Napoleon OUT- Buck Stove IN

[ExtraHorizons]

Hi everyone,

We had ordered a Napoleon wood insert, but the manufacturer kept pushing the delivery date out farther and farther. We decided to explore other options, and ended up with a Buck Stove Model 74. It has a larger firebox, and will heat a larger space so this worked out great! (Same price as the Napoleon too)

Buck Stoves are made in North Carolina, and are solid- as in HEAVY. Ours weighs 450 pounds, which is almost twice the weight of the Napoleon. We're very pleased with the quality, and haven't noticed that the blower is excessively loud either. We got the super plain-jane model, but I think it still looks very nice. It only sticks out of our fireplace about 5" so we've got lots of hearth left.

Our local Buck Stove dealer wouldn't install the insert since we didn't purchase it from him. He seemed very bitter over the fact that he wouldn't/couldn't meet the price we were quoted from the internet company. However, another chimney sweep company was more than happy to install this for us- and for 100.00 less. We saved over 700.00 buying the stove and the full chimney liner over the internet. Even the company that installed this for us said we got a great deal.

We're on our third burn, and the nasty paint smell is mostly gone. Luckily it's been in the 70's here so we were able to break it in with the windows open.

It's supposed to snow Saturday- but we're ready now!! My husband has been happily cutting away with his new Stihl too.

Thanks for all the help, this is a great forum.

 

[moondoggy]

hey congrats... looks great.
remember that smell will come back with every new high temp you reach.
ie- if the smell is gone, and you been burning around 450.... dont be scared or suprised if the smell returns when you hit 550 next time around.
also, hope hubby is cutting for next year, your using good 'split last year' stuff right?

 

[ExtraHorizons]

Ahh... I didn't realize the smell would come back with each high temp- I am SO glad you told me that. I've only put about 4 or 5 pieces in these first 3 times. Tomorrow I will make a hotter fire since it's supposed to be around 60- I can still open windows.

We've been super lucky with our wood. We had several friends who had seasoned firewood that they didn't need/want. And we've been able to find quite a few very dry dead trees to cut up for this year. I've been burning the oak- and it has caught fire almost immediately. I didn't even make a teepee, just used 1/2 of a starter brick. I know there was a bit of discussion concerning felled trees and if they were dry or not- ours definitely were dry.

We have cut quite a bit for next year that is still green. Amazingly my husband was driving his truck through town, and saw a felled oak cut up into small chunks and a sign that said "free firewood". The owner had cut his tree down, and was giving it away. What a guy! So it's all chopped up and drying out in our lean-to. We left our phone # with him as he has a few more he's going to cut down this fall.

 

[BrotherBart]

Congrats. Buck makes a great wood stove that doesn't get near enough recognition. Of course if they had it might have cost you more. ;-)

 

[jtb51b]

I'm a new buck owner myself. On my second fire tonight and its 80 upstairs.. I have to mention that its 50 outside tho, so I'm impressed but not THAT impressed.. I bought a used one so my new stove smell is mostly pipe smells. Last night was definately different than tonight, I had a bad door gasket seal that I did not notice until I was burning--tonight thats fixed.. If you have a thermo on the top what kind of numbers are you seeing?

Jason

 

[BJ64]

Cozy looking install. I like it.

 

[fossil]

It's a beauty, EH. I predict you're gonna love it. Rick

 

[ExtraHorizons]

No idea on the temp yet- I didn't know we needed a thermometer until today Guess I'll be checking out eBay as well.

I can say that it was extremely hot for only putting 4 pieces of wood into it. Actually I was pretty amazed at the heat it was radiating (didn't turn blower on) and how LONG the burn lasted.

I'm just so happy that we won't be dependent upon only our electric heat this winter. I'm so darn tired of freezing all day!

 

[jtb51b]

I predict mine will pay for itself before the end of the winter. Not to mention the FACT that we WILL be able to keep the house warmer than with nat. gas.. I used to set the heat on 68 with gas only, with gas and wood I set the thermo on 61 and the house stays 72ish... That was with a very inefficient setup last year, this year I expect better with less wood consumption..

Jason

 

[fossil]

As long as you have that stove and a good supply of seasoned firewood, you can say good-bye to freezing all day...forever! Rick

 

[30cal]

So do Napoleons suck, or Bucks are really fantastic?

 

[blujacket]

Looks great! Had my 74 installed in September.

 

[ExtraHorizons]

So do Napoleons suck, or Bucks are really fantastic?

You don't hear many negatives about the Napoleon once people actually get it installed. The problem has been that they are WAY behind in their production. Several people on this forum were missing a handle to their door. Well, you can't even burn the insert without a door handle!

We bought the napoleon, but the delivery date was pushed out twice by the manufacturer. We had heard rumors that they wouldn't even have any until Jan/Feb 09. This wasn't going to work for us, since it gets cold in Indiana in Nov- sometimes Oct.

So that's why we ended up changing brands. We do have a few friends with the Buck Stoves, and they absolutely love them.

The installer was pretty impressed by the slick placement of the fan blower motor. It's right on the front of the stove. You remove a metal panel, and the motor sits right there. So if any repairs need to be done it will be very accessible.

Just make sure you have a really sturdy fireplace! As I said, they weigh a LOT.

 

[mjlynch12]

I have a Napolean 1402 insert. I ordered end of May and received it one month later. I love it gives great heat.

 

[cd64133]

Bucks are okay they compare well to our Napoleon 1402 we purchased. I am sure you got a great deal, you sure wouldn't have gotten that from a dealer. Our local Buck dealer in Kansas City is a nice enough guy and gave us a couple of install tips. He had quite the selection of Buck Stoves but they weren't built any better than Napoleons.

We looked at them a couple of times and compared them to Lopi and Quadrafire. Those two brands are much nicer but so is their price.

The $3,000 plus total install charge for any of the stoves in our local area incl. liner was a big turn-off. Paying that price for a 1st time stove just didn't appeal to us.

Our Napoleon via the Internet was a much better deal as I am sure your Buck was.

 

[ExtraHorizons]

I have a Napolean 1402 insert. I ordered end of May and received it one month later. I love it gives great heat.

I think that's the key- you ordered it in MAY We tried to order ours in October! BAD decision on our part.

 

[11 Bravo]

That's a beauty of a hearth and mantle you got there......Looks great.........70's this past week an snow this weekend ? ......hmmm........you in Michigan ?

 

[carl1979]

New Member here, my Napoleon 1402 stove insert ordered on the Internet was finally delivered about 3 weeks ago missing it's door , which showed up a week ago.
I love this stove it's kicking out a lot of heat and looks good. and I'm flat out having fun with it .

unfortunately communication between Napoleon and its retailers, is terrible no one knows anything. a couple days ago I got a e - mail telling me the door wouldn't be in till Dec while I already had it a few days.
To sum up my Napoleon experience it's a good stove. But this is a really bad time to buy one.

 

[ExtraHorizons]

That's a beauty of a hearth and mantle you got there......Looks great.........70's this past week an snow this weekend ? ......hmmm........you in Michigan ?

Close- we're in west-central Indiana. At least we're not in South Dakota! I wouldn't mind being snowed in for awhile though, the blizzard of '78 was a blast as a kid.

 

[MotoBoyMatt]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who was getting jerked around by Napleon/an internet distributer.
A few weeks turned into 6 weeks later no stove and still a few more weeks to wait (which I figured would turn into 6 more weeks). I would've bought a different brand but the Napoleon 1400 has the closest clearances and I don't have a lot of space in my living room.
I ended up going to the local stove shop and got my 1400 for nearly the same price as the internet and they had it in stock.
I was coinsidering having them install a stove for me earlier this year but they were pretty outrageous on chimney prices ($50 a foot) and they turned me off when they said I should start cutting holes and "do my own homework" to find the rafters if I wanted the stove in a certain place. They've redeemed themselves a little.

The Napoleon works well, I don't have anything to compare it to but I doubt it's twice as good as a Drolet that's half the price.
Hopefully it will last twice as long. I'm really not impressed with the way Napoleon uses the fiber baffles to retain the fire brick and the handle on the ash draw had very poor threads and stripped out on assembly. The ash drawer binds and is a total pain to pull in and out. Also for the price they command you would think they could figure out how to meet demand. Somehow Vogelzang can get stoves here from China and Drolets were always in stock at Fleet Farm.

 

[acesover]

i have napoleon 1400 very happy with it, only prob was the secondary burn toke off on me the other night stove temp went threw the roof.

my father and brother both have the buck 74 one has a 2.6 firebox and one has 1.4 or somethin like that their both happy with them and they seem to be built well

good luck with it

 

[MotoBoyMatt]

So how much does a Buck 74 sell for? I know a guy who had an older buck stove, I didn't realize they're still around.

 

[BrotherBart]

So how much does a Buck 74 sell for? I know a guy who had an older buck stove, I didn't realize they're still around.

List price on it is $1,600.

 

[ExtraHorizons]

So how much does a Buck 74 sell for? I know a guy who had an older buck stove, I didn't realize they're still around.

Hi, ours was 1526.00 plus shipping. The shipping was the same as local tax would have been. We also purchased our full chimney liner kit on-line as well.

Maybe Buck Stove just needs to do more advertising. Their website is pretty bad, I thought about sending them an email and telling them to invest a few thousand to upgrade their site!

We do have a few dealers in Indiana that sell the Buck Stoves, but not very many.

 

[ExtraHorizons]

Our "local dealer" quoted us 2100.00...little bit above list, huh?