webbie
Seasoned Moderator
Lisa*Ann said:
Most all of the very low priced stoves are pretty decent these days....you don't get ALL the bells and whistles, but you get a solid product which will likely last you MANY years (or decades) and do the job...with some minor repairs and upkeep.
The low cost makers are Century, SBI (Osburn, Drolet and others), Englander and even Napoleon and some others - Pleasant Hearth is a new one, and US Stoves makes some low cost models.
If I were you, I would look at firebox size as one of the main guides.....that is, does the size properly fit your needs. Then look at the clearances to walls, etc.
Of course, add in the chimney, etc.
This is really one part of the industry which has changed in the last decade - pretty amazing, really. It used to be that you could not get a decent mid-or large EPA stove at a low price, but now there are scads of them. Even some of the highest end brands have come out with lower-cost models...for instance, years ago Travis (Avalon, Lopi) came out with something priced below a grand. It's probably over that now, but still worth looking at if you have local dealers.
Stoves are somewhat like furniture - that is, we have GREAT furniture in our house from Ikea (a 600 sofa, for instance, with all-cotton covers).....which we've had for 20 years. We also have some of that heavy duty stuff made of yellow pine (I forget the store name, but it was a large chain that sold only that bullet-proof solid yellow pine stuff).......
And, like furniture, you can get something purely function...for a cabin, or you can decide you want an "inlay" or nice teak.....in the case of stoves, this means brass or gold plated, soapstone, enameled castings, etc.......
I have to say that I am impressed that the marketplace has been able to build stoves that are just not for those who take out a home equity loan or drive a new Volvo to buy them. If oil and energy prices stay up as they are, we are going to need to have price points at every level to help solve our energy issues!
Has to be a freestanding stove in the corner of the room.
