Switching to a new stove.

[mwhitnee]

Thanks, I'll look into the possible clay liner issue- that would be a deal breaker for me. I wouldn't even mind doing a liner next year but couldn't this year. If whoever I buy it from is going to charge me outrageous installation fees and jack up the price of venting (I have to have them do the install it seems) that would be an issue as well.

I should be thinking of a cheaper stove as the incentive would be foolish to miss!

Here is the link to the stove program. http://www.masscec.com/programs/commonwealth-woodstove-change-out

 

[claydogg84]

Chimney liners are usually fairly easy to install.

 

[mwhitnee]

I would have to do it before they arrived for the installation probably, price range for a 24 foot chimney?

 

[claydogg84]

I would have to do it before they arrived for the installation probably, price range for a 24 foot chimney?

You can install the stove as well as the liner yourself with a little help from a couple friends. I think my liner was around $1,300 with everything needed to install. I went with the best possible option from chimney liner depot and am very satisfied. Many members of this site are very knowledgeable in this field (as you've already seen) and are always willing to help if they can.

 

[mwhitnee]

Everybody is very willing to help here!

The only dealer in my area that could even deliver/install the stove worked with me. I needed someone to do it for me (I would have done it, but the incentive program wouldn't allow that) and they were my only shot.

Good news is that it looks like I will get the incentive program ($1,000 off) and get a Blaze King King parlor stove with venting, blower, side shields, and ash pan installed for 3,000 plus the permit. I though that was a pretty good deal!

I gave the place a picture of my stove location, the measurements, and told him about the chimney liner. I documented everything in an email.

Would it be poor practice for them to not come out before they delivered the stove? Just wondering.

 

[begreen]

Good news. It's slow season and there is plenty of time for them to verify the installation if they need to, but given the documentation they may just send out a crew with the stove and pipe.

 

[mwhitnee]

Well today I went to the stove store and put a deposit on the Blaze King King parlor stove with a blower. All the paperwork is rolling and I will be getting the $1000 rebate. The stove should be in next week. A big investment but I feel it will be worth it. Just as important I got a good lead on some seasoned firewood.

I imagine my stove will be installed in a month or so.

Thanks everybody so much for all of the help, I feel I made a good informed decision by talking to all of you. I will keep you updated on the install!!

How do people think it will compare to the Defiant 1A??

 

[begreen]

This will be a very different beast than the Defiant. Read the manual well and ask questions here if you are uncertain about anything in it.

Good to hear that you got a lead on some seasoned wood. I hate to be suspicious, but ask questions about how it was "seasoned". Wood is not really seasoning until after it's been split. Then it will take 1-2 yrs of seasoning depending on the species. Dense woods like oak, hickory, locust will need a couple years to dry out. Test some of the wood before accepting it by resplitting it and testing for moisture on the freshly exposed face of wood. If the wood is good and you have room get extra for next year.

 

[claydogg84]

Nice choice. Members of this site rave about Blaze King stoves. I think it will be a great improvement over the old smoke dragon.

 

[mwhitnee]

I'm excited about this stove!! I think the blower will really help as the stove is not centrally located.

I am suspicious about all wood at this point I think lol. What would you use as a "moisture cutoff" for this stove? I have a meter and was thinking about splitting a piece before they dropped it.

 

[begreen]

Ideally you'll want the tested moisture on the freshly exposed face of wood to be less than 20%. If is a little more, like 22% now you still have a good chance of it drying out enough by late fall if the wood is stacked so that the prevailing winds can blow through the stack. Cover the tops of the stacks and leave the sides open.

 

[Grisu]

If the wood is not dry enough come fall think about supplementing it with some compressed wood logs like Envi-blocks, BioBricks, Enviro-Bricks etc. They are certainly more expensive but with their low moisture content they will balance out some of the wood that is still too wet. Lumber scraps or kiln-dried wood would be other options. However, with the kiln-dried wood make sure it has been dried below 20% moisture, not just heated to kill bugs.

 

[mwhitnee]

For some reason I have the feeling that I will never get real seasoned wood around here, I started making some calls. My thought process is to call tree experts who don't even list they have firewood as they may actually have good stuff and a small client base already.

Supplementing it with bricks sounds like a good option. On to the next adventure!

 

[claydogg84]

Finding wood that has been split/stacked for a year will be fairly tough. There are very few sellers that go through the trouble of stacking the wood and top covering it. Most simply split and leave the wood in a massive pile to "season". If you're definitely buying wood and not gathering it I suggest you purchase a log load and process it yourself with the intention of having at least 2 years worth of wood stacked, if not more.

 

[aansorge]

Congratulations of the stove! They are wonderful to run.

Next question: are you going to start getting your own wood? That is the second addiction that this site will give you!

 

[mwhitnee]

Well I thought about a pellet stove but I just like wood so much more. I do like that I will be having to load my stove less and do more enjoying.

I also have a lot of trees in the back of my house, many are also fallen over. Might attack that in the next month or so! I also inherited a log splitter with my new house and will be working on getting that running as well.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like you are hooked! Keep us posted on the stove performance and your experiences this coming heating season.