Jotul 602 VS F118 BlackBear VS ?

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InfiniteOhms

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Jan 10, 2013
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Hello All,
I need a little help figuring out which stove i should pick. Here are the details of my situation...
I live in a 1400 sq. ft. super-insulated passive solar home in southern Maine, the last two winters we have used a old Jotul 602 to heat the place when the sun is not enough, we burned about 1 - 1 1/2 cords and kept the house at about 60*f. Last week one of the side burn plates cracked right in half, no surprise really, it was a free stove and that piece was cracked when we got it. I took out the broken plate, bolted it back together and put it back in... sadly when i was putting back in i found that the baffle has a sizeable hole burned in it :( So its time for a new stove. Our hearth is sized for a 602 so the options are limited.

I could pick up a used 602 for $150-$250 or a could invest in a F118 BlackBear for around $1200. I'm not against putting some money into a nice stove, but I'm not sure it would be a better stove for my situation. Any thoughts? My main questions are:
Will i end up burning more wood with the larger stove?
Will it burn less cleanly because to get a similar amount of heat out of it it will need to be choked down more?
Does the fact that all the burn plates in my current stove bit the dust indicate that I'm doing something wrong, or is it just wear and tear? If i get another used 602 will i end up burning out the plates in a few years?
Any other stoves of a similar size that might be worth waiting to find?

Thanks for the help!
 
that looks like a nice stove, but it wouldn't fit on my hearth unless it was sideways, which would be aesthetically weird.
 
How about replacing the baffle and side plates? Our 602 had a similar situation, though in ours the baffle had cracked in half. The outer cast iron was in good condition, so I rebuilt it, replacing the burn plates and baffle and it was like a brand new stove. I would 2nd the idea of getting the Englander VL17. It's a good modern stove. How much work would it be to redo the hearth?
 
fixing our current stove was my first choice, but the parts (as far as i can tell) would be more expensive then just picking up the same stove on craigslist. Do you know a cheap place to get jotul parts? Redoing the hearth wouldn't take that much, it would just mean losing our really nice built in wood rack (that holds 3-5 days worth of wood).
 
If you can find a great condition one on Craigslist, that would be a good move. But inspect it very carefully for issues. There are still barely used good 602s if you keep your eyes open. But there are a lot out there in the same shape as yours, often with cracked backs too.

The hearth sounds nice. Can you post a picture of the heart? We may be able to make some suggestions that allow you to keep the wood rack.
 
Sure. Just so you don't worry, that wood rack has a shield on it now.

DSC06375-1500.jpg DSC06378-1500.jpg DSC06376-1500.jpg
 
I expanded my search a bit a found some of the older jotul 118s for a good price, so if anyone has any insight on these questions that would be great.

Will i end up burning more wood with the larger stove?
Will the larger stove burn less cleanly because to get a similar amount of heat out of it it will need to be choked down more?
 
Very nice. That's definitely a custom hearth. The 118 would not fit there without hearth modification. At that point I would consider moving the cabinet over and increasing width instead of depth. Roughly where are you located?
 
Also, does anyone know about the differences between the old f118 and new one? Besides the glass door and different picture on the sides.
 
the 118 actually fits (with the rear + side heat shield ), the front clearance wouldn't make it, but the floor is finished concrete, so all we would have to do is move the rug back a little bit. I live just outside Portland, Maine.
 
The newer F118CB is a different beast. It has a secondary combustion tube system squeezed into the firebox. The older unit was much simpler and is a respectable heater. You would definitely get longer burn times and more heat that you see with the old 602.
 
Thanks for the info, it can be tricky to find info on old jotul models.
Would the greater efficiency of the f 118CB equal out the larger size and let me burn about the same amount of wood and have a little warmer house? Or would end up burning more wood more efficiently and end up with a much warmer house? Thanks for all the help!
 
Normally I would recommend the more modern EPA version of the stove. But in this case, I am not as fond of the newer model. It has reduced firebox capacity and a finicky secondary rack system. Yes, new it will burn cleaner and that is a good thing. But if the secondary rack starts warping or gets out of alignment, it will not burn like new. While looking at this type of stove, check out the Morso 2B classic. I think the secondary baffle system is more robust.

http://www.morsona.com/Morsø-2B-Classic-533.aspx
 
Like begreen said, I would look at expanding the hearth width, you would open up a world of possible stoves that could fit.

I had a nice wood rack in my house but with all the spiders this past year I now have to bring my wood in from the porch for every load, once you get used to it it's not that bad.
 
begreen said:
Normally I would recommend the more modern EPA version of the stove. But in this case, I am not as fond of the newer model. It has reduced firebox capacity and a finicky secondary rack system. Yes, new it will burn cleaner and that is a good thing. But if the secondary rack starts warping or gets out of alignment, it will not burn like new. While looking at this type of stove, check out the Morso 2B classic. I think the secondary baffle system is more robust.

http://www.morsona.com/Morsø-2B-Classic-533.aspx
Click to expand...


We have a very similar situation, 1300 sqft, passive solar, two story salt box, four sliding glass doors, but we are 3.5 hrs north east of Portland. I worry that the 2b classic would not be enough when it gets to 20 below. The only modern EPA stoves we like are the 2b Classic and Jotul F118 CB. It took a bit to convince my partner that they could work, but after I showed her the footprint with minimum safe distances she agreed. We are between a antique Atlantic or Clarion Parlor stoves and the previously mentioned EPA stoves. I know the antique stoves won't be as efficient or clean, but they are just so beautiful. Also, antique Morso and Jotul box stoves are also considered.
 
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