Can't decide what stove?

[ansehnlich1]

I've been lurking around. We're building a home. We'll have a brick hearth with an outside chimney, 8 inch flue. I've burned coal for years, wood too. I burned a VC Defiant Catalytic for a year, it was nice, but we sold that home and the stove went with the house. I'd buy another, but am liking what I see in the Jotul F600 and have been offered a new one for 1900 US dollars. Is that a decent price?

Anyway, I'm ok with the cat., with inspecting/cleaning/replacing the combustor, but I'm undecided if I want to go that route.

I know VC makes the non-cat everburn Defiant, but I'm a bit leery of that as it is so new.

Our new home is one floor, 1832 sq. feet, another 425 sq. feet in an upstairs bonus room above the garage. The stove will sit in the living room, which has a vaulted ceiling, and is wide open to the kitchen/breakfast area. If you go to dongardner.com and bring up the "georgetown" house plan you can see the layout.....the stove hearth will be on the back wall of the living room, with the chimney going up outside on the back porch.

I'd also like to know if you think either of these two stoves too big for the home?

thanks for your input.

Brad

 

[kevinmoelk]

Are you planning on heating with only wood? Or do you plan simply to supplement another heat source?

 

[BrotherBart]

Personally I think nineteen hundred for a new F600 is a fantastic price. That is one big heating beast. I also think it is over kill for that space. But as is often said here you can, to some degree, burn a big stove lower and be better off than having to run a smaller stove hard.

But that pup has the potential to really warm up a house that size with that floor plan.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Indeed, I intend to heat with wood, now we will have an oil fired hot air system too, but I'll be heating primarily with wood. We will be putting a ceiling fan in that living room with the vaulted ceiling. I was really concerned about size too, as I have already had one dealertell me to go ahead and put the VC defiant catalytic in there.

The same dealer says the Jotul Oslo, which he has 3 in stock, would cost me 1575 US dollars.

I just don't know what to do. We have 4.5 acres of land and about 3 acres of that wooded. I'll likely get some burnin' wood off there, and likely buy some log length and cut/split it myself. I've split a bunch of wood by hand, about 4 cord last winter, using sledge hammer and several wedges.....along with my trusty axe

I've looked at and read all about the soapstone stoves right here on this site too, and like 'em, but am really asking for some gut level honesty as to the size of stove I should put in there.

Great site!

Brad

 

[elkimmeg]

Got to ask you, when you know how to a opperate a real good stove and have had sucess, why mess with what you know works? The qulaity has been restored and they are attractive
Can't beat top loading Can't beat the ash removal system.. If you have any American pride they are still made in USA in VT.

Not saying Jotul is a bad choice, they are top quality stoves, and If they could have worked in my setup, I might have one.

I also think an Encore would work one dealer offered one to me for $1752

 

[ansehnlich1]

Got to ask you, when you know how to a opperate a real good stove and have had sucess, why mess with what you know works? The qulaity has been restored and they are attractive
Can't beat top loading Can't beat the ash removal system.. If you have any American pride they are still made in USA in VT.

Not saying Jotul is a bad choice, they are top quality stoves, and If they could have worked in my setup, I might have one.

I also think an Encore would work one dealer offered one to me for $1752

I hear what you are saying. The Defiant Catalytic is quite a stove. Only problem I had was warping ash pan, guess ya can't remove ashes with a hot Defiant. You see, the pan warps and then the lid doesn't go on and off correctly, and worse yet, with the pan in and warped the ash door won't close.

I guess the lesson here is don't empty ash with a hot VC Defiant. Other than that, a great stove, great, even heat, and burns little wood.....overnight burn is no problem too

One more thing, I broke the removalbe handle, right off the bat dropped it on brick and it cracked.....here's what I did. I went to the local landfill, pulled a few handles off of the gas grills there. You see, the spacers between the handle and the grill lid work just great for replacing that ceramic piece, they are black, match the other handles on the stove, and are heat proof.

 

[elkimmeg]

the front door handle has threads inside where I made up my own handle out of wood dowel and screwed it in no more looking for the handle.
You know you will miss the top loading

 

[babalu87]

I have a Morso 3610 and it sounds like the stove for you, you may have never heard of them but do yourself a favor and take a look at them.
They have been building wood stoves since 1853 so I think they have it down by now.

Big firebox for nice long burns.

 

[Henz]

I ahve the Avaolon rainier..Love the stove, switching it for the bigger Olympic though..If you are burning wood for the majority of your heat, you should jsut get the bigger Olympic, like I should ahve in the first place! Anyways, I like the avalons, high quality and minimum clearances from combustables..Check them out..the rainier is $1750 or so.

 

[tutu_sue]

I saw the floor plan. Very nice house by the way. Hmmmm, with one stove and looking at layout, the high ceilings, one could only expect to be able to heat the great room, kitchen and breakfast nook with the one stove. Size for those areas and if any heat does happen to get beyond those areas, consider it icing on the cake.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Well, I appreciate the Avalon suggestion, however, I have a wonderful wife who has her heart set on and simply loves the look of that VC Defiant. I'd buy one of those Defiants but I ain't sure about the new EVERBURN technology, and I'm trying to get away from the CAT. I'd rather not have to maintain 500 degrees just to keep the afterburn kicked in.

Ya, my gorgeous wife doesn't like "those boxy looking stoves"

So, Quad Isle Royale, VC Defiant, Harman Oakwood, Jotul F600....HAHA< that narrows it down eh?

Anyway, I like that top loading feature, but it ain't necessary.

I'm planning on heatin' our home with wood, period.

That VC Defiant CAT burned real fine, steady, and a long time too....kinda like a coal stove.....

I want a stove that will burn 10 hours guaranteed, non cat preferred, 6 or 8 inch pipe into an outside 8" flue lined chimney.

Seriously considering the Isle Royale......tell me why I shouldn't buy that stove?

Brad

 

[ansehnlich1]

I saw the floor plan. Very nice house by the way. Hmmmm, with one stove and looking at layout, the high ceilings, one could only expect to be able to heat the great room, kitchen and breakfast nook with the one stove. Size for those areas and if any heat does happen to get beyond those areas, consider it icing on the cake.

Thanks for the compliment on the house plan....by reading your post possibly the stoves I've mentioned are too big? I'm sure others will weigh in and steer me in the right direction.....I heard mention above the VC Encore may suffice.

 

[tutu_sue]

I'm not experienced enough to advise you on the stove size, but I'm sure if you post information about the 3 rooms like what part of the country you live in, number of exterior walls, room height, room width, room length, area of exterior doors and windows, fireplace, insulation in walls, ceiling, floors, over crawlspace or slab, exposure and things like that, that one of the forum experts will then have enough data to help you.

 

[Gooserider]

Having seen how they make the VC Everburn setup, I think you'd be doing fine with either it or the cat model. The refractory in the VC's should be just about indestructible, it's the same stuff they use in their iron foundry furnaces, and is good for 2700*F - The stove is only going to be running about 1400 so the refractory is going to think its just a tad warm. You would literally melt the stove before the refractory package.

The Everburns are put together with gaskets rather than cement, so repairing them should be far easier than the cat models. Elk and I were seeing that the things Elk does when he was refurbing a stove are what VC is doing now when they build one, stuff like using stainless hardware and neversieze on the moving parts.

The only thing that I would consider a possible issue with the Everburn is that there are alot of very small passages for combustion gasses between the main firebox and the secondary combustion chamber. It would seem like they might tend to clog, but I haven't seen any reports of that from the Everburn folks on the Forum.

I'd be more concerned about the cat as a consumable item than the Everburn, but either the Cat or Non-Cat models look like good choices to me.

Gooserider

 

[suematteva]

That F600 is that the cat or non cat model??if non cat that is a good deal.

On the amount of heat necessary what area is the house?? Your insulation?

We are 1900 sqf rectangular ranch..well insulated....cold and snow belt... In 2002 when we made the purchase it was between the F600 and the Hearthstone Mansfield in the big stoves category or the mediums f400 or hearthstone heritage..Glad we went the bigger stove...had we been in that 50-55,000 btu stove category would have been pushing it hard in the single digits let alone the below zero stuff..

 

[babalu87]

I'm planning on heatin' our home with wood, period.

I want a stove that will burn 10 hours guaranteed, non cat preferred, 6 or 8 inch pipe into an outside 8" flue lined chimney.

Brad

Do yourself a favor and go look at a Morso 3610
With a fan or two it will heat that house standing still

 

[wg_bent]

Well, I appreciate the Avalon suggestion, however, I have a wonderful wife who has her heart set on and simply loves the look of that VC Defiant. I'd buy one of those Defiants but I ain't sure about the new EVERBURN technology, and I'm trying to get away from the CAT. I'd rather not have to maintain 500 degrees just to keep the afterburn kicked in.

Ya, my gorgeous wife doesn't like "those boxy looking stoves"

So, Quad Isle Royale, VC Defiant, Harman Oakwood, Jotul F600....HAHA< that narrows it down eh?

Anyway, I like that top loading feature, but it ain't necessary.

I'm planning on heatin' our home with wood, period.

That VC Defiant CAT burned real fine, steady, and a long time too....kinda like a coal stove.....

I want a stove that will burn 10 hours guaranteed, non cat preferred, 6 or 8 inch pipe into an outside 8" flue lined chimney.

Seriously considering the Isle Royale......tell me why I shouldn't buy that stove?

Brad

Has she seen a Hearthstone or a Woodstock stove? Time for a trip to New Hampshire

 

[Henz]

I havent heard anything about he Vermont Soapstone stoves..They are supposedly the best at radiating and maintaining high temps..Maybe you should look into them..Very expensive but I have heard good things about them

 

[Henz]

can someone provide me with a link to this Vermont castings Everburn Technology>? I cant seem to find it

 

[wg_bent]

I havent heard anything about he Vermont Soapstone stoves..They are supposedly the best at radiating and maintaining high temps..Maybe you should look into them..Very expensive but I have heard good things about them

Very expensive?? I don't think so. Their most expensive wood stove is $2429.00 plus shipping. That's very much in line with other large stoves like the PE, Quads, and Morso's (a bunch others too) A lot cheaper than some of the big EPA zero clearance fireplaces! For the detail, quality and reputation those stoves have, I think that price is not too bad.

 

[ansehnlich1]

That F600 is that the cat or non cat model??if non cat that is a good deal.

On the amount of heat necessary what area is the house?? Your insulation?

I posted a link to my homeplans. I did some math, it looks like about 550 square feet in the immediate room where the stove will be, with a cathedral ceiling in the living room area there. Whole house area is 1835 feet plus about 450 feet in upstairs bonus room.

We are in Adams County, Pennsylvania, near the Maryland border.

R13 in walls, R39 in ceiling, Typar wrapped, Argon filled Pella windows/doors, home facing WSW.

Have big pile of wood, ready to burn, house not done yet, though likely we'll move in around March 1.

I operate a heavy duty 16" Poulan, and a 16" homelite, sharp chains, clean fuel, they run like crazy!

Also have access to my brothers Stihl if I need it

 

[babalu87]

I havent heard anything about he Vermont Soapstone stoves..They are supposedly the best at radiating and maintaining high temps..Maybe you should look into them..Very expensive but I have heard good things about them

Very expensive?? I don't think so. Their most expensive wood stove is $2429.00 plus shipping. That's very much in line with other large stoves like the PE, Quads, and Morso's (a bunch others too) A lot cheaper than some of the big EPA zero clearance fireplaces! For the detail, quality and reputation those stoves have, I think that price is not too bad.

I have the biggest Morso they make and even with the warming racks I was out of the store for $1800.

Making my purchase in NH may have helped as the distributor is in Vermont.
I wonder how much they have gone up in price?

 

[Henz]

yes, they are excellent stoves and very high quality at that..I watched a documentarly on their manufacturing..basically there are no two stoves alike that are produced due to the soapstone..

 

[BurningIsLove]

There is a thread with lots of reviews on the VC (Dutchwest) non-cat stove which a few of us on hearthnet have. So far so good, Im real happy with mine. Ash removal while the stove is in continual operation is simple, no signs that my ash pan is warping. I havent had any problem yet with the 2ndary combustion getting clogged, but I would agree that the potential exists. When the stack is drafting well, the rush of air going through those holes is so intense I would imagine it is difficult for anything to become clogged within (we refer to this as the Everburn 'rumble').

I'd also echo the comment to 'buy American' when practical. The large DW was about $500 cheaper than the Jotul you mentioned as well.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/4188/P0/

 

[suematteva]

That F600 is that the cat or non cat model??if non cat that is a good deal.

On the amount of heat necessary what area is the house?? Your insulation?

I posted a link to my homeplans. I did some math, it looks like about 550 square feet in the immediate room where the stove will be, with a cathedral ceiling in the living room area there. Whole house area is 1835 feet plus about 450 feet in upstairs bonus room.

We are in Adams County, Pennsylvania, near the Maryland border.

R13 in walls, R39 in ceiling, Typar wrapped, Argon filled Pella windows/doors, home facing WSW.

Have big pile of wood, ready to burn, house not done yet, though likely we'll move in around March 1.

I operate a heavy duty 16" Poulan, and a 16" homelite, sharp chains, clean fuel, they run like crazy!

Also have access to my brothers Stihl if I need it

Sounds like you are in good shape on the wood and getting ahead.

That should be a pretty tight home and hold the heat well. With an 85,000 btu unit in that area of the country, I think it might be on the warm side, window open alot.. Having the stove on the outside wall will make it more difficult to move the air around than if centrally located. My .02, I would look at stoves in the 55,000-70,000 range or 2.5- 3.0 cf firebox range.