So we went to the stove store today....

[pr0vidence]

We went to a stove store today, as mentioned in this thread:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13335/

The person we spoke with was very nice and answered all the questions we had. She's pretty much got us sold on the Avalon: Ranier standalone. It seems like it would be pretty perfect for our situation. The expected burn time is an hour or two under what I was hoping to get, but I guess you can't have everything. We really liked the look of the stove, and the heat that it was throwing out had us almost sweating in a matter of minutes. The price point was about right too. We are going to go to a few more stores just to be thorough.

So what are everyone's opinion on that stove? Anyone have bad experiences with it? I looked at the hearth.com ratings and it seems to have rated mostly very well. Anyone else have thoughts?

thanks
-pr0v

 

[ChrisN]

Hey Prov, If you haven't checked it out yet, you should visit the Preston Trading Post, in Preston. I don't know if they carry the Avalon series, but you could probably google them and check their website. Good Luck.

Chris

 

[DriftWood]

A real size check on any stove is the EPA Efficiency Tag. Every new stove has to have one when sold. Stoves are tested the same for these numbers. Look at it there are BTU numbers on it. They will be smaller than a manufactures numbers. In a Old leaky under insulated homes I would use the EPA numbers. In a new airtight home the manufactures numbers might be closer. I am saying over size as per the manufactures numbers for older homes .

 

[webbie]

Preston does not carry Avalon......but the Rainer is in my opinion one of the easiest to operate and reliable stoves out there. We sold thousands of them and, all in all, had more satisfied customers with that unit than with any other.

Great stove.....

 

[Jfk4th]

I hope you read this as I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the Avalon stoves, Rainer, Pendelton, and Olympic. The first question I ask is what are you looking for? Good heat and OK burn time, good heat and 4 or 5 hour burn time, or good heat and overnight burn time. Plus is this to heat your house or a couple of areas or just for fun?

Here is opinion on this
If you are looking for high heat and 5 to 7 hour burns that Rainer is the one. The smaller firebox is frustrating unless you are planning on cutting your own wood all the time I will say you will struggle if your house is about 1500 sq feet or more and you are looking to heat your house 24/7 with wood only. I don't care if a salesman says different, be very careful. All salesman are nice when they are going to be making a serious buck on you, and I mean a serious buck. Ask him if I bought this stove and wanted to upgrade to the Olympic if I wanted something bigger would you give me a credit. Watch if he hesitates, if he does for more that a couple of seconds he is probably telling you a lie or he does not do this. Don't listen to the manual also that says the Rainer can give you 8 hour burn, this might happen sometimes but not all the time (I have tried this with my buddies many times and I have only been lucky a couple). Also watch out for the BTU's is list, this is done when the firebox is stuffed and then the highest BTU is taken. This BTU rating is not an average for an eight hour burn. On the Rainer you would probably get between 20,000-30,000 average on a 6-7 hour burn, this may be pushing it too. I am sure people have done and maybe higher but this again is just average.

OK if you are looking for a good heat and longer burn times plus large firebox the Olympic is the way to go. The advantage of the large firebox will help you with not only with longer burn times but also the ability of cutting wood in bigger pieces(less frustration when stuffing the firebox). My father in law has this and I would have bought this beast if the specs fit when I got rid of my Avalon stove. Trust me the extra money is worth it on the Olympic compared to the Rainer if once again you are going for long burns and large area.

I would only say go for the Rainer if you are burning just for fun or smaller area/house and are not going to be leaving the house for an eight hour workday. Don't get me wrong all 3 of these stoves give out great heat, but the longer burn times of the powerful Olympic will make you very happy if you don't like filling the stove all the time and want that good overnight burn(good sleeping time).

The Webmaster is right, it is a very easy stove to operate, sharp looking, and very good/hot burns. This is what many casual woodburners want so clearly this stove is going to be a customer favorite.


Once again please take my opinion into serious consideration, bigger is usually better when it comes to longer burn times and the having "room to play" because of the larger firebox will make life easier for you

I also recommend the Pacific Energy stoves, these stoves are not as sharp looking as the Avalons but the PE Summit (which I have) has what they call Extended Burn Technology which is a little coil that controls the opening at the bottom of the stove. This means longer burn times and no logs left over when the stove is out. It basically gives you more draft if you need it. A very nice stove.


Good Luck and send some pics when everything is done

 

[pr0vidence]

Thank you very much everyone for your feedback. JFK, I really appreciate your well thought out response. The more we thought about it the more we realized that maybe this stove isn't really for us. It's bright and shiny in the store, but I'm not positive (anymore) that it is what we are looking for. I REALLY want something that is capable for heating our entire home, as well as something we can keep burning 24/7 without loading it every few hours. Put all those factors together, and all of a sudden, the Ranier isn't looking like such a great match. I guess it helps to "sleep on it" rather than jumping into a decision. We will consider the Olympic as well, as it seems to be more capable of our needs, we certainly have the room in our fireplace for it (after breaking out the measuring tape). We were already planning on going to a few other places, so the quest continues tomorrow, I suppose.

Anyway, thanks again for all your input. We hold much value in it, and we'll keep the board posted.

thanks
-pr0v

 

[Jfk4th]

Good call on sleeping on it, it is a huge decision. Like you said you want to be as happy as you can get. You owe it to yourself to look at the Pacific Energy stove (pacificenergy.net). These stove rock when it comes to longer burns, the Summit is the King of long burns. Feel free to click on my signature to see a pic and it in action

Again Good Luck