What can I expect to pay for a used wood stove?

[daisyblend]

Just began shopping for a used stove and know only enough to get me in trouble. Found a 1980s Appalachian model in the paper for $500. Needs firebrick and has a little surface rust but otherwise seems sound. It's a bigger one and has a blower. The fella couldn't offer any more details as it belonged to one of his renters and he personally never used it. I'm thinking this is too much to pay for such an old stove.... What say you?

 

[fossil]

Pretty hard to say without seeing at least a photo of the old stove, and hearing a whole bunch about where you're wanting to install it and how you're wanting to use it. There are brand new efficient EPA rated woodstoves on the market these days for not a heck of a lot more than that. Depends on the size you need for the results you're expecting from it. Just on first blush, knowing nothing other than what little you've revealed here, I'm with you...I'd pass on it. Rick

 

[begreen]

Rick is right. No blushing at all, pass! You will find a steady stream of old smoke dragons in various states of degradation on the web and craigslist. It takes a careful eye and frequent checking to catch a good deal, especially at this time of year. But when a good one is available, don't snooze, or you'll lose. Look for stoves will very good maintenance and efficient design.

 

[yukiginger]

Search here for Englander stoves. You can buy a new one at Lowes or from sponsors of this forum for under $1000. It's EPA rated (efficient), will burn much less wood (fuel costs $$), comes with a warranty, should last you at least 15 or 20 years of safe, normal operation, and has reps right here on this forum to answer your questions. The cost difference will be covered in your savings in the first year or two of operation.


MarkG

 

[daisyblend]

Thanks for the responses. Here's a picture of the stove. We weren't really prepared so only had our cell phone camera and no tape measure! I figured I could find out more about this stove on the web but no luck so far. How does the Appalachian brand rate, anyway? We're looking for a stove that will be the primary heat source in our 1400 sq ft home. We have an open fireplace with a raised hearth and are hoping to knock out some of the hearth to install a freestanding stove on the floor, using exisiting chimney (interior wall).

 

[mlasko]

I just bought an Englander for 500 bucks...it was used for three weeks (looks literally brand new) but the guy didn't like it to heat his enourmous gargage...he bought a wood furnace instead....unless it was literally like brand new, you can buy a Englander for a really fair price...your pic looks like that furnace has definitely burned some wood....

 

[InTheRockies]

Before you invest money in an non-EPA compliant stove, you might want to check with your county to make sure you can install it legally. Bans on new installations of such stoves are growing and the last thing you'd want is to buy something that you can't use. (Heck, bans on the use of installed, non-EPA compliant stoves is growing. Fortunately, there generally are buy-back programs run in areas before total bans on use are imposed that provide a certain amount of money to homeowners with older stoves in exchange for the old stoves, which are then scrapped.)

 

[RedRanger]

Well, after listing my 1985 non-epa PE insert in the local papers looks like I have found a buyer. For $400 the guy thinks it is a steal, new door gasket, new window gasket, and in nice shape. He drove 50 miles today to look at it and wrote down the ULC numbers and is going to check with the building inspector and make sure it can be installed. He even offered me a $100 deposit, which I refused.

I know what you guys are thinking--"why not take the deposit?" Because if he can`t install it he will have to drive another 50 miles one way to get his deposit back. And I am not a rip-off artist, if he can`t make it work, it isn`t gonna be his fault. And we all know how expensive gas is today. Anyway, I told him that it will appear in the major buy and sell mag on Tuesday, and he said he would call me on Monday. Good enough for me.

 

[cmonSTART]

I paid $500 for a slightly used Englander 30 with the blower. Keep looking IMO.

 

[RedRanger]

I paid $500 for a slightly used Englander 30 with the blower. Keep looking IMO.

With all due respect, an Englander stove doesn`t even begin to compare with a Pacific Energy quality built insert. And inserts are always more expensive than stoves. Also, todays price for the same model (epa) is around $2200..

 

[karl]

I have a PE Summit and I love it, but if I could have found an Englander for $500 bucks, that's what would be sitting in there now.

 

[begreen]

With all due respect to Englander, I would still have the PE.

 

[cmonSTART]

I paid $500 for a slightly used Englander 30 with the blower. Keep looking IMO.

With all due respect, an Englander stove doesn`t even begin to compare with a Pacific Energy quality built insert. And inserts are always more expensive than stoves. Also, todays price for the same model (epa) is around $2200..

I was talking to Daisy ;-)

 

[daisyblend]

This Appalachian "smoke dragon" may be the only choice. We've been watching the local papers and the only thing under wood stoves is "wanted to buy." Everything on ebay and other online classifieds is pretty much in north eastern US and we're in southeastern Missouri. So if you figure in gas to pick something up... But we'll keep watching. If it's still the only thing around when the paycheck somes this week, we'll probably get it. Still no one's commented on the quality of the Appalachian brand. Any reviews?

 

[Chettt]

If you can be patient you'll find an old stove for $100. If you can wait till spring Lowes will have their stoves at half price to clear them out. I own one of those Century stoves and love mine.

 

[Valhalla]

This may be the worst time to be stove shopping, because of the high demand, unless you find a real deal.

Choose wisely and good luck.

 

[branchburner]

Did you price out new stoves in your area? Not the time of year to find a deal, but you never know.
You might also check with local dealers/sweeps/installers to see if any of them have a line on a decent used stove that someone wants to unload but is not yet being advertised. There are alot of stoves out there that aren't being actively sold but are potentially on the market (I know - I have two sitting in my barn!)

 

[Jags]

Daisy - the actual build quality of that stove MAY be just fine. Some of those old stove were very durable. But.....that being said, that stove is in the family of old pre-epa smoke dragons. They just LOVE to chew up perfectly good fire wood and spit it out the smoke stack. They also love to deposit black goo on the inside of a perfectly good stainless steel liner (this can be minimized with burning habits). One of their other habits is getting on the bad side of code inspectors, these inspectors will often deny them a home when trying to be a "new install".

I'm also not sure, but is that an 8" exhaust? If so, you may want to price the pipe that would be required for this stove.

Getting to the point, you may find that for not a whole lotta more bucks, you could place an epa certified wood stove in your home. This has the advantage of consuming about 33% less wood (more in some cases), it will minimize the belching smoke (and fuel) coming from your stack, it is a safer appliance in every way, and most inspectors will smile at it (and maybe even give it a little pat) assuming that the install is up to code.

It doesn't have to be new, but I would HIGHLY recommend an EPA cert. stove.

 

[WES999]

I would say keep looking for a EPA rated stove. I found a gread deal last fall on a used stove.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/16553/
There are some deals out there,
Just have to be at the right place at the right time.