Lopi but would consider the look of cast iron for a free standing. This is my second season. What I would do different is stockpile wood a year sooner. Things are going much better this year with good/dry wood.
 
Happy enough but I bought and dumped 3 or 4 other stoves before I settled on the NC30, NC13 and Hitzer 30-95.

If I could have all that money back Id keep the 3 I have now and add a BK Elvis or for the shoulder season.
 
I'm mostly happy. I got estimates from three different shops for 4 different inserts that were all the same approximate size. The best deal I found was my Lopi from a shop that's only 10 minutes from my house. Their price on purchase and installation was better than all the rest. The only thing I'd change is to move up to the 1750 model. I've experienced temps in the mid 20s so far, which is about as cold it gets around here most winters, and it will keep the whole house warm. It might take a couple of hours to get the back part of the house warmed up if starting from a cold stove, but I've been off work the last four days and my electric heat hasn't came on once with temps outside in the high 20s. Adding the blower made a huge difference. I was reminded of that a couple of days ago when the power was out. The longer burn times of a larger insert would be nice.
My house had a fireplace when I bought it so an insert seemed like an obvious choice. The fireplace location in the house is not good at all for heating and I might think about a centrally located freestanding stove if doing it over again. A freestanding Lopi 1250 in the right location would be perfect for my house.
 
Finally got it right on the 3rd stove. Happiness was the day I backed the tractor up to the 500 gallon lp tank and dragged it out to the curb. Took me 4 years to get there but extremely satisfying to tell them what they could do with it.
 

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I'm happy with my stove itself (Lopi Answer Insert), but I am not happy with the poor design of the blower. I need to stick washers, bolts, screws and stuff around the unit to be used as shims as the thing vibrates badly at all different speeds. Have taken it off and cleaned everything out and oiled, but its put together with rivets and I have a feeling they are all loosening up)
So, +1 on the stove, -1 on the blower
 
VERY happy with my T-5. I actually bought the T-4 first, thought about it for a bit, and called the dealer to change it up to the T-5. My friends called me crazy --- said that it would be "too much stove" for my Man Cave. Well, the T-4 might have been fine, really, but love the flexibility that this particular size offers me, especially knowing it burns just fine on 3-4 splits, when I need it to, and burns equally fine on 6-8, when I need it to. Couldn't have made a better choice.
 
I'm happy as can be with what we paid for our Englander 30. It puts out a TON of heat for a $600 stove. We were on a strict budget and this stove was about all we could afford. It can be a bit finicky and does like to run VERY HOT. It wants to run at 750 when the secondaries are going. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, sometimes just too much of a good thing. I need to keep a careful eye on it for the first hour while it settles in because it will have no problem hitting 850+ if care is not taken.

For example it was in the 20's yesterday, the low teens last night, and the low 20's today. My not very insulated 112 year old 1600 sq.ft. two story is currently in the upper 70's upstairs and low 80's downstairs. I find it very difficult to have a lot of wood and a 500-550 degree stovetop and maintain long burns. More wood = longer burn times = bigger secondaries = more heat. To have a cooler fire I need to have small fires with small splits, and would need to add more every couple hours.

If our budget was bigger I would have gone with the Lopi Republic or the PE Super 27 to fit our heating/clearance needs. But I'm happy....we're on track to pay about $150 this winter for natural gas. Usually its $350-$400 per month.
 
daveswoodhauler said:
I'm happy with my stove itself (Lopi Answer Insert), but I am not happy with the poor design of the blower. I need to stick washers, bolts, screws and stuff around the unit to be used as shims as the thing vibrates badly at all different speeds. Have taken it off and cleaned everything out and oiled, but its put together with rivets and I have a feeling they are all loosening up)
So, +1 on the stove, -1 on the blower
Click to expand...
Not sure if this will help your noisy blower. Ours was also noisy, vibrating, and needing shimming. I found that the bottom had tabs that needed to be slid under the Insert, and that wasn't happening because the Insert sits directly on the Hearth.....I lifted the Insert slightly, and a buddy slid the blower in with the tabs UNDER the Insert.....pretty darn quite now....you still hear the blowers running (of course), but no more annoying vibrating and buzzing....also had to clean out the squirrel cage
 
I am. I wish the stove placement in my house was different, but it is what it is. The 30 isn't the prettiest stove out there, but for the basement it doesn't have to look nice.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like with a great big blaze king down there, but the chimney would have been too small @5.5" and it would have cost much more than the 30.

MAtt
 
3 stoves in a year...while i still have two of them im sure my stove buying sickness is terminal.

I love the two i have now after the tiny insert was sold. The woodstock is very good looking burns forever and stay warm forever. 600 stove tope and you can stand next to it without melting your pants.
The jotul is the classic great looking wood stove of my childhood and dreams. Easy to use, takes all sorts of odd, long, and mishaped splits. The view of the fire is un-paralelled.
Now to get the jotul hooked up downstairs so i can use her again. Be pumping 125,000 claimed btus into this place. Either one does well to heat the house, but when it drops real low ill know ill need both to ensure my sweaters stay in the closet.
 
I'm happy with my choice, the Osburn hasn't had one problem, the bay window is great and is very easy to burn. All the stoves I ogle over at this point are freestanding which I can't do at this point. If Woodstock had inserts then I might been kicking myself...
 
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