Well, in this hunt, I actually came across a dealer yesterday who is knowledgable and has the brands I have been looking at. And, best of all, he didn't have an attitude!! Yea! He carries Jotul, PE, and Quadra Fire. The PE T6 won't work and I have pretty much narrowed my choice down to the Jotul. What I would like to hear from you guys is your opinion between the Oslo and the Firelight. The dealer had burned the Firelight in his home for many years before switching to a pellet stove and had the Oslo burning in his showroom. The Oslo was 300 degrees and putting out a ton of heat with just hot coals and he had the outside door open. It was 54 degrees outside. He said after dealing with both stoves, that you don't get that much more heat out of the Firelight than the Oslo, unless you have 24" logs in the Firelight. The Firelight is only rated for 11,500 more btu's than the Oslo. He also said the Oslo was an easier stove to operate. As far as looks, I think I like the Oslo because there is more glass and the door can be lifted off if you want to use the screen. You loose some of the view on the Firelight because of the bar down the middle with the double doors. Also, the double doors don't lift off, but take up less space when open. Like you guys, he said most people buy the screen, but rarely use it. That's why with the doors closed the Oslo gave more viewing area and the glass, he said, stays cleaner. I also liked the handle staying on the door. The Firelight is only a couple hundred more, so price is not a concern. So, looks aside, do you go for the bigger stove? Does the 4.0 firebox vs the 3.0 firebox make a difference? His theory was these are only space heaters and I certainly don't want to blast out my LR trying to heat the rest of my house. My LR is 34' X 25' and K/DR to one side is 12 X 34, plus the power room and bay window in the kitchen totals around 1300 sq. ft. on that level with a 20'X23' bedroom on the other side of that level (bedroom elevated 3 steps door mostly closed). Another 1200 sq. ft. upstairs. I know the upstairs will get heat because I have a stairway on both sides and the heat does rise. I keep 3 of them closed off most of the time and you can feel the heat from downstairs when you go up, because with the doors closed it kind of gathers in the hallway. Is there anyone out there that have had both models? I'm leaning toward the Oslo at this point. Thoughts???
HOW MUCH MORE HEAT OUT OF FIRELIGHT THAN OSLO?
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Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I have approx. 1300 sq. ft. on the LR level with another 460 sq. ft. up 3 stairs on the same level equaling to 1774 sq. ft. Then another 1200 sq. ft. upstairs. That makes another 2974 sq. ft. total. I will be happy though if I can keep the 1300 sq. ft. warm, when it's freezing outside. Then I have to factor in the 10 X 24 glass sunroom on the wall opposite the stove. Great when the sun shines, but radiates lots of cold when it doesn't. I have a lot of windows also. I know the house is insulated, but without tearing out walls, I don't know how well. 1948 house with 1980's Anderson windows. I don't feel the cold around the windows, but when it's cold and the wind blows you can certainly feel it, especially in the kitchen on the north side of the house. Now with all that said, am I making too big a deal out of 11,500 btu's? I would be happy with the Oslo, because of it's looks and ease of operation. Next decision? Matt black, blue black, or brown enamel???????
jugarf said:
Are these numbers correct? I looked at both stoves & they did not seem this big. In fact, the Oslo's box appeared the same as my Encores. Looks could be deceiving though....
I think you would be better off with the larger stove with those large rooms, sunroom, and 2700 sq ft total. You can always build a smaller fire in a bigger stove and still have the extra capacity when you need it.
11,500 btus is not inconsequential. However, if you are using the stove as a space heater in the middle of the space you spend your time in, buy the one you like and enjoy it. If your goal is to eliminate fossil fuel use, you should probably be looking at a wood add on furnace or a boiler to evenly heat that much space.
Diabel said:
Even if they are correct, a lot of those published numbers are bs. Put a tape measure in the firebox and see what you can reasonably put in the box without a lot of hassle.
Todd said:
That is what I thought.
I noticed less & less dealers provide firebox size in their specs....To me this info. is the best rough indication in terms of burn times.
Sorry about the firebox size. Jotul doesn't actually have it in their brochure and I must have had the Hearthstone sizes on my mind. My mistake. Is there a big difference between 2 cu. ft. and 3 cu. ft? I would love to heat my house and not burn oil, but am I expecting too much from one stove? I have 5 heat zones in my house, but the ones that run the most are the kitchen and LR, so if I can heat that space to where the heat doesn't come on, I know I would save a lot on oil. I keep the bedrooms set on 60-65, so they don't come on much, except at night anyway. With the stove, I hope to set all the thermostats to 55-60 as a backup.
This is good advice. I shopped over a dozen brands of stove, with multiple models for most of those brands. I measured fireboxes myself, and found the numbers didn't necessarily agree well with the manufacturers claim. So, for true apples-apples on firebox size, the only way is to measure it yourself.SolarAndWood said:
Sounds like you should start looking at the Hearthstone Mansfield. Large enough to heat your house WITHOUT blowing you out
of the room the stove is in. Soapstone heats well and gently..give em a look if you can afford them.
of the room the stove is in. Soapstone heats well and gently..give em a look if you can afford them.
yanksforever said:
That's how I started out looking at Hearthstone. I love the soapstone, but the Mansfield and Equinox won't work for me. I am putting the stove on my hearth in front of my fireplace. The Mansfield is top vent only and the Equinox is too big. My fireplace is 30.5 in. high and 14 in. deep at the top. I have a total of 34 in. from the front of my hearth to the back of the fireplace. Not enough room for the Equinox plus the stovepipe. I really don't want to bury a Hearthstone in my fireplace. If I do that, I might as well go for an insert and save a lot of bucks. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the Hearthstone is not in my future. I've pretty much decided on the Jotul. Great product and highly recommended. My neighbor has one and he loves it. Now to pick between Oslo and Firelight. Then choose finish.
Hey grommal, I noticed you had a VC Defiant before. The dealer I went to yesterday had a VC Defiant in brown enamel used only last season for sale. Previous owner switched to pellets. He was selling it for $1600. Should I consider it or stick with Jotul?
jugarf said:
I would stick with firelight for your set up. My VC can not keep up in Jan & Feb...it needs help from NG
I use the Firelight to heat our 2600 square foot home 24/7. The stove sits in our dining room which is 15' by 20' and we don't get overheated in that room. Two factors come to mind. One is the length of burn. If you plan to heat 24/7 and want your stove to have longer burn times through the night you might want the larger firebox (although I have read of Oslo users who get all night burns). We have plenty of coals 10-12 hours after loading. The second issue for allowing the heat to spread is having transoms. I am not sure about your layout however, when I made a transoms above the doorways, particularly to our upstairs, the heat spread nicely and the temps went up 16 degrees F upstairs. With transoms we don't get overheated in the room that has the stove. Any obstruction at ceiling level will block your movement of heat. It sound like you will get nice heat throughout the main floor but I wouldn't count on the heat moving upstairs if there are ceiling level obstacles. So, if there is easy flow of heat at ceiling level you will definitely want the Firelight as your heat will naturally move upstairs.
jugarf said:
Get the bigger stove, both are easy to operate - the Oslo is ~2 cu ft and the Firelight is 3 cu ft.
Jotul does a good job with their finishes. With care, the brown will stand up well. However, it's a majolica porcelain finish which can be a bit more susceptible to chips and cracks. The blue-black is a different, tougher process that will stay good looking for years with less attention.
jugarf said:
I'm not Grommal and I've never played him on TV . . . but I would strongly suggest doing a search here on VCs and read the stove ratings section if you really want to go down this path.
jugarf, the savings on the VC could be short term. I'd pass. Maybe take a look at the Quadrafire Isle Royale if you want a top feeder.
Me. I'd go with the larger stove based on the size of your home . . . and I would respectfully disagree with the dealer . . . there is a big difference in that extra cubic foot of space . . . and an extra 11,500 BTUs is nothing to sneeze at . . . if you look around at the Oslo and Firelight threads I think you'll find folks with the Firelights are generally heating larger areas than those folks with Oslos and the Firelight users are getting longer overnight fires.
Finish: Blue black . . . no question. The only "wrong" thing that I chastise myself about in picking out my stove. While I love it, I often wish I had waited a bit longer and paid a little more for the blue black finish.
Finally, with the proper sized stove and lay out of your home I think you could be possibly surprised as this stove will no dobut save you a good chunk of cash on oil, but it may also heat up most, if not all, of your home.
Finish: Blue black . . . no question. The only "wrong" thing that I chastise myself about in picking out my stove. While I love it, I often wish I had waited a bit longer and paid a little more for the blue black finish.
Finally, with the proper sized stove and lay out of your home I think you could be possibly surprised as this stove will no dobut save you a good chunk of cash on oil, but it may also heat up most, if not all, of your home.
I have to give the dealer credit where credit is due. He wasn't the flashy salesman who seemed out just to get your money. He's an ole timer in business 30+ years and no matter what question asked, he had an experienced answer. He was actually the only place I went to that wasn't using the tax credit as a sales gimmick. He was also selling below retail and gave a discount on the liner kit when you bought the stove from him. I really felt good in his store, especially after the other store experiences. I actually went into one place where they didn't even acknowledge my presence. I walked out. This guy was very patient and didn't try to sell you everything. The reason he wasn't still using his Firelight at home was he just got tired of doing wood and switched to pellets. I felt very comfortable with him telling me "you're not going to get that much more heat out of the Firelight than the Oslo". I can tell you that the Oslo in his store was throwing out a ton of heat at 300 degrees, even with his front door open. I guess the reason I'm wavering so much is that I actually like the Oslo's looks better and you get more view of the fire without the bar down the middle of the glass. But, never owning a stove before, I'm scared to death to make the wrong decision. This is not pocket change.
As far as the heat going upstairs in my house, no problem with two open stairways, one on each side of my house. Transoms aren't needed as all doorways don't have doors, except for the bedroom. Everything else is open. I tried to attach pictures so you guys could see my layout, but my pictures were too many kb's and that wouldn't work, unless anyone knows a way around that.
As far as the heat going upstairs in my house, no problem with two open stairways, one on each side of my house. Transoms aren't needed as all doorways don't have doors, except for the bedroom. Everything else is open. I tried to attach pictures so you guys could see my layout, but my pictures were too many kb's and that wouldn't work, unless anyone knows a way around that.
SolarAndWood said:
I have physically measured the stoves and my firebox. The Jotuls will actually sit nicely on my hearth. My fireplace is 30.5H X 42W X 34D(20" hearth + 14" inside the box). Hearthstone Equinox and Mansfield would be all the way to the back inside. If the Mansfield had a rear vent, it would work, but the Equinox plus the 8" stovepipe and elbow is too deep.
firelight non-cat is 3.6 cu. ft. It is a great stove, but big. I use it to heat (exclusively) about 2250 ft. of our house. I burn pine, almost exclusively. The box is big enought that, with a max-sized load, I typically get 6-7 hours of useful heat (over 200 on top surface), and 10-12 hours of coals hot enough to ignite the next morning's fire. Very clean glass as well. But the surface area is big enough that, when really rolling (about 550 degrees), it can be a sort of Hellish experience hanging out within a few feet of the thing. Very nice stove, though. We've loved it for 10 years.
Regards,
Dexter
Regards,
Dexter
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