Jotul C 350 or C 450?

[jimwolfson]

Hi,

I'm just about to install an insert for the first time and I wonder what size to get. This is really just to supplement forced hot air oil heat. The three rooms (living room, dining room and kitchen) total about 800 square feet. The rest of the house is down long hallways or up or down stairs pretty far away. My concern is that I want to be comfortable in my living room with the TV, and not be so hot that I regret getting a stove. I've heard that running a stove on lower than rated heat will cause too much soot and not be good overall. The dealer has recommended the Jotul 350. Any experience with this?

Thank you very much.

 

[Jaugust124]

Don't know about the 350, but when I was doing my research I looked into the 450 or the 550. Glad I went bigger and the extra cost was minimal. After discounts the difference was only going to be about $100. I think the firebox on the 350 is quite small, but I'm not sure of the dimensions. Jotul doesn't like to list the firebox size for some reason. Given your climate I would think the 450 would be better suited to your needs. You may find that once you start heating with wood you end up burning more often than you originally planned for. It truly becomes addictive, especially when you you stay warmer than before and start giving less to the oil man. Just look at what the price of oil has done lately. I heat with oil as well and the stove has saved me about $700 in my first year and I'm hoping to do at least as well if not better in the future. You may want to consider that as well.

As far as being heated out of the room, my 550 is in a 13x20 room with 8ft. ceilings and one narrow doorway to get the heat through to the rest of the house. I never feel overheated. I keep one corner doorway fan blowing out of the stove room and one small floor fan blowing cool air into the stove room and this keeps the room from overheating nicely. It also helps move the heat around the house. If I didn't have the fans, The room would definitely get too hot. I like it around 72ish. I know some people on this forum like it around 80*, but that is way too warm in my opinion.

I've seen it said on this forum many times, you can always open a window to let the heat out if its too hot. In my opinion, at the very least go with the 450.

Good luck!