Folks,
Wonderful site here. Lots of great info and knowledge. I was hoping I could get some of that knowledge directed to my particular situation!
I've got a Century FW3000007 that the firebrick is shot and that I've managed to burn a hole in the baffle. (Yes, probably an overfire...though 10yrs out of that stove probably isn't bad.) Rather than repair, I think I want to replace. I visited the only dealer in the area yesterday and talked to him for a while, and thought I'd see what you folks thought.
First of all, the house is considered a 1.5 story. It is 1100sf on the main floor. The living room/kitchen area is open floor plan, and I have a short hallway leading to the bathroom and two bedrooms. The upper floor is a loft over the kitchen and a master bedroom over the two first floor bedrooms. The area above the first floor living room is open with a ceiling height of about 18 feet. We have a ceiling fan to move the air around. The Century heated the open spaces quite well, and was difficult to damp down enough to provide long slow burns and still keep temps in the low 70s. The master bedroom heats fairly well when we leave the door open. The two lower bedrooms don't heat that well, but they are typically unused and we can supplement that with the HWBB oil boiler when needed. So really, the layout is pretty good for a woodstove I think.
Secondly, we live in south central Alaska. We typically get 1 week of -30 or colder lows, and Jan highs are typically around 0. But, the house is well insulated and fairly tight (5-star energy rating) and the Century didn't have a problem keeping us warm. The main problem with the Century was we had a cold firebox every morning, even when damped all the way down.
Which leads me to my third point: wood. We basically have 3 species available: spruce, birch, and aspen. I don't burn any aspen unless a tree falls in the front yard, and birch is pretty hard to come by, so I am mostly burning spruce. Some of it is dead-standing beetle kill that dries quickly, and burns hot but quick with no coals left over. My 10 acres of land is all black spruce with max diameter in the 6-8" range. I'm clearing land for pasture, so I want to burn that rather than waste it, but most of it is too small to split and it takes forever to dry in the round. So, in summary, our wood situation kinda sucks.
I think the most difficulty we'll have with a new stove is damping it down to prevent overheating, especially during the very long shoulder seasons (we had two small fires last week just to bump the house temp back up). But with a non-cat, the dealer said we wanted at least a 3.0 CF box to make sure we had enough room for wood so that we'd have hot coals in the morning. We haven't had any problem getting enough heat even on the coldest days.
My goal with the new stove is to be able to keep a fire all night without heating us out so that we have coals in the morning to load on top of.
The dealer showed me 4 stoves:
1) Blaze King Princess - $3100
2) Alderlea T6 - $3100
3) Jotul F50 - $2700
4) Harmon TL300 - $2200 (used one seaon)
(All 4 quoted prices are with blowers. Regardless, they all seem pretty high.)
Blaze King Princess: I've talked to people that have them and love them, especially for the long burn and not overheating. The only Cat stove he had. Probably my first choice, but I don't like the price.
Alderlea T6: Nothing really grabbed me about this stove. I didn't see much value in the swing-out warmer plates, and was thinking this might cook us out and not sure we'd get the burn time we wanted.
Jotul F50: I really liked the grill accessory. Never used a TL before, but think it might be the way to go. Again, not sure a non-cat would give us what we are looking for regarding burn time and temp control.
Harmon TL300: Biggest concern is the down draft and how some folks seem to think it is pretty particular on what it burns and on draft. Knowing that our wood isn't the best, and that the small black spruce in the round isn't always cured the best, I'm not sure how well the after burner will work. Worreid we might get smoked out or just get poor performance. Also not sure I want to drop $2200 on a used stove, though he said it would come with a warranty. And I guess after my first fire, it is used anyway!
So, with that information, what do you folks think might be my best option. (And sorry for such a long post!)
Jeff
Wonderful site here. Lots of great info and knowledge. I was hoping I could get some of that knowledge directed to my particular situation!
I've got a Century FW3000007 that the firebrick is shot and that I've managed to burn a hole in the baffle. (Yes, probably an overfire...though 10yrs out of that stove probably isn't bad.) Rather than repair, I think I want to replace. I visited the only dealer in the area yesterday and talked to him for a while, and thought I'd see what you folks thought.
First of all, the house is considered a 1.5 story. It is 1100sf on the main floor. The living room/kitchen area is open floor plan, and I have a short hallway leading to the bathroom and two bedrooms. The upper floor is a loft over the kitchen and a master bedroom over the two first floor bedrooms. The area above the first floor living room is open with a ceiling height of about 18 feet. We have a ceiling fan to move the air around. The Century heated the open spaces quite well, and was difficult to damp down enough to provide long slow burns and still keep temps in the low 70s. The master bedroom heats fairly well when we leave the door open. The two lower bedrooms don't heat that well, but they are typically unused and we can supplement that with the HWBB oil boiler when needed. So really, the layout is pretty good for a woodstove I think.
Secondly, we live in south central Alaska. We typically get 1 week of -30 or colder lows, and Jan highs are typically around 0. But, the house is well insulated and fairly tight (5-star energy rating) and the Century didn't have a problem keeping us warm. The main problem with the Century was we had a cold firebox every morning, even when damped all the way down.
Which leads me to my third point: wood. We basically have 3 species available: spruce, birch, and aspen. I don't burn any aspen unless a tree falls in the front yard, and birch is pretty hard to come by, so I am mostly burning spruce. Some of it is dead-standing beetle kill that dries quickly, and burns hot but quick with no coals left over. My 10 acres of land is all black spruce with max diameter in the 6-8" range. I'm clearing land for pasture, so I want to burn that rather than waste it, but most of it is too small to split and it takes forever to dry in the round. So, in summary, our wood situation kinda sucks.
I think the most difficulty we'll have with a new stove is damping it down to prevent overheating, especially during the very long shoulder seasons (we had two small fires last week just to bump the house temp back up). But with a non-cat, the dealer said we wanted at least a 3.0 CF box to make sure we had enough room for wood so that we'd have hot coals in the morning. We haven't had any problem getting enough heat even on the coldest days.
My goal with the new stove is to be able to keep a fire all night without heating us out so that we have coals in the morning to load on top of.
The dealer showed me 4 stoves:
1) Blaze King Princess - $3100
2) Alderlea T6 - $3100
3) Jotul F50 - $2700
4) Harmon TL300 - $2200 (used one seaon)
(All 4 quoted prices are with blowers. Regardless, they all seem pretty high.)
Blaze King Princess: I've talked to people that have them and love them, especially for the long burn and not overheating. The only Cat stove he had. Probably my first choice, but I don't like the price.
Alderlea T6: Nothing really grabbed me about this stove. I didn't see much value in the swing-out warmer plates, and was thinking this might cook us out and not sure we'd get the burn time we wanted.
Jotul F50: I really liked the grill accessory. Never used a TL before, but think it might be the way to go. Again, not sure a non-cat would give us what we are looking for regarding burn time and temp control.
Harmon TL300: Biggest concern is the down draft and how some folks seem to think it is pretty particular on what it burns and on draft. Knowing that our wood isn't the best, and that the small black spruce in the round isn't always cured the best, I'm not sure how well the after burner will work. Worreid we might get smoked out or just get poor performance. Also not sure I want to drop $2200 on a used stove, though he said it would come with a warranty. And I guess after my first fire, it is used anyway!
So, with that information, what do you folks think might be my best option. (And sorry for such a long post!)
Jeff
