Hi all,
I've been reading the forums diligently for a few days now, looking for opinions on various stoves to help me to make up my mind, and figured I'd post my situation and get any opinions any of you would like to provide.
First, my house and heating situation: house is ~1100sq. ft., insulation is retrofitted and is not horrible, but nothing like a modern house (house is ~110 year old fisherman's house on the North Atlantic). Heat is primarily wood, electric baseboard backup. We have been heating with an original VC Resolute (single front door, no glass) in somewhat run-down condition which is managing to keep the electric off ~60% of the time. We'd like it to manage a higher percentage - and we'd like to be warmer. When we get Nor'easters blowing at us straight off the water, our house gets very hard to heat! Oh - chimney is an external insulated, ~15' high with an uninsulated interior stove pipe exiting the wall 2' above the stove top to meet it. Draft has always been excellent.
We're partial to cast iron stoves for aesthetic reasons, top loaders for convenience and cleanliness (although perhaps modern front and side loaders are just as good - I haven't had one to know), and non-cat technology for some reason. That said, nothing is cast in stone.
We have access to reasonably priced Jotuls, Pacific Energys, and Napoleons, and to most other stoves at higher prices (there is an almost local hardware store that carries them - our local stove-only stores are ~20% more expensive for the same stove). My current favourite is the Jotul Castine, which I can get for $1948CDN, and I like the PE Alderlea T4 or T5 which would be a similar price. The Harman cast stove is higher priced for me, and the local places seem to know Harman pellet stoves and not much about the wood burners (although they can bring them in). The smaller Quadrafire cast stoves don't appeal to me as much as the Jotul and the PE, and the Isle Royale is probably too big. Don't know much about the Hearthstone cast models, and I don't think a soapstone stove would work for us - we often come back to a cold house and want it warmed up quickly!
I thought that I wanted a VC Encore non-cat last year, and came close to buying it (that was my last series of posts on this forum, actually) - looks like now that they've been on the market a bit longer I'm glad I didn't get that stove. For some reason I'm a bit wary of all the VCs anyway - despite the completely reasonable argument that a forum like this would show up defects in the most popular stove no matter how good it was, I can't help but feel that buying a stove that's had so much negative press recently is asking for it. And I actually like the looks of the Jotul better anyway...
So - what am I looking for? I guess some reassurance that the Jotul Castine is a good choice, that $1948CDN isn't too much to pay for the basic black model (we could always drive to Maine if the prices are significantly lower, we're in Halifax, NS), and any differing opinions and why.
Any input greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris
I've been reading the forums diligently for a few days now, looking for opinions on various stoves to help me to make up my mind, and figured I'd post my situation and get any opinions any of you would like to provide.
First, my house and heating situation: house is ~1100sq. ft., insulation is retrofitted and is not horrible, but nothing like a modern house (house is ~110 year old fisherman's house on the North Atlantic). Heat is primarily wood, electric baseboard backup. We have been heating with an original VC Resolute (single front door, no glass) in somewhat run-down condition which is managing to keep the electric off ~60% of the time. We'd like it to manage a higher percentage - and we'd like to be warmer. When we get Nor'easters blowing at us straight off the water, our house gets very hard to heat! Oh - chimney is an external insulated, ~15' high with an uninsulated interior stove pipe exiting the wall 2' above the stove top to meet it. Draft has always been excellent.
We're partial to cast iron stoves for aesthetic reasons, top loaders for convenience and cleanliness (although perhaps modern front and side loaders are just as good - I haven't had one to know), and non-cat technology for some reason. That said, nothing is cast in stone.
We have access to reasonably priced Jotuls, Pacific Energys, and Napoleons, and to most other stoves at higher prices (there is an almost local hardware store that carries them - our local stove-only stores are ~20% more expensive for the same stove). My current favourite is the Jotul Castine, which I can get for $1948CDN, and I like the PE Alderlea T4 or T5 which would be a similar price. The Harman cast stove is higher priced for me, and the local places seem to know Harman pellet stoves and not much about the wood burners (although they can bring them in). The smaller Quadrafire cast stoves don't appeal to me as much as the Jotul and the PE, and the Isle Royale is probably too big. Don't know much about the Hearthstone cast models, and I don't think a soapstone stove would work for us - we often come back to a cold house and want it warmed up quickly!
I thought that I wanted a VC Encore non-cat last year, and came close to buying it (that was my last series of posts on this forum, actually) - looks like now that they've been on the market a bit longer I'm glad I didn't get that stove. For some reason I'm a bit wary of all the VCs anyway - despite the completely reasonable argument that a forum like this would show up defects in the most popular stove no matter how good it was, I can't help but feel that buying a stove that's had so much negative press recently is asking for it. And I actually like the looks of the Jotul better anyway...
So - what am I looking for? I guess some reassurance that the Jotul Castine is a good choice, that $1948CDN isn't too much to pay for the basic black model (we could always drive to Maine if the prices are significantly lower, we're in Halifax, NS), and any differing opinions and why.
Any input greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris
