Hello,
1150 square foot ranch. Built in 2000 with very good insulation, and crappy windows (seems to be pretty drafty). Living in Chugiak Alaska, and although it's cold, it's not the coldest place on earth. It's a bit rare to see anything colder than 15 below for anything longer than a week. 0 is probably a decent low average for our area, and maybe 25 below for the worst case scenario. Primary fuel source will mostly be our Alaskan birch, with some black spruce.
Looking for a stove that could be used for primary heat source, but also be used to comfortably add some heat to the house without roasting us out. Although I want the best bang for my buck, I am certainly willing to buy once and cry once to get the right stove..........
I've been researching, and trying to squeeze out every bit of information out of as many sales shops as I can, and asking anyone with a wood stove. Finding out that many of the sales people seem to have no decent information to give, and either know little to nothing about real world experience, or offer the "my stove is best" discussion, which I suppose to is to be expected. A few brands that I've been researching for the last several years and am seriously interested in:
-Blaze King (seems to have a great reputation by majority)
-Hearthstone with soapstone (definitely gorgeous stoves that knock my socks off)
-Vermont Castings (second best on looks in my opinion, and I grew as a kid up heating a horribly insulated
2000 sq/ft home with a really old one, and it is still working today, 30 years later)
-Quadrafire (looks to be the best bang for the buck, with a decent reputation. Simple, and affordable?)
So, blaze king obviously has a great reputation, at least in AK. Theres never a shortage of homeowners who claim they heated their house in AK all winter long, with "little to no wood". Kind of a cult type following I guess you could say, always claiming they use at least 1/2 the wood of the neighbors stove. I am concerned though, because from what I've read about the princess, it seems highly likely that I could easily overheat my little house, and might be hard to run when I don't necessarily need a ton of heat. Also, at least in AK, these are ridiculously expensive (because of the name?), at least $1400+ more than a Quadrafire.
Hearthstone stoves (as stated) knock my socks off. I simply cannot seem to find a whole lot of real world scenario information on the efficiency. If they heat even close to as decent as our local dealer says they do, I am very interested, as long as I can find a good compromise that will heat well, and efficiently, under all conditions. If it's the right stove, I'm willing to pay the price initially...
Vermont casing stoves, if they are still the same animal they were 30+ years ago, have a pretty good reputation in my book. These are also a bit pricy around here, but as I stated, I'm willing to spend the dough for the right stove.
Quadrafire has a pretty decent reputation up here, and are deffinately the smartest girl at the dance type scenario, verses the "best looking girl". The dealer up here has offered little to no help in making me feel better about purchasing one. The little to no local owner information, suggests that they work good, but not as good as a BK. If it's the right stove for me, I have no issue using making this stove work in my house.
About the only factors that I can think of, is that I have little kids, a wife that will be operating the stove, and I'd like to fit as long of rounds as possible in my stove.
Any info would be much appreciated.
-Rob
1150 square foot ranch. Built in 2000 with very good insulation, and crappy windows (seems to be pretty drafty). Living in Chugiak Alaska, and although it's cold, it's not the coldest place on earth. It's a bit rare to see anything colder than 15 below for anything longer than a week. 0 is probably a decent low average for our area, and maybe 25 below for the worst case scenario. Primary fuel source will mostly be our Alaskan birch, with some black spruce.
Looking for a stove that could be used for primary heat source, but also be used to comfortably add some heat to the house without roasting us out. Although I want the best bang for my buck, I am certainly willing to buy once and cry once to get the right stove..........
I've been researching, and trying to squeeze out every bit of information out of as many sales shops as I can, and asking anyone with a wood stove. Finding out that many of the sales people seem to have no decent information to give, and either know little to nothing about real world experience, or offer the "my stove is best" discussion, which I suppose to is to be expected. A few brands that I've been researching for the last several years and am seriously interested in:
-Blaze King (seems to have a great reputation by majority)
-Hearthstone with soapstone (definitely gorgeous stoves that knock my socks off)
-Vermont Castings (second best on looks in my opinion, and I grew as a kid up heating a horribly insulated
2000 sq/ft home with a really old one, and it is still working today, 30 years later)
-Quadrafire (looks to be the best bang for the buck, with a decent reputation. Simple, and affordable?)
So, blaze king obviously has a great reputation, at least in AK. Theres never a shortage of homeowners who claim they heated their house in AK all winter long, with "little to no wood". Kind of a cult type following I guess you could say, always claiming they use at least 1/2 the wood of the neighbors stove. I am concerned though, because from what I've read about the princess, it seems highly likely that I could easily overheat my little house, and might be hard to run when I don't necessarily need a ton of heat. Also, at least in AK, these are ridiculously expensive (because of the name?), at least $1400+ more than a Quadrafire.
Hearthstone stoves (as stated) knock my socks off. I simply cannot seem to find a whole lot of real world scenario information on the efficiency. If they heat even close to as decent as our local dealer says they do, I am very interested, as long as I can find a good compromise that will heat well, and efficiently, under all conditions. If it's the right stove, I'm willing to pay the price initially...
Vermont casing stoves, if they are still the same animal they were 30+ years ago, have a pretty good reputation in my book. These are also a bit pricy around here, but as I stated, I'm willing to spend the dough for the right stove.
Quadrafire has a pretty decent reputation up here, and are deffinately the smartest girl at the dance type scenario, verses the "best looking girl". The dealer up here has offered little to no help in making me feel better about purchasing one. The little to no local owner information, suggests that they work good, but not as good as a BK. If it's the right stove for me, I have no issue using making this stove work in my house.
About the only factors that I can think of, is that I have little kids, a wife that will be operating the stove, and I'd like to fit as long of rounds as possible in my stove.
Any info would be much appreciated.
-Rob
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