Anyone have experience with these stoves?

[TSAKUS]

Hey everyone, getting down to decision making time and wondering if anyone has experience with the following wood stoves. The first three are fairly similar in looks and the 4th one throws a different look into the mix.

Rais Bando
Wittus Zeus
Hearthstone Bari
Scan Anderson 10

Looking for something for a backup heat source (in case of power outages), cut down on oil consumption, take the chill off on particularly cold days and enjoy during the evenings.

In South Central Alaska, 1600 sqft house, 2 story, fairly open floor plan, 16 foot ceilings in main area where woodstove would be located.

The Rais is the most expensive of the bunch with the other 3 coming in fairly close in price to one another.

Any feedback on these options would be greatly appreciated.

 

[webby3650]

Do you have your heart set on a contemporary stove? Most of these stoves will have a hard time heating round the clock. I have installed and burned a Bari, it's pretty cool, but has a very small firebox and is about twice the price of other, more traditional stoves that would heat your home 24/7. Have you checked out the Blaze King Chinook? It's kinda like the Scan Anderson.

 

[jeromehdmc]

I have the Scan A10. We burn it for supplemental heat in a 2500 sqft house. It does a good job for it's size and is simple to heat with.
I love the large glass on the door you get a very good look at the fire.
We bought it knowing it couldn't be used to heat the house 24/7 but it has knocked the gas bill down quite a bit.
On weekends and evenings it does a great job of helping out the furnace.
The European contemporary styling is great, we get alot of compliments on it.
Overall it does exactly what I wanted and I'm happy with it.

 

[begreen]

One problem for heating this space will be the 16 ft ceiling. The heat is going to stratify up there. Normally a ceiling fan is used to help stir up this air by running the fan in reverse during the heating season, but with a power outage, that may not be possible unless a generator is running. The high ceiling also essentially doubles the cubic footage heated. To compensate, I would have some extra horsepower in the stove.

If you are depending on this stove for frequent power outages, then I would go for greater capacity of the Scan A10. The other stoves mentioned are more room heaters with small fireboxes in a somewhat restrictive vertical load configuration. There are some alternative stoves worth considering. The Morso 3610, Pacific Energy Fusion, Blaze King Chinook, Nestor Martin C33 (or RH33) and Regency Alterra CS2400 have greater capacity and should work out better.

What is your climate zone? Are you more near Valdez or Juneau?

 

[TSAKUS]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I am pretty sold on the looks of the more contemporary stoves as they will fit the look of our space better. I know that I will be sacrificing long burn times etc by going this route but with this not being an "all the time heater" I am ok with that. I do have a ceiling fan in the main living space so that would help with the heat for the most part, just not when the power is out. While we do have quite a few power outages, they are not typically for really long periods of time, so I am hoping that the stove will be able to hold the temps at a comfortable level until power is restored. We are similar to Valdez as we are also a coastal community and get lots of snow, also about the same temp range that they have. I looked at the PE fusion and it seems like a great stove but am not sold on the looks of it. (I think if I was looking for a 24/7 stove, this is the direction I would go though). The Scan gives me a larger firebox than the others for sure but is moving away from the looks of the others that I seem drawn to.

While the Rais is the one that I am most drawn to, at 6K it is approx. 1-2K more than any of the others. The least expensive of the 4 is the Wittus (which is on sale for about $3700.) Is the Rais quality etc that much better than Wittus or Scan?

Thanks again for the feedback

 

[begreen]

Rais makes excellent quality stoves, but most of their line has gone to a less practical, vertical, room heater only design. In your situation I would not put in a less than a 2 cu ft stove that can burn at least 18" wood splits.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/89664/

Did you take a look at the Nestor Martin C33 (expensive but good) and Regency Alterra CS2400 (made in Canada and much more reasonable)?

http://www.alaskafireplace.com/products/blazeking.php
http://www.regency-fire.com/Products/Wood/Wood-Stoves/CS2400.aspx
http://www.nestormartin.com/en/c33-77.htm

 

[jeromehdmc]

The quality of the Scan is top notch. Very sturdy construction. No complaints at all from me.
I picked mine up for $1300 if I remember right.
The Scan can also be had with soapstone sides.

 

[TSAKUS]

I am looking more at the Scan Anderson 10 with soapstone sides and top as it has a bigger firebox than the others we have been looking at, however,I am a bit concerned about feeling like the stove is cooking us out of the house. Do you all think this would be a problem with this stove? I ask because I saw another poster on this site had mentioned that he was steered away from the Scan because it "really cranked". Thanks for all the feedback thus far.

 

[turbocruiser]

I'm biased but I think the Regency Alterra CS1200 might be the perfect fit for you and your home! Our home has cathedral ceilings and is around 1600 sqft as well (not counting non conditioned areas) and we are absolutely amazed at how well the CS1200 heats our home. So far this year the coldest that it was here was 2 F with high winds (its been an almost scary warm winter so far here) and the stove had no problem at all pumping our thermostat up to 76 and that was with our forced air furnace on circulate where it isn't heating at all but it is circulating 35% of the time. That plus the room the stove sits in (20 ft ceiling) has a huge and extremely efficient ceiling fan which we run in reverse. With all that accounted for the middle level is about 5 degrees above the lower level and about 5 degrees lower than the upper level (house is tri-level in design). If we weren't running the furnace on circulate and the fan on reverse though the heat would probably be pretty uncomfortably warm in the room the stove sits in and everything thing else would be a bit cooler. I'm sure your climate is colder than where we are so I'd say you'd still need some other source of supplemental heat on the worst winter days but since the stoves you are already looking at are smaller you might want to consider the Regency; it really is an amazing little stove and we are still learning so much about how to get the most out of it. Hope that helps.

http://www.regency-fire.com/Products/Wood/Wood-Stoves/CS1200.aspx

Edit: I should add that if the CS2400 (the CS1200's big brother) will fit well that would be even better. In our case it wouldn't fit well but again for all but the coldest of our days (-20F is the coldest that we typically will ever see each season and only for a few days at most) we so far seem not to need the larger size. I should also add that our house is well insulated anyway and on top of that I have added additional insulation and sealed as much as possible anything that allows leakage. So part of our satisfaction with the smaller stove size is related to the efficiency of our home. Again, hope this helps.

 

[begreen]

I am looking more at the Scan Anderson 10 with soapstone sides and top as it has a bigger firebox than the others we have been looking at, however,I am a bit concerned about feeling like the stove is cooking us out of the house. Do you all think this would be a problem with this stove? I ask because I saw another poster on this site had mentioned that he was steered away from the Scan because it "really cranked". Thanks for all the feedback thus far.

It's not going to cook you out of the house. We have an open floorplan, 2000 sq ft house with a 3cu ft stove in a milder climate. The reason that it is not cooking us out of the house is that we regulate the amount of fuel burned. If the outside temps are mild, don't add more fuel. Let the fire burn out. If you are cooking yourself out of the house it's most likely human error, not the stove.

 

[precaud]

I don't think any of the stoves on your list will cut it. The Nestor Martin C33 sure isn't going to heat that big a space in Alaska, no way. Mine didn't handle 1100 sq ft with 9 ft ceilings throughout in New Mexico. With those high ceilings in the main room, I would lean toward a radiant stove (no side jacketing) in the 2-3 cu ft range, with some sort of fan system to circulate heat from the tall main room into the others.

 

[jeromehdmc]

Don't worry about it being too hot. Like BeGreen says you don't have to have it maxed out all the time. It does put out good heat for it's size, but because of its small firebox it's not a monster.
Yes it won't fully heat our house but with the temp. below freezing it will keep it in the low 60's by itself. The colder it gets the more the furnace will run but I expected that when I bought it.
The CS2400 that turbocruiser has the contemporary look and a nice size firebox.

 

[TSAKUS]

Thanks to all of you for the information, we are close to pulling the trigger on the Scan, just need the avalanches to stop so we can get over to the dealer and close the deal.

 

[jeromehdmc]

Cool, be sure to post some pictures when you get it in.
If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
When you talk to the dealer could you ask them about a blower for the A10?
I noticed there is a cut-out on the back heatshield and have been thinking of putting one in.
If you could ask them for a part number and price I would appreciate it.

 

[TSAKUS]

Thanks, I will ask the dealer the ?'s about the blower next time I talk to them.