Hello all!
We are in search of our first stove for our first house. I have been trolling the forum for some time now and I've learned so much. I've started in on a healthy stack of wood destined for the hearth come next winter at the earliest, however I am having the toughest time deciding on what stove to buy. I know this question comes up fairly regularly, so forgive me. I have done a fair amount of research up to this point, but I need help now.
First of all, we plan to use the stove to heat on the occasional weeknight with it gets colder, and on most weekends in the winter and shoulder seasons. Our home is one story at 900 SF. This doesn't include the attic space which we plan to make usable in the future. The house is very drafty and poorly insulated having been built in 1900. Given this info, we are looking to the wood stove to take up the slack on the electricity bill, but a good fire view is also important to us.
After researching all types of stoves available, I have come to love the soap stone stoves, however my wife loves the look of cast iron, and I think that they look classy as well, so we'll go with cast iron. With this part of the decision made, we began our search for stoves sized to work in our home.
Considerations
1: Cat or non cat - I feel that we don't need a cat stove because we are equally interested in heating as we are in the ambiance of the fire. With this said, we are looking for a non cat stove unless advice given here says otherwise.
2: Ash tray - We don't need an ash tray, but it would be nice to have one from what I have seen. It does seem that some ash collection systems cause more problems than they solve, and I would like to avoid this if at all possible, so I am keeping this close to mind in my research.
3: Color - We like mat black, or white/biscuit color. If we did go with a whiteish stove, it would be nice to color match the flue.
4: Loading - The stove is going to be mounted in a corner, so front loading is probably ideal, and side loading would probably be a nice option as well. I have read a lot about top loaders, however there seem to be a number of challenges / troubles with the down draft systems. There are also some videos on youtube of top loaders back puffing and releasing lots of smoke into the room. Of course back puffing can be resolved, or avoided all together, and is usually user error, but it makes one think twice nonetheless. If you place a lot of importance on top loading, or just generally love a cast stove that happens to be a top loader, and you don't think that I should discount it in my choosing, please let me know.
5: Highest quality / longevity - I am a true believer that you buy once, cry once. Or, poor men can't afford to buy cheap things as they say. I would like to invest in the best cast stove fitting the above requirements possible. Period.
The stoves that we are considering so far are as follows:
- Hearthstone Shelburne
-Vermont Castings Encore
-Jotul F400
-Jotul F500
Please let me know how you feel about the considerations above, and let me know if I am overlooking something. Also, please let me know of any other stoves to consider, and why you feel it would be a good choice.
Thank you all for helping us with our selection. Happy Hollidays!
We are in search of our first stove for our first house. I have been trolling the forum for some time now and I've learned so much. I've started in on a healthy stack of wood destined for the hearth come next winter at the earliest, however I am having the toughest time deciding on what stove to buy. I know this question comes up fairly regularly, so forgive me. I have done a fair amount of research up to this point, but I need help now.
First of all, we plan to use the stove to heat on the occasional weeknight with it gets colder, and on most weekends in the winter and shoulder seasons. Our home is one story at 900 SF. This doesn't include the attic space which we plan to make usable in the future. The house is very drafty and poorly insulated having been built in 1900. Given this info, we are looking to the wood stove to take up the slack on the electricity bill, but a good fire view is also important to us.
After researching all types of stoves available, I have come to love the soap stone stoves, however my wife loves the look of cast iron, and I think that they look classy as well, so we'll go with cast iron. With this part of the decision made, we began our search for stoves sized to work in our home.
Considerations
1: Cat or non cat - I feel that we don't need a cat stove because we are equally interested in heating as we are in the ambiance of the fire. With this said, we are looking for a non cat stove unless advice given here says otherwise.
2: Ash tray - We don't need an ash tray, but it would be nice to have one from what I have seen. It does seem that some ash collection systems cause more problems than they solve, and I would like to avoid this if at all possible, so I am keeping this close to mind in my research.
3: Color - We like mat black, or white/biscuit color. If we did go with a whiteish stove, it would be nice to color match the flue.
4: Loading - The stove is going to be mounted in a corner, so front loading is probably ideal, and side loading would probably be a nice option as well. I have read a lot about top loaders, however there seem to be a number of challenges / troubles with the down draft systems. There are also some videos on youtube of top loaders back puffing and releasing lots of smoke into the room. Of course back puffing can be resolved, or avoided all together, and is usually user error, but it makes one think twice nonetheless. If you place a lot of importance on top loading, or just generally love a cast stove that happens to be a top loader, and you don't think that I should discount it in my choosing, please let me know.
5: Highest quality / longevity - I am a true believer that you buy once, cry once. Or, poor men can't afford to buy cheap things as they say. I would like to invest in the best cast stove fitting the above requirements possible. Period.
The stoves that we are considering so far are as follows:
- Hearthstone Shelburne
-Vermont Castings Encore
-Jotul F400
-Jotul F500
Please let me know how you feel about the considerations above, and let me know if I am overlooking something. Also, please let me know of any other stoves to consider, and why you feel it would be a good choice.
Thank you all for helping us with our selection. Happy Hollidays!
