Stove and Hearth Questions - Reposted in a new thread

[Eddie24361]

Hey all, this is my first post. I have been reading the forums for about a year now. I had settled on installing a VC Encore cat stove, but after reading the recent post I am a little nervous about buying one. What other stoves should I look at that have the following features?

1. Catalytic Stove (important)
2. Top Loading (important)
3. Efficient & clean burning (pretty important)
3. Able to use with doors open with screen (not important but would be nice on cool fall evenings)

I have a 1500sq ft home that is fairly tight. Most winters I use about 250 gal of heating oil. I intend the wood stove to be the major source of heat for my house. I can also heat with a single kerosene heater until the outside temperature drops to about 10 degrees. I want to be more carbon friendly by using the wood stove. I live on a farm with about 15 acres of hardwood trees.
I have designed my hearth (but not installed) to meet the VC Encore specifications. Is there a standard hearth size that will work with most wood stoves (front-rear-side clearance - pad thickness with bottom heat shield)?

I intend to use 8 inch Simpson Dura-Liner and their double walled stove pipe for venting through my 1930s chimney (16 ft tall from thimble).

My local hearth shop (an hour away) seems to be more into upscale sales than customer service.

Thanks in advance

 

[webbie]

Buy a VC if you want all those exact features. There are extremely few cat stoves on the market, let alone top loading ones.
Most stoves sold today are very efficient and clean burning. Some have screens....but, honestly, very few people end up using the firescreens.

The hearth size for an Encore is likely to fit quite a few stoves.....Jotul (non-cat), Woodstock (cat), Quad (non-cat).....are cast stoves with the colonial look. Lots of folks here like the PE also (pacific energy)...which have an Alderlea model that has a cast outside.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Sounds to me like you just described a Woodstock Fireview. You should be able to heat the whole house with it. However, it is not top loading but you will get the heat from the front with the glass. It is safer and still pretty and warm.

btw, with the Fireview, we heat 100% with it. We also cut our wood burning from 4-6 cords to less than 2 and stayed warmer.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Curious why you want a cat stove- are you looking for longer burn times?

 

[Jags]

Heck, if you only burn 250 gal of oil per year, just light a candle.

This house sounds like it doesn't require much for heat. Is that why you are looking at a cat model (low and slow)?

Soap stone cat maybe?????

 

[Eddie24361]

Yes, the low burn is the main reason I am looking for a cat stove. If I am not careful, the kerosene heater will get the house up to 85+ in a short period of time. I like the thoughts of being able to turn the stove way down, but at the same time I want to be sure I have a stove big enough when the temp drops to -20F and we have a power outage. I want the top loading feature because I occasionally have some back problems and want a stove that I do not have to bend over to load.
Thanks for all your input!

 

[Eddie24361]

Thanks to all for your input. I have a couple more questions for now. When turned all the way down, how much real world difference is there in heat output between the VC cat Encore and a cat Defiant? The Defiant has a .9 cu ft bigger firebox, which I would take would give a longer burn time, but I do not want to have to keep a window open to keep from being run out of the room by too much heat. Will it hurt the Encore to run pretty much wide open on the rare nights that it is -25F. I will be mainly be burning seasoned and split wild cherry and oak.

 

[begreen]

I think preparing for a very rare cold snap is overkill. Particularly when by far the average temps are much warmer. You'll get much better overall use and performance from the stove if it is sized to do 80-90% of the heating needs. It's better to have a contingency plan for the once in a lifetime coldsnap of the -25 variety. Maybe close the bedrooms off and sleep in the living room?

 

[BrotherBart]

I think preparing for a very rare cold snap is overkill. Particularly when by far the average temps are much warmer. You'll get much better overall use and performance from the stove if it is sized to do 80-90% of the heating needs. It's better to have a contingency plan for the once in a lifetime coldsnap of the -25 variety. Maybe close the bedrooms off and sleep in the living room?

With average lows in the mid to low twenties in Dec., Jan. and Feb. it ain't exactly balmy down there during the run of the mill winters.

 

[begreen]

Yes, it gets cool there no doubt. With 3 stoves, for sure you are heating. But how often does it get below zero? How often does it reach -20?

 

[BrotherBart]

Down there they have significantly lower temps than we do. Night time temps in the teens are common enough that I would want some horsepower on tap.

 

[Eddie24361]

here is a pretty good estimate of the local climate, http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mrx/tri/trinorms.php

right now I use an oil furnace with a 0.5 gpm nozzle. If my math is right

(.5gpm * 139,000 btu /gallon) * .70 efficiency = 48650 btu, and the 70% efficiency is probably on the high side with 60% giving 41,700 btu.

Also, do you have any thoughts of buying a VC stove online? I went to the local dealer this week (about an hour away). They are not overly friendly and some of the advice I get doesn't seem to match what is in the VC owners manual. I have seen some VC stoves online for a couple hundred less with free shipping and no sales tax. The local dealer wants $2149 for the Encore plus $204 tax with me picking it up at his shop. Also $94 for the rear heat shield and he told me I could only get the bottom heat shield in the mobile home kit for $323.

 

[BillT]

25 Below?

I'm in SW Virginia, altho not extreme SW, and we get to 10 Below only about once every 10 years. I know it's colder down in the mountains there, but didn't know it could get that cold. I checked the link that you have posted and see that you must be near the TN border. Also if your stove won't keep up in extreme cold, you could always use your kerosene heater for back-up. I'm going to keep my kerosene stoves handy and always make sure I have some good fuel ready. One of mine is a real small 6800 BTU stove and it is great for keeping the temperature consistent.

Bill