Brand New to Wood Stoves/Question and Advice Needed

[Jersey_Marine]

Hi to all,
I am brand new to owning and operating a wood stove. I purchased a house with an older model Dutchwest Stove (Model# FA224ACL). I did some google research on this stove and found out it is from 1984-1986. I fired the stove up the other day and I am getting an excessive amount of smell in my house and at times it smokes out the 2 wheels on the left hand side of it that's used to let air into the stove and sets off the smoke alarm. My chimney is completely brand new as it was replaced as a stipulation for me purchasing the house because the old one was completely rotted. I also am getting a nice draft in the flue so I don't know what it can be. I was told a stove is only good for 22-25 years so maybe this stove has seen better days. For the last 2 days I haven't used it because the smell/smoke was giving me a bad headache inside my house. Using the information I was told about how long stoves are slated to last, I started poking around online for stove information and went to a local store by me to look at them. I saw a nice stove that interested me in the store. It was a Dutchwest Catalytic XL Model # 2462. I was also on Lowes.com and saw a stove made by a Candadian Company called Drolet. It was the Drolet Model # DB07200 and it's good to heat 2400sq. feet. I also looked at the Vermont Castings Defiant but the legs are just a little wider than the Dutchwest 2462 and too wide for the hearth that is there. The Defiant is a little out of my price range anyway and I figure since Dutchwest is owned by Vermont Castings it has to be of good quality. Okay, my question is....What separates say a Dutchwest or Vermont Castings to something you can buy in a Home Depot or Lowes? How much better is the Dutchwest or Vermont Castings as compared to it's Canadian counterpart Drolet? I've read all great reviews about the Drolet but still skeptical because it isn't the large name as the other two. I thank anybody who takes time out of their day to help me with this. It is greatly appreciated. Also, if someone recommends the Dutchwest for any particular reason and has a website that sells them for a good deal please let me know. Thanks in advance for the help..

 

[mellow]

We need to figure out what is affecting your draft on your new chimney setup, if you have smoke pouring out your draft is an issue and even changing out the stove might not fix your draft problem.

Can you give us some more details on your chimney setup? Did the installers leave behind an item list of what they replaced? Can you upload some pictures of your setup?

 

[begreen]

The Drolet HT2000 is a serious heater made by SBI. They also make Osburn and Enerzone stoves and have a good reputation.. The folks that have the HT200 and have reported here love them. It's a simpler stove than the Dutchwest, but a well made stove.

 

[Jersey_Marine]

I appreciate the help on this.....I am going to upload a pic of my setup...I am not sure if you can see in this pic but there are 2 knobs on the left side of the unit that open and close. They both vent the inside of the stove. If I close them completely the fire obviously burns out. If I open them smoke bellows out of them. The draft seems to be okay in the flue so I can't put a finger on why I am getting blow-back. Is it possible to overstuff a stove? I stuff it with wood but not enough to where it closes the upper vent.. Ok let me try uploading this pic.

 

[BrotherBart]

That is a catalytic wood stove. Causes could be that you are starting it up with the cat in the closed position, cat could be plugged with crud or something or cat could be broken up. How are you starting up and burning the stove and have you inspected the cat converter.

 

[begreen]

This stove was designed for tweakers. There are fine tuning air controls for secondary burn and some to feed the combustor on the left side.

Sounds like you could use a manual. Look for it here under pre-1990 CDW stoves. The information you are looking for is on page 12.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/dutchwest-cdw-documents/

 

[Jersey_Marine]

That is a catalytic wood stove. Causes could be that you are starting it up with the cat in the closed position, cat could be plugged with crud or something or cat could be broken up. How are you starting up and burning the stove and have you inspected the cat converter.

The cat could very well be old but I have no idea because the stove was in the house when I bought it. The cat could have only 2 hours of fires on it or it could have 2000 fires on it. I have no clue but I did already think about the cat being old. I priced a new cat and they want almost 300 bucks. This is where I have to make a decision. Is my stove now good enough to spend $300 bucks on a cat or is it worth putting that $300 bucks towards a new stove? Obviously the new stoves are more efficient than mine, but on the flip-side if i could keep my stove I will save alot of money with a $300 cat as opposed to 2K on a new stove.

Thank you very much for the link. I looked at the manual for my stove and it is correct this stove is all about tweaking. I just want to be able to light the fire, do minimal tweaking so I can heat my house without a headache.

 

[begreen]

Start with carefully examining the cat. If it is plugged or badly degraded (cells broken) then it's time to replace. Then the question is how well is the rest of the stove holding together. That will take a close inspection of the interior parts, gaskets, combustor, and bypass controls as well as an overall inspection for cracks and air leaks.

 

[bluedogz]

Is my stove now good enough to spend $300 bucks on a cat or is it worth putting that $300 bucks towards a new stove?

My experience on this forum has been that even if you have a 55-gallon drum in which you burn scrap wood for heat, the crowd here will help you do it better and safer. Five will get you ten that you're about to get walked through a point-by-point inspection of your stove that will answer your question.My $0.02- you may THINK your draft is fine, but if you are blowing smoke out your secondary vents, it probably isn't.
Oh, also, I found a cat for that stove for $188. Shop carefully, friend.