Merrimack sold with old house? Jotul,Hearthstone, or other as replacement?

[elevatorman]

So i was happy with our Merrimack stove for four years. I had some fan noises i insulated as others have done here. The stove heated our 1600 sq home nicely.

I bought the stove because wife liked the large viewing area and i always had herad good things about VC. we never had an issue and the wife and i both like the auto air control.

Ive since expanded my searches im looking for a large size insert. The new house is 3200 sqft chiminey is on the outter wall in the dinning room.
Ive narrowed to hearthstone clydsdale, Merrimack (again), looked at Jotul wasnt happy about the east to west only loading. I liked that the hearthstone really seem to be more cast iron than my old merrimack I also liked the soap stone idea. can anyone post pics or real world experiances. I have read the postings on here avalible just curious if someone could guide me. We are not planning on moving from this farm for a while so id like something that will last for a long time.

Thanks in advance.

 

[elevatorman]

Bumping this up and also asking another question more spec. realted to BTU's output
The VC Merrimack is rated at 55,000BTU's per hour the hearthstone is rated at 75,000BTU's but it doesnt say per hour?
The HS has a 2.4cu foot fire box and the merrimack has 3.0cu foot. do you all think the extra .6cu foot will really make a differance? The dealer im looking at buying from does not have a hearthstone at the moment but should be getting them in soon. Hence the reason im having trouble judging the size vs. the Merrimack.

I started looking at KUMA's Sequoia but that maybe over kill for what im trying to do.

Im really looking for this unit to be able to head the main level of the house and the upstairs. prop 2000 sq feet.

Thanks again.

 

[begreen]

BTU ratings can be all over the place, particularly if the marketing dept. has gotten hold of them. One can be EPA rated, another can be steady state and another could be peak btus. The main difference in the cu ftg will be noticed in burn time. The increased mass in the Clydesdale will help to mitigate this as it releases heat after the fire has died down. It's a very nicely made unit. But if you like the Merrimack and understand its shortcoming with the poorly supported fan, then it may work fine for you. The question hanging over all is whether VC will be around and under what ownership 5-10 yrs from now.

Other big inserts to look at are the PE Summit, Regency I3100, Lopi Hybrid Fyre and Quadrafire Grand Voyageur.

 

[Grisu]

Heat output is: (Amount and type of wood burned) times (efficiency of burn) divided by (hours between reload).

- Bigger firebox and more high-BTU wood (e. g. oak, hickory, osage orange) will give more heat.
- Efficiency is largely determined by stove design, draft, dryness of wood, and operator (adjustment of air, loading pattern etc.). I think the last 3 play a larger role in overall efficiency than any design differences between stoves. (Edit: I mean EPA-stoves, of course.) That said, a cat stove may indeed be slightly more efficient than a secondary burn stove for which I usually assume an efficiency of 70%.
- The more often you load your stove the more wood you will burn and the heat output will be larger.

An example: 1 cu ft of mixed hardwood gives you about 100,000 BTU effective heat. Loading a 2 cu ft stove 3 times a day will give you total BTU output of 600,000 BTU in one day. That replaces about 5.3 gl of oil or 8.2 gl of propane. (Assuming either furnace would be 80% efficient.)

 

[begreen]

Efficiency of burn is a big factor. Efficiency of heat transfer is another factor. Both are important. A bigger box may make more heat (or if poor design more smoke), but an inefficient stove will send most of it up the chimney.