need opinion on stove choice

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das fisch

Member
Nov 19, 2009
7
southern Maine
I have a camp in the western maine mountains that the sole source of heat is a woodstove. the building is about 900 sq. ft. with a loft on the back half, the front half being cathedral ceiling. the structure is insulated and has new windows, basically brand new construction.
today i received a good deal on a new Avalon Spokane 1250 stove and jumped on it. have not picked up the stove yet, so I wanted to get a few opinions on it and how it might work in camp.
rating says 600-1200 sq. ft. heating capabilities, so i figured we're right down the middle size wise on that one. there is a ceiling fan installed to help move that warm air around and down.
Any thoughts?
 
I'd have gone bigger. I think those have a max of 8 hr burn time rating. Don't know what real life experiences show, but if that number is right it would be with the lowest setting, and you are in the middle of the range. I dunno, all is not lost because maybe your insulation and new windows will reduce your heat loss to the point that you can burn at those lower settings.
 
I have a feeling I might have gone too small. the ceilings in the front half are a good 15 ft min., 8ft ceilings are only in the back bedroom and bath. well, have to see about getting money back on that one. was thinking of the englander 2200 sq ft stove from home depot, but for some reason went with the other.
 
Ohhh, it's only 1.6 cf? That's gonna be small. I bet you can heat the place with that, but you'll be reloading every 4-6 hours when it's really cold.
 
You might be OK, but I agree that you will be reloading more often.

FWIW, my Woodstock Keystone has a 1.5 cu ft fire box and heats my small house fine. Todd may chime-in as he has a Keystone that heats over 1,000 sq ft and then some - the difference between his house and mine is that his is very well insulated whereas my house is a drafty old structure.

It looks like the stove is convection too - so that will help heat moving around too.

Good luck,
Bill
 
I'd be looking for a nice ~2 cu ft stove with a decent burn time and if possible, north/south loading. An Lopi Endeavor would work. Or a Napoleon 1400, Osburn 1600, or Pacific Energy Super 27.
 
BeGreen said:
I'd be looking for a nice ~2 cu ft stove with a decent burn time and if possible, north/south loading. An Lopi Endeavor would work. Or a Napoleon 1400, Osburn 1600, or Pacific Energy Super 27.
Click to expand...

x2
I had a napoleon and really liked it, and I now burn in an osburn and love this beast. Check out http://www.dynamitebuys.com/ When I was looking for my insert I found them to have the best prices on the web. Great customer service as well. Good luck!
 
Our Avalon Rainer heats 1200 sq. ft. very nicely, but I DO have to re-load it a few times a day.

Really depends on how much you let "re-loading" bother you (it's all in how you view it), and whether anyone is going to be "around" to tend it.

If you wanna trade up, I'd imagine that they'd be more than happy to let you spend more money.

-Soupy1957
 
Last year was my first year burning wood for heat 24/7. We have an Avalon Olympic insert rated at 3.1 cubic foot unit. We have about 1200 sq feet in the house. My dad built it in the 1960’s and the glass is single glass and a lot of it. We live in the Houston area. Last year, we used about 4 chords and we used just a little propane (only if it over 60 degrees) and we were fine. When it was in the low 20’s outside were warm in the high 78’s. I did add wood about every four to five hours. You should get the biggest stove you can fit - you can build a smaller fire.
 
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