VC Dutchwest VS. Jotul Firelight the chioce was all mine

[VCBurner]

VC Dutchwest VS. Jotul Firelight

As some of you may know I put a deposit on a Dutchwest Large Cat in December. This thing was rebuilt from top to bottom. After the deposit I found this site while researching the stove. There were some mixed feelings on here about the Dutchwest and VC in general.
After thinking long and hard I decided to go get my Dutchwest. When I got there the guy had a Jotul Firelight in Ivory sitting there! He wanted $800 for it. It was a cat model with some brand new parts such as the refractory and two interior firebox cast parts. The price was way more than fair. Now to some folks here it seems the choice would be easy. However, when I asked him about the Firelight, he said the parts were really expensive, $300 just for the refractory. Moreover, the stove is 25 years old and the parts are not going to be easy to find in a couple more years. The stove was in "mint" shape, with only a couple small chips on the enamel on inconspicuous spots. All the brand new parts were still sitting next to it. This guy is a stove installer/ repairman by day and moonlights by fixing and selling some of his own. He is an honest guy and I trust his opinion. He mentioned that if parts were to break in the near future, I may not be able to find them at all. So I came home with the Large Cat Dutchwest. Though, I'm very happy with the purchase, my wife does not like the style. She thinks it looks like a bank safe. To make matters worse, when I told her about the Firelight she said she loves that look. Who doesn't? Those are beautiful stoves. This decision will always be on my mind. But I'm not going to let it get in the way of how happy I am with the Dutchwest purchase.

What would some of you have done?

Here's a pic of both side by side. The Jotul is from Hearth.com pic gallery and the Dutchwest is from the brochure.

 

[firefighterjake]

What would I have done? Answer: Not bought either the Dutchwest or the older Jotul . . . but sprung for a little extra money and made the wife happy with the look and me happy with a stove that has few, if any complaints from owners.

 

[karri0n]

The white would have turned me away from the jotul, the VC brand would have turned me away from the Dutchwest(though their cat models don't seem to have as many problems as their non-cat cousins)

 

[Todd]

I think it's a fine looking bank safe. Stoves shouldn't be white.

 

[VCBurner]

I think it’s a fine looking bank safe

Thanks Todd,nice to hear some words of support.
Thanks for the response Jake and KarriOn. You do make some valid points. It's too early to tell if I'll be happy with the Dutchwest. I'm breaking it in today. By tonight, I'll be able to try the first overnight burn. I refuse to write off an entire brand based on some negative reviews. Even people who own Woodstocks have problems. However, I completely understand your statement. I'm not done buying stoves by a long shot! This is just another step on the buying ladder. Last year my wife thought it was too much to spend $80 on a stove that heated our whole house so far this winter. I want to try out a newer Jotul, maybe a new one. The nordic F100 would go nicely in my living room or the next model up. The Woodstock would go nicely in my basement as a primary heater. But for now I'm happy to upgrade to this newer EPA rated stove and see how it works. I'll let you know.

 

[Shari]

What would I have done? Well, what I 'did' do is scrape every penny together that I could and now, today, it is paying off with 77 degrees inside from my 11am load. It is snowing outside and comfy as all get out inside. Our Jotul Oslo is sittin' pretty in our living room.

Shari

 

[BrotherBart]

The Dutchwest stoves that take a beating are the non-cat Everburn stoves. You didn't buy one of them. VC takes a beating for going broke all the time and this time not standing behind their warranties. Irrelevant in this case. That stove has been out of warranty a long, long time.

Enjoy your stove. And sleeping on the couch. :coolsmirk:

 

[VCBurner]

Thanks Bart :lol: ! She's not unhappy about the purchase, she just told me she would have let me put the Jotul in the living room! I just bought her a brand new lap top, so even if I brought home a pile pf scrap she would have been happy!

The Dutchwest stoves that take a beating are the non-cat Everburn stoves.

Funny statement. I've heard more unhappy stories about the everburn stoves than all other stove brands put together. The guy who sold me the stove says he gets more repair calls on those non-cats by VC than any other brand. There are three main parts that will go on these cast iron cats and they are all inexpensive. The seller stands behind his word and will get me any part I need at his cost! As far as a warranty, I guess you're right, I don't have to worry about that. I hope this stove serves its purpose with me. Thanks for the post Bart you always make me laugh!

 

[BrowningBAR]

Thanks Bart :lol: ! She's not unhappy about the purchase, she just told me she would have let me put the Jotul in the living room! I just bought her a brand new lap top, so even if I brought home a pile pf scrap she would have been happy!

The Dutchwest stoves that take a beating are the non-cat Everburn stoves.

Funny statement. I've heard more unhappy stories about the everburn stoves than all other stove brands put together. The guy who sold me the stove says he gets more repair calls on those non-cats by VC than any other brand. There are three main parts that will go on these cast iron cats and they are all inexpensive. The seller stands behind his word and will get me any part I need at his cost! As far as a warranty, I guess you're right, I don't have to worry about that. I hope this stove serves its purpose with me. Thanks for the post Bart you always make me laugh!

So, tell me about the BTU ratings of the Dutchwest. The specs state that the large has the 40k BTU capacity. That doesn't seem 'large' to me. Are they measuring BTUs differently? The extra large is listed at 55k BTUs and the heating capacity is up to 2,400 sq ft. Seems like quite a stretch unless their BTU rating differs from others.

 

[BrotherBart]

The Dutchwest stoves that take a beating are the non-cat Everburn stoves.

Funny statement. I've heard more unhappy stories about the everburn stoves than all other stove brands put together. The guy who sold me the stove says he gets more repair calls on those non-cats by VC than any other brand. There are three main parts that will go on these cast iron cats and they are all inexpensive. The seller stands behind his word and will get me any part I need at his cost!

The beating I was alluding to is from the owners saying they are crap. Not that the stove can take a beating.

 

[Hanko]

The Dutchwest stoves that take a beating are the non-cat Everburn stoves.

Funny statement. I've heard more unhappy stories about the everburn stoves than all other stove brands put together. The guy who sold me the stove says he gets more repair calls on those non-cats by VC than any other brand. There are three main parts that will go on these cast iron cats and they are all inexpensive. The seller stands behind his word and will get me any part I need at his cost!

The beating I was alluding to is from the owners saying they are crap. Not that the stove can take a beating.

It takes average intellegence to run the non cat VC's.

 

[VCBurner]

So, tell me about the BTU ratings of the Dutchwest. The specs state that the large has the 40k BTU capacity. That doesn’t seem ‘large’ to me. Are they measuring BTUs differently? The extra large is listed at 55k BTUs and the heating capacity is up to 2,400 sq ft. Seems like quite a stretch unless their BTU rating differs from others.

Well, the large Cat is really a medium sized stove. They just call it a large. As far as the numbers compared to how others arrive at their specs, I don't know. The Blaze King Princess is said to put out 40,000 BTU's with a much larger fire box than the Dutchwest Large. The King shows 47,000 BTU's. I think the numbers given are BTU/hour in this case. Not BTU's being put out at peak burn ox peak output. I'm not quite sure how these discrepancies can be explained. Maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[begreen]

The btu ratings are often the EPA measured ratings burning essentially, equal length carpentry scraps. This is understandable so that the results stay consistent from test to test, but it is not real world. The figures often don't represent the true output potential of the stove.

 

[VCBurner]

I went back to the stove guy to pick up a new blower he picked up for me. The Jotul was still there, but it was sold. He had finished the refurbish, it was ready to be picked up, with all new seams, gaskets, lower fireback and refractory housing. It was a cat stove, but I don't know if he replaced the cat. If the cats look good he doesn't replace them unless you want him to. This helps keep these used stoves affordable for the buyers. That Jotul will always be in my memory. At least untill I buy one for my self, in a different color though. He also had a large VC Winterwarm, that was just cemented and put back together, the fireback was still out of it so the refractory housing was exposed with the cat inside it. The front of the insert was also not on. It allowed me to rerally look inside of the thing and check everything out. I was not interested in buying it, just curious to look and see how they are designed. He told me the refractory is the same as the Encore's as well as the cat. He mentioned that those cats were straight ceramic and were garbage. However they do offer a new stainless cat that lasts longer and costs more. He also said the refractory housing is fragile, but is not exposed at all. It is cool to see these things taken appart!