Jotul Oslo vs. Castine

im just below you in nc... i just had a jotul oslo installed. my wife was real skeptical... she now loves it. looks beautiful, puts out heat, and the lightshow is wonderful. i was out of town this weekend speck fishing and she burned wood all weekend. she now asks me to make her a fire. only regret is that i didnt get enamel.

For what it is worth.... I have a castine in my basement and it does a really good job but.... I may think about upgrading to a olso in the future. I am heating about 1450 square feet with it. I just wish I could get more wood in it for burning overnight and when it is really cold out to get a little more heat.

Mike

Hi, I've had my Oslo blue/black enamel for about three weeks after using a steel stove for the previous 26 years. My home is 2100 sq. ft., two floors with cathedral ceilings and is centrally located. So far I have only been able to fully load the stove at night, if I do this during the day it gets way too hot in the house as I am home all day. I can feed it as needed. With you being in a warmer climate I think the Oslo or a stove with a similar size firebox would be fine for you. On the coldest nights I don't think the Castine will be enough stove. And I do love my new stove.

Jim

Britales said:

The Hearthstone Homestead is now wife's stove of choice! She went to the dealer today in Harrisonburg, Va. while she as at her Mom's with the kids for the Holiday! Same dealer that had a nice deal on an Oslo. Give me your opinions on this one if you will. I'm not seeing much in the archives, which makes me a bit nervous about the Hearthstone. The wife thinks it's quality and likes the appearance!

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Hearthstone makes a good quality stove, very few complaints about them. Soapstone is just about the ideal material for 24/7 burners, but does not work well for "casual" burners because of the way it transfers heat. It is slow to warm up and start putting out heat, but once it's hot it stays hot for a long time. It also tends to "flatten" the normal fire cycles heating and cooling, so you get a more steady constant heat output. It does tend to be more of a radiant heat than a convective heat, so it works better in open floor plans.

The Homestead does have a somewhat higher than average R-value requirement for it's hearth pad, especially if you get the short leg version, but this is not a big deal, just something to be aware of.

You may find the Homestead a bit smallish, I think more of the folks here have gone with the Heritage, which is the next size up. They also make the Mansfield, and and have just come out with the Equinox which are even bigger, but those are on the "overkill" side for most people.

Gooserider

BeGreen said:

Hearthstone makes good stoves, they have a good reputation. Search on their models here and you'll find good reports.

But the Heritage is too small. The suggestion for sticking with a decent sized firebox still applies. Homestead is 2 cu ft, Mansfield is 3.2 cu ft.

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True, and the Heritage is 2.3 cu.ft. - a little smaller than I had remembered, but still inbetween the Homestead and the Mansfield. I don't have the Jotul's memorized yet - there are to darn many of them!, but I thought the Heritage was the closest match to the Castine / Oslo class stove that was being discussed... The Mansfield I tend to think of as the next size range up. The OP was concerned about size, so I thought the Heritage would have been a better match.

Not a big deal on my end though, and for 2200 sq.ft, the Mansfield might work better if it won't cook them out of the stove room.

Gooserider

Get a bigger box with more heating capacity. If VC then get a CAT model, the Quadrafire unit is very nice. And, Jotul is great. I am seriously leaning toward the Quad or PE t-5.
If you stick to these stoves and get the wifey-seal-of-approval; you will be happy.....