another possible "barn" stove

i went and looked at another stove today. this time it was an englander model 24-fc/24ac. im not to familiar with these stoves. looked like it was a nicely built, heavy duty unit and it looked like it was an air tight stove unlike the piece of junk i have now. seems like the blower would move allot of air. i dont know how much these stoves cost new or how they compare to what englander makes now, specifically how does it compare to the 50-SNC13 sold at lowes; i look at them in store the price was $650. it looked like the stove i looked at today was produced in 1996, i did notice that it has a catalytic unit on it so im guessing that adds to the maintenance costs. it looked like the cat was still in good shape of course i dont really know what to look for when they fail. all i can say is that this thing was big and heavy. he had the add listed on craigslist for $550, i told him that was steep he said he would come down to $400. this stove is in pretty good shape although it could use a cleaning.

how does the heat output of this stove compare to the heat output of the lowes stove?

i was trying to find something a little cheaper although I know 650 is not a bad price, it is wise to price out all options before just making an impulse buy. these days just because something is new doesn't mean its the best, perhaps compared to a companies previous products often times the newer model is made cheaper. I know Englander stove works still makes one of the best stoves stoves on the market especially at that price range and are probably just as good as say lopi for example. I just want to see what else is available, I will say that this unit seemed to be extremely well made

it had a decent size firebox looks like it would rock allot of heat. it looks big and overbuilt, it doesn't look very easy to move that's for sure. I looked at that PDF manual and it says
"9,000 to 20,100 BTU/Hr "

did they make an error in the manual, because the size of this thing and its firebox screams allot more then 20,100 btu looks more like a 70,000 btu stove. it has the normal damper and it has two damper knobs in the front door. the guy said he had it in an non-insulated cabin and he removed it because it was actually cooking him out of there. the said it was way too much heat. the specs page rated it to heat up 2,000 sq foot. I was told it was a heat monster and from the size of it I would have to believe it. it does have new firebricks and the body of the stove has no rust. it looked to be exceptionally well built but very heavy and not easy to move. I don't even know how I would get it off of a truck, honestly.

if I was going to go used I would go with this one over a Vermont casting, this unit has a blower and I think it would rock allot more heat

yes its going into a barn, so I want a quality stove but I want to keep the price down so I was looking at used just to see what is available. the 30-nc is nice but lowes didn't have any of those and its kind of more then I would like to spend on a barn/garage stove I was actually thinking on the lines of a 13nc.

by the way I calculated based upon inflation what that older Englander stove cost in todays money. I came up with $1,200 based upon the original retail of $800 adjusted for inflation. I got that $800 figure off of an old thread on this very forum that stated the stove back in 1996 was $600 without the blower and $800 with the blower. this unit has a blower.

this really was not a cheap stove back when it was new

so tell me more about cat stoves?? I don't know allot about them but im guessing they operate similar to a cat in an automobile? they heat up and burn off all of the unburned hydrocarbons, correct? they don't really make cat stoves anymore do they? why did they get away from them. how does it impact heating performance, good or bad?

how much larger is the 30 vs. the 13, and is the Englander CAT stove im looking at for $400 larger then the 13? if its more comparable to the 30 it might be worth my $400, I would spend half as much

that weight is actually one of the things that concerns me, how in the hell am i going to move a 420 lbs stove, yikes. also us stove rates their 2000 model at "up to 89,000 btu" englander rates their 13 up to 60,000. why such a difference 29,000 btu is a huge difference. is the us stove unit somehow a better heater or are their testing methods really different, the stoves are basically the same size.

also what about the "wonderwood" type circulators? there is one in arcade, $500 or best offer 1 year old. if i could get that for $350 would it be worth having? are those good units? i dont know a whole lot about them, but i seem them for sale. brand new they retail for $799. what's the difference between that and a more traditional stove?