Need Advice - Wood Stove for under $3000

mdmallard said:

I was told that I should just run new 6" stove pipe to an 8" increaser at the thimble. I'd rather buy a better stove and not spend any money on the chimney/liner if it's not necessary.

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Venting a "better" stove in an oversized chimney just makes it a much worse stove. You will need a liner to have any modern stove function properly. The 30NC is a really good stove with great customer support, just not the nicest to look at (unless you like big honking steel stoves). However, it needs a hearth with a 1.5 r-value; not sure what is under the stone in yours. Btw. You will also need at least 16" of hearth clearance in the front, even for that old BK.

Yea, many people overlook the importance of the exhaust, you can have the best stove in the world, if the draft is minimal it will run like crap.

You can try running it that way and see how it goes, maybe try it for a year then get the liner next year, that would be up to you, we have seen many people with that mindset, spend big bucks on the stove then wonder why it will not run correctly.

bholler said:

i totally disagree that can be a big part of it now i am not saying get a stove just because you like the look regardless of performance but get something you like

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I agree with this 100%!! This is our second year with the Hearthstone Manchester and we are very happy with it. I wanted to stove that would heat our home well AND look beautiful. It sits in the middle of my living room all year long so looks were important to me as well as performance (BTW-just a note I am the wife). I wouldn't buy a beautiful stove that was terrible in terms of performance but with this stove I feel I got both so I'm thrilled. We purchased the brown enamel and everyone comments on what a gorgeous stove it is. Good luck with your choice.

mdmallard said:

Izzyq, do you have a blower with your Hearthstone Manchester? How do you move the heat around with that unit?

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Warm air is best moved around the house by placing a small fan on the ground in the room or corridor the hot air is desired. Blow cold air along the floor towards the room with the stove and warm air will rush out of the stove room along the ceiling to the place of the fan location. The reason for doing it that way is that cold air is more dense than warm air and can be easier moved by a fan.

I would look at the Kuma Sequoia.It has an 8" flue, catalytic,and is a convection stove and heats up to 3500sqft.

I would throw another blaze king king in that bad boy for sure. Definitely worth the extra bucks especially considering your limited options with a 8 inch flue.

I think you will be very happy with the stove even though it is catalytic. You will want dry wood if you don't already. Those older stoves that aren't EPA can burn anything all day long. All the newer stoves catalytic or not need very well seasoned wood.

Charles1981 said:

I would throw another blaze king king in that bad boy for sure. Definitely worth the extra bucks especially considering your limited options with a 8 inch flue.

I think you will be very happy with the stove even though it is catalytic. You will want dry wood if you don't already. Those older stoves that aren't EPA can burn anything all day long. All the newer stoves catalytic or not need very well seasoned wood.

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Amen.

Our BK Princess is our first wood stove and there's just nothing like it. My husband and I were teenagers during the Arab Oil Embargo in the 1970s when wood stoves came roaring back with a vengeance secondary to the precipitous rise in heating oil prices and energy prices across the board. We remember those old smoke dragons well, and we wanted a different experience.

This Princess is like nothing we've ever known. So glad we went with a Blaze King.

I have a Rangeley. It is very nice. I would recommend it to anyone. The built in cooking grate and drop in grilling apparatus are great to have as a mental backup for when we lose electricity in the winters months!

If I ever get another stove, it might be a cat stove, to cut down on wood usage a bit.

mdmallard said:

Izzyq, do you have a blower with your Hearthstone Manchester? How do you move the heat around with that unit?

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We do not have a blower with our Manchester. We are in a ranch with a very open floor plan so the heat moves pretty freely around the living spaces in the house. The bedrooms do stay a bit chilly but we like it that way for sleeping. All our beds have heated mattress pads on them.