Something I wish someone would have told me as a woodstove noob

I got a Vermont Castings Intrepid. It's cute, It fits into my fireplace opening and I can still top load it.

here's something I didn't know as a complete woodstove noob- That because of the size of my stove that overnight the stove is going to be extinguished and I'll have to start up from scratch. A little bigger stove I'm thinking I'd still have a bed of coals the next morning to work with.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong and if so, someone please let me know, but if I had to do it over again, I'd get a slightly larger wood stove that I could load up and fit larger pieces of wood in.

Maybe this helps someone that is in the market for a new wood stove to make their decision.

Notes from a newbie. I’m learning.
In the morning the stove may not be going but after stirring the ashes and opening the damper there’s coals still going. With a little paper, a starter cube and a couple of pieces of kindling she’s back going in no time.

It’s not as tedious as I thought.

Learning all the time.

Curious, based off the video, do you think I could put a larger stove in that space and would it be difficult to hook up to the back of the stainless vent tube that i had installed last year?

begreen said:

Yes, it does look like there is the potential to install a larger stove. How well did the Intrepid do at heating the area? Do you need more heat or longer burntime or both? Are you considering a new stove or used one? What are the opening dimensions for the fireplace and what is the budget?

The hearth looks too shallow for a bigger fireplace. Maybe even too shallow for the Intrepid. Is there a hearth pad or extension at floor level?

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Really just looking for more burntime. It's a secondary area downstairs so having to refuel it so often is a bit of a pain also knowing that overnight it's pretty much going to need to be completely restarted. it will warm up the room after a while just fine. Considering a used one. The budget would be around $500 The hearth is fine for the intrepid. If I got a larger stove it would probably have to be front loaded instead of top loaded though.