Stove size-cathedral ceilings

[wiltend]

This is my first post although I have been reading alot these past few weeks. I am about to purchase a wood stove and it is down to two choices, both Jotuls. The 500 Oslo or the 600 Firelight. I have the 400 Castine in a downstairs family room and love it, hence the desire for another Jotul. Anyway my upstairs is a sort of open floor plan with the living room, dining room and kitchen together in a loose L format. The living room is 25x30 with 25 foot high ceilings, the dining room area is 10x12 and the kitchen area is 12x17. Around the back of the living room and down a hall are bedrooms. The house is an A frame. Pretty but a nightmare to heat. It is always much colder on that side of the house. I put 2 ceiling fans in but it helped very little. I am about to purchase a stove and was set to buy the 600 when the store owner thought the 500 would be better and more user friendly, especially with the single door. (It is going in the fireplace as opposed to an insert). I felt that my rooms are so large and the ceilings in the LR so high that I needed more of a "monster" stove to heat it. He felt the difference wasn't significant between the two. Yet the firebox on the 600 looked much bigger and is about 2 inches wider and 4 inches deeper. I also felt I could get a longer burn time from the bigger unit. I have the 400 in the small room and have a hard time believing that the 500 is big enough for the upstairs area although it is easier to use and cheaper, therefore very tempting. I am leaning towards my original intent but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or could comment on these stoves.

 

[Gunner]

Sounds like a nice house. I'd get the 600 for sure, doubt you'll get overheated with the 24ft ceilings, NY climate etc.

 

[titan]

I'd rather have the larger stove of the two choices,personally.I say they're both quality stoves although I've heard little about the 600.Quite a few folks here have 500 Oslo's and seem quite happy with'em.With any luck,some 600 users will ring in soon.

 

[wiltend]

Thanks for the input. I guess I was doubting myself when the dealer pushed the 500 so hard. Kinda made me wonder. Better too big than too small I suppose. If it is as good a stove as my other with a longer burn time, I will be very happy. I am really just trying to equalize the 2 ends of the house which can differ at night by as much as 8-10 degrees in the real cold weather. High ceilings are heat suckers, believe me. In order to get the LR to a comfortable temp you get blasted out of thr BRs. Furnace runs all night and forced hot air is not my favorite since it is impossible to zone. Hope this works.

 

[Angus]

Hello There,
my brother has a cathedral ceiling living room and he uses a Jotul 350.
This stove is unbelievable. I m not sure if its available in the US, we are from Scotland, and it comes over from our Norwegian neighbours, so whether Jotul will ship one to the US or not I dont know.
The 350 is economical, and throws out an unbelievable kw/kg of of wood. It is simple to use and uses a modern material for the firebox, and the rest of it is cast. Have a look on a Jotul European site.
I have owned (and sold) many stoves. The 3 best I have ever seen are all Jotuls.

The Jotul 602
Jotul 118
Jotul 350,

I hope this may be of sonme interest to you,
regards,
Angus

 

[woodconvert]

"Sounds like a nice house. I’d get the 600 for sure, doubt you’ll get overheated with the 24ft ceilings, NY climate etc."

O contrare. I've got an older firelight in a 30x50 log home with full length cathedral ceilings...and I live in Michigan...and you CAN in fact cook yourself out BUT you can also turn it down so it's comfortable. With the larger combustion area you can get some nice long burn times. I have no problem waking up to a real nice coal bed after a night long burn.

I will caution you to properly season the stove on the first few burns and DO NOT OVER FIRE IT. I was told from a Jotul engineer that the stove should have no problem operating from 350f to 650f on the right front of the stove with occasional temps up to 800ish. I've found that when I ran it close to the 600 range it liked to "eat" the back panel. I now keep my max at 550f and have no problems and it's like summer in January.

 

[gpcollen1]

Sometimes when they push a particular stove, it does not mean it is a bad stove or the right stove, they just have it in stock.

 

[swestall]

The larger stove (as other's have pointed out) will have great burn times when operated in the medium heat range: it will also burn very clean there. You did not mention it, but if there is an upstairs adjacent to the room, you'll get great heat up there also.
Find this stove's best medium operating range and you will love it.

 

[wiltend]

There is a large room adjacent to the LR. It's a loft and is so cold we can barely use it in the winter so you have actually hit on something that I really didn't consider. Hmmm.... I guess we just gave up on that room and when we did use it , we needed electric heat which is installed but was never effective and very expensive. I am going to go for the bigger stove despite the recommendation of the store owner. How long a burn time can I expect from the 600? I ignore company specs but overnight, say 7 hours or so with coals to start up again would be real, real nice. My Jotul Castine is a great stove but burn time is half of what the specs indicate. That is what made me a bit leery of the 500 Oslo.

 

[Gooserider]

My default for anyone "on the fence" about two stoves based on size is to say go with the bigger box - this is because I see about 10-1 or more, people complaining about going for to small a stove, as opposed to to large. You can always build a small fire in a big box, but it's hard to build a big fire in a small box. The larger box will also be better for burn times.

Gooserider

 

[wg_bent]

My default for anyone "on the fence" about two stoves based on size is to say go with the bigger box - this is because I see about 10-1 or more, people complaining about going for to small a stove, as opposed to to large. You can always build a small fire in a big box, but it's hard to build a big fire in a small box. The larger box will also be better for burn times.

Gooserider

I agree with Goose about the larger firebox, but with my stove burn time has a lot more to do with the wood than anything.

Put in a good solid piece of oak, and I have coals in the morning. Doesn't matter if I put in a single good size log or stuff the fire box. The difference is in the heat output of the stove.

The rated output of the stoves is only 15% different, and I doubt you'd actually notice the burn time difference in real world conditions due to differences in wood, plus you tend to see coals in the morning and THAT is the key factor.

The place the 600 is a bit nicer is it will handle a 24" log vs 21. 21 is still big, but 24... better. I'd hate to hand split a 24" piece of elm though. LOL

 

[woodconvert]

"Put in a good solid piece of oak, and I have coals in the morning. Doesn’t matter if I put in a single good size log or stuff the fire box. The difference is in the heat output of the stove."

Exactly. If you put one piece in you may have coals in the morning for the restart but your overnight heat output probably isn't much. If I load my old firelight before bed it will hold at about 350f all night with the "throttle" turned all the way down and i have plenty of coals to restart.