opinions on jotul blackbear?

[begreen]

I'm going to join you out on that limb, BG, and point out that, in use, the Castine is a completely different animal than the F100. If you're burning 24/7 then I'd say it would be fine. But if you're starting fires from scratch daily, as many of us do who use smaller stoves, the Castine is going to feel like a PITA real quick. You'll be using 2-3 times as much kindling and smaller splits to get fires started.

What bothers me about recommending such a larger stove is that he says the F100 is heating his space just fine, and his complaints are more in the nature of user-friendliness than heating performance. A north-south burning arrangement more accurately solves his complaints than a simply larger stove does.

There are many problems that he's trying to solve. Longer burn times, space constraints, aethetics, quality, etc. Almost any stove is a compromise in some degree or another. But it seems like the Castine would be a good fit here.

I'm not following your concerns Precaud. I don't use any more kindling to start the Castine than I did the 602. And I uses the same sized smaller splits to get the fire going that I used in the 602. Agreed this is a different method of burning as compared to the cigar box and it will take about 10-15 min longer to start throwing off heat than the 602, but the stove also retains and gives off heat after the fire has died down better than the 602. My point is that the Castine is a really flexible stove with regard to shoulder season heating. We live in a much gentler climate, but spring/fall can be longer. We are often heating from Sept to May, but are really just taking the chill off now. So far the Castine is working very well in that regard. And when a long burn is needed and the temps are low, the reserves are there.

But perhaps the Intrepid will be totally sufficient. Devellone - Where are you located? How many sq ft is the house and how well insulated?

 

[precaud]

I'm not following your concerns Precaud. I don't use any more kindling to start the Castine than I did the 602. And I uses the same sized smaller splits to get the fire going that I used in the 602.

I was comparing to the F100, not the 602, which is an unfair comparison as I consider it to be the easiest stove to start up ever - literally a handful of kindling in front and you're off. But I'm surprised to hear what you say. My experience is that it's largely a function of the stove floor area. But I could be wrong.

My point is that the Castine is a really flexible stove with regard to shoulder season heating. We live in a much gentler climate, but spring/fall can be longer. We are often heating from Sept to May, but are really just taking the chill off now. So far the Castine is working very well in that regard. And when a long burn is needed and the temps are low, the reserves are there.

Glad to hear it's working well for you!

 

[begreen]

Agreed, the old 602 was a honey to start. And the F400 is no doubt slower to start. I use about the same amount of wood, but need to be more patient. There is nothing like the blast furnace effect of the front air feed that the 602 had. The Castine needs the door open slightly and more time to get the kindling going. I know I am going to catch hell for saying this, but the lack of startup air on the bigger Jotuls is a PITA after one has been spoiled by the likes of the 602. There have been times when I have cracked open the ashpan door to rescue a dwindling start. However, I am very careful if I used the ashpan door and always have it closed within about 5 minutes.

I noted my dismay at the lack of startup air in my earliest posts with the stove. Now I have it down to a science and can get it going pretty quickly. However, my wife preferred the 602 for ease of starting. But she too is getting pretty good at it with the F400 now.

 

[Charlie Z]

A small house with a small stove as primary heat was a pretty typical configuration a long time ago. And they had it well figured; you shifted fuel with a coal and wood combo stove. (We can't say we're burning both here - because of EPA-certs). These are the parlor stoves. Some europeans still do this way to a degree, so they still make stoves that can multifuel.

Something like a Godin (http://ebiz.netopia.com/prontoimports/godinspotbellystoves/list.nhtml) would keep you warm in deep winter burning antracite and burning wood during spring/fall. Depends on where you live - if you can readily get antracite. It's best to be near NE PA. A load goes 8-12 hrs in the bitty stoves and close to 24 in the bigger ones. Wood burns well enough in them to take the chill off in the warmer months.

If not burning (falling, bucking, splitting, and stacking) wood is too radical, the other 'best' small house options are the soapstones, or a bigger stove and open windows...

 

[precaud]

Good points, Charlie. I did exactly as you describe for one year, 1981 if memory serves. Had the large round Godin, burned wood until round-the-clock heat was needed, and then anthracite (gathered from the tailings piles of the abandoned anthracite mines 20 miles south of here.) It worked great, as you described. Even had crazy thoughts about reopening the mines - yikes! Crawling down one cured me of that. Tried burning bituminous coal the following year and abandoned coal after that. Stinky. Smokey. Hard to control the burn rate.

 

[precaud]

A final note on the F118 question... Jotul marketing has always arranged the order of presentation of stoves on their website in ascending order, according to some measure of heat delivery (subjective or otherwise). If you look there now, the order, from the bottom up, is F602, F118, F100, F3... last year the F118 followed the F100. (BTW, I'm don't agree with their ranking - based on my experience using them, the order would be F100, F602, F118, F3...)

 

[dvellone]

But perhaps the Intrepid will be totally sufficient. Devellone - Where are you located? How many sq ft is the house and how well insulated?[/quote]

Sorry for the late reply - left for vacation and just got back - didn't get to see your question.
As for the question. I'm located in upstate NY, western Adirondacks so the winter is fairly cold and long. The house is 800 sq ft and although well insulated there are many salvaged leaky windows and a crawl space that has yet to be insulated. So, right now I guess you could say it isn't well insulated though the spring summer project is to insulate the crawl space very well and make storms. By the next winter it should be very well insulated.