Top loading wood stoves.

Ouch.
The shot from the front is just ok.
The shots from underneath the secondarys show that he has that cranked. Possibly overfired.

Keep in mind that I did not say that E/W loading stoves have a bad secondary display. I just think (and I qualified that with 4 IMO's) that the N/S is better.

The OP wants to help advise his friend on a stove purchase. It makes sense to give him more than one opinion.

I also have to acknowledge that there are shallow boxed N/S stoves. It just seems that in general most E/W stoves are narrow.

MnDave

This is our second top loading stove and to be honest I would not trade it for the world ! Top loading is a very nice feature at times our primary use of the top load door is when we load mulberry or hedge wood and similar poppy sparkly types. It allows us to load and not worry about it sparking into the room at all. Plus it gives us a very nice steel cooktop to use and a grilling grate to set into it.

Pete

If that is a photo of an overfired stove then I have overfired every stove I've owned. Seriously. That's a pretty standard looking burn when a stove is going..

I get better looking burns loading e/w than n/s on the 30, which is a front loader.

You keep saying that, but OP just wanted to know how top loading stoves work and why they are designed that way.

Ok. I am tip-toeing to the exit.

MnDave

Have you even looked at at the Rangeley it could not be simpler ! It is simply a hooked plate on a tube that turns. As for the firebox size it is enormous I can stuff it up and go all night 12 hours and still be at 250 F on reload !

Sorry did not mean that rudely I am just surprised that it would be considered complicated.


Pete

Out top-loader has been in constant winter use at our house since 1975. Trying to recall when we get smoke out of it when reloading, can't remember a time. It is a great heater.

Also, as to "all top loaders have other front doors to load from"...nope. Mine only has a door in the top and ditto two of our neighbors.

What stoves are you and your neighbors running?

Side loading, Bro.
Side. Loading.

Many, if not most, of those good-lookin' cast stoves you lust after have a side door.
Side loading is where it's at!
(. . .or N-S loading in a deep stove. . .or possibly top loading, which I have not experienced.)

I think I know what you're trying to get at with the 'light show' theory, but I think this depends on a stove's air flow/combustion design, more than firebox shape. My relatively shallow firebox floats nice secondaies with E-W loads.

+1
This house came with a 20"-high hearth, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

All crucifiction has been postponed until after Christmas.

I found side loading to be the more annoying of the three options (front, top, side). I might have a different opinion if I try a side loader with andirons. But, without the andirons, it was a pain.

I assume you mean keeping the splits off of the glass was a pain. . .
I dunno. The good folks at Woodstock provided this stove with andirons.

AFAICS, side loading(with andirons) is pretty much equivalent to N-S.
Of course, a square firebox that let you load N-S would also give you the option of loading E-W, or a combination of the two. Having more options is always nice.
I have to set 10" shorties aside for loading N-S on the bottom of an E-W load, which I like to do.

I have had two top loaders and they were great to load. My Encore was on a raised hearth and I never had to bend down to load. Just a little word of caution, when the stove is on a raised hearth and is a top loader you can stand close to it while loading. Wear pants when reloading it. Each night I would load up the stove for a all night burn and had a too close for comfort situation once.

Worse than that is if the stove is side-load only, and the door only opens to 90*.
You can have nice, big andirons though. Great for cramming a small box full...

Maybe get some Roxul boxer shorts for those night time loads???? May be some chafing in the morning, tho. LOL

I was raised on an old VC top loader.
I love my Oslo but...I'm still not used to side loading.
I miss the top loading feature.

How about a little talcum powder for that spanking!

MnDave, I had been using a top loader (non-EPA) for the last 11 years. This Fall, with the new end-loading stove, I've been mulling over the differences. I don't mind bending over for the new stove, but I do feel I tend to make more of a mess on the hearth with the end-loader than with the top loader. I used to be able to brush my arms/shirt off over the open top loader, so there was almost no hearth mess.

My top loader was a round cover in the middle of a flat top, with no front or end door; I can fit more more wood in with my end-load. Cleaning ashes was a little more difficult (I am really enjoying the grate/ash pan combo of the PH).

Back-puffs caused more anxiety with my top load because there was the possibility of having the top settle back partially open and have the fire run away with excess air. We kept a large teapot of water on it to help with that worry.

The top loader was excellent for safety with coals - zero chance of something falling out. Both of our daughters ran the stove, starting in their pre-teen years.

I would not list that info on the forums i would do pm

Modern Top-loading stove owner here.

The Rangeley has a simple hinged lid in between the secondary tubes to allow top-loading. Has a pivoting lever (small) to ensure you cannot leave the baffle open after closing the lid. It loads E-W or N-S, N-S will require slightly shorter splits than E-W but 16" splits fit just fine. It's actually a steel stove in cast iron clothing which offers the benefit of cast-iron looks/thermal mass with steel's low-maint durability. The ash pan is very functional, not requiring the user to find and pull a plug from the firebox floor to sweep ash into the pan. I just stir the coals and reload, the ash falls right through the grate into the removable pan.

I top-load to add a couple splits to a hot fire/coals and front-load when I need to load N-S or stuff it to the gills. Very happy with the Rangeley so far. Joutl also makes a non-top loading version of the Rangeley, sans ash pan , but a bigger firebox. Called the F55, so if the Rangeley is too complicated for ya' give that 'un a look.

My top-load door has a mechanism that automatically trips the bypass damper open. I have more trouble with my front-load doors, as they have no such mechanism. I often forget to open the bypass before opening the front doors.