Hi all, I don't post here much but I have learned a lot from this site and I thought I might give something back and give my non professional non scientific review of 2 small stoves that I have. I have both the US Stove 1100B and the Englander 17VL. The 1100B is installed in a small 320 sq ft cabin on the back side of our property and the 17VL stove installed in a back room of our 1500 sq ft house. I have had the 1100B for 2 seasons of burning most weekends in the winter and the 17VL for about 2 months and have burned almost full time since the install. I have enjoyed both stoves and they both put out a lot of heat, seem to be well constructed, durable and come up to temp fast.
Keep in mind both are small stoves and take a little pre-planning with wood size and shape to get the max amount of wood in the firebox. To my eye both are good looking stoves and keep the glass clean with 3 yr old css water oak. If it matters to you the 1100B US Stove in made in China and the Englander 17VL is made in the USA. Now the differences: The firebox sizes are listed about the same size but I can put more wood in the 17VL due to the shape of the firebox (when I say more wood I mean 1 -2 more small splits), of course this means that the 17VL has a little longer burn time. I can get about 6-7 hrs of heat out if the 17VL and still have enough coals left to start a knidling fire after 10 and sometimes 11 hrs later after I put the last load on for the night. With the 1100B I get around 4 maybe 5 hrs of heat and maybe after 6 hrs have enough coals to start another fire with some kindling. (To me anything above 250 deg is heat). The shape of the firebox in the 17VL is taller and slimmer than the 1100B which is a little deeper and not nearly as tall.
The secondary's: One of the first things I noticed when I unpacked the 17VL is the orientation of the holes that the secondary air comes into the firebox. On the 17VL when the secondary burn happens the flames are almost pointing at the glass door and in the 1100B they point almost straight down. The disadvantage is that when you stack the wood to get a full load in the 1100B the secondary flames are hitting the top split and things can get crazy in a hurry if you are not attentive, not so with the 17VL as the flames don't hit the top splits. Air control: I think the 17VL has the better air control over the 1100B. I have had a couple of times where the 1100B's temp was climbing above 700 deg (stovetop) fast and with the air control closed all the way it was still climbing, I had to open the door to cool the stove down and then the temp became manageable. I have not had this happen on the 17VL, the few times I came close to the max of 650 deg I closed the air all the way and the temp stopped rising and slowly came back down. This might be the way the secondary flames are orientated in each stove. Customer service: I had a few issues with both stoves. The 17VL had a bad glass gasket and Englander had a new gasket to me in 2 days no questions asked. The 1100B had some cracked firebricks and US Stove had some new ones sent to me in no time with no questions asked. I did have a problem with US Stove in that no one could/would tell me what the max temp for the top of the stove was. It was not in the manual and 2 phone calls and numerous emails later I still had no idea what the max safe temp of the stove was. The stove temp for the 17VL was in the manual.
So that being said I still enjoy burning with both stoves and was pleased with the heat output of both, but I have to admit that I have come to like the 17VL better because of the better burn times (even though its just 1 1/2 to 2 hrs more), the better air control and the orientation of the secondary burn flames. I hope this helps someone who might be trying to choose between the 2 stoves. Thanks, Rick
Keep in mind both are small stoves and take a little pre-planning with wood size and shape to get the max amount of wood in the firebox. To my eye both are good looking stoves and keep the glass clean with 3 yr old css water oak. If it matters to you the 1100B US Stove in made in China and the Englander 17VL is made in the USA. Now the differences: The firebox sizes are listed about the same size but I can put more wood in the 17VL due to the shape of the firebox (when I say more wood I mean 1 -2 more small splits), of course this means that the 17VL has a little longer burn time. I can get about 6-7 hrs of heat out if the 17VL and still have enough coals left to start a knidling fire after 10 and sometimes 11 hrs later after I put the last load on for the night. With the 1100B I get around 4 maybe 5 hrs of heat and maybe after 6 hrs have enough coals to start another fire with some kindling. (To me anything above 250 deg is heat). The shape of the firebox in the 17VL is taller and slimmer than the 1100B which is a little deeper and not nearly as tall.
The secondary's: One of the first things I noticed when I unpacked the 17VL is the orientation of the holes that the secondary air comes into the firebox. On the 17VL when the secondary burn happens the flames are almost pointing at the glass door and in the 1100B they point almost straight down. The disadvantage is that when you stack the wood to get a full load in the 1100B the secondary flames are hitting the top split and things can get crazy in a hurry if you are not attentive, not so with the 17VL as the flames don't hit the top splits. Air control: I think the 17VL has the better air control over the 1100B. I have had a couple of times where the 1100B's temp was climbing above 700 deg (stovetop) fast and with the air control closed all the way it was still climbing, I had to open the door to cool the stove down and then the temp became manageable. I have not had this happen on the 17VL, the few times I came close to the max of 650 deg I closed the air all the way and the temp stopped rising and slowly came back down. This might be the way the secondary flames are orientated in each stove. Customer service: I had a few issues with both stoves. The 17VL had a bad glass gasket and Englander had a new gasket to me in 2 days no questions asked. The 1100B had some cracked firebricks and US Stove had some new ones sent to me in no time with no questions asked. I did have a problem with US Stove in that no one could/would tell me what the max temp for the top of the stove was. It was not in the manual and 2 phone calls and numerous emails later I still had no idea what the max safe temp of the stove was. The stove temp for the 17VL was in the manual.
So that being said I still enjoy burning with both stoves and was pleased with the heat output of both, but I have to admit that I have come to like the 17VL better because of the better burn times (even though its just 1 1/2 to 2 hrs more), the better air control and the orientation of the secondary burn flames. I hope this helps someone who might be trying to choose between the 2 stoves. Thanks, Rick
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