? about firebox size vs efficiency - Drolet Stoves baffle design

[gchunter]

All my questions have been answered by searching through the forums here (thanks to everyone) except these 2.

I am in the process of purchasing a wood stove for supplemental heating for my 1350 sg ft, 70's, ranch home in southern Wisconsin. I have narrowed my choices down to either a Drolet Escape or a Drolet Celtic ( wife likes this one). One of my questions is the 1.5 cu ft firebox of the Celtic vs the 2.4 cu ft firebox on the Escape. Would I use more wood using the larger firebox building small fires and would I need more wood in the stove to heat it up? In other words would it be more efficient using a smaller stove vs larger stove when it comes to wood usage? I don't always want to use the blower ( looking for more radiant heat from the stove).

My 2nd question has to do with baffle design on these 2 stoves. The Celtic is welded in and not replaceable vs the Escape which has replaceable tubes. Should I be concerned about the welded in design?

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

 

[Grisu]

What exactly do you mean with supplemental heat? We usually advice against smaller stoves as they have burn times of only 5 to 6 hours max which does not allow to let the stove going overnight. Most people (me included) who buy a stove for occasional/supplemental use get to like it so much that they will burn it as much as possible. You may quickly discover that a small stove will be insufficient then.
Regarding efficiency: A given amount of wood has a certain number of BTUs which will be released when you burn it. You talk about being more efficient when you have less heat going up the flue and less unburnt coals. The rest will end up in your house. You lose less heat up the flue when you can keep the stove at temperature and you can close the air sooner after reloads. The smaller stove will heat up more quickly but also cool down more quickly. It will therefore depend on your burning habits and how much time you spend between reloads. The smaller stove should be slightly more efficient if you do a cold start every time. In any case, I am pretty sure the difference will be in the range of 10% or less of your total wood usage and would not be major factor for me. Having a stove that I can get overnight burns with and that can heat my whole house if need be (e. g. during a power outage) would be much more important to me. Btw. If you want more radiant heat the bigger the stove the more radiant heat you will get.

I don't know the Drolet stoves but having the baffle welded in sounds like a major disadvantage to me. Things can break and having to toss the stove due to a broken baffle would worry me. Have you looked at how you can clean the chimney in the Celtic? I do a bottom-up cleaning 2 to 3 times in the winter but need to remove the baffle in my stove for that. You should ask the dealer about that.

 

[begreen]

They are really different designs. Personally I would not buy a stove with a welded in baffle or tubes. The Escape is not too big for your climate. They make a leg version if your wife likes that look better. Next size up would be the Legend. Another stove to look at in the 2.5 cu ft size would be the Enviro Kodiak 1700 or Boston. The Boston is a real eye pleaser.

 

[tekguy]

All my questions have been answered by searching through the forums here (thanks to everyone) except these 2.

I am in the process of purchasing a wood stove for supplemental heating for my 1350 sg ft, 70's, ranch home in southern Wisconsin. I have narrowed my choices down to either a Drolet Escape or a Drolet Celtic ( wife likes this one). One of my questions is the 1.5 cu ft firebox of the Celtic vs the 2.4 cu ft firebox on the Escape. Would I use more wood using the larger firebox building small fires and would I need more wood in the stove to heat it up? In other words would it be more efficient using a smaller stove vs larger stove when it comes to wood usage? I don't always want to use the blower ( looking for more radiant heat from the stove).

My 2nd question has to do with baffle design on these 2 stoves. The Celtic is welded in and not replaceable vs the Escape which has replaceable tubes. Should I be concerned about the welded in design?

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

if the Celtic is similar baffle design as the bigger myriad, its a heavy duty piece - your not going to damage it like you would tubes or baffle board

jamming a log into it when loading wont do anything as its a heavy duty piece

 

[gchunter]

if the Celtic is similar baffle design as the bigger myriad, its a heavy duty piece - your not going to damage it like you would tubes or baffle board

jamming a log into it when loading wont do anything as its a heavy duty piece

Ok, but as Grisu said above, what about cleaning? How do you clean your Myriad?

I am only interested in burning when I am home during the evenings and weekends. I removed a pellet stove that I have used for about 6 years. Just do not like the constant drone of the 2 blowers... Drives me nuts!

 

[begreen]

gchunter, ping FyreBug with a conversation. It's been a while since I looked at these stoves but if I recall correctly these are two very different baffle designs. If I recall correctly, the Myriad (or Legend) has panels that slip out. But for cleaning on the big stoves, I would think that all you need to do is open the bypass so that the soot goes right down into the firebox. The Celtic/Adirondack has a fixed baffle and no bypass. You would clean by lifting the pipe off of the top of the stove and bagging it. Check with FyreBug to confirm I have this correct.

 

[Grisu]

I think Fyrebug is on vacation right now; try contacting Drolet directly: (broken link removed to http://www.drolet.ca/en/service-support/contact-us)
P.S. I just skimmed over the manual but could not find anything regarding chimney cleaning. Weird.

 

[Grisu]

Ok, but as Grisu said above, what about cleaning? How do you clean your Myriad?

I am only interested in burning when I am home during the evenings and weekends. I removed a pellet stove that I have used for about 6 years. Just do not like the constant drone of the 2 blowers... Drives me nuts!

That is a similar burning habit as we have since we are out of the house for the whole day during the week. I strongly recommend a larger stove. The small one you will need to load about every 3 hours and when you wake up in the morning you will have to do a cold start instead of starting from coals. In addition, the Celtic will probably be undersized for your house unless it is really well insulated. Thus, you will likely need to supplement with your furnace even when you have the stove running. What other stoves did you check out? Any particular reason that you want to go with a Drolet?

 

[begreen]

Besides the baffle design, I prefer a stove with a squarish firebox. The big Drolets have this deeper firebox. Some other good stoves with this config in the 2-2.5 cu ft range are the Lopi Endeavor, Regency F2400, Enviro Kodiak 1700, Napoleon 1400 and the Pacific Energy Super 27. All of these stoves will do an overnight burn and are right sized for your home.

 

[gchunter]

That is a similar burning habit as we have since we are out of the house for the whole day during the week. I strongly recommend a larger stove. The small one you will needed to load about every 3 hours and when you wake up in the morning you will have to do a cold start instead of starting from coals. In addition, the Celtic will probably be undersized for your house unless it is really well insulated. Thus, you will likely need to supplement with your furnace even when you have the stove running. What other stoves did you check out? Any particular reason that you want to go with a Drolet?

It seems I will be burning the same as you except at night. We like it colder at night for sleeping.

I have been looking at Drolets because they seem like a good value for the money. Also some of the other stoves mentioned need more than just ember protection for the hearth. I have already have a hearth that I made for my pellet stove that will work for my new wood stove.

 

[Grisu]

I know the PE Super does only need ember protection and is a great stove with some of the longest burn times for a non-cat medium size stove. I have the insert version and can really recommend it. It is a bit more expensive than the Drolet but I am sure you will not regret it. If you like your bedrooms cooler just close the door some time before going to bed. That should do it and next morning you are not waking up to a cold house.

 

[begreen]

All of the stoves I listed are ember protection only hearths.