2nd newbie question: Better to err on the too-large stove...or not?

brider said:

...Any help, jokes, etc, would be appreciated.

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OK...have you heard the one about the magician who was walking down the street and turned into a stove store? :lol: BB told me that one (or was it Jags? dunno), and I tell ya I just haven't stopped laughing since. He's a riot. Anyway, welcome to the forum, and all I can tell you is that in my admittedly limited experience, bigger is better. That's not to say that you need to run out and buy an old steam locomotive and convert it, but you know what your heating goal is, and you've done your homework on what's available and narrowed the choices down. If it comes down to two stoves that would suit your purposes, of equal attractiveness to you, opt for the higher capacity of the two. You don't have to burn it flat out all the time. And now go and tighten up that house! Welcome, again. Rick

For the past two heating seasons, I used a Vermont Castings Encore NC - the non catalytic version with the Everburn secondary burn system. Based on my experience, I would NOT recommend wood-burning stove from Vermont Castings.

Our first Encore was uncontrollable and would glow red around the flue collar even with the primary air control at its minimum setting. The dealer tried their best to correct the problem - loose bolts holding the refractory in place (they were hand tight from the factory), ash pan and door adjustments - but the problem persisted. The distributor sent a representative who found issues with the ash pan door and pronounced the stove fit in June 2007. On the first firing in October 2007, the stove once again glowed red around the flue collar. I proposed a swap for a Encore catalytic but was told we would be given another Encore non cat, since that was our original purchase. The second stove was installed in November 2007 and after break-in fires promptly exhibited the same glowing around the flue collar. The refractory shoe also cracked the first week of use.

This time a factory representative was sent from Bethel, Vermont who found issues with the ash pan door and front doors. The night after the stove was adjusted and pronounced fit and after the cracked refractory shoe was replaced, it once again glowed red around the flue collar. I was told that the glowing on the Encore NC was normal by the factory rep and that the stove would become more controllable after ash built up in the air slots in the shoe. Now totally frustrated and wanting no part of the Everburn technology, I called the VC factory rep. He offered any of their catalytic stoves as a replacement and said that to take the burden off the selling dealer I would deal directly with the Bethel, Vermont factory. I thought over this offer for a few days and instead called and requested a refund. The rep said that he would get back to me the next day and I never heard another word from him. From that point forward my voice mails both to the Bethel, Vermont extension and the CFM extension were not returned. Calls to the VC Northeast Regional Sales Manager also went unanswered.

In desperation I returned to the selling dealer on a Friday in March 2008. On the following Monday, the distributor called and told me that he would be traveling with the VC Northeast Sales Manager the next day. By Thursday, the selling dealer called to tell me that they would remove the stove and refund our money.

My mistake was basing my original purchase decision on the VC I knew from the early 1980s when my parents and in-laws both purchased VC products. The old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." comes to mind.

I am now the owner of a Woodstock Keystone that actually is controllable using the primary air control. In fact, if I set the air control to the zero setting, the fire will actually go out. At first I was stunned that I could successfully control the burn in my new stove. After experiencing long burn times with enough coals to restart after twelve hours as opposed to the Encore which would be down to coals in two to three hours, I was ecstatic.

In Vermont Castings defense, however, the VC wood box that we purchased performed flawlessly.

brider there's no reason you can't have a small fire in a bigger stove...and if I were you I'd put the stove where your family spends most of their time. If that's the cold room fine, the newer stoves have an ambiance not to mention warmth to them that you'll enjoy more if you're nearer to it. I guess what I trying to say is don't just stick it into the cold room cause nobody goes there and the stove will be out of the way. A wood stove is a pleasure and a luxury to behold on a cold day...it can also be mesmerizing and romantic too. Hard to describe I guess...

savageactor7 said:

...Hard to describe I guess...

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Geez, savage, I thought you just did a damn fine job!. Rick

Yes indeed Savage very well put. I love to come home and sit in front of the stove. glass of wine, good women, nice fire....someone butt in and inform me if life gets any better!

brider said:

Should I run the ceiling fan blowing DOWN to try to push the hot air under the doorways into the adjacent rooms, or run it pulling air UP?

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Try up first, that should do the trick nicely for you. If you're not satisfied with that, try down...then I bet you'll reverse it back to UP. Rick

EDIT: You're not likely to "push hot air under the doorways", regardless of fan direction. What the fan's gonna do is establish a vertical circulation in the room to keep churning the air up high under that vaulted ceiling that would otherwise just become a big stratified layer of nice hot air. The room the stove's in will be toasty and pretty even-temperatured, but air's not going to leave the room in significant quantities from the action of the ceiling fan.

Jotul F 500 "Oslo" is a good choice here. Good stove;Well made; Good track record. I think most will tell you to avoid VC.You can't make chicken salad with chicken s**t. Fossil is quite right about air movement. If you want to move it sideways you'll have to use horizontal fans (room to room) A ceiling fan homogenizes the air in a room to make it more uniform .A "room heater" tends to overheat the room in which it is placed, unless you can use convection by placing the stove in a basement and thereby not need fans. (usually not practical and often wasteful)Plan on heating the room the stove is in and use highly placed room to room fans if you need to move it sideways. I did have a customer some years ago who usd a set of booster fans and insulated duct to move warm ceiling air from his stove room to the cooler ends of the house through his attic.He designed it himself and it was not complicated. Seemed to work well enough.A small capacity fan running consistently and quietly can move alot of heat.

blackgooseJT

Good stove for my 1400 sqf cape, but the room that the stove is in (sunroom) is very hot compared to the rest. Be careful about putting a stove in to heat the entire house in a room that you will stay in for most of the time (just my take). I'm close to the same as you in terms of living region (near SE coast of CT), and I love the stove. Didn't really think about the glass when I purchased it, but it really is nice to look at.
Chad

We're doing a major house remodel right now, which included pulling out and scrapping the old electric forced air furnace from the crawl space beneath the first floor, as well as all the originally installed ductwork, installing a new higher efficiency electric furnace in what used to be a linen closet (where I can actually access it to change the filter), and redesigning/re-routing all the ducts in the house based on a real heat balance. Lot of money for something we hope we rarely use, but that's not the point. While we were at it, I said to put a completely separate system in, with its own variable speed fan & filter, and its own ducts. It takes a suction from the most remote corners of the three rooms farthest from the great room where the wood stove is, and returns that air to a register we put into the brick hearth just behind the stove. Nothing to do with the "main" system. My hope is that we'll take cold air from the floor of those remote rooms, and return it to the heat source, and that air will then be replaced by warmer air moving in through the open doorways. Won't know until next season whether or not my idea works. Rick

brider said:

Great bunch of responses!

What exactly are the currect "issues" with VC that might suggest I avoid them?

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Company is in bankruptcy right now.
Right before that time, they doubled and tripled the prices of certain replacement parts.

fossil said:

We're doing a major house remodel right now, which included pulling out and scrapping the old electric forced air furnace from the crawl space beneath the first floor, as well as all the originally installed ductwork, installing a new higher efficiency electric furnace in what used to be a linen closet (where I can actually access it to change the filter), and redesigning/re-routing all the ducts in the house based on a real heat balance. Lot of money for something we hope we rarely use, but that's not the point. While we were at it, I said to put a completely separate system in, with its own variable speed fan & filter, and its own ducts. It takes a suction from the most remote corners of the three rooms farthest from the great room where the wood stove is, and returns that air to a register we put into the brick hearth just behind the stove. Nothing to do with the "main" system. My hope is that we'll take cold air from the floor of those remote rooms, and return it to the heat source, and that air will then be replaced by warmer air moving in through the open doorways. Won't know until next season whether or not my idea works. Rick

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Saw this old response from you Fossil and wanted to ask how the separate system with its own fan, ducts, etc. worked out?

Not a miracle...pretty subtle (as one might expect), but it certainly works to a noticeable extent over time. I'm glad I had it installed. Rick

fossil said:

Not a miracle...pretty subtle (as one might expect), but it certainly works to a noticeable extent over time. I'm glad I had it installed. Rick

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Glad it worked ok for ya Rick and I appreciate the feedback. Thought it sounded like a good idea. Rob

Brider, also keep in mind what the marketing people like to do. It is easy to overstate how many sq ft a stove will heat or how efficient the stove is, etc. Most folks won't complain about a stove being too large but they will about a stove too small.

One thing you will notice a lot is the folks who get a small stove and it heats just fine....during the daytime. However, when they go to bed at night and get up to a cold house in the morning, they realize that even though they filled that firebox full of good wood, it still was not enough. Moral is, make sure if you want to hold a fire all night and not freeze, you need a decent sized firebox.

Run the ceiling fan in the winter mode which is pushing the air up. Oslo will be great for your zone and square footage. We are at 1,200 and went with the Castine which is working out great. You are greater by a 3rd so if I were you, I would go up to something the size of the Oslo