I have to replace my earth stove model 101 this year. Its just tired and needs to be replaced. With the 101 I go through about 17-20 face cords a year and it barely keeps my home warm enough (some mornings it will honestly be 50 degrees in the house) I have electric heat as secondary and it costs an arm and a leg to run so I never turn it on unless its an emergency or I'm leaving for a couple days. My house is about 2200 square feet with an open floor plan and where the wood stove sits is an open cathedral ceiling so the heat tends to sit there so I use a fan or two to move the heat around. The insulation is OK but not great. The house was built in the 70's and was originally intended as a cabin and has since had 3 additions. I am concerned if I don't buy a big enough stove ill have to turn the electric heat on and it ending up costing even more money. The stoves I am looking at are Jotul F 600, hearthstone Mansfield or the hearthstone Equinox. What stove will make my house warm and allow my electric heat never to be turned on.
Replacing Earth Stove 101
- Thread starter Woodsie
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Grisu
Minister of Fire
You are looking at the right size stoves. What flue do you have currently: 6" or 8"? What budget do you have in mind?
I have a 8 inch flue. The cost thing doesn't matter too much as long as my house is warm. The other option I'm toying with is going with an outdoor wood boiler and converting my indoor heat to a boiler system so that is obviously going to cost a lot of money to do. The equinox is too wide for where my wood stove goes so I would have to do some changing to the existing space to make it fit. I have two brick benches that sit next to the wood stove currently that are 31 inches wide so I would have to have someone redo those for me. However, this is still the cheaper option compared to going to an outdoor wood boiler. The other two would fit within the current space but I'm not sure if they would be enough to heat my home.
You crank that Equinox and it darn sure ain't gonna be 50 degrees in the joint. And the F600 isn't a slouch either.
You will have a learning curve and will have to have real dry wood but those suckers will toss some heat.
You will have a learning curve and will have to have real dry wood but those suckers will toss some heat.
I keep hearing that I need to have really dry wood for these newer stoves. Why? My old stove I have been cutting dead or dying ash, letting it sit all summer then burning it in the fall with very little creosote build up and like I said I am going through close to 20 cords a year. If I had the time to get a year ahead I would but thats a whole lot of cutting. I am really leaning towards the Equinox at this point just to make sure I don't turn my electric on even if I do have to do a little extra work to make it fit.
In addition to above, will I still be going through that much wood with the equinox or will my wood consumption decrease?
Having heated by burning wood for closing in on 40 years it took me a while to get hip on the dry wood thing myself. Boy I am glad I found this place and got religion. I get more heat from half the wood versus my old stove and not dry enough wood. Went from six full cord a year to three with a wife saying the joint had never been as warm.
Especially important in the new more efficient stoves. The non-cat stoves burn the un-burned gases at the top of the firebox that didn't burn down at the wood load. Excess moisture in the wood creates steam that keeps that secondary combustion from either taking place or completely burning the gases.
Makes a ton of difference in heat production from the same amount of wood.
Especially important in the new more efficient stoves. The non-cat stoves burn the un-burned gases at the top of the firebox that didn't burn down at the wood load. Excess moisture in the wood creates steam that keeps that secondary combustion from either taking place or completely burning the gases.
Makes a ton of difference in heat production from the same amount of wood.
You may do ok with the dead ash drying out over the summer. It is one of the quicker to dry hardwoods. Get a moisture meter to check the wood moisture and check on a freshly split face of the wood, not the end grain. If the wood is sufficiently seasoned you should see a nice decrease in wood consumption. I would guess about 30% is possible, but try to address the shortcomings of the house too by sealing up leaks and improving insulation.
Grisu
Minister of Fire
An OWB would be advantageous when you think the heat will not travel well, which may be the case the way you describe the construction of the house. When the Earth Stove was really cranking did you feel the heat coming at the other side of the house? On the other hand, I think a really large stove will be able to heat that house. You burned about 6 cords in an old, inefficient "smokedragon", that's actually not that much (equates to about 3 to 4 cords in modern stove).
Here is a random list of extra large stoves that take an 8" flue:
Kuma Sequoia (catalytic)
BlazeKing King (catalytic)
Buck 91 (cat) or Buck 80 (cat, not quite as large) or Buck 94 NC (non-cat)
Regency F5100 (cat)
+the Equinox (non-cat)
Here is a random list of extra large stoves that take an 8" flue:
Kuma Sequoia (catalytic)
BlazeKing King (catalytic)
Buck 91 (cat) or Buck 80 (cat, not quite as large) or Buck 94 NC (non-cat)
Regency F5100 (cat)
+the Equinox (non-cat)
Just don't do the outdoor boiler. Tramping out to feed the smoke monster and it eating more wood than you are burning now would be a pain.
And sitting on those bricks with no stove in front of you would just flat suck.
And sitting on those bricks with no stove in front of you would just flat suck.
Thats what I am leaning towards too. I love having a stove, its my favorite part of winter. Nothing like a warm cup of coffee next to the stove after a big snow storm.
Well, I might debate that. A snuggle with your honey on a warm couch or rug in front of a nice fire is hard to beat. 
Well, I might debate that. A snuggle with your honey on a warm couch or rug in front of a nice fire is hard to beat.
Until your wife walks in.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
I considered this option originally too . . . on the positive side is the ability to load up the stove and just set the thermostats and let the stove do its thing with heat throughout the entire home at whatever temp the thermostat is at. Having the stove outside to reduce any mess, fire danger, etc. and realizing that at some times of the year I could also just load it a couple times and keep the heat going also had a certain appeal.
In the end I opted to not go this route. The expense of the entire system was a big reason . . . but also I was concerned about having to fix it so I could hook up a generator to keep the heat going for the inevitable power loss. I'm not a hippie or enviromentalist, but I also wasn't a huge fan of going by the OWBs in town and seeing huge clouds of smoke enveloping the home . . . and the neighboring homes. What really did it for me personally though was seeing my father constantly feeding the stove and constantly searching for more wood as he burned many, many cords (real cords) every year . . . as much as I love working with wood and some friends think I have a sick fascination with my wood the truth is I don't want to have my world centered around firewood and in the end I opted to go with a woodstove . . . it's what worked for me . . . other folks could successfully argue that going with an OWB would be the best solution for them.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
As mentioned you might be OK . . . a moisture meter could tell you for sure. In my first year of burning I burned standing dead elm (no bark) and tree tops left behind from my brother cutting wood . . . and I did OK. In the second year with wood cut, split and stacked for an entire year I learned what my woodstove was truly capable of doing in terms of heating the place.
Time is always an issue . . . the good news is that once you're ahead a year it's not so bad as you only have to work a bit to get the wood done that will burn the following year . . . in effect you're doing the same amount of work as before once you get ahead for that first year. Well truthfully . . . you may be doing less since most folks report that once they have good wood and have figured out their stove they end up burning less wood.
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