Advice please

[sblat]

I hate to start a thread that I am looking for a new stove, and need advice, but I am really stuck on a few stoves and would love some input because no one I know has any knowledge of stoves. Currently I run an old VC Resolute III with double doors. It has been pretty good for the last 5 years we have owned the house. I am just tired of loading it every 3-5 hours.

My house: Old 1935 Cape Cod, in Lansing MI. We get fairly cold winters, my house is poorly insulated in the walls, and I am constantly working on the attic spaces (which is interesting in a cape) and windows. My entire house is 2115 sf, but we don't use the upstairs much so I am heating more around 1800 sf. Heat travels well now with a ceiling fan and floor fan pushing air to the rest of the house. The back bedrooms are a bit cooler, but we get by. No problems heating the family room, kitchen, dining room, and front living room.

I am looking at stoves in a $1500-$2000 range, and can't really go any past that. I have been doing a lot of research on here and various other places. I am looking mostly at convection style stoves by Napoleon (1400 or 1900) Osburn (2300 or 2400) and PE (super 27 series or summit) The middle size from each of these manufacturers is 2000 sf with around a 2 cu f box, with the large versions being rating more towards 3000 sf with over 3 cu f box. I am worried to go with the 2 cu ft box because I want to burn 24/7 which I cannot currently do. I have plenty of wood, and constantly work on stacking more. The large units make me nervous that i will bake out of my house. I want to be able to burn all night, reload in the am, go to work and come back and have enough coals to get it cranking again.

Any thoughts about brands, size and other recommendations would be very appreciated. I plan on buying the new stove in the next 2 months and installing over the summer. If there is another stove in that range I should be looking at, I would be interested in that info as well. Thanks a lot everyone

 

[k9brain]

I'm currently heating ~1300 sf with the Napoleon 1100 and it does an okay job. A fan might give more heat, though. The 1400 should be the minimum. The quality is good and it's priced right. I wouldn't be afraid of a bigger stove because you don't have to fully load it every time. If you want longer burn times you might want to consider a catalytic stove.

 

[NothingLikeWood]

We heat with a Napoleon 1400 installed in a fully insulated basement including the floor (foam under the concrete). We don't have any vents so the heat has to travel across the family room and then up the stairs to turn the corner and spill into the kitchen dining area. The back bedrooms (one above the stove) are fairly cool but we like it like that.

We don't have a blower (the installer said it may not make the difference we thought it could) but we do have an ecofan and a small fan pointed into the family room. I wasn't too keen on the blower noise anyway. A neighbor has the same stove with a blower but different room setup (main floor) and his house can get quite warm.

It can bake us out of the basement if we let it (load high btu wood like beech) but after the first year of getting used to the heated basement, we quite enjoy the balmy 80s down there and reasonable 65-75 upstairs. I can load it with 3 good size splits on a bed of coals and shut it down when the stovepipe reaches 400-500 and wake up to some nice coals in the morning. I rarely pack it tight even if it is cold outside as I don't find a difference in the number of coals in the morning - only the fact that the room enters the unbearable stage quickly regardless of the wood quality. If the room does get really hot, we up the speed on the fan pointing into the room or use a bigger fan.

The stove has made a difference in how we use the house (everything is reasonably warm) and our power bill (we rely on electric baseboards). Our winter bill has been cut in half - from $300 down to $150.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Fsappo]

If you want quality and an overnight burn, I would go with something with a 2.5cf firebox or more. For something in your price range, at this time of the year, I would visit your local Hearth Shops and see if they have anything on sale left over. Brands that in my opinion are good to look at which should have models under 2k:
Quad
Regency
Enerzone
Pacific Energy
Lopi
Avalon

 

[ControlFreak]

You can't go wrong with the Napoleon 1900.

 

[Renovation]

Hi,

If you want long burns and the control to either burn hot and fast or cool and long, I suggest you look at a 2.5 cuft plus cat stove from a manufacturer with a good track record. The big firebox gives you endurance, and the cat gives you the ability to dial it down. A Blaze King Princess or King or Woodstock Fireview, Keystone or Palladin come to mind. They may be a bit more than what you're pricing now, but have many enthusiastic owners with applications like yours.

HTH and good luck.

 

[Dix]

I don't know the size of the chimney for your stove, but this takes a 6"


http://www.overstockstoves.com/50nowomo2sqf.html


We installed the NC 13 with a 6" chimney,(heating a lower level of the house that the insert just could not heat) and the stove & chimney came in under $1000 with the tax credit.


Decent looking stove, does a great job.


Just a thought.

 

[hotprinter]

Where I bought my stove is a man who knows more about stoves than anyone I know. We ended up getting a blaze king, but his favorite stove is PACIFIC ENERGY. He says they are the best made, simplist stove around. Taking the afterburner out of the PE is really easy for cleaning and it gets good afterburns. This is the one he likes but they make smaller ones as well..

http://www.pacificenergy.net/pacificenergy/summit_classic.php

 

[sblat]

I really appreciate everyones thoughts on the subject. I am leaning towards the PE if I can get the right price. The super series stoves are all rated to 2000 sf, with the summit rated at 3000 sf. With my 2100 sf home in Michigan is the general thought out there, that I need to go with the Summit over the Super 27? If I end up with Napoleon, it is the same debate. The 1400 rated at 2000 sf or 1900 for up 3500 sf. Again, looking to move to 24/7 burning, so need a good long burn time. Thanks for any additional thoughts!

Steve

 

[madison]

If you are tired of frequent reloading, upsize, IMHO the price differences between the various models within a brand are small when looking at the total cost. If you have the room/clearances, upsize away and ignore the SQ mfg recommendations.

 

[Swedishchef]

Howdy and welcome to the forums.

I don't see anybody speaking about their Osburn stoves so here is me 2 cents worth: I currently have a 2300 and absolutely love it. It is installed in my basement of my 1300 sqft bungalow and heats the entire thing once it gets going. I don't have any floor registers, the floors warm up and the heat travels up the staircase. That's it.

I can get a nice bed of coals after 10 hrs with my 2300. I love the fact that it has a bypass to help prevent smoke spillage. It's a great asset. And it is not an expensive stove, $2000 taxes inc,

Cheers

Andrew

 

[sblat]

Thanks for the thoughts on the 2300. I actually spoke to a dealer today about that model. He told me that I could not expect to get 8 hrs from the stove. To be honest, I have heard that the Osburns don't have a very good reputation for burn time. I like the look a lot of the 2300, but if I am not going to be able to burn overnight, and then get another good long burn over the day at work, then I would be wasting my money. If there are any more Osburn people out there I would love to hear from you.

I think I might be leaning to the less expensive Napoleon 1900 or the more expensive PE Summit. Just a really hard decision to make, because I don't want to throw away $2000 or more...

 

[ironpony]

not sure of your wood situation, buy it or free
but have you considered a pellet stove
most will run 12 hours on a 40 lb bag
easy to clean, can located easily with direct venting
maybe keep the wood stove and add a pellet??
just a thought

 

[sblat]

I am pretty lucky with my wood situation. I get to cut at our local golf course every winter that is being destroyed by the Ash Borer. I have not paid for wood yet, so I am planning on staying with a wood stove. Thanks for the thought....

 

[Todd]

Your kind a stuck in that inbetween area where you really only need a medium sized stove but you may not be able to achieve consistant long burns and if you go with a larger stove you can get the long burns but there is also a good chance it wil be too much stove. Sounds like a good canidate for a cat stove like the BK Princess if you can stand the looks.

 

[ddddddden]

There's a thread around here somewhere with a pic of a new BK called the Chinook. Less, um, unique looking than the other BK's. Basic black cube with integrated stand like the Englander TVL. Firebox is about the same size as in the Princess, IIRC.

 

[sblat]

Did some searching and could not come up with anything on the Chinook except for the post on the Hearth. I guess I have never really considered a Cat Stove. Are they more expensive to buy and or opperate? Are they harder to deal with? I just don't know much about those types of stoves...

 

[ddddddden]

Well, they're not really more expensive than comparable non-cat stoves. . .it's just that fewer co's make them, and none are aimed at the lower end of the market. MSRP on a Princess = $2600, and word is that you would have a tough time getting one for much less on the east coast, after it goes through a regional distributor. I think BK distributes directly to MI dealers, so finding one with room to give you ~20% off in the off season shouldn't be too difficult. Other options: Woodstock, Buck, VC/Dutchwest. . .Catalysts cost $100-300 every 3-5 years. Mileage varies. Some have reported their cats lasting ~10 years. Most feel that the cost of cat replacement is more than offset by savings in wood burned. Most who operate one don't find it complicated or difficult. You just have to bypass the cat for, say, 30-40 minutes on a cold start and 10-20 on reloads. AFAIK, non-cats have fairly similar time requirements for adjusting the draft, maybe a bit less waiting, but it's not like you can load a non-cat & walk away.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Hi,

If you want long burns and the control to either burn hot and fast or cool and long, I suggest you look at a 2.5 cuft plus cat stove from a manufacturer with a good track record. The big firebox gives you endurance, and the cat gives you the ability to dial it down. A Blaze King Princess or King or Woodstock Fireview, Keystone or Palladin come to mind. They may be a bit more than what you're pricing now, but have many enthusiastic owners with applications like yours.

HTH and good luck.

Neither of those three will work well in a drafty house of that size.

 

[begreen]

Given the tight budget, I would spend half on the stove and half on tightening up the leaks and insulation. An Englander 30NC will heat the place well and if you hurry you may find one being cleared out of the local Home Depot's garden center for under $700. Otherwise, check here: http://www.overstockstoves.com/50nowomo2sqf.html . Put the remaining $1K into caulking, insulation and window coverings and you will be quite toasty next winter.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I hate to start a thread that I am looking for a new stove, and need advice, but I am really stuck on a few stoves and would love some input because no one I know has any knowledge of stoves. Currently I run an old VC Resolute III with double doors. It has been pretty good for the last 5 years we have owned the house. I am just tired of loading it every 3-5 hours.

My house: Old 1935 Cape Cod, in Lansing MI. We get fairly cold winters, my house is poorly insulated in the walls, and I am constantly working on the attic spaces (which is interesting in a cape) and windows. My entire house is 2115 sf, but we don't use the upstairs much so I am heating more around 1800 sf. Heat travels well now with a ceiling fan and floor fan pushing air to the rest of the house. The back bedrooms are a bit cooler, but we get by. No problems heating the family room, kitchen, dining room, and front living room.

I am looking at stoves in a $1500-$2000 range, and can't really go any past that. I have been doing a lot of research on here and various other places. I am looking mostly at convection style stoves by Napoleon (1400 or 1900) Osburn (2300 or 2400) and PE (super 27 series or summit) The middle size from each of these manufacturers is 2000 sf with around a 2 cu f box, with the large versions being rating more towards 3000 sf with over 3 cu f box. I am worried to go with the 2 cu ft box because I want to burn 24/7 which I cannot currently do. I have plenty of wood, and constantly work on stacking more. The large units make me nervous that i will bake out of my house. I want to be able to burn all night, reload in the am, go to work and come back and have enough coals to get it cranking again.

Any thoughts about brands, size and other recommendations would be very appreciated. I plan on buying the new stove in the next 2 months and installing over the summer. If there is another stove in that range I should be looking at, I would be interested in that info as well. Thanks a lot everyone

I too live in a drafty old home. You need to oversize. I would go with a 3 cu ft stove. An Englander 30NC or the Pacific Energy Summit would work and fit your budget. Fact is, with a drafty house you will always end up fighting the heat loss (which I am as well). Know this, accept it, and plan accordingly. Additionally, manufacturers heating specs are based on optimum conditions, which you (and I) do not have.

If you can stretch your budget further, other stoves that fit your needs are:
Quadrafire Isle Royale
Blazeking King
Vermont Castings Defiant 2-in-1
Hearthstone Mansfield or Equinox (I would lean toward the Equinox, but it takes an 8" pipe)
Quadrafire 5700 Step Top
Pacific Energy T6

 

[ddddddden]

I agree with BAR on the oversizing for the house you describe in that climate. I also agree with Mr. Green, but I think you could easily spend the whole $2k tightening and insulating an old house. Doh!

 

[begreen]

With 2115 sq ft in Lansing, MI, they will be able to use the full capacity of the 30NC, even if only heating 1800 sq ft.. That won't be oversized. The BK Princess would be nice, but over-budget.

 

[BrowningBAR]

With 2115 sq ft in Lansing, MI, they will be able to use the full capacity of the 30NC, even if only heating 1800 sq ft.. That won't be oversized. The BK Princess would be nice, but over-budget.

I meant over-sized based on marketing specs.

 

[ddddddden]

Yes, "oversize" wrt mfr's sf ratings in OP. Agreed that probably nothing would actually be too big for a leaky house in MI. From what I've read, a BK Princess can be had for ~ $2k in the western half of the country, but the NC-30 certainly provides more bang for the $.