Thinking about replacing my Jotul Combifire #4

[ctlovell]

I'm thinking about upgrading my Jotul Combifire #4, which came with my house, stove to a more modern EPA approved model. However, not having any specifications on this stove sort of puts me behind the 8 ball when it comes to looking for a replacement. My Jotul is set up with a 7" x 4 foot long single wall pipe exiting the top of the stove going into an 8" class A chimney straight up through the roof. I am hoping to maintain this current set-up and replace only the stove.

I am currently using this stove for primary heat in an all glass family room. The family room has French doors and ceiling fan which allow a large amount of warm air to circulate throughout the rest of the house, which is heated primarily by oil, but has a solar heated living room. I keep the thermostat set a 62F and allow the wood stove to provide supplemental warmth. We are comfortable with this set-up but I would like to achieve longer burns, the goal being overnight burns, and a more even heat. I don't want to buy too small, but on the other hand I don't want to cook myself out of house and home. I also like the traditional look of a cast iron or soapstone unit rather than a steel stove.

My questions include:

What size stove should I consider? I would like something that provides a similar BTU output to the Combifire but without knowing what that is I am sort of stuck.
Should I go CAT or NON-CAT? I like the features of the longer burn times that come with a CAT but am a bit leary of what may be older technology and higher maintenance.
Is the quality or "feel" of the heat from a soapstone stove that much different than from a cast iron stove? Or is that aspect of soapstone marketing just that, marketing?
Would my wood consumption really decrease by 1/3 to 1/2 as I have read on this forum?

Any help or suggestions of stoves which you folks could provide would be most welcome and appreciated.


Thanks! Chris

 

[swestall]

With a good Class A set up, you can just go from the new stove with a new connector to the Class A stack. That seems like a good idea for performance and safety.

Soapstone is very nice; it take longer to get up to temp than steel or cast. It radiates very nicely and it cools off slower. Looks nice too.

Having experienced both CAT and Non-CAT I think (excepting Everburn or any refractory downdraft) they are both fine performers. You will get a little easier operation from a CAT stove and will have to replace the CAT and maybey even rebuild every few years. The non-CATs with secondary tubes or baffles are very nice and don't have that maintenance feature. Some say CATs are outmoded, some say no. I suspect they are going to be available for a long time.
My best idea would be for you to make tripping around to stove shops to see the various products a fun activity to do. After a while you will get some good idea of what you like and can come back for specific comments on a few items.

 

[jpl1nh]

I had a combifire 4 that I used as my primary heat source for the past 3 winters. Like you, I bought my house with it and never found information on its BTU output. My house is about 1300 sq ft open concept, wood stove in center with internal masonary chimney. Approximately 20 windows 20 years old, mediocre insulated, decent but not exceptional insulation. If you count heating the loft rooms up above its more like 1600 sq ft. The combifire could take the whole house from 60 to 70 in an hour even when the windchill was -20! I switched to a Woodstock Keystone soapstone stove rated at 45,000 BTU as recommended by Woodstock. It's an awesome stove, love it!, but not capable of fully heating my house in temps or windchills of 5 or colder. Therefore, I'm going to guess the Combifire was probably closer to 60k BTU or better max heat output. Hope this helps. The combifire worked so well, in the heat dept I miss it. Long burns were not pretty. Heat swings were substantial, creosote buildup was significant. But I's say to repalce the heat output look at a rating of 55k BTU or better or space heating capacity of about what you have plus 25% or more due to the glass.

 

[swestall]

You can back into the stove requirement by evaluating the heating needs of the house.

Craig, do you have the link to the thread where this was discussed?

 

[begreen]

Sounds like a 3 cu ft cast iron or soapstone stove would fit the bill. Look at the Jotul F600, Quadrafire Isle Royale, Morso 3610, in cast iron stoves or the Pacific Energy Alderlea T6 which is a castiron clad steel stove. Vermont Castings makes the Defiant in castiron catalytic. In soapstone, checkout the Hearthstone Mansfield.

 

[ctlovell]

Thanks for the suggestions. That seems to be the direction I was heading too. Do EPA stoves really save wood over older "classic" stoves??

 

[jpl1nh]

Yes, absolutley. At first I didn't think I was using less wood, but now half way through the winter, I can definately say it's true. Your Combifire can BURN some serious quantities of wood, it's one of the reasons it can produce so much heat but a lot of that heat just goes up the stack. Our house is warm 24/7 with about 20-30% less wood this year than last and last year our house would go from 58 to 60 by morning or at the end of the work day back up to 74-75 am and eve. Now its 68 to 74 always.

 

[sgsstat]

Our experience with a Morso 3610 (replaced a non-EPA Upland 207) is that it seems to burn more wood. In order to maintain good stove pipe temps, primary air has to be 50% open with 3-4 splits. It burns overnight well, as did the Upland. Starting is a chore.

IMO the non-cat stoves, having baffles and a more complicated exit for gasses probably are more challenging to burn. My uncle has a catalytic Vermont Castings Defiant and it seems to burn much more like the non-EPA stove I replaced.

I'll see what the creosote looks like at the end of the season -- I'm thinking about selling the Morso 3610 and rebuilding the Upland.

 

[Gooserider]

Thanks for the suggestions. That seems to be the direction I was heading too. Do EPA stoves really save wood over older "classic" stoves??

Absolutely. I'm just over 2.5 cords on this season, not quite 1/2 way through my first woodshed, burning the VC Encore CAT. This time last year, burning my old smoke dragon, I was between 4 and 5 cords, even though the first part of the winter was much milder, and was starting to worry about if I would have enough wood to make it all the way to the end of winter.

In addition, I'm getting MUCH longer burn times, and feel like the house is staying warmer overall.

Gooserider