New or Used Stove?

[Acerrubrum]

Hi, we have a newer mobile home in Northwest Georgia (Zone 7). We are really wanting to get a wood stove to potentially heat our whole house. We have 1680 square feet with an open floor plan. There aren't many dealers around where we live, so we are limited to either what the few dealers offer or try to find a used stove on Facebook Marketplace. The local dealer does sell and install Jotul, which is what we'd really like (if we can swing it). I have heard that stoves typically heat more square footage around here than say, in Canada. Someone had suggested a Jotul 602 to us. We both really love it's style, but are nervous that it wouldn't be able to heat our home if we were to have a power outage. We don't get snow here often, but it can get very cold at times. Since we live in a rural area, we get more power outages due to downed trees in winter. We do not have a preexisting chimney system; we would get one professionally installed. Could a Jotul 602 work for us, or do we need to go larger? We are very new to this and are worried about getting too small/ too big a stove. I will give a link of our home layout. Thank you so much in advance

https://www.hamiltonhb.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Info-Sheet-UTAH-325632A-1.pdf

 

[begreen]

The 602 is likely to be too small to heat the whole house to 70º during a below freezing outage unless the house is super-insulate. You'll want something with twice the firebox size in the 2 cu ft range.

That said, a new 602CB v2 could keep the core of the house comfortable. That is probably more like 800 sq ft. The bedrooms are going to be cooler regardless of stove size and the master bath will see little benefit. It's too cut off by doorways to be warmed much by a stove.

 

[Acerrubrum]

Thank you very much for the information! Our house isn't well insulated (probably average for a mobile home, but lower than a standard new home). Our heat pump runs almost constantly during the winter and really runs our electric bill up (another reason why we want a wood stove). I forgot to include the average monthly temps for our area. Don't know if it will really change anything though.
Average high low: Nov:61/49 Dec:54/37 Jan:50/32 Feb:53/33 Mar:63/42

 

[kborndale]

Some stoves don't need dealers, you can get drolets and Englander stoves which are decent stoves online or at Lowe's or home Depot. I'm sure there are other brands too. Install yourself or find a chimney sweep to install it for you.

 

[Acerrubrum]

I was looking at the drolets too. Not sure if the local chimney sweep (also the dealer) will install it though. He said he could install some stoves that we bought on our own, but not all. I get it, don't want to be blamed for installation of a heap of junk. We were planning on trying to use some fans to help blow the heat into the bedrooms. The master bath, well, I think we will have to use a space heater for that regardless. I just don't want to get a stove that will run us out of the main room, which is where we are most of the time.

 

[moresnow]

If/when you get a stove up and running it is commonly advised to push cool dense air from your remote areas towards the lighter hot air (stove).
Something to consider

 

[Acerrubrum]

So, instead of trying to blow the warm air in, push the cold air out of a bedroom with a fan? I'm assuming that creates a circulatory air flow into the room to heat it? I had no idea about that, thank you!

 

[mellow]

Make sure the stove you pick is mobile home approved.

 

[Acerrubrum]

I thought that the Jotul 602 was approved for mobile homes, but it isn't. I really appreciate you mentioning that. I assumed that it would be mobile home approved because the other models were. Lesson learned.

 

[Hoytman]

Some stoves don't need dealers, you can get drolets and Englander stoves which are decent stoves online or at Lowe's or home Depot. I'm sure there are other brands too. Install yourself or find a chimney sweep to install it for you.

Englander was just bought recently by SBI.
Drolet is SBI.
Osburn is SBI.
Century is SBI

All of these are well made stoves. However, I would go online and pick models in each brand that you like. Then online find the manual for each stove, one for each brand. In the manuals compare specs…especially stove body thickness and stove top thickness as this will give you an indication of build quality (you need to look for yourself, but you’ll find there all made well). From there it’s comparing firebox size, and other features that you like. There are some differences but most is cosmetics.

 

[Hoytman]

So, instead of trying to blow the warm air in, push the cold air out of a bedroom with a fan? I'm assuming that creates a circulatory air flow into the room to heat it? I had no idea about that, thank you!

Yes…it creates an natural air loop and in turn far away rooms will get warmer when you keep a floor fan on. Just turn it off whenever you leave the home.

You can test this by taking far room temperature readings before using the fan, then take temperature readings after the fan has been on for a couple hours. As a result you can run your stove slightly less hard to maintain the temps you want.

 

[Acerrubrum]

Well, I have ran into a problem. Pretty much all the chimney sweeps around me (that I can find, anyway) sell their own brands and won't install a drolet. That would be a really great stove for the money. The best estimate around me that I can find is for a Pacific Energy Vista LE with the piping and installation for around 5500-6000. I just can't get over the high prices of installation. Are there any manuals for self installation?

 

[mellow]

Well, I have ran into a problem. Pretty much all the chimney sweeps around me (that I can find, anyway) sell their own brands and won't install a drolet. That would be a really great stove for the money. The best estimate around me that I can find is for a Pacific Energy Vista LE with the piping and installation for around 5500-6000. I just can't get over the high prices of installation. Are there any manuals for self installation?

Many installs on here you can read about, here is a pretty good install review on youtube of a Mobile Home Woodstove: