I started this thread almost a bit tongue in cheek, but it has been a very useful one. BAR has stated my position better than I have myself, and this thread has made me realize what a love-hate thing I have with cats in general, and VC in particular. I love the long burn and ability to really throttle it down. I particularly love the real, unobstructed top loading of the VC stoves, to say nothing about the great swing ash tray. 4 or so cats in 25 years is not all that bad for a 7/24 stove run by by people who are not obsessive about wood dryness or operation. On the other hand, I just can't deal with the mush refractory box anymore - I don't mind overhauling the stove every 8-12 years, but I do mind paying through the nose for the right to do it, and having to replace the old, semi-defective parts with exactly the same thing, but lower quality. And I just can't make myself to believe that the current encore has gotten it right.
I was in a stove shop yesterday looking at the Jotul and found my eyes slipping over to the Encore 2in1. I mentioned my conflict to the salesperson, who was trying to sell me the Oslo, and he said "The way I explain it to people is that the VC stoves are lovely but they are ten to 15 year stoves, and you'll put some more money into them for parts in that time, and by the time they are 10 to 15 years old they won't be worth fixing anymore. With the Oslo, you'll hate it a little everytime you load it, but you'll get 25 years out of it, easily, without having to do any work on it."
Oh, re size, the house has heated fine for the last 30 years, first on a Vigilant and then with the Encore, so it should do fine with a Oslo from everything I've heard.
