Recommendation for good used wood stove?

[mtcsottile]

Hi - we have a 1783 colonial with a very cold kitchen off an ell on the back of our house. Currently, in the fireplace, we have an antique Glo-Fire that we really love but we need to replace. This past winter we had it going so much that it warped and eventually broke most of the heat shields. Plus it need 12-14" logs which are tough to get and was really inefficient. I'm looking for suggestions for a stove that would be good to get used. We have a Vermont Castings (I forget what model - the basic one you see for sale everywhere) in our parlor that we like, though it's a bit hard to load from the top.

I was looking at the VC Aspen - I like a front loader, and it's nice to have to cookplate on it, since we keep a kettle on it. Don't see many used though and it's gotten mixed reviews. I'd like something that has some glass in front, easy to operate (it's usually me that has to get it and keep it going), takes decent-sized logs, and is pretty efficient, and has the traditional look like the VCs.

Recommendations?

 

[begreen]

The Jotul 3CB will take up to an 18" log, though 16" is more ideal. It has classic looks and gets hot enough on top to boil water. The 3CB has a 1 cu ft firebox, so burn times are about 2-4 hrs. But it is a good heater and easy to operate.

How large an area would the stove be heating? How high are the ceilings and is the ell insulated?

 

[savageactor7]

Welcome and happy holiday CM27.

A lot depends on the sq ft of you home and will you be using wood as a primary 24/7 heat source. I recommend talking to your wood burning neighbors to get their opinions on the stove you need...then throw it on the table here. Lots of good stoves out there to chose from.

We're heating 3k with this imo undersized stove but it'll do the job working wide open 90% of the time. Now that isn't a problem with 1 of us home most of the time. The only advice I'd swear to is get the bigger stove. If you want to heat 2000 sq ft DON'T get the stove that's built to heat 2000k...get the next size larger.

 

[summit]

I would not reccomend the aspen, i have never burned one, but i have seen a lot of people trade them in. usual complaint is that it can be hard to keep going over time as you had it. Looking inside one, i can see air inlets towards the rear, which i think ash gets jammed into them over time as you load wood and stuff kicks up in there (since you are constanly pushing it straigh in towards the rear inlets.) I'd look for a newer jotul, like the 3cb or the f400.. an older vc in good shape would look & fit in nicely w/ your house, but many had cast fronts, or small glass that fogs over quickly, so you didnt see the fire w/ out using it open w/ the screen.

 

[mtcsottile]

The stove would be heating the kitchen, and to a smaller extent, the great room which is on the other side of an open doorway but runs perpendicular to the kitchen. The ell is not insulated, has plaster walls, and crawl space underneath so the floors are quite cold. We heat the house with oil, including the kitchen but like having the stove on to reduce our oil needs and keep the kitchen cozy. The little Glo-Fire worked quite well except that it wasn't efficient enough and we pretty much killed it this year. Cute little thing though - tricky to start with the downdraft, but I had a technique that worked well.

The kitchen is about 25x15 or so. Windows aren't insulated but we have them covered up with plexiglas so they're actually tighter than most insulated windows. Ceiling height is about 12' or so, average ceilings. Insulation above the ceiling but lots of drafts under the kitchen. We live in Northern CT, on a mountain - gets pretty nippy up here especially when the wind gets going. Daytime lows usually not below zero, nighttime we don't usually have the stove on after dinner unless I'm working in the kitchen but it will go around 10 below in January. We start burning in late Sept and keep it going through spring until right about now.

Most of our neighbors who burn a. don't have an old fireplace that they want to put a stove into like ours, b. either burn for all of their heat or 90% of it and c. burn a big stove in the center of their houses. We just want the stove to supplement our heat, not replace it. I've heard good things about Jotels (and yes, I like their classic look) but haven't seen them available used. What's the average burn time in a small wood stove - is the 2-4 hours on the low side, high side? With the Glo-Fire's intake turned down low and the right combinations of logs, I could get about 4 hours tops before I'd be really low on the embers.

I attached a pic of the fireplace with the Glo-Fire. We'd prefer a top mounted exhaust pipe, or whatever the terminology is, so we can keep the stove toward the back of the FP.

Thanks!!

 

[begreen]

Generally I like to refer to a stoves period of meaningful heating. This would be something like from when the stovetop reaches to above 250 or 300 degrees, to when it drops back down to that temperature. That is usually how I try to define burn times. The F3CB can probably go 4-6 hrs if one is just talking about having some embers left over to start up some fresh kindling and small wood. The type of wood burned and how hot one sets the air control are also major variables here.

It sounds like a Jotul 3CB or an F400 Castine would be a good fit. Their pre-EPA predecessors were the Jotul model 3 and model 8. The primary difference between the stoves is firebox capacity. Both are cast-iron front loaders and both are able to be set up top-vented. I've had both stoves. The F3CB takes a maximum 18" log and has an average heating time of about 2-4 hrs depending on the wood and how hot you want the stove to get. (In the fall/spring you might get 4-6 hrs if we are talking from start to a few embers.) The F400 can go overnight with the right type of wood, I would put its burntime at 4-8 hrs. We got 8 hrs burning softwood, but only in the fall and spring when we ran the stove at a lower temp of around 550 degrees. When it got very cold out, we were feeding it every 2-3hrs to maintain a 650-750 stove top temperature. This was burning soft maple at the time. The Castine is a bit more refined as a stove. It's air control is smoother, ashpan larger and latching seems a bit smoother from what I remember. But the 3CB is a little champ and would probably do this space just fine.

From the description it sounds like the best thing to help this room is to stop cold air leakage through the floors. Are the crawlspace vents sealed closed in the winter? Have you explored the idea of insulating the floor and perhaps then putting up a tight vapor barrier on the underside of the floor joists? Taking care of cold air leakage will pay back no matter what stove is put in this room.

(PS: I used to live in Cornwall and remember how windy it could get up on some of the high spots like Cherry Hill. It takes some diligent caulking with that kind of wind. )

 

[mtcsottile]

Thanks so much for the advice. We have a stove pipe thermometer but I've never used it to track efficiency - thanks for the idea! I'll check out the Jotul and the Castine; both sound like good fits for us. I have to say I like the idea of getting 6-8 hours out of a fire; on those cold windy nights it would be nice to not start out with a cold stove in the morning

As far as insulation/vents - no vents. We have a stone foundation on the ell that isn't below the frost line - I've never been in the crawl space, honestly only our electrician and plumber have been there - pretty nasty. If I can convince my husband to get in there, it'd probably be a good idea to put some batten down there, though I'd worry about the mice getting into it and it would be tough to get anything in there - there's probably only about 2 feet of space there.

Thanks again!

 

[begreen]

Jotul is the manufacturer for both the F400 (Castine) and the F3CB. The Castine is great looking stove and a respectable heater. For some reason, although Jotul names most of their stoves, they left the F3CB with just a model designation. I have no idea why. Maybe we should help Jotul name this stove? If you want to see these stoves, stop down at the Preston Trading Post in Preston, CT. They are a big Jotul dealer in CT.

The rodent issue is a real problem.You are correct about them getting into the insulation. It probably would require a galvanized metal screen barrier to stop those beasts from getting in there. But that is a good thing, especially when it comes to stopping them from chewing on other materials like wiring. FWIW, there are contractors that do this work exclusively. Hubby might appreciate that.

 

[mtcsottile]

Thanks all - we discussed it last night, and as much as we both like the Jotuls and would like to get one for our kitchen, we put together our budget and it's just not there. Since we have the Vermont Castings Intrepid in our parlor, which last year was only lit 1-2 days, we're going to swap the two stoves. That way we can use the wood stove in the parlor if we need to (a room that right now is essentially off-line), but for the most part, we'll concentrate on the kitchen. Then down the road, maybe next year, we can spring for a new used stove for either the parlor or kitchen.

Not exactly what we wanted to do, but it is the frugal choice. Thanks so much for the advice - it's not wasted! I'll file it away in "better financial days" column