Somebody help me please! I have to make a decision on a new wood stove in the next few days...

I have a jotul right now in my current home and love it, however i do think that in order to heat the house i have to heat myself out of the living room. This spring i am building a new home, much bigger. From my exprience now with a jotul i would rather have the "soft heat" that i've heard so much about with a soapstone stove.

You wonn't go wrong with a Jotul. I went for a 550 Rockland insert (3.0) firebox and am very satisfied with it. Whatever you do don't go with a small firebox, go with the larger or largest one, it will put out plenty of heat. Since you live in so. Vt. try the Woodburning Warehouse in Watervliet, NY. I know there is a dealer in Burlington. Welcome to the website, you'll enjoy it . Labrador

I hope we find out what the final choice was soon.

Woodstock fans in this house, too. And I laughed at the comment about having the wife pick out the stove. My husband selected our Fireview and I damn near choked at the price that was about $600 more than our budget. It had been like pulling teeth to get Mr. Yardsale Special to agree to a budget of $900-1,000 and go into a stove shop. Once he saw the Fireview he was besotted and we simply saved longer to buy it. NO regrets. Remember boys, the stove is just furniture when it's not in use and it should be an attractive addition to your living quarters.

The enamelled Jotuls are very, very nice looking IMO, and they seem to have unqualifed support by many here.

While I'm not generally a fan of the matte metal stoves I have to say the Blaze King parlor stove isn't bad looking either.

But always remember: "Handsome is as handsome does" and "There never was a good hoss in a bad color".

IT's great to read ALL the posts to the question you ask, great mix of answers.

What is it that you want to accomplish with the stove?
burn time
area you want to heat (sq ft)
Sq ft of the total house
load design. side - front -top
log size
how big is the space you have for the stove to be installed into
how important is efficiency
do you have a chimney? what size is the flue

There are a lot of great stoves on the market today, as you can see by all the people who burn them. make sure the stove you choose is a fit to your desires, needs, and space. You need to spend some time with a few different professionals at your local hearth shops, pick thier brians, make notes.

VTMADE said:

Hey there, and thanks in advance for helping me out! I was all set to buy a new Hearthstone stove, since my present stove is dying. I was leaning toward the Heritage or Mansfield. But after looking at one recently, I'm not that impressed with the workmanship. The top stones had gaps around the edges and you could see the cement squirting out, holding them in. It looks like it was missing caulk or something to fill in all around it. Also, not impressed with the ash removal. A bit too cumbersome for my tastes. Speed and urgency comes to mind when changing ash, and it was anything but. Dealer also told me that they received over 25 offers to be bought this year and they are looking to sell company to a high bidder.... I find this disconcerting since VC went downhill after selling. I also read bad reviews online about the service (or lack of from the company) so I'm hesitant now. I REALLY wanted soapstone, and even though I prefer an all black stove, I was going to settle for the grey stone w/black. But now I'm leaning more towards the cast iron again. I would LOVE to buy a Woodstock, the company seems great, but they are all so victorian looking and well, won't fit (visually) well in my log cabin home.

I have an old VC Defiant Encore. I'm looking to replace it with another cast iron stove since I guess that I just ruled out soapstone. I want a nice clear glass for fireviewing and I'm leaning towards a Quadrafire Isle Royal or the Jotul 600 Firelight. I'm torn between the two and cannot seem to make up my mind. Any suggestions or thoughts will be GREATLY appreciated.

Geez, this is like woodstove therapy I'm loving this site

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Last spring I was at almost the same decision point. We were also coming from an old Defiant Encore, and had looked at many different stoves, including steel, cast iron, and soapstone. It came down to either the Quad Isle Royale or the Jotul Oslo for us. Both available from the same dealer, so that was not an issue. We agonized for a couple of weeks about the choice. We liked the top loading feature of the Encore, and we'd still have that with the Isle Royale. We liked the simplicity of the Oslo design, the very large ash pan, and the long standing reputation of Jotul with cast iron stoves. At the end, the design simplicity (one moving part) and the beauty of the Oslo (wife liked the looks better) won us over.

We ultimately went with the Jotul, and could not be happier. The only complaint we have, cited many times in this forum, is the way that it catches a lot of ash behind the lower lip of the front door, and then dumps them on the ash lip when the door is opened. This is a minor annoyance, though, since we're using the side door for loading, and will probably only open the front door a few times per season.

After running it a bit in the spring, and all through the heating season so far, I'd make the same choice again. The only thing I'd do differently is get the blue-black enamel. We went with the flat black because the dealer offered us a much bigger discount on that (he probably had too many in stock), but the blue-black enamel is certainly very attractive. We just balked at paying an extra $500 for it.

Was your Encore large enough for your heating needs? If so, you might find the Jotul Firelight to be too much stove. Our Oslo easily pumps out more heat than the Encore did, and we can heat our 2000 sqft home with it quite comfortably.

So what you're saying is you bought a stove that took 2+ years to learn to operate? Really?

Click to expand...

Yep, thats what I'm saying. I would be willing to bet that it takes most people a season to run their new setup efficiently. I took me longer because I had no experience burning wood what so ever. That is why I originally came to this site. To Learn. It has helped me a ton. I'm at least smart enough to admit that.

Buckeye said:

So what you're saying is you bought a stove that took 2+ years to learn to operate? Really?

Click to expand...

Yep, thats what I'm saying. I would be willing to bet that it takes most people a season to run their new setup efficiently. I took me longer because I had no experience burning wood what so ever. That is why I originally came to this site. To Learn. It has helped me a ton. I'm at least smart enough to admit that.

Click to expand...

Buckeye,
When we got this house, the stove was here. Neither I nor my wife had ever burned a wood stove before. I discovered very quickly some things about wood burning that long time burners may take for granted. DRY wood, good gaskets, properly sized and clean flue,......etc., etc. Didn't learn about the flue thing until after the first season of very frustrating fires (I use that word loosely in this context).
Checked the flue the following spring and found the 8" metalbestos class a was down to about 4-5" due to all the fluffy crap that was in there. DOH! Ok, so now I had to buy the rods and 8" brush and a ladder to clean. Also discovered that this 8" setup does not like less than ideal wood. Fires get really lazy, and then we start with the creosote factory thing, which leads to lazier fires, which means more creosote............. I keep a close watch on the flue. Just went up today for the second time in 3 months (all's well), and may go up again in Feb. or maybe March if the fires don't get slow.
My point is, there are just a ton of things to learn about this lifestyle, and that some of them may not become readily apparent for several months or even 2-3 years.
This is my 4th year with this stove, and I'm still learning some things. It's a 1985 Ashley, and I can't seem to get it airtight, so I sometimes get fires that would cause lots of folks on here to crap their pants. I plan to work on the leaks, ...again. No new stove in the immediate future.
Maybe the new stoves are a breeze to operate, and I think if I had started with one first, it would have still taken a while to learn. It's like learning anything new. You can learn the basics pretty quickly, but to become truly proficient takes time.
Sorry if I hijacked, but real men can admit they're not perfect.

I am stunned that the Pacific Energy crowd has not chimed in. When I first got on this site, all I heard was PE this and PE that, with a little Jotul thrown in for good measure. Well, I went with the Big 6 a couple of years ago, and it gets the job done. Lots of btu's, decent burn times and looks nice. At the time, given the rave reviews from the PE fanatics, I was prepared to go that way, but the dealer I chose, who carried both, had drunk the Jotul kool-aid, so that's the way I went. And don't let the sticky handle get ya down - just jiggle it a bit, just like the crapper!

I find it interesting...don't know what to make of it, just interesting...that VTMADE, who started this thread about needing help to make a stove decision in the next few days (that was 4 days ago), hasn't been back to post in the thread. Where are you, VTMADE? Rick

My brother has a Firelight 600 and it was too much stove (huge open floor plan) for his house until he added a 10x20 room on.
It's always 75 degrees (or more) at his house.

Don't put so much wood in, burn 3 splits at a time.

Maybe the stove can be exchanged for one step down. those are not cheap at all so hope the dealer has the sense to exchange it and refund some money. You are supposed to not have flammable materials near the stove. I kind o fo wich my house was at 75 but for me to do that I need to burn for 12 hrs or more to get it there and to keep it there of course keep buring.
Sounds like a slightly smaller stove is what you need.

I have burned a Jutol 118 for 35 years and am happy as can be. I am sure the new ones are even better. Going with a Opel 2 insert in the new house, though.

sandie said:

Maybe the stove can be exchanged for one step down. those are not cheap at all so hope the dealer has the sense to exchange it and refund some money. You are supposed to not have flammable materials near the stove. I kind o fo wich my house was at 75 but for me to do that I need to burn for 12 hrs or more to get it there and to keep it there of course keep buring.
Sounds like a slightly smaller stove is what you need.

Click to expand...

Just a FYI Sandie . . . there is a difference between flammable and combustible. When you think flammable generally you will be thinking of propane, gasoline, etc. When you think combustible you would be thinking of furniture, walls, etcc.

The difference is in the time it takes to be in flames and Flamable is mostly something that becomes gaseous quckly and combustible is something that can be burned when coditions are right where flammable goes up in flames with the touch of a match sort of.