Help with selecting modern wood stove

[zso]

Hi
I am new here. Would like opinion on wood stove selection. I have searched all over and basically cannot find a good review on these wood stoves. Some background information. I have a over a 2000 sf home but would like to heat the rec room about 360 sf. The room is located at the lowest part of a split level home. I just need occasional heating. I will need to install a new flue running thru a bedroom and attic above.

Because the location......a corner nook is small I am considering a round modern stove.
Option jotul F370 ....$3.5K
Hearthstone Bari.....$4.7k
Morso 6148............$4.7K

I am leaning on the Jotul F370. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

You should get the stove you like best. I'd hate to live with a stove I didn't like.

All of them seem to be of a similar style. I watched the F370 video from Jotul. Here are a few observations of what I saw.

They mentioned 30K btu from it. Since it is such a small stove, I wouldn't expect that much heat for a long burning period. This may not be an issue in a room the size you mention unless there is an insulation problem. You will be reloading often due to the small firebox. When Tim (He said his name in the beginning) reloaded, he was wearing welding gloves and it looked like the flames may have been hitting them as he inserted wood. This seems dangerous to me, I don't like my hands in the fire. The splits he used looked to be of normal length, which is a plus, but were awfully thin. I don't know if this was just for demonstration purposes as thin wood catches faster or the stove might have an issue with, say a 5" split of firewood. You may end up resplitting before you can put the wood into the woodstove.

All that said, Jotul makes a quality product. If you like the look, go with it!

Matt

 

[EatenByLimestone]

And welcome to the forum!

Matt

 

[Grisu]

Welcome to the forum! Do those prices include the install? Because they sound too high for just the stove. Are you primarily looking for ambiance or do you want to save money? If it is the latter I would say there are several cheaper conventional options (e. g. electric space heater, oil or gas monitor etc.) available for such a small space unless you will be able to get your wood for free.

I think all the stoves you mentioned are from well respected companies. Here is a thread with some first impressions of the Jotul: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-jotul-f370-installed.84385/ You will likely find others here, too. Did you also try the stove review section here?: https://www.hearth.com/talk/link-forums/stove-reviews.35/

If you decide to go ahead with a wood stove please remember that a modern, EPA-approved stove requires seasoned wood with a moisture content of less than 20% to run efficiently. Most wood species need to be split and stacked for at least 1 year to reach that stage. Be also warned that most wood dealers do not really sell seasoned wood. When shopping around ask when it has been split and stacked; anything under 1 year is almost certainly not dry. I would recommend being there during the delivery, split a few pieces in half and test with the moisture meter the freshly exposed surface. If you cut your own I would start now so the wood will be ready next winter.

 

[remkel]

Welcome aboard! Hold on, because you are in for quite a ride around here.

Not familiar with those stoves so I cannot be of much help.

 

[Lynn]

Hi,
As I was also looking for info on similar stoves last year, I decided to sign up today to share our experience with you.... We started looking after a friend bought a Bari. She loved it and had only good things to say about it, but I wanted to give the other smaller modern stoves a closer look. After comparing them we ended up choosing the Bari after all. I loved the soapstone and for my husband it was a compromise. He was getting a stove....I had balked for a long time. The price was yes, high, but the firebox takes longer lengths than the Morsos we considered.

We have access to free fruitwood, so don't have to worry wbout splitting to get logs to fit in the smallish firebox. We have it placed in our great room of about 650 square feet, close to the hallway that leads to the rest of our 1800 ft. It has been up and running for about 6 weeks now....

Although our nightly lows have only been around 28 so far, we can load it at 10 pm and the house stays comfortable till morning, and the stone is still warm to the touch. I expect however that we will need to use the heat pump some at night as it gets colder to keep the back bedrooms warm. If the Bari is still in the running for you, read what the experts here have to say about Soapstone in general. It is a wonderful even heat, but it takes a while to get the stove all warmed up, etc. We purchased from The Chimneysweep Online and Tom was really helpful when I was narrowing things down. Best wishes to you!

 

[firefighterjake]

Hi,
As I was also looking for info on similar stoves last year, I decided to sign up today to share our experience with you.... We started looking after a friend bought a Bari. She loved it and had only good things to say about it, but I wanted to give the other smaller modern stoves a closer look. After comparing them we ended up choosing the Bari after all. I loved the soapstone and for my husband it was a compromise. He was getting a stove....I had balked for a long time. The price was yes, high, but the firebox takes longer lengths than the Morsos we considered.

We have access to free fruitwood, so don't have to worry wbout splitting to get logs to fit in the smallish firebox. We have it placed in our great room of about 650 square feet, close to the hallway that leads to the rest of our 1800 ft. It has been up and running for about 6 weeks now....

Although our nightly lows have only been around 28 so far, we can load it at 10 pm and the house stays comfortable till morning, and the stone is still warm to the touch. I expect however that we will need to use the heat pump some at night as it gets colder to keep the back bedrooms warm. If the Bari is still in the running for you, read what the experts here have to say about Soapstone in general. It is a wonderful even heat, but it takes a while to get the stove all warmed up, etc. We purchased from The Chimneysweep Online and Tom was really helpful when I was narrowing things down. Best wishes to you!

No comment to your post . . . just wanted to welcome you to hearth.com.