Hi! I've been reading through some past forum threads and am somewhat suprised by a significant amount of negative posts about the Dutchwest cast stoves. I thought it might be helpful to post my experiences so far with this stove. I purchased a very lightly used Dutchwest Extra Large Model 2462 catalytic this past fall. It is being used as a primary heat source for in my 1960's era 2200+ sq ft 2 story home, and it works extremely well. I have not run my natural gas furnace except when we have been away overnight. We used to keep our thermostat set at 68F during the day and 66F at night. We now have temperatures in the mid to high 70's throuughout the house. (80's if I or my wife get carried away)
Some of the issues that I read about seem to be related to chimney/draft as far as I can tell. We installed a 20ft Flex-King Pro in a second story exposed clay lined masonary chimney. We installed this stove on a hearth we created, and vent up through a now modified fireplace. I hated the fireplace, as I could watch dollar bills floating up it, and that was without it lit!! Anyway this configuration has yeilded a very good draft situation for us in outside temperatures as high as the 40's and of course it improves below that. If you light a match in the door you can watch the flame dance upward! I'm not totally sure of my "secrets to success" with this stove, but here is what I think (which if you combine with a couple of bucks will buy you a good cup of coffee!);
1) Having a well installed/insulated chimney liner is a good investment for this stove (or any new high effciency model for that matter).
2) We only burn well seasoned wood. That being said, we do have some oak mixed in that is only a little over 1 year and I now think 2 years should be a minimum for oak. We only load in a minimum amount of smaller portions of this when refueling, and the larger chunks will go back for some more seasoning.
3) After one small "backpuff" incident which I caught immediately, I never engage the cat until this stove has a good fire going
(about 30 - 45 min on a morning refuel, and 15-20 on running reloads). It seems to like a good bed of coals to work off of as well.
4) I have found which primary air settings work from my reload's and don't mess with them. I mess even less with the seconday air controls. My fluctuation is about +/- 1/2 turn off of a 1 and 1/2 constant setting.
5) This stove will re-light with a very small amount of coals. After cleaning out ashes, only a few small embers are need to get things roaring again.
6) If run properly, this stove burns very clean. The glass is always clear, and the chimney is clean as a whistle.
7) Care must be taken not to let this stove "runaway" as it will get very hot, very quickly. OF course this is true of any stove, but the heat that this stove can create in a very short time is incredible.
8) The firebox is very large, and holds a ton of wood. I recommend 22"+ wood and you will get over 10 hour overnighters. I only have a small portion of my current wood in that length, but that will change for year 3.
Hope this information is helpful to someone. I know I enjoy this stove, as does my family.
Take care and burn safely!
Some of the issues that I read about seem to be related to chimney/draft as far as I can tell. We installed a 20ft Flex-King Pro in a second story exposed clay lined masonary chimney. We installed this stove on a hearth we created, and vent up through a now modified fireplace. I hated the fireplace, as I could watch dollar bills floating up it, and that was without it lit!! Anyway this configuration has yeilded a very good draft situation for us in outside temperatures as high as the 40's and of course it improves below that. If you light a match in the door you can watch the flame dance upward! I'm not totally sure of my "secrets to success" with this stove, but here is what I think (which if you combine with a couple of bucks will buy you a good cup of coffee!);
1) Having a well installed/insulated chimney liner is a good investment for this stove (or any new high effciency model for that matter).
2) We only burn well seasoned wood. That being said, we do have some oak mixed in that is only a little over 1 year and I now think 2 years should be a minimum for oak. We only load in a minimum amount of smaller portions of this when refueling, and the larger chunks will go back for some more seasoning.
3) After one small "backpuff" incident which I caught immediately, I never engage the cat until this stove has a good fire going
(about 30 - 45 min on a morning refuel, and 15-20 on running reloads). It seems to like a good bed of coals to work off of as well.
4) I have found which primary air settings work from my reload's and don't mess with them. I mess even less with the seconday air controls. My fluctuation is about +/- 1/2 turn off of a 1 and 1/2 constant setting.
5) This stove will re-light with a very small amount of coals. After cleaning out ashes, only a few small embers are need to get things roaring again.
6) If run properly, this stove burns very clean. The glass is always clear, and the chimney is clean as a whistle.
7) Care must be taken not to let this stove "runaway" as it will get very hot, very quickly. OF course this is true of any stove, but the heat that this stove can create in a very short time is incredible.
8) The firebox is very large, and holds a ton of wood. I recommend 22"+ wood and you will get over 10 hour overnighters. I only have a small portion of my current wood in that length, but that will change for year 3.
Hope this information is helpful to someone. I know I enjoy this stove, as does my family.
Take care and burn safely!