Request suggestion on buying a new wood stove

Hill said:

I’m doing a small home addition and also adding a new chimney for a wood stove. I purchased the dura-vent/dura plus through the wall wood stove chimney kit and the triple wall pipe. The wood stove will be placed in the basement of the new addition. I would like to buy a good wood stove…. I looked at the Napoleon 1400PL in a local store, Englander model 30-NCH from homedepot and Summers Heat model 50-SNC30LC from lowes. I’m note sure which one to buy because all of them are EPA certified and claims to be good…..

Any suggestions or recommendations on a new wood stove…My budget is $1500 and the unit will be used as the secondary heat source.
Thanks!
MH

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In the $1500 range you could have a PE Summit.

Hill said:

The basement size is roughly 650 sq. ft total (old and new) + and I'm also planning to heat the 300 sq ft first floor room (new addition).

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950 sq ft total?

Welcome to the forum Hill.

Most folks do not have very good luck putting a stove in the basement. It does seem that it would do a good job because heat rises but it just doesn't work out well in most cases.

It will do best if the walls are insulated else the basement walls will soak up all the heat and you'll wonder why that stove isn't giving you much heat at all. So you might want to rethink where you are placing the stove. Perhaps the upstairs placement would do best for you.

In addition. Because you are looking at buying and installing a wood stove, I highly suggest you get your fuel on hand as soon as possible. If you are buying wood, the sellers will say it is well seasoned. 99% of the time they are just saying that or else do not know what seasoned wood really is. Wood needs to be cut to size, split and stacked for at least a year before it is ready to burn. If not, you will not get the desired heat from the stove, you may have problems even keeping the fire going and worst of all, you will have lots and lots of creosote problems which if not taken care of can cause a bad fire. It is not worth losing your home! So get your wood before you get the stove!

Good luck.

But, if your basement is insulated and the stove is near the stairs you can get a lot of heat up the stairs. Ours is in the basement and we are able to heat the upper two floors with it. Just put a fan at the top of the stairs to blow the cold air down the stairs and the hot air will rise.

Hill, welcome to the forums. You've come to the right place. You'll find a ton of great, free advice and experience here. Just as Dennis (Backwoods Savage) has suggested, plan your basement install with the knowledge that uninsulated walls will absorb your BTUs and leave you very frustrated with any stove's performance. Please take a moment to read about just how many BTUs you can lose here: http://www.woodstove.com/pages/basement_install.html

Englander and Summer's Heat are the same stove. Both are made by Englander Stove Works, and they are both heating machines. Beauty is subjective, and Englanders may not be the "prettiest" stove on the market. However, in a "bang for buck" scenario, you will be hard pressed to find a better plate steel stove. If you have Englander questions, one of the forum members works for Englander, and he can tell you about these stoves inside and out. Either of those stoves, installed properly and burned with seasoned wood, will throw a lot a heat for you.

And, finally, as Dennis also suggested, make sure you have an adequately seasoned fuel supply. Please look through some of the Q&A;on Tom's site here: http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howetwd2.htm Perhaps this quote sums it up best: "Freshly cut wood is referred to as green, and is very wet, containing up to 80% moisture by weight. To dry out the wood to 20-25% moisture content so it can be used as fuel, you season it by cutting it up into short lengths and stacking it out of the rain in such a way that air can circulate freely to carry away the water as it evaporates out both ends of each piece. Remember Granddad's wood shed? The open slat walls allowed air to circulate, and the overhanging roof kept the rain off the wood. The seasoning process generally takes around 12 months, depending upon the species of wood and the airflow, humidity and temperature of the woodshed. Once the wood has evaporated down to 20-25% moisture content level, it is seasoned, and ready to burn."

Let us know if you have more questions!

Another thing to consider: if you are only heating 1,000 sq. ft., the Englander 30 may be a tad big. The 30 is a serious heater, from what I've read. It's little brother, the 13NC, may be more suitable. We'll hopefully hear from Mike or some other 30 owners.

These new EPA certified stoves operate so efficiently by taking advantage of secondary combustion: that is, they cause the gases/vapors released by the wood when it outgases to catch fire and burn. This happens at around 1,100 degrees inside the fire box, so the stoves run pretty hot. It's not uncommon for a plate steel stove to "cruise" at 650-700F on the stove top during the secondary combustion phase.

BeGreen said:

Both good stoves and each has its advantages. Over the next 20 years $100 is $5/yr, really a trivial savings vs the satisfaction you will have by getting the first choice. If the basement is insulated (it really should be) and a place where you will be hanging out a lot, get the stove that you like to look at year round.

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+1 . . . on the price savings and buyer's remorse for not getting exactly what they wanted . . . and the fact that a basement install should be insulated.

Hill, take a minute to read my Lopi Endeavor review here: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/37171/

It's a great mid-sized stove, and I don't think you could go wrong with it. Travis Industries (makers of Lopi) are one of the best plate steel stove manufacturers in the business, but if you want that cast iron beauty, then Jotul is one of the best in the cast iron business.

Lopi and Jotuls sound out of the price range.. I must say my Jotul is my pride and joy of our log cabin. If I was looking at the 3 you are, I'd probably go with the Napoleon just because of the great things I've heard about them. Good luck.

Ditto on all the above recommendations. I only have to add that my house area/layout seems similar to yours (I have a 1/2 storey above my main floor though. My 2 cubic foot firebox PE Fusion is perfect because I burn 24/7 with it and because my wife (and I) love the look of the thing. HOWEVER --- I'm on the Atlantic side of Canada and it gets cold out here but with R20 standard building code insulation and an insulated basement even the PE Fusion can easily drive us out of the house (I haven't burned in it in February though). Based on my mother-in-law's vista (smaller version of my stove that we installed for her) -- I KNOW that I could heat our home with it 24/7 as well (but I wouldn't because I'd fall short with my softwood burn times).

It took me a year to decide on a stove and we are very pleased but I still lament not having an Oslo/Alderlea/Soapstone/BK/and yes even a VC! but that's just me. Part of the fun is deciding what stove suits your lifestyle, decor and sense of adventure. Heck, mine looks like a microwave and I love it!

Happy hunting