I've been reading this forum off and on for quite some time. Now I'm gearing up to buy a new wood stove to replace the old stove that came with our house and I thought it might help to hear others' recommendations.
Our house is 600 square feet, although a bit leaky. (We're working on better insulation and weatherproofing, but haven't really done as much as we should yet.) We really only heat about 400 square feet, usually closing off the back rooms and not bothering to heat them.
We currently have a big, old, inefficient sheet-steel wood stove that we use for all of our winter heating needs, which in this climate and with me working at home means we use it on most days in the winter, at least in mornings and evenings and something throughout the day as well. (Happily, with all the sun we get here, we often don't need a fire in the midday, when the sun hits our South-facing house.)
We manage fine with this stove but it has its hassles and we really want to replace it with something modern, EPA approved, and efficient. It's a good setup otherwise, with a brick chimney that runs up from the basement and right through the middle of the house. We get a good draft. And it's easy to heat the main living area since the stove is centrally located in the open living-room/kitchen area.
So... What I'm looking for is a smaller stove, but not as tiny as the VC Aspen. We briefly looked at a Waterford Leprechaun that we found on Craigslist, but it had some missing parts and the bottom line was that I didn't like the tiny burn chamber. I am the primary fire-builder in our house. ;-) I want something that I can build a fire in without severe wood-size limitations (i.e. the ability to take 16" logs with some variation allowances and elbow room to actually build a fire). But I otherwise want a stove that is relatively small.
I think I want to stick with a non-catalytic stove although that's not an absolute. I've done plenty of reading over years so I do know the pros and cons and various opinions on the non-cat vs. cat debate.
I lean towards a cast iron stove, mostly for the looks. This thing will, after all, sit right smack in the middle of our living area, so looks matter to a certain degree. And I'm not fond of the look of most modern sheet-metal stoves. But that is also not an absolute. Efficiency is the real priority.
Price is an object, but at the same time we'll spend money for quality where it matters. Somewhere around or below $1,000 would be ideal but it can be above that if it's worth it.
What comes to mind as a good stove for our use and requirements?
Thanks!
- Rachel
Our house is 600 square feet, although a bit leaky. (We're working on better insulation and weatherproofing, but haven't really done as much as we should yet.) We really only heat about 400 square feet, usually closing off the back rooms and not bothering to heat them.
We currently have a big, old, inefficient sheet-steel wood stove that we use for all of our winter heating needs, which in this climate and with me working at home means we use it on most days in the winter, at least in mornings and evenings and something throughout the day as well. (Happily, with all the sun we get here, we often don't need a fire in the midday, when the sun hits our South-facing house.)
We manage fine with this stove but it has its hassles and we really want to replace it with something modern, EPA approved, and efficient. It's a good setup otherwise, with a brick chimney that runs up from the basement and right through the middle of the house. We get a good draft. And it's easy to heat the main living area since the stove is centrally located in the open living-room/kitchen area.
So... What I'm looking for is a smaller stove, but not as tiny as the VC Aspen. We briefly looked at a Waterford Leprechaun that we found on Craigslist, but it had some missing parts and the bottom line was that I didn't like the tiny burn chamber. I am the primary fire-builder in our house. ;-) I want something that I can build a fire in without severe wood-size limitations (i.e. the ability to take 16" logs with some variation allowances and elbow room to actually build a fire). But I otherwise want a stove that is relatively small.
I think I want to stick with a non-catalytic stove although that's not an absolute. I've done plenty of reading over years so I do know the pros and cons and various opinions on the non-cat vs. cat debate.
I lean towards a cast iron stove, mostly for the looks. This thing will, after all, sit right smack in the middle of our living area, so looks matter to a certain degree. And I'm not fond of the look of most modern sheet-metal stoves. But that is also not an absolute. Efficiency is the real priority.
Price is an object, but at the same time we'll spend money for quality where it matters. Somewhere around or below $1,000 would be ideal but it can be above that if it's worth it.
What comes to mind as a good stove for our use and requirements?
Thanks!
- Rachel
I lived there for 8 years until we moved to Bucks county PA 4 years ago. What were we thinking
