Cat stove buyer Question

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relayer

Member
Aug 6, 2011
11
Wertern Pa
I'm new to this site and found it to be very helpful. I just purchase a new house and it needs a wood burner. It's a small one story house 1200 sq ft with avg insulation in the walls and I have added insulation to the attic (total 14 in).
Now after reading for hours and hours on this site and looking at wood stoves at local dealers, for now I have decided to go with the Dutchwest cat stove. I have look at the Blaze King line and the Woodstock line it just the cost is more than I want to spend or most likely I would get a Blaze King (looks are not important - no wife). My question is I'm I missing any other cat stoves out there that are $2000 or under that I should be looking at.

Would also like to thank all members of this site for posting. Even after burning wood 24/7 for the last 28 years it has helped me.
 
Someone else is probably more qualified to answer this, but I believe Buck Stove makes some cat stoves that might fit your budget.
 
Welcome to the forum relayer.

The Woodstock Fireview is only $300 over what you quoted for a top end. You may want to rethink that because it is such a great heating stove. If not, then that Dutchwest should do the trick for you.
 
Where abouts are you in Pa? A friend of mine is a dealer for Buck and Napoleon. He gives very pocket book friendly prices! I can give number if interested?
 
. . .and if you can wait, Woodstock periodically sells refurbs for ~ $1500. Other cat options: Buck Models 20, 80, and 91. The 80 and 91 need an 8" flue. . .more $. The 1.9-cu-ft Model 20 might do it for you, but it shows max length for splits = 15", kinda limiting for firewood options. Country Flame BBF is probably larger than you want, 3.9 cu ft. . .dunno price. Appalachian makes a cat or two, but I know nothing about them.
 
Assuming the DW is made as well as in the past (and when comparing my 15 year old burner to the new, they are) you've made a very good choice. :zip:
 
Thanks for the fast replies. Looking at the bucks and the model 20 is a bit small. Model 80 looks nice (8in flue more at that below) and the cost I have seen online is over $2000. Will continue to with more searches on them. Something that I need to do is add a liner to the chimmey. I need to cut through the wall to get to the flue then install the liner. I have gotten cost on this with a 6 inch liner but not the 8 inch. Will look into that.

Fireview - It comes out to $500 with shipping more than the Dutchwest and I have thought about it more than once and most likely will think about more. Can the refub's come up at anytime or do they do it at a certain time of the year.

Plays with fire -- I live about 45 miles SE of Pittsburgh and will take his number.

That was one thing about the DW that I was wondering, are the old ones good as the new ones or did VC mess them up.

With all this good information I started a list of things to check out. Thank you
 
Scenery Hill Hardware 724-945-6177 his name is Tim, nice guy..
 
woodstock already had their preowned sale this year. sold out in like 2 days
 
The refurbs come from folks who take Woodstock up on their "100% Satisfaction Guarantee." You have to wait for someone to return a stove, and then for the factory to rebuild it. Like CT said, they just sold a batch, so my guess is that they won't have more until spring, but you could call them and ask. And yeah, you pay shipping with Woodstock, but it's pretty reasonable on the east coast (sometimes even cheaper with shipping promos), and there's no sales tax, so that part pretty much evens out, depending on your local tax rate.
 
I like the Dutchwest cat stoves. I think they offer a lot of features and bang for the buck, including cat burn.

I also think Buck stoves are top shelf.

I've got a cat stove and a non-cat stove that I'm getting ready to install. Don't necessarily lock yourself into a cat stove if price vs heat output become an issue.

Englander makes some great non-cat stoves at affordable prices. Check out the NC-13 and 30-NCH before you make your decision.

I would avoid an 8 inch flue/stove set-up and focus on a 6 inch flue. The Englander 30 is a larger stove than the Buck model 80 and uses a 6 inch flue and will cost much less - money you can put towards your liner if you need one.

Lastly, the Englander 30 would give you longer burn times between reload vs the 13. It's probably over kill from a heating prospective, but you can build smaller fires and when necessary load it up for max heat when the temps really dip. Also, if your house is drafty, then you will need more heat from the get-go too.

Good luck,
Bill
 
1200 sq ft house with good insulation would also be a good fit for the Woodstock Keystone or Palladian and be only a couple hundred over that $2k price. Can't go wrong with Woodstock, great stoves and great customer service. I have two Keystones for my 2000 sq ft but burn the basement stove as primary most of the time and save the other for really cold weather.

It's going to be tough finding a good cat stove under 2k, there are plenty of non cats under that price but for a smaller home a cat stove is a better fit imo because of the lower output and longer burns. Personally I'd stay away from VC but I do like the DW and have heard some good things as well as bad things.
 
relayer said:
I have look at the Blaze King line and the Woodstock line it just the cost is more than I want to spend or most likely I would get a Blaze King (looks are not important - no wife). My question is I'm I missing any other cat stoves out there that are $2000 or under that I should be looking at.

There are some deals to be had on BKs if you are patient and keep your eyes open. I paid $1900 for my returned King Ultra. It even came with a complimentary thick coating of creosote in the firebox.
 
SolarAndWood said:
relayer said:
I have look at the Blaze King line and the Woodstock line it just the cost is more than I want to spend or most likely I would get a Blaze King (looks are not important - no wife). My question is I'm I missing any other cat stoves out there that are $2000 or under that I should be looking at.

There are some deals to be had on BKs if you are patient and keep your eyes open. I paid $1900 for my returned King Ultra. It even came with a complimentary thick coating of creosote in the firebox.

+1. I paid $2450 for my King, new. There's somebody else here who made an incredible buy on a Princess buy waiting and looking around.
 
jeff_t said:
+1. I paid $2450 for my King, new. There's somebody else here who made an incredible buy on a Princess buy waiting and looking around.

Yeah, I stole the Princess, I was waiting for Mario to come after me. :lol: Good deals are out there you just have to keep looking. I use http://www.searchtempest.com/ which allows you to search craigslist within x amount of miles from your zip code.
 
I have had/burned in a Dutchwest stove for many years and my parents for even longer and have always found them to be excellent stoves. I was really on the fence about replacing my old Dutchwest but it was just slightly to small for my house. if you watch Craigslist you can probably find one for around $800- $1,000 or at least that's what a decent one sells for used around here and save yourself some money.
 
I priced a Princess (my first choice) at my local dealer (only dealer left around me) and he wanted $3000 for it. I have been searching the Pittsburgh Craiglist but will try that link as I maybe missing the area to the east of me, which is a lot closer. I'm not in a big hurry just want to do something before hunting season which starts in Oct.. I still have not rule out the Woodstock stoves, I have someone else coming to give me a price on installing the liner next week.
 
certified106 said:
I have had/burned in a Dutchwest stove for many years and my parents for even longer and have always found them to be excellent stoves. I was really on the fence about replacing my old Dutchwest but it was just slightly to small for my house. if you watch Craigslist you can probably find one for around $800- $1,000 or at least that's what a decent one sells for used around here and save yourself some money.

Hmm, too bad we didn't know of someone with an extra DW :) . Western PA and southeast OH should be pretty close together. Y'all prolly live across the river from each other.
 
Up for a drive? Planning on heading east of the mississippi for a vacation? Turns out that western blaze kings sell for much much cheaper than eastern BKs. Has to do with the eastern distributor price gouging.

I've been threatening to drive to Ohio to pick up an RV at a serious discount and it would be cool to haul two or three BKs to help cover fuel cost.
 
Highbeam said:
Up for a drive? Planning on heading east of the mississippi for a vacation? Turns out that western blaze kings sell for much much cheaper than eastern BKs. Has to do with the eastern distributor price gouging.

I've been threatening to drive to Ohio to pick up an RV at a serious discount and it would be cool to haul two or three BKs to help cover fuel cost.


Stove smuggler! :lol:
 
Up for a drive? Planning on heading east of the mississippi for a vacation? Turns out that western blaze kings sell for much much cheaper than eastern BKs. Has to do with the eastern distributor price gouging.

I’ve been threatening to drive to Ohio to pick up an RV at a serious discount and it would be cool to haul two or three BKs to help cover fuel cost.


What does a Princess run on the west coast?
 
I bought a BK Princess Insert last year from a dealer in Punxsutawney Pa and he had a great price on BK Stoves. I live near Pittsburgh Pa so it shouldn't be too far for you. Here is the dealer info. Pete

Russ Hollenbaugh & Sons
Zoom | more info »
180 Albion
Punxsutawney, PA 15767
(814) 938 7034
 
I know bigredd priced one out. They are hardware store stoves and as I recall were right around 2k for the princess. Might need to search the forum. The BKs are made here in WA and then shipped out all over the place. The distributor appears to be the one doing the major price gouging so the dealers on this site won't have access to the original prices.
 
rdust said:
jeff_t said:
+1. I paid $2450 for my King, new. There's somebody else here who made an incredible buy on a Princess buy waiting and looking around.

Yeah, I stole the Princess, I was waiting for Mario to come after me. :lol: Good deals are out there you just have to keep looking. I use http://www.searchtempest.com/ which allows you to search craigslist within x amount of miles from your zip code.
I stole mine too. Got it from a certain west-coast dealer who has an online site and felt free to sell to whoever. I talked to 'em on the phone, and in between then and when I bought, BK yelled at them - but they honored what they'd told me: $1700 plus $300 shipping for a BK Princess Ultra (with black-paintd door). I was appreciative, although they took their sweet time shipping it.

I learned later (here ?) that whoever put up the online price-list had screwed up and put the wholesale price.
 
Classic line of the month award winner!
I would get a Blaze King (looks are not important - no wife).

If you want a cat type I would recommend you go monogamous and buy a stove for the rest of your life.
Wildfire Elm
 
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