A few questions ,decision making time.

[ohlongarm]

I have a few questions,and from reading this forum there's alot of well educated people posting here with a wealth of knowledge concerning woodburning.First let me start by saying I have owned 4 woodstoves since 2004,a Morso their largest stove which couldn't do the job for a 1600 sq. foot ranch.That was sold within a month and replaced with a Quadrafire 5700,this stove performed beautifully up until 2 months ago when the main body of the stove cracked on both sides,the stove was never overfired or abused.Quadrafire after having me submit photos of the stoves interior and exterior replaced the stove with a new 5700 and even paid for the installation and removal of the old stove.

Unknown to me at the time of the replacement was that they made the firebox smaller ,going from 3.5 to 3.0 cu. feet.Also they added some burn controls that were useless based on my experience.To make a long story short,I traded it in on a Buck 94nc a month later.I've had the Buck about 6 weeks and it is the worst of the lot,very little radiant heat,eats wood hungrily and will not burn more than 6 hours on a full load of oak,and beech when turned as low as it will go.To sum it up I am unloading it and will be trading it in on either a King classic,or PE summit,my questions are we've always enjoyed the aesthetic appeal of a non cat stove,I'm told a cat will produce little flame for that purpose.

Can I run the cat with the bypass damper open for a few hours to view the flames without damaging anything?,and will I see flames,until I decide to shut it down and close the bypass.Also can the flames intensity be regulated by the dial located of Blaze king stoves.Or will the Summit heat my home in zero weather for at least 8 hours,despite the smaller firebox of 3.0 cu. ft.,as compared to Blaze kings 4.3. This is a tough decision for me as I don't want to get burned again on a non productive stove. Final question I'm tapped in with an 8 inch chimney 16 feet tall,can if I decide on the Summit,run 6 inch from the stove to the chimney for 6 feet and then use a flu reducer and utilize the remaining 10 feet in the 8 inch,Without affcting the summits performance or burn times.

Thanks all of you.OHLONGARM

 

[certified106]

Wow, that's alot of stoves you have gone through.
What is the construction/insulation in your house like as I am able to heat 2400 sq ft with a stove that has a 2.5 cu ft firebox even when it's -10 F outside and most of those stoves should have been able to heat 1600 sq ft without a problem.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'd like to know the layout and insulation also. I also would like to know more about the wood used, how long it was seasoned, etc. What temperature are you trying to get the house to?

Matt

 

[ohlongarm]

My house is insulated but when it was built 40 years ago,i am the second owner i do have alot of windows very large Pella 12 in a room that is 600 sq. feet. Each window is 34X50 in. but all are double pane and in very good shape for their age. As for my wood all perfectly seasoned under cover ,oak,beech,ash,hickory,and cherry,some locust.My old quad did fine until it burned up.If i could find a stove that would keep the 600 sq feet comfortable as did the quad,the reamaing 100 sq feet will be fine but about 5to 10 degrees cooler which is fine for us.I want 8 hours of heat not just coals,will own either a King classic tomorrow or a PE summit,hate to sacrifice aesthetics for heat and burn times only. thanks.

 

[begreen]

Is the 600 sq ft room connected to the rest of the house or is this it? It should be easy to heat the room with the stoves mentioned. Too easy actually.

For that very large glass area I would install multi-celled shades or insulated curtains. That should make a big difference.

 

[Hanko]

Alot of fun this wood stove stuff isnt it? Go get the big Jotul F600 or BK and quit screwing around

 

[Todd]

Sounds like you need a strong radiant heater so if your looking at Blaze king go with the Parlor model. If you want to watch the fire in a cat stove just give it more air, no need to bypass or burn in the smouldering mode all the time.

 

[ohlongarm]

I actually was leaning towards the king classic over the parlor model,like the looks like an old workhorse may get the gold door to brighten it up. Getting back to the flame picture is high the only setting you can get a decent fire picture on?what would the flames look like anything close to a non cat,stupid questions but since i didn't ask any questions on the last 2 stoves i'm in my predicament,pretty flames is only an option a couple hours a day.lastly what happens if you run the king with bypass open,flamewise. thanks again.

 

[moosetrek]

Look in the history. I had a very similar experience going from an Englander 30 to the PE T6. The issue I had was very similar too; tall ceilings, lots of glass (4.5 x 10.0 wall on one wall, older double paned), trying to heat 500 sq ft room. I almost returned the T6 for a Summit (kinda pointless swap), and if I could have afforded it would have got the Jotul. However, curtains over the windows and a blower on the stove made a night-and-day difference. The Summit, BK, or Jotul will work fine for you - as would the Quad I bet. The Summit is easy to use, but given your experience I don't think you'll be happy unless you have the blower. Most importantly - cover the windows with anything - thermal curtains are cheap (walmart) and work great, but towels, etc. will do fine. Maybe try it for a few days and see if there's a difference, cheaper than another stove swap.

 

[ohlongarm]

The windows are covered with verticals that work pretty well.Right now it boils down to the two stoves,Summit or BK classic,seems like alot of fiddling with the cat,and losing abilities to see the fire,?I'm piped in 8 inch for the king,and I'd have to modify for the PE summit. decisions ,decisions.

 

[Todd]

Go with the BK Classic, the Summit is more of a convection stove and I think you would just be disappointed again. Don't worry about the flame show, you will see great looking fires. You can either turn up the air for a full box of flame or turn it down low til you see those ghostly aroura borealis looking flames.

Not much fiddling with the BK because of it's thermostat, more like set and forget. Wish more stoves had this option.

 

[ohlongarm]

Todd, thanks my decision has been made Blaze king classic it ,my dealer is taking my Buck 94 in on trade,i will post a picture when it's installed shouldn't be too hard to learn how to operate a cat stove.