Scandia Woodstove

[ruserious2008]

Hello all,
I have had a Scandia woodstove that came with my current home that has been sitting in some unused room for my 15 years here that I recently rehabbed and moved into with the idea of closing off the rest of my house and winterizing it and "wintering" in these two rooms to save fuel oil that is well on its way to going thru the roof!
So its been many years since I've had a wood stove and I really like this Scandia and have been using it for about 2 months now but I saw another forum thread that kind of trashed it (from Taiwan it said- which for me is never a negative as my wife was made in Taiwan and she's top quality and it also said they were hard to control and sometimes not safe. Here is a link to one that looks like mine

It vents thru the back with the wood going in the bottom chamber and that then vents up thru an opening in the top front of the bottom chamber and it then vents out thru the back of the top chamber. Seems like an efficient design as that top chamber allows a lot of heat to be "captured" and sent into the room instead of out the stack. On mine the air vents for control are what you see in the front of the stove and I find it very easy to control though I do sit with it with the door wide open to get a fire started but once going it is easy to throttle down and with 3 good sized logs in it I can easily get it to heat my 2 rooms for 6 or more hours (I recently rehabbed, insulated and have this place tight- to steal a contractor friends fave saying - " I can heat it with a match its so tight . So..... that's my story but I'm of course concerned when I hear someone say they may not be safe. If anyone could comment on why they may not be safe and/or what I should watch for I would much appreciate it. Trying to save money I don't have but don't want to burn the place down of course.
Thanks much

 

[Shari]

Here you go: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Scandia_Stoves/

 

[begreen]

It's safety is going to depend on the castings which were inconsistent. It's a ripoff of the Jotul 118, but not as well built. That said, there are folks heating with them and some are not too bad. The air control is coarse, but useable. A draft damper on the flue pipe should help keep it more controllable.

 

[SimpleManLance]

i got a mongomery wards version of this stove in my garage. just bought it the other day for $62. i needs to be taken apart and a new rope installed but seems to be working good so far.

would you take a picture of the inside of your stove where it goes to the top chamber.

 

[Battenkiller]

I heated my small home entirely with wood for 18 years with the identical Scandia stove. The guy I got it from used it for about 10 years before that. I only have the one to go by, so all I can say is I got a good one.

The biggest worries with the Taiwanese castings were excess porosity and stress cracks from cooling too quickly and unevenly. Stress cracks would probably occur soon after using the stove hard. The porosity should only be a problem if there is an actual hole through the plate. All cast iron is somewhat porous due to the graphite used in them oxidizing into CO or CO2 gas in the melt and forming bubbles. If these don't exit the heavy liquid iron before it freezes, they become entrapped inside the metal itself. The tiniest bubbles don't have enough pressure inside them to break the surface of the metal, and they get locked in. It's the nature of the beast.

I got mine given to me by a good friend. When we slid it off the hearth and slid his genuine Jotul 118 back in it's place, the Jotul was noticeably heavier. I doubt that was because of increased porosity, probably just heavier castings on the quality stove. Is it a Jotul? Not by a stretch. Can it heat your home safely just like the real McCoy? Absolutely, but you should keep an eye on any tendency for it to runaway on you, because it may have a crack or leaky seams. I rebuilt my stove before I put it into use, so it was pretty easy to both inspect it and to get it really tight. Yours may not be so tight, so you should watch it.

If you can put the fire out by closing the air all the way, you have enough control over the burn IMHO.

 

[ruserious2008]

Thanks a ton all for the great replies. I've visually inspected mine and see no signs of cracking, warping etc. I replaced the rope on the top chamber before I started using it. My guess is that it had little to no use up until I started using it as it just looks new (no rust, white etc.) I will certainly keep a close eye on it as the season moves forward. As someone mentioned I can close the door damper down the the fire goes out so I guess that's a reasonable test for leaks. I'll take some more pics including the one requested in the next day or so and post a link to them.
Thanks again

 

[tickbitty]

I love what you said about your wife... so sweet!

 

[ruserious2008]

For Simple who wanted a pic of the top chamber- let me know if you need another angle ?

 

[ruserious2008]

Oh one more thing for Simpleman.... the vent outlet on the stove is 4.5" which I could not find so I used a 4"- secured it with a screw and sealed it with some stove cement and then I upped it to 6 " as shown in this pic.

 

[SimpleManLance]

thanks for the pictures they are exactly what i was looking for. i wasn't sure exactly how the shelf was suppose to go in the stove, but i had it right. that is crazy that it exits at 4.5" i wonder why they would do something like that.

 

[snowtime]

For safety I would put a damper in your chimney. Then you would be guaranteed control even when it gets old and does start to leak.

 

[cmonSTART]

I agree. Damper that chimney! Your stove looks pretty good from those couple pics. How does it look inside the front doors? How are the side heat shield panels.