Deciding between Quadrafire Isle Royale and Jotul F600 Firelight CB

[dave360up]

Hello Everyone,

About a month ago I bought an old (144 yr old) farmhouse, about 2300 sq ft. The previous owner lived in it for 55 years and claims it is insulated. It currently has forced air oil heat and a Franklin stove (which I have been feeding a LOT of wood into), and I am looking to upgrade to a modern wood stove.

I've been reading everything I can on this forum and have found the information on it to be invaluable. After considering everything, I am down to deciding between the Isle Royale and the F600. (There are a few limitations that have narrrowed down the options, such as the need for a rear vent and having a top-load or right-hand side load).

Area dealers I have contacted have the F600 in stock, but can also sell the Isle Royale but would need to order it. They both recommend the F600. One dealer said that the swing-away baffle mechanism on the Isle Royle can give problems. The other said that he has sold nine Isle Royales of which three had problems with that. One had to be scrapped; the others were repairable. His opinion was that the Isle Royale is fine if you aren't pushing it and are heating up to 1800 sq ft, but that sustained hard use can cause problems.

I really would prefer the top-load feature of the Isle Royale. We are expecting a child in August and I will need to place a fence around the stove, which I'm afraid will make side loading inconvenient. I am not new to burning wood, having had a 1979 VC Resolute (also a top loader) for many years, but am new to the modern stoves and to this forum.

So, for you Isle Royale owners out there, have any of you had issues my dealers mentioned? For the 600F owners, do you have any input? Do the ashes spill out of the front door like on the Oslo (since I may have trouble accessing the side door). On this forum and on the reviews page I've actually read more problems with the 600F than the Isle Royale, but in general believe them both to be good stoves. Any comments would be welcome. Thank you.

Dave

 

[Jags]

I am on season 7 (I think) with my IR. Yet to have any problem, but I DON'T use the top load feature. I just don't like dropping wood into the stove. I run it like I stole it. 750F Stove top doesn't even get my heart rate up any more (of course I shut er down and don't advocate doing it, but it happens)

But heating your square footage I would suggest going with the largest firebox you can fit. The manual for the F600 doesn't list cuft firebox (that I saw), but I think the F600 is a little bigger firebox than the IR. You really can't go wrong with either machine. Both are quality, long lived heat machines.

 

[tiber]

The isle royale has a 3.0cuft firebox, the oslo has a 2.3 cuft firebox, the F600 has a 3.25 cuft firebox.

As far as kids are concerned, when I get the project off the ground this summer that's one of the things I'm probably doing with the hearth is getting the stove up about six inches off the ground so crawlers won't hit it, but I also plan on putting fireplace grates around it or kids fences.

 

[begreen]

The F600 is a simpler stove. It's very easy to run. However, we have had some very satisfied Isle Royale owners here too. Most of them run the stoves hot, as serious heaters for the Northeast winters. Both are excellent stoves and looks great. I don't think you would go wrong with either. I might have a slight bias if you are considering getting it enameled. The blue-black and ivory enameled Jotuls use a different process, more like a powder coating that seems exceptionally tough.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Hello Everyone,

About a month ago I bought an old (144 yr old) farmhouse, about 2300 sq ft. The previous owner lived in it for 55 years and claims it is insulated. It currently has forced air oil heat and a Franklin stove (which I have been feeding a LOT of wood into), and I am looking to upgrade to a modern wood stove.

I've been reading everything I can on this forum and have found the information on it to be invaluable. After considering everything, I am down to deciding between the Isle Royale and the F600. (There are a few limitations that have narrrowed down the options, such as the need for a rear vent and having a top-load or right-hand side load).

Area dealers I have contacted have the F600 in stock, but can also sell the Isle Royale but would need to order it. They both recommend the F600. One dealer said that the swing-away baffle mechanism on the Isle Royle can give problems. The other said that he has sold nine Isle Royales of which three had problems with that. One had to be scrapped; the others were repairable. His opinion was that the Isle Royale is fine if you aren't pushing it and are heating up to 1800 sq ft, but that sustained hard use can cause problems.

I really would prefer the top-load feature of the Isle Royale. We are expecting a child in August and I will need to place a fence around the stove, which I'm afraid will make side loading inconvenient. I am not new to burning wood, having had a 1979 VC Resolute (also a top loader) for many years, but am new to the modern stoves and to this forum.

So, for you Isle Royale owners out there, have any of you had issues my dealers mentioned? For the 600F owners, do you have any input? Do the ashes spill out of the front door like on the Oslo (since I may have trouble accessing the side door). On this forum and on the reviews page I've actually read more problems with the 600F than the Isle Royale, but in general believe them both to be good stoves. Any comments would be welcome. Thank you.

Dave

I also have an old farmhouse. Mine is about 2150 sq ft.

The chances that you have an open floor plan is slim. Most likely you have a bunch of smaller rooms with doorways leading to each room. The lack of an open layout makes it very hard to get whole house heating out of one stove. This means that you may not get the full benefits out of a stove like the F600. Will the stove be centrally located? Why will you have trouble accessing the side door on the Jotul?

For me, I do not have a centrally located chimney. I have three chimneys, one at each end of the house (it is an L shape). This makes it impossible to get whole house heating from one stove. When I am done I will end up with two 55k BTU stoves and a 35-50k BTU stove in the three locations (The equivalent to two Jotul Castines and a Jotul Jøtul F 3 CB). This will give me heating flexibility throughout the burning season. Kind of like zone heating except with wood burning stoves. Apart from going with a wood burning furnace it is the only way to heat the entire house with wood stoves.

If I would have purchased a Jotul F600 I would have been incredibly disappointed when I realized it was not going to heat the majority of the house.

But, without seeing a floor plan I can only assume you have a home layout that matches a traditional farmhouse layout.

 

[dave360up]

Thanks for the input so far. Without posting a picture of the floor plan (maybe I can figure that out later), the house is basically long and 18 foot wide with the stove in the family room at one end, the kitchen and dining room in the middle, and our bedroom at the end. There is an L at the far end that houses the living room, bath, and a very small room that will be the nursery. Upstairs is only the long 18 foot wide corridor with various bedrooms off it. The stairwell is central with a high ceiling and the family room, kitchen, and dining room are all open to it, and the bath and living room have doors that open to near it.

Having played around with the double-door Franklin stove (also a 3.0 cubic foot firebox) I was surprised at how well the heat flowed throughout the downstairs and up the stairwell. Some vents and fans would improve the situation still more. I agree that the zone heating with two stoves would be ideal, and that was my original plan, but decided that the uneven heating near the nursery and hassle of keeping two smaller stoves burning would make it not work so well for me. I will heat the tiny nursery room with an electric heater, thermostatically controlled, to keep the temperature even.