Inputs and Opinions wanted making a change.......

[certified106]

So after many years of thought and deliberation my annoyances with the propane company have peaked to the point my wife and I decided to call the propane company and tell them to take their tank and shove it (especially since we have only used 5% of a tank in 3 years). My frustrations with the propane company are better left to there own thread, now back to the main point of this post .........

As some of you might have guessed from some of my more recent posts we have been activley looking at different brands of wood stoves and when we first decdided to start looking I had my sights set on just replacing the current Dutchwest with the new version of the stove however I love to research and look at different technology so I have drug my wife to every hearth store within 150 mile of the house . A fewof the brands we have looked at so far are Jotul, Hearthstone, Regency, Vermont Castings, Blaze King, and Pacific Energy. I was extremely interested in Blaze King but aftter taking my wife to look at them she said there was no way that stove was going to sit in the middle of our living room and I really can't blame her as I'm not to partial to the look myself.

The stoves that are in the top 3 spots right now are PE Summit, PE Alderlea T6, and Vermont Castings Dutchwest. So here are a few of my concerns/questions regarding the PE stoves, secondary combustion, and cast iron vs steel. My questions are as follows:

General questions:
1) For as long as I can remember I have been partial to Cat stoves so I was wondering how many people on this forum have switched from Cat to non cat or vice versa and how you felt about your switch after a year or two?
2) When you did switch one way or another did your wood comsumption go up or down considerably?
3) Has anyone made a switch from cast iron to steel and if so what did/didn't you like about one or the other?

PE Stoves:
2) For those of you with the T6 how useable is the stove top for cooking on if the power was out for a few days. We are subject to power outages and our current stove is darn near impossible to cook anything on.
3) For those with the Summit how do you like the steel stove as I am leary of switching from cast iron considering it's the only thing I have ever known? Does the heat radiating off the stove feel obtrusive while in the same room with it?
4) For those with the PE or Summit how necessary is it to run a fan with the stove?
5) Overall do those of you with PE stoves feel that they are built to last twenty years/how is your stove holding up manitenance wise for it's age.
6) What square footage are you heating with your PE and how does it do in temperatures around 0 °F


I know this seems like an overwhelming amount of infromation that I am asking for but I really value the opinions and input that I have gained on this website and look forward to the information that I will learn from everyone on here. Now let the opinions fly

 

[Mt Ski Bum]

If you go with a non-cat, I suggest taking a serious look at what Avalon & Lopi have to offer. Their stoves are some of the highest-quality in the industry.

 

[fredarm]

I can only answer #5, but my little Vista is built like a tank. It's in its third winter and looks brand new except for a little lightening of the black paint around the door and discoloration of the stainless steel baffle at the top of the firebox (it turned black, big surprise ).

 

[Ratherbfishin]

You could cook about anything on my Quad 5700ST. Heat solely with wood now and use about 3 cord/year. (Non cat)

Steve

 

[Hardrockmaple]

Traitor

 

[bogydave]

I switched from non-cat to cat
Two main reasons'
1.tax credit
2. burning less wood & getting more heat.
Over a year & still happy. some learning curve for me but lov'n it so far.

 

[begreen]

The PE T6 is a good stove for cooking on. The movable trivets provide a wide range of cooking temps from slow cook, just under a boil, to high heat directly on the stove top. We burn most of the time without the blower on. The stove is convective which works very well for our setup in an open floorplan. We're heating 2000 sq ft with the stove in an 80 yr old farmhouse that has too many windows added for its own good. But the stove handles it fine. The coldest we've seen so far is about 12ºF. But the stove would handle the house at zero. It might get a little cooler in the outlying bedrooms, but the core of the house would be still toasty.

As for longevity, the stove is built well and with heavy plate steel. PE stoves are pretty simple with a good stainless baffle system. It should easily last 20 years or more. I've had cast stoves for years (VC and Jotul) and have grown very fond of this steel-cast iron hybrid. That said, this is a convective stove. The heat from the sides is soft, strong only from the front and top. If you want a more radiant heater, a Jotul F600 or Quadrafire Isle Royal might be a better choice.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

...I have drug my wife to every hearth store within 150 mile of the house . A fewof the brands we have looked at so far are Jotul, Hearthstone, Regency, Vermont Castings, Blaze King, and Pacific Energy. I was extremely interested in Blaze King but aftter taking my wife to look at them she said there was no way that stove was going to sit in the middle of our living room and I really can't blame her as I'm not to partial to the look myself.

The stoves that are in the top 3 spots right now are PE Summit, PE Alderlea T6, and Vermont Castings Dutchwest. So here are a few of my concerns/questions regarding the PE stoves, secondary combustion, and cast iron vs steel. My questions are as follows:

General questions:
1) For as long as I can remember I have been partial to Cat stoves so I was wondering how many people on this forum have switched from Cat to non cat or vice versa and how you felt about your switch after a year or two?
2) When you did switch one way or another did your wood comsumption go up or down considerably?
3) Has anyone made a switch from cast iron to steel and if so what did/didn't you like about one or the other?

Certified, a question for you. You state you've drug your wife to every hearth store within 150 miles of your house, so I ask why? You have in your hands one of the greatest search tools there are. How about narrowing your search by using the Internet? Then and only then should you consider visiting a heart store or two. Certainly not all of them.

Another quick question: you have seen the Hearthstone, so why not the Woodstock?


General answers:
1) We switched from a non-cat Ashley stove to a Woodstock cat stove. In so doing, we cut our wood usage in half! We've stayed much warmer! We rarely have to clean our chimney! btw, this is our 4th winter for using the Woodstock Fireview. This might be the first winter we burn a little over 3 cord of wood. In this type of winter with the Ashley we would have burned well over 6 cord, stayed fairly warm and would have cleaned our chimney 3-4 times.

2) I guess this has been answered already in 1).

3) Many years ago we switched from cast to steel. I liked the cast better as it seemed to give more heat for the amount of wood used.

 

[certified106]

Certified, a question for you. You state you've drug your wife to every hearth store within 150 miles of your house, so I ask why? You have in your hands one of the greatest search tools there are. How about narrowing your search by using the Internet? Then and only then should you consider visiting a heart store or two. Certainly not all of them.

Another quick question: you have seen the Hearthstone, so why not the Woodstock?


General answers:
1) We switched from a non-cat Ashley stove to a Woodstock cat stove. In so doing, we cut our wood usage in half! We've stayed much warmer! We rarely have to clean our chimney! btw, this is our 4th winter for using the Woodstock Fireview. This might be the first winter we burn a little over 3 cord of wood. In this type of winter with the Ashley we would have burned well over 6 cord, stayed fairly warm and would have cleaned our chimney 3-4 times.

2) I guess this has been answered already in 1).

3) Many years ago we switched from cast to steel. I liked the cast better as it seemed to give more heat for the amount of wood used.

Dennis,
I must confess the 150 miles was a slight exaggeration as realistically it's probably been a 70 mile radius. That being said 70 miles isn't that far for us to drive as a trip to the local grocery store is about 25 miles one way.

I have looked at just about every major brand online and been doing quite a bit of research since I joined here and before that at the arborist site (I cringe when I say that as I hope that doesn't offend anyone). With this information I have weeded out quite a few brands that I wouldn't even care to look at and quite a few that I wanted to see in person. However I am a mechanical engineer by profession and know that what you see on paper and what I see in person can be vastly different which is why I have made trips to so many hearth stores to look at, operate and disassemble so many stoves. I should probably also add that I just enjoy looking at the different constructions and designs as it's almost relaxing to me (I know I'm weird). Funny thing here is that at a couple of stores the owners finally commented that I probably knew more about the stoves than most people who used them and I think if I heard one more lecture from a salesman on how my wood needs to be dry I was gonna scream hahaha... I finally asked the one salesman if he thought that three year old oak would be ok....he got a shocked look on his face and said well at that age I hope it's not rotten I was talking more like 9 to 12 months of dry time so I just gave up and listened to the lecturing while checking out the stove.

1) The Cat to Non Cat is one of the things that I am the most afraid of is using more wood we have currently averaged 3 to 4 cords a year for the past 6 years and I am afraid that my wood consumption would go up. I also like how every year I run a brush through my chimney and get nothing out of it (sometimes it's hard to break old habits)!

3) Kind of have the same feelings as you on #3

As far as why I haven't looked at woodstock:
My concerns with Woodstock are that I think I would be overworking the Fireview to keep my house warm which would result in me being dissatisfied with the stove. If I had a smaller house they would definitely be in the running. However one of my other concerns with soap stone is I don't know if I could adjust to the radiant heat as I'm used to the cast convection stoves.

 

[certified106]

The PE T6 is a good stove for cooking on. The movable trivets provide a wide range of cooking temps from slow cook, just under a boil, to high heat directly on the stove top. We burn most of the time without the blower on. The stove is convective which works very well for our setup in an open floorplan. We're heating 2000 sq ft with the stove in an 80 yr old farmhouse that has too many windows added for its own good. But the stove handles it fine. The coldest we've seen so far is about 12ºF. But the stove would handle the house at zero. It might get a little cooler in the outlying bedrooms, but the core of the house would be still toasty.

As for longevity, the stove is built well and with heavy plate steel. PE stoves are pretty simple with a good stainless baffle system. It should easily last 20 years or more. I've had cast stoves for years (VC and Jotul) and have grown very fond of this steel-cast iron hybrid. That said, this is a convective stove. The heat from the sides is soft, strong only from the front and top. If you want a more radiant heater, a Jotul F600 or Quadrafire Isle Royal might be a better choice.

BeGreen,

Thanks so much for the input as I was kind of hoping you would chime in here and your opinion is appreciated for sure.
How does your wood consumption now compare to the previous VC and Jotul stoves?
I tend to be more partial to convection heat as my house floor plan seems to do much better that way and no other fans are needed but I also like to know that they are fairly good at radiating heat for those times when the electric is out.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

certified, I don't think you are weird at all. Sounds like you have most of your ducks in a row. It also sounds like you live like us. We don't go to town much because it is so far. Well, also because we hate going to town...

As for getting used to the radiant heat, we found that to be extremely easy. In fact, I think the house warms up quicker now than it used to with the steel stove. On the Woodstock, have you checked out their new stove yet? No, it is not on the market but will be very soon. And don't forget, if you buy from Woodstock it is not like buying from some other place. If you aren't happy, they take the stove back. You have 6 months to decide that. Nobody that I am aware of will give this sort of guarantee. Yes, they do occasionally take back a stove, but not many. We have at least one member on this forum who has sent one back. He had no problems with it either; it just was not large enough.

I'd have like to see that salesman's face when you talked about 3 year wood! :lol:

 

[djblech]

I had a VC medium Dutchwest for about 7 yrs. 2 years ago I sold it and bought a Lopi Liberty, so I went from cast iron cat to steel non-cat. I really liked my Dutchwest but I am getting more heat from the Liberty. Steel stoves burn different than CI. It has taken me at least a year to figure out how it likes to be fed. I think the burn times are faster(shorter) in the non-cat but I get more heat and I still have coals in the AM. The new steel stoves burn just as clean as a cat stove. My Liberty is in my family room at one end of a 2200 sq ft house, and it is pretty much heating my house. I do use propane to heat hot water, and it does kick in if I don't get up right away. If I was buy another stove I would look at the Englander from Home Depot because they area lot cheaper than my Liberty. Everybody on here that has one really likes them. That being said, I like my Liberty and it will probably last me at least 10-15 more years.
Doug

 

[raybonz]

Like you I am partial to cat stoves as I feel they are the most frugal with wood and give long steady burns.. I am also a fan of convection stoves for ease of moving the heat around plus it reduces the radiant heat so I don't feel baked in the same room as the stove.. My question is how has your stove been for parts usage and why are you replacing it? Are parts available for your stove or is it an old one like mine? Personally if/when I replace this stove I want one that is durable like this one has been.. You can toss wood into it and not break the stove.. So many stoves have a fragile interior and this is a concern.. I would be looking for a stove that is convection and has a cast iron interior or equivalent.. I like the Woodstock stoves but they may not be able to keep with the heat load here plus they are not convection.. Their new stove looks quite a bit larger and it looks like it's gonna be a beauty but no convection.. What I would like to know is what convection woodstoves are available today? I am sure some of you are wondering about my obsession with convection so here is the story..

My Dad decided to install a stove in the 70's and he bought one from some welder in the area.. Yup an old smoke dragon handmade in some garage.. He still has the stove to this day.. If I was in the same room as the stove I litterally felt like I was gonna burst into flames from all that radiant heat and I am talking being 15' away! It dried the hell out my skin and sinuses and I was too hot the entire time.. When I saw the advertisement for this stove when building this house I knew that the convection was for me..

Of course I still get some amount of radiant heat but it is a fraction of a what a radiant stove puts out with the blower running..

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Ray

 

[Jimbob]

PE Stoves:
2) For those of you with the T6 how useable is the stove top for cooking on if the power was out for a few days. We are subject to power outages and our current stove is darn near impossible to cook anything on.
3) For those with the Summit how do you like the steel stove as I am leary of switching from cast iron considering it's the only thing I have ever known? Does the heat radiating off the stove feel obtrusive while in the same room with it?
4) For those with the PE or Summit how necessary is it to run a fan with the stove?
5) Overall do those of you with PE stoves feel that they are built to last twenty years/how is your stove holding up manitenance wise for it's age.
6) What square footage are you heating with your PE and how does it do in temperatures around 0 °F


I know this seems like an overwhelming amount of infromation that I am asking for but I really value the opinions and input that I have gained on this website and look forward to the information that I will learn from everyone on here. Now let the opinions fly

I only picked out the ones I could answer: :coolsmile:
2) I have the regular Summit without the trivet. I could cook on it if I had to. I think the Summit Classic has a cooking trivet on it like the Alderlea.
3) I like the steel stove. The Summit has side and rear heat shields so it part convection stove. The top and front radiate a lot of heat. It is built of heavy plate steel so it probably "feels" like many cast-iron stoves.
4) I didn't get the fan with mine, and it works fine without it.
5) No, they are built to last more like 80 years! :lol:The wearing parts like the baffle and brick rails are replaceable without tools, mine are still good after about 4 years, will likely last a LONG time yet. The only "extra" maintenance item, besides door and glass gaskets and firebricks is the baffle gasket, which needs to be replaced anytime the baffle is taken out. It costs ~$3.
6) We heat about 2000 sq.ft. total and it does well. 0°F is T-shirt weather for us and our stove easily keeps the house warm at that. At -35°F the stove barely keeps up, and electric heat might come on a bit to "help out". By the time this winter is over, we'll have burned about 6 cords of wood, mostly Poplar (the stuff you guys call Aspen).