Need some advice for a new wood stove user.

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james c

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Dec 6, 2014
8
kingsport
Good Afternoon I am in the process of looking for a new wood stove and I have narrowed it down to either a Englander nc30 or a Drolet Myriad or HT2000 my house is roughly around 2000 sq ft. I am going to put the stove in the basement. I was wondering what stove would be the easiest to run for a guy that has just a little experience with a wood stove.
 
Every stove and every install has a learning curve. Once the curve is figured out I don't think it will make a bit of difference between your stove selections of "which one is easiest".

Now - on to the install... Basement insulated?? How you gonna move heat?
 
Sold drolet for 2 years and not impressed, you get what you pay for, regency, pacific energy, jotul, enviro, much better choices,and better build quality and warranty just my 2 cents, also check out kuma looks like a decent stove and best of all not made by robots and made in the USA
 
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Every stove and every install has a learning curve. Once the curve is figured out I don't think it will make a bit of difference between your stove selections of "which one is easiest".

Now - on to the install... Basement insulated?? How you gonna move heat?

Thanks for replying. Half the basement is underground so it doesn't really get to cold in there but I will probably insulate it I am still doing some renovations before I move . The stove is at the foot of the stairs I figured just the blower on the stove. I figured since heat rises maybe that would be enough.
 
Sold drolet for 2 years and not impressed, you get what you pay for, regency, pacific energy, jotul, enviro, much better choices,and better build quality and warranty just my 2 cents, also check out kuma looks like a decent stove and best of all not made by robots and made in the USA
Thanks for replying. What problems did you see with Drolet?
 
The question of basement insulation is because an uninsulated basement wall is darn near impossible to heat. Essentially radiating cold in comparison to heated room air. It is a heat robbing monster.
 
There are a lot of happy Drolet owners here. Some for many years and some new ones just reporting in. The HT2000 should stay on the option list along with the Englander. They are both good stoves offering a lot of heat and high value. Note that about 1/3 of the wood you burn in an uninsulated basement will go toward heating the outdoors. That means burning 3 cords to get the heat of 2.
 
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Thanks for replying. What problems did you see with Drolet?
Cracked welds, very poor door latch system, just poor quality, showed my boss some of the defects and he couldnt believe it, i worked at a lumber yard so we sold cheap stoves, i dont work there anymore but last time i was there not a drolet to be found, they sell vermont castings now, buy what you want just telling you my experiences, maybe they are a good stove now but a couple years back they were junk
 
they sell vermont castings now, buy what you want just telling you my experiences, maybe they are a good stove now but a couple years back they were junk

Wonderful improvement. I think there are many Drolet owners that would disagree with the assessment.
 
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The question of basement insulation is because an uninsulated basement wall is darn near impossible to heat. Essentially radiating cold in comparison to heated room air. It is a heat robbing monster.
That makes sense ill have to make sure i put that on my things to do.
 
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There are a lot of happy Drolet owners here. Some for many years and some new ones just reporting in. The HT2000 should stay on the option list along with the Englander. They are both good stoves offering a lot of heat and high value. Note that about 1/3 of the wood you burn in an uninsulated basement will go toward heating the outdoors. That means burning 3 cords to get the heat of 2.
Thanks for replying. I have heard good things about Drolet especially the Ht2000 and Myriad. I will have to insulate my basement i never thought it would be that big of difference.
 
Lots of Drolet and Englander owners on this sight. Maybe a little research here on both stoves could help.
 
That Drolet HT2000 looks like a beast. Big firebox, thick steel, 6" flue, and good price. Should research it.
 
Drolet make good products. They are made in Quebec. And are currently unable to keep up with demand. Englander make great products as well. Both are great heaters.

I do agree with the others: insulate the basement. Otherwise you'll be heating your neighbor's house as well ;)

Make sure you start cutting/splitting and stacking wood right now. EPA stoves need seasoned wood. Seasoned meaning stacked in an open area for 1-2-3 years depending on wood types.

Andrew
 
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Thanks for all the replies everyone i added insulating my basement to the list of things to do. I know the govt. Is changing epa regulations in 2015 do you all think stoves like the ht2000 will be still available or should i buy now.
 
That depends, do you need the info to convince the wife to buy now? ;)
 
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I would go with Englander nc-30 - my buddy has one and I don't have one bad thing to say about this stove, I installed it, it is very well built and throws and amazing amount of heat.. Basement install - an insulated basement can be the difference between night and day. I have a brand new blaze king princess in my basement, the stove is working top notch, my un-insulated basement walls are literally sucking at least 30% of the heat produced. My house is still relatively warm considering, but I know it can be better. What ever stove you decide on please keep the un-insulated basement install in mind if you don't produce enough heat.
 
I'm very happily and successfully heating my home from the basement with a 3.1 cf Drolet Austral (no cracked welds or weakness apparent in the door latch system...). It was either the Austral or the Englander 30NC; the Drolet went on sale first..... ;)

EDIT: My basement is also ICF insulated; I'm pretty sure it would be a lot harder to heat from the basement otherwise.....

Cheers
 
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Thanks for all the replies everyone i added insulating my basement to the list of things to do. I know the govt. Is changing epa regulations in 2015 do you all think stoves like the ht2000 will be still available or should i buy now.

I would guess they would give a few months to the store owners to unload the non-cats first. If that's where they're going.
 
I heat in my basement with a Drolet Myriad stove. My stove is in a Basement Family Room that is like 27' by 27'.

My basement is un-insulated but the walls are painted white with a ceramic based paint as white is very heat reflective and also the ceramics in the paint is also heat reflective. I dont have an issue with the walls absorbing too much heat as most of my heat is radiated heat and reflecting alot of the heat back from the wall surface seems to work. I am sure some heat is lost.

I heat a total of about 2600 square feet with the Myriad Stove. About 1900 is up stairs ranch style house.

There are a couple vents in my floor as who ever owned the house before me had put the vents in. If you put a vent in you should install the safety vents type.

My stove is very heavy duty 5/16" steel stove. The welds are done very nicely like they use robotic welders but not sure they could have been hand welded. The door latch on the Myriads are a nice type setup cant say for other drolet stoves.

The bypass damper is a nice feature and the stove radiates heat really well which would be good for a basement setup. If your basement is large then the larger drolet ht2000 might be better but my Myriad stove throws so much heat that I open my french doors that leads to the garage part of my basement from my family room to vent some heat.

Here is a rebuild kit for the latch so its very serviceable and you can see high quality parts. The ball part rolls on the pin as you lock the latch in place and makes for a good latching mechanism.



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I have a Drolet Austral and im pleased with it altho i think my short chimney is robbing me of some performance. Can't beat the heat for the price.
 
I have a Drolet Austral and im pleased with it altho i think my short chimney is robbing me of some performance. Can't beat the heat for the price.


Kindred if your stove single wall pipe 12" up is like 300 to 350 and your stove top is 600-700 and your getting 9 to 10 hours with enough coals left for restarts then your stove is doing ok.
 
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