Less Expensive Stoves

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JohnNC

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 13, 2009
6
Western NC
I've discovered Drolet, Vogelzang and Century at Northern Tool and a couple of other places. A store owner who sold higher end stuff said that the doors would warp and seals would give in a couple of years. Was he pulling my leg?
 
If you want the best (and safest) bang for your buck, look at Englander (Summer's Heat) at Lowe's and Home Depot (etc.) for the best bang-for-buck EPA certified stoves.
 
Yes. They have the same cast iron door frames and fiberglass rope gaskets the stoves he sells have.
 
Hi: You've got to know he has a Biased opinion. He need's to sell his product too.

Chris ...
 
JohnNC said:
What do you think of your Englander? Do you have a blower on it? How quiet is it?

Love the stove. Going into its fourth season. All blowers make noise. It is real quite turned off and gets louder the higher you turn it up. Just like any blower.
 
I've found a pretty big variance from one brand to the next. Buck was loud. Quadra fire had really nice quiet ones.
 
Yeah but look at the CFM output. Wide differences. The more air one is blowing the louder it is going to be.
 
JohnNC said:
I've discovered Drolet, Vogelzang and Century at Northern Tool and a couple of other places. A store owner who sold higher end stuff said that the doors would warp and seals would give in a couple of years. Was he pulling my leg?

From what I've read here some of these manufacturers in the past produced product that was questionable at best . . . but don't take my word for it . . . check out the stove ratings section located here and read actual user's opinions before making a decision.

Personally, if money was an issue and I was looking for a good heater I would go with what many folks here have gone with and go with something like an Englander, Regency or Napoleon -- a good, basic steel stove.
 
JohnNC said:
I've discovered Drolet, Vogelzang and Century at Northern Tool and a couple of other places. A store owner who sold higher end stuff said that the doors would warp and seals would give in a couple of years. Was he pulling my leg?

Actually John minus the shipping from Northern Tool, I was really considering using their site for my chimney I need to build. While they don't have ALL the parts, the chimney parts they do carry are cheap-as-heck for $99/3ft of Class A.

I'm really thinking about taking the plunge and building my own chimney.
 
is 99 good for 3ft of class a? the farm store down the street sells it for 80 bucks, i thought....
 
Danno77 said:
is 99 good for 3ft of class a? the farm store down the street sells it for 80 bucks, i thought....

You could make a friggin killing putting them on ebay. Not kidding. I had a post lamenting the cost of a chimney which is why I haven't taken the plunge yet - basically the company I was talking to wanted $250/4ft.
 
Danno77 said:
is 99 good for 3ft of class a? the farm store down the street sells it for 80 bucks, i thought....


Local Menards has been selling the Selkirk super vent class A 3" sections for $65. Sometimes it's even on sale ~59ish.
I've built two chimney set ups with it and very happy with quality and performance.
 
Hello,
My local Napoleon dealer is having a 25% off sale, is that everywhere? I bought an Englander NC-13 and my brother-in-law bought an NC-30 last year and we both love them--the 13 heats up my 1k square foot basement like nothing (actually, it heated the whole house, 2,300, to 63 when it was 15 degrees out and no power last year). They are super simple to use, fairly decent looking, and very inexpensive. Nice combination.

S
 
Local Menards has been selling the Selkirk super vent class A 3" sections for $65. Sometimes it's even on sale ~59ish.
I've built two chimney set ups with it and very happy with quality and performance.

ebay! I put in my zip code and my closest store is Chicago. This is sort of a drive for me so... Yeah... :(
 
Northline Express ...

Colonial Woodburning Fireplace Insert - TR004
Item #: 5VZ-TR004
Stock Status: Backordered Until: 11/6/2009
Price: $999.00

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Northern Tool Is ... $ 849.00 Plus Shipping ... If you call Northline They may do better on the Price ... Chris ...
 
As you can see in my signature I own a Vogelzang Defender wood stove. It may not be as pretty as some of the other brands out there, but I like it, it does it's job well, and will throw some serious heat.

All-in-all I'm very happy with my decision.
 
Of the three you mentioned, I would choose the Drolet, or Englander as one of the ones you didnt mention. Those are inexpensive stoves that are a good value and decent quality.
As far as blower noise goes...a fan is going to make the same noise per CFM as another fan. What makes a difference is the housing A tinny sheetmetal housing up against a tinny sheetmetal stove may make some vibration noise. Also, the "all fans sound the same" logic applies when these fans roll off the assembly line. Depending on the type of stove and positioning of the fan, they will wear out at different rates, as they wear, they get noiser.
 
Love my Englander 13 NC, it has performed flawlessly over the last two seasons (going into my third with it now). It heats my 1000 sqf home perfectly all season long......even when its been below zero out.
 
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