I'm finishing a room above out 3 car attached garage and will be putting a stove in this room for next winter. Unfortunately I have had to use the oil furnace to keep this room warm. When the zone for this room is turned off and the door is open to expose it to the rest of the upstairs, the upstairs temps drop from 66-67 to down to 62-63. That is not bad for my wife and I, but the toddler does not sleep as well when it gets that cold, and we will have a 4 month old up there with us come next winter as well. The room itself get up to just about 60, and that on a mild day. The M55 is doing an awesome job, but cannot handle the extra square footage that this room creates when the door is open and the zone is turned off.
So.... I am looking at 4 stove currently:
Enviro Empress, St. Croix Hastings and Quadra-Fire Santa Fe and Castile.
They all have about the same specs for BTU and heating capacity. I really like the price point of the Santa Fe and it still looks good. I'm familiar with the Enviro and the Empress is almost identical to the M55 with the exception of the burn chamber. I don't have any experience with the St. Croix but did find a local dealer and will going to take a look at one within the next few weeks. Same with the Quad stoves.
At this point I am thinking that the stove is going to be running only at night, for about 8 hours, to keep the upstairs temps at a nice level while we sleep, as well as eliminate the need to run that oil furnace zone. I have already burnt through about 100 gallons in the past 2 months to keep this room warm. The base board is as far as it could possibly be from the furnace by being on the second floor and on the other end of the house so it is super inefficient.
I was hoping that some members of the forum that have the stoves or have had these stoves can give me there opinion of them, likes and dislikes, did you have any major problems, do they put out good heat.... etc. etc.....
I appreciate any feedback anyone can give me on these stove. Or even other stove suggestions. I'm in no hurry but would like to have a decision made in case any good spring sales start to pop up.
So.... I am looking at 4 stove currently:
Enviro Empress, St. Croix Hastings and Quadra-Fire Santa Fe and Castile.
They all have about the same specs for BTU and heating capacity. I really like the price point of the Santa Fe and it still looks good. I'm familiar with the Enviro and the Empress is almost identical to the M55 with the exception of the burn chamber. I don't have any experience with the St. Croix but did find a local dealer and will going to take a look at one within the next few weeks. Same with the Quad stoves.
At this point I am thinking that the stove is going to be running only at night, for about 8 hours, to keep the upstairs temps at a nice level while we sleep, as well as eliminate the need to run that oil furnace zone. I have already burnt through about 100 gallons in the past 2 months to keep this room warm. The base board is as far as it could possibly be from the furnace by being on the second floor and on the other end of the house so it is super inefficient.
I was hoping that some members of the forum that have the stoves or have had these stoves can give me there opinion of them, likes and dislikes, did you have any major problems, do they put out good heat.... etc. etc.....
I appreciate any feedback anyone can give me on these stove. Or even other stove suggestions. I'm in no hurry but would like to have a decision made in case any good spring sales start to pop up.
