Which stove for wood-only heat in cold climate?

[axiom10]

Hi,

After reading many posts about various stoves I believe I am more confused than I was when I started my search. If anyone can offer advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

My goal is to buy a stove that will heat the home I am currently renovating come winter. The home is a 20x25' (roughly 1000 sqft) 2 story century farm house that has been gutted down and insulated up to code. I have been extremely anal about the airtightness of the home and have gone through wayyy too many tubes of caulking. The stove will be situated on the bottom floor in the center of the house. I have added venting above the hearth so that the heat may travel to the second floor.

The wood stove will be our only source of heat and we do see temperatures down to -20 C to -30 C (-4 F to -22 F) occasionally during the winter. Our biggest need is long burn times.

We will burn fir & larch about 80% of the time and birch and beech around 20% of the time.

So, my first approach was to just pick up a cheap EPA stove such as the Century Hearth 2000 sqft stove that Home Depot sells up here in Canada. However, after reading this forum, I am considering other options.

I am the most excited about the Blaze King Princess stoves and would have already bought one if they weren't so !@(*$#(@! expensive. However, because our stove will be our only source of heat, we need a good stove, so maybe the price can be justified? As most of you know, the Princess is a cat stove, but from what I have read, cat stoves tend to give slower burns, which is what we'd want. I like the Princess because it's a big firebox and it seems like it would be fairly set-and-forget if we were using it to heat our 1000 sqft house--just turn it down and let 'er go.

What other stoves should I consider? The PE Super 27 looks good too but I'm wondering if it will burn as long being a non-cat? The buckstove brand looks good too but it seems like they're hard to find up here in Canada?

Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Highbeam]

You've got two forces pulling your decision in different directions. You want a long burn time which is typically done with a large stove which can make a lot of heat if you can't keep it cool. You also have a small home that is well sealed which means that you want a stove that is smaller so that you don't overheat it. It is very difficult to turn a modern EPA non-cat stove down to produce low heat. They are either hot or really hot.

For long burn times with low btu production from softwood you'd be very wise to strongly consider the cat stoves. I also like that largest cat stove from blaze king and think it would be great in your situation. Also a very strong competitor with the bonus of thermal mass and soapstone is the woodstock soapstone stove with a cat. They aren't as large in the firebox so the burn times are less but they are cheaper and are much prettier to most people.

Woodstock has a good site too with lots of information.

 

[webbie]

If you have the $$ for a Blaze King cat, then I agree......with HB.....a cat stove with softwood = long burn times. Given the tightness of the home, I think a cat stove from 2.2 to 3 cubic ft firebox would more than do the job.

 

[savageactor7]

If you were burning hardwood I'd recommend a Quadra fire 4300 or bigger or even one of the Englander models...but I don't know how well your wood would burn slow. Maybe a CAT stove would better serve your needs. There are other members here is the same situation you're in so just hang in there and you'll soon here from them.

In the mean time start cutting and splitting about 25 face cords or more of wood about 18" if you're determined to burn wood 24/7.

 

[jpl1nh]

With a really well insulated home heating 1000 sq ft, I would think the Woodstock Fireview would be a great stove for you. Don't let the smaller firebox fool you, it will give you good steady heat for 8-10 hours with the beech and birch and some heat for 4-6 hours after. The fir won't give you good heat for as long but you'll do fine. It's not -20 to -30 all the time so save your beech and birch for those occasions or when your away a really long time and you'll have to have along burn. I've got lots of oak and black locust but I only burn them in the really cold weather or if I'm away 14 plus hours. Still plenty of coals when we come back. Blaze King is a fine choice too and as a cat stove owner, you can get really long low burns very cleanly with a cat stove, by that I mean low heat for a long time. No stove will give you high heat for 10-12 hours cept maybe the Equinox and it would drive you outside with it's heat output. At some point you'll just have to choose and the good news is you've got a number of good choices. When your trying to make up your mind, sometimes a number of good choices is the bad news too. :-S

 

[begreen]

A Woodstock Fireview was the first thing that came to my mind after reading the requirements. I think the combo of soapstone and cat would work well for this home.

 

[Todd]

I agree, the Fireview will work great for you. Long slow 10-12 hr burns and gentle soapstone heat are a great combination. Yes, the price is a little steep, but if your burning wood as a primary source of heat it will pay for itself in a couple years.

 

[Jags]

I will ring the cat and soapstone bell. Even heating with minimal temp spikes with the soap stone, and long, low burns with the cat. Sounds like a great match for your needs.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'll also vote for the Fireview. We've heated one full season now and are really satisfied. One huge advantage also is that we burned a lot less wood, which means a lot less work. So we burned less and kept warmer.

On our stove, we do not find that they are hot and hotter as someone stated. On days that are warmer, we simply put less wood in instead of filling the firebox. This does not mean we have to fill the firebox more often either. It simply means we burn what we put in the stove and then let it cool before filling the firebox again. Hope that made sense. Days are also the time we burn the softer woods.

The Woodstock stoves are expensive, but well worth the price. Also, you can not beat the guarantee and these folks are super easy to deal with. They will do all they can to help you.