A little bit of background.
We currently have a Soap Stone II wood stove in our family room, 24' X 13' over our garage. The 24' length of the room runs north to south. The 13' walls are east to west. I positioned the wood stove along the north wall in the dead center. Two ceiling fans have move the air around the room. Along the west wall in the north is a door that leads outside, and on that same wall to the south is a door that leads into the main part of the house. We've been burning wood for the last 14 years in that wood stove. This year I was talked into trying bio-bricks. After this winter, I will be going back to burning wood again.
The Soap Stone II wood stove is more than 25 years old. My dad purchased it from a store dedicated to selling wood stoves. It's still there, and we purchased a Jotul wood stove from them. The Jotul was put in the family room before the Soap Stone II wood stove. However; the Jotul was not properly sized for burn time requirements. So we ended up moving the Soap Stone II from the first floor living room to the family room. The Jotul was sold to a friend of ours. They still have it 14 years later, and it meets their needs.
When I first started using the Soap Stone II in our family room, I was burning one cord of wood per season. 14 years later we are burning two plus cords of wood. I attribute that to the Soap Stone II needing to be repacked.
I really like the Soap Stone burn. The Mansfield would be a good replacement. Outside of that I am not sure what direction to take. A local dealer sells a brand called Country which is owned by Lennox. He touts the "flash combustion" as a wood saver. The other option I've just stumbled upon is the Jotul F55 Carrabassett. I still need to prices for each of the options listed above. If you have a different recommendation, please feel free to suggest another alternative.
One final note, the family does not have any other form of heat. Any wood stove I put in will need to be able to run overnight. Typically no more than 8 hours, but longer times are welcome.
Thank you
Skrebel33 - RI
We currently have a Soap Stone II wood stove in our family room, 24' X 13' over our garage. The 24' length of the room runs north to south. The 13' walls are east to west. I positioned the wood stove along the north wall in the dead center. Two ceiling fans have move the air around the room. Along the west wall in the north is a door that leads outside, and on that same wall to the south is a door that leads into the main part of the house. We've been burning wood for the last 14 years in that wood stove. This year I was talked into trying bio-bricks. After this winter, I will be going back to burning wood again.
The Soap Stone II wood stove is more than 25 years old. My dad purchased it from a store dedicated to selling wood stoves. It's still there, and we purchased a Jotul wood stove from them. The Jotul was put in the family room before the Soap Stone II wood stove. However; the Jotul was not properly sized for burn time requirements. So we ended up moving the Soap Stone II from the first floor living room to the family room. The Jotul was sold to a friend of ours. They still have it 14 years later, and it meets their needs.
When I first started using the Soap Stone II in our family room, I was burning one cord of wood per season. 14 years later we are burning two plus cords of wood. I attribute that to the Soap Stone II needing to be repacked.
I really like the Soap Stone burn. The Mansfield would be a good replacement. Outside of that I am not sure what direction to take. A local dealer sells a brand called Country which is owned by Lennox. He touts the "flash combustion" as a wood saver. The other option I've just stumbled upon is the Jotul F55 Carrabassett. I still need to prices for each of the options listed above. If you have a different recommendation, please feel free to suggest another alternative.
One final note, the family does not have any other form of heat. Any wood stove I put in will need to be able to run overnight. Typically no more than 8 hours, but longer times are welcome.
Thank you
Skrebel33 - RI
!! Not one tool needed, that's why I bought the stove... A cat stove you can get very low heat output if you want , yet yielding low emissions at the same time , so you won't have a stove pipe loading up with creosote. You get the stove up to 250 degrees, close the by pass lever, and set your draft to 1 or less, and walk away. Set it and forget,, a very, very simple stove to run... Here's a picture of the draft controls, by pass lever is up to engage the cat, draft lever goes up to slow the draft, you can see the numbers... Draft lever down, by pass handle down to load, easy to remember. Go look if you can, you'll leave owning a Woodstock stove!
