Are you happy with your stove choice?

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I would be happy with my stove if it was not for the QC problems. Its tough to spend this kind of money only to end up with a poorly constructed stove.. I wouldn't do it again, I would buy local regardless..

Jason
 
Jason:

Just curious, what sort of QC issues are your referring to? Poor welds?
 
I should not say it..but..you can run a BKK on a 6 inch flue with no probs..I know a guy doing it.
Only prob he seems to have is if he opens the door to fast..and heck that happens with most anyways.
I say as long as it's a interior flue ..or maybe a outside setup in a insulated chase you would be fine.
I still have a damper from my old BKK non cat installed and i have closed it down to I figure what would be less then a 6" flue..if you know what I mean and had no probs.
If you're under 15 ft in total length ..maybe not.
Disclaimer:..your results will very and I'm not really endorsing this..but hey.
 
fire_man said:
Jason:

Just curious, what sort of QC issues are your referring to? Poor welds?


Oh no, I have a door thats welded on crooked (so that sealing is a definate challenge, not looks). I also have paint issues (not a big deal), door latch issues and cheap plastic knob issues! Mine must have been made DURING the christmas party, not just the day after! Its rough, but I am getting through it until I pay to ship it back to BK this spring for repairs..

Jason
 
Its funny that some folks have had as many stoves in 2 or 3 years than we've had in the last 35 years.

When we were in the market the last time we looked first at Hearthstone. Then we went to a large place with a large showroom and looked at many. VC is one that was interesting along with a few others. Then we found the Lopi stoves and liked the Leyden. In the meantime we received the literature from Woodstock and really liked the looks of the Fireview and we had came close to buying a Classic one time. At first we were disappointed to find Woodstock stoves had the catalyst as we'd heard some bad things about cat stoves. Then we were told something wrong by a person at Woodstock (that person is no longer there).

In the meantime I'd been looking on hearth.com a bit and also started posting. I had also posted something negative about Woodstock because they had disappointed me so badly. Long story short, Woodstock called me one day and asked if I'd go to someone's home to look at the stove. I reluctantly agreed. They made the arrangements and then called us back. We set a time and they gave me the name and directions to the house. We really lucked out in that at one time I had done business with him and some of his relatives too. We had a very nice talk with this man and on the way home we discussed it and decided to get the Woodstock stove but that 6 month guarantee weighed pretty heavily as we just still were not sure.

So we go the stove and never did consider sending it back as we fell in love with it. This stove proved to be much more than I was expecting. Not only is it a beautiful stove that looks as good in the summer as it does in the winter, but it cut our wood use in half and has kept us much warmer. We used to close a couple rooms in the winter and no longer do that. We used to clean our chimney 3-4 times per winter and now we've cleaned our chimney one time and are on our 5th year of using this stove. It burns super clean.

With that said, we are still probably going to get the new Woodstock Progress Hybrid stove. That thing is a beauty!
 
I'm 1/2 pleased. Pleased with the operation, and pleased with the service ( 4 years replaced the baffle boards do to my stuffing, and door gasket). Not so happy with the size. When I got it I figured on the space we use 90% of the time and didn't figure on what if we start using the other rooms. For it's size it heats well, for a 2100 sq ft house, little too small. 16" splits e/w and 11" n/s are difficult and 4" being a large split is a lot of splitting. Planning on rectifying that with an Englander 30 this summer.

Time will tell but think I have become a believer in the better to have too big then too small.
 
im starting to wonder about this princess.
 
Highbeam said:
After several years with the hearthstone and 20 some cords of wood through it I am running into problems with it that tell me that these stoves aren't meant to be used for full time heat. The door latches suck and are of the design that wears with use until a major stove tear down is required to fix it. The ash pan is useless and is only there to look pretty, make the sale, and not a functional piece. The paint is wearing off rapidly. My latest issue is that the door hinges are sagging, the pins are harder than the cast iron frame holes and they have opened up leading to slop and a misaligned gasket plus even more wear on that lousy door latch.

Stoves should last a long time I would think. The hearthstone is a still very good stove and does most things right. Just don't go and use it much.

My next stove will not have these throw away features. Whether it is a BK or a woodstock it WILL have a cat in it. The long burn times are just that important for people that actually use a stove for their heat.

I've been mainly happy so far, but I've had my door come a little out of alignment, and wonder if it's going to get worse after Highbeam's response. The stove certainly cranks that heat and heats my 3000sqft 24/7 with little problem unless we are in extreme cold (still does the trick, but burning hard with 4 loads per day. I hope I don't run into Highbeam's issues. Not sure what I'd go with if I had to replace the Manny - I don't think the Progress would heat this place. Cheers!
 
greythorn3 said:
im starting to wonder about this princess.

What's up with the Princess? 20 hour burn times just too short??
 
fire_man said:
greythorn3 said:
im starting to wonder about this princess.

What's up with the Princess? 20 hour burn times just too short??

i think the cooler flue temps of the cat stove are causing me problems.
 
Are you running with an insulated 6" liner? Tall enough to draft properly?
 
Very pleased!! Cost me fifty bucks and is saving me thousands!
 
fire_man said:
Todd said:
I don't think I'll ever be 100% happy. I say strive for perfection! Lol

Todd's signature line very soon:

Woodstock Progress (2012)
Woodstock Fireview (2005) sold in 2011
Woodstock Keystone (2010) sold in 2012
Woodstock Keystone (2011) sold in 2012
Stihl MS290
EZ Brave 8 ton splitter
Axe
maul
Fiskars X27

Ha, I may surprise you and break away from Woodstock and get the new Blaze King, you never know. Lol
 
im very happy with my jotul f600,it saves me about 800.00 a year in electricty.after tax rebate an 3 seasons using it and it has paid for it self .
 
firefighterjake said:
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 . . .

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.

Stove # 1: Jotul F500 Oslo. I heat almost exclusively with this stove. The above is almost my experience exactly. Except we DID splurge and bought the ivory - really a pretty stove. Besides, my house is designed for a left-hand loader and the F600 loads from the right. And honestly only one three day period in the last three years did I wish for a larger firebox. I actually had to get up and load the stove in the middle of the night two nights in a row! But as I type this it is 28 deg. f. out, I haven't loaded the stove for over six hours, and will only load it up at bedtime because I don't want a cold start first thing in the morning.

The ash pan is a big deal to me. The 22" + log length is a big deal to me. The view of the fire is far more enjoyable than I expected. And since I did NOT go up a size to the F600, I can burn hotter, more efficient fires more often - so creosote has been a non issue. Problems? Like everyone, opening the front door is a mess. I only do it to clean the glass - about twice a year.

Stove # 2: Roughly 1990 Dutchwest Large. I would regret this purchase except it was given to me by a neighbor who had it sitting outside under a tarp. It is a very early cat stove and the designers were just guessing. Almost impossible to control, glass in the doors is pointless, the blower is loud, firebox is awkward to load, and burn times are too short for my needs. However, it burns extremely clean and except for one catalyst, some door gaskets, and two pieces of glass it has needed nothing these last 20 years. And if I will take the trouble to keep it loaded timely it will heat my 2000 sq. ft. shop building.
 
I've only had my stove since last Jan so about 6 months or so of learning it. Last year I would have told you I wasn't all that impressed with it as it seemed I had to run it wide open to get enough heat out of it. This year however, I have added a SS liner and blockoff plate and I have a dry wood supply and it is a totally different machine. I'm still learning and probably will be for some time but it is doing everything I would expect now.

I love the huge 4.3 cu ft firebox and the cat is amazing in how much and how long it puts out heat. I'm getting 12 hour burn times regularly without too much trouble on pine/poplar/gum/ and the occasional piece of oak. I've got about 3-4 cords of red oak stacked but it's just a little over a year old so I'm trying to hold off on it.

Fan is noisier than I would like but that seems to be the deal with all of them no matter the stove. I wish the firebox were a little taller. I can stack 4 rows wide with good sized splits but only two high and fill in with small stuff. If I have big splits sometimes I can only put small ones on top. It takes 22" splits N/S easily which I love. I have a perpetual black spot on the glass in the lower right corner but after reading a couple other threads on other Bucks, I'm going to investigate the door for straightness.

I didn't do any research on this or any other stoves before I got it as I was just looking for a good deal that would fit in my fireplace and was EPA approved and had never heard of hearth.com. I was a little hesitant about a cat stove but I can honestly say now that I don't think I would have another that didn't have a cat.
 
Frustrated with the VC Encore Cat 2550. I can't trust it not to overfire the cat (had a cat temp of 2150 the other day, and I was keeping an eye on it. 1600 F, and then 15 minutes later, 2150. Yikes). If I'm busy or leaving, I just have to leave the air on minimum.
 
I'm fairly frugal so this year I decided to find and install a woodtove. I work on bikes on the side so I bartered some labor for an old Garrison II.
I'm VERY happy with the choice! 5 cords of free Silver Maple too.
We have hit lows of 0 and I guess we have used about 4 gallons of heating oil.
I'm hooked!!
 
Love my stove, it heats up my 3200 sq. ft. just fine, the only thing I would do different is look for something a little prettier.
 
I can't say that I am disappointed in my VC 2550. I don't hink it is a bad stove, it puts out good heat and is responsive to it's controls. I get about 6 to 7 hours of usable heat out of her (with hardwoods, 4 to 5 with Pine). It was inherited when I bought the house, and the previous owner over fired it a few times. It will need a full rebuild this spring. Due to it being undersized and needing the rebuild, I am currently in the market for a new stove. I was set on the F600 but I just realized that I am about 3/4" inch short on the rear exhaust pipe clearance. So my search will begin to start again!

So I guess I am not unhappy with the stove, I just need a bigger firebox as I HATE burning oil and I think the PO before me used the stove as a supplemental heat source. It does what they bought it for, just not what I need it for.
 
My new F50 Rangely has been working well.
I only wish I could say the same for my knees. I've had to give up using the ash drawer because I can no longer kneel down to access it. With luck, the surgeon won't need to replace or rework my knees too much.
The only other 'problem' I've had so far is the ash plugging the primary air doghouse. I found this when a reload wouldn't light off.
Frank
 
We have a Blaze King Princess Ultra that works long, hard, and perfectly. I see most people are happy with their choice of stoves on here. I also LOVE my choice. It is ashame that we can't have a stove for 2 or 3 weeks and then try another. Of course I am partial, but after we tried them all we wouold all own a Blaze King model. LOL
We stay warm at the emperature we want. Also, it has really cut our wood usage down a great deal. The only thing I have found wrong with it is that the power company isn't making any money on our heat pump in the winter. I love it!
 
The only thing I am unhappy about is my stove does not seem to work as well as others with the same brand , so its a work in progress.
 
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