Has anyone out there purchased a rainier and then wished that they ahd purchased the larger Olympic? I am in the process of upgrading as we speak. Just curious as to the benefits acheived through the larger stove.
Avalon rainier vs Olympic
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They are basicly the same stove in design.
The Olympic is larger 24" firebox
Rainer 20"
The Rainier is More efficent and cleaner burning by just a few point but not much.
If you are going to heat Less than 1600 sq feet with normal Hights then the rainer will be fine.
If you are heating a larger area the Olypic is an Awsom stove. I have people heating over 3K sq feet with them
but the Rainier is my Bigest Avalon seller.
If you heating area is Less then 1200 sq feet or a small room that the stove will go in I would not go with an Olypic. you will cook your self out of being burning on low burn to much.
The olypic has a Bypass damper for START up. this makes it easier to start the stove from a cold start to heat up the pipe for draft.
the Rainer does not but Not needed.
The Olympic is larger 24" firebox
Rainer 20"
The Rainier is More efficent and cleaner burning by just a few point but not much.
If you are going to heat Less than 1600 sq feet with normal Hights then the rainer will be fine.
If you are heating a larger area the Olypic is an Awsom stove. I have people heating over 3K sq feet with them
but the Rainier is my Bigest Avalon seller.
If you heating area is Less then 1200 sq feet or a small room that the stove will go in I would not go with an Olypic. you will cook your self out of being burning on low burn to much.
The olypic has a Bypass damper for START up. this makes it easier to start the stove from a cold start to heat up the pipe for draft.
the Rainer does not but Not needed.
WELL, YOU SEEM TO KNOW THESE STOVES..(sorry for those caps). I have had the Rainier in my house (1450sqft, open concept) since september. i really like it overall, and it heats the house fine. the house is entirely knotty pine and hardwood floors. still working on the drafts and not overall well insulated. i have never been too hot with the stove burning full bore.. i usually get it cranking and shut it down around 9pm...it will be around 80 in my house. by 3am i have to go back down and reload it and the temp will be between 62 and 68 depending on the night..i am hopeing that with the installation of the new olympic i can get away without haveing to get up at 3am..i usually get up around 5:30-6am anyways. what do you think overall? I know that the rainier says 9hr burn and Olympic 12 hour.. i get like 6 hour of decent burn with the Rainier..I am hoping to get a 9hr with the Olympic
The burn times are rated by the amount of wood a stove can hold.
The type of wood and how far you can dampen down with that type of wood will Define how long.
The only prob I see is if you burn the olympic for two long in the Low air mode you will build up creosoot.
But if you house is over 1600 sq feet and drafty you will be happy. just might have to open a window to let all that extra heat.
SMALL HOT FIRES
NOT
LARGE SMOLDERING FIRES.
The type of wood and how far you can dampen down with that type of wood will Define how long.
The only prob I see is if you burn the olympic for two long in the Low air mode you will build up creosoot.
But if you house is over 1600 sq feet and drafty you will be happy. just might have to open a window to let all that extra heat.
SMALL HOT FIRES
NOT
LARGE SMOLDERING FIRES.
yeah, I dont think that will happen though. more heat the marrier! its our main heat source ever since last year without the stove I had a $3300 oil bill...the way i figure it, I will have 90% of the cost of the stove paid for by my oil savings..
yeah, I dont think that will happen though. more heat the marrier! its our main heat source ever since last year without the stove I had a $3300 oil bill...the way i figure it, I will have 90% of the cost of the stove paid for by my oil savings..
yeah, I dont think that will happen though. more heat the marrier! its our main heat source ever since last year without the stove I had a $3300 oil bill...the way i figure it, I will have 90% of the cost of the stove paid for by my oil savings..
Uh oh... a new forum version glitch or was Awoodburner making his point very strongly?
Burntime has a lot to do with the type of wood and the size of the splits. I struggle with this burn time and how much wood is loaded thing. In a properly operating stove, once up to temp, the stove is going to attempt to burn all the wood at once. Bigger stove = more heat output since there is more fuel, but the burn time is defined by how fast the stove burns all the load, and in my experience with my stove, that time is highly dependent on the size of the splits. Bigger splits = longer burns less or more even heat, Lots of little splits = faster burn and more heat.
For very cold temps, lots of little splits with a reload around 4am works well, for temps 20 and above, larger splits work well.
But I will say, if I have the option even on very cold days, the best one is two very large chunks of the elm or locust that I have, work best.
My point here is that the burn time of the olympic vs ranier may be more impacted by split size than stove size. Heat output will be higher on the larger stove simply because of the larger fuel load being burned over the same time.
If a stove is 50% larger I don't think you get 50% longer burn times, but you do get 50% more heat output. (or something close to that)
Now with that said, if you put out more heat and get the room temp up higher with the larger stove, then the room temp takes longer to drop off thus the house is comfortable for longer.
You might consider a stove that stores heat better like soapstone.
Burntime has a lot to do with the type of wood and the size of the splits. I struggle with this burn time and how much wood is loaded thing. In a properly operating stove, once up to temp, the stove is going to attempt to burn all the wood at once. Bigger stove = more heat output since there is more fuel, but the burn time is defined by how fast the stove burns all the load, and in my experience with my stove, that time is highly dependent on the size of the splits. Bigger splits = longer burns less or more even heat, Lots of little splits = faster burn and more heat.
For very cold temps, lots of little splits with a reload around 4am works well, for temps 20 and above, larger splits work well.
But I will say, if I have the option even on very cold days, the best one is two very large chunks of the elm or locust that I have, work best.
My point here is that the burn time of the olympic vs ranier may be more impacted by split size than stove size. Heat output will be higher on the larger stove simply because of the larger fuel load being burned over the same time.
If a stove is 50% larger I don't think you get 50% longer burn times, but you do get 50% more heat output. (or something close to that)
Now with that said, if you put out more heat and get the room temp up higher with the larger stove, then the room temp takes longer to drop off thus the house is comfortable for longer.
You might consider a stove that stores heat better like soapstone.
I see our point..however, it is pretty difficult to use larger splits in the smaller firebox.. The rainier firebox is 1.8cuft..the Olympics is 3.1 cuft, thats quite a difference, almost twice the size
Adirondackwoodburner said:
Yes, that's a good point too. I have a 1.8 cuft box also, and my best can do is two very large splits and that's it. Looking at one of the country stoves a few months ago (when picking up a sweep brush) It's obvious that the size of the firebox on one of those stoves would be key in loading more, larger splits.
Yep , Get the bigger stove..........No problem.
My stove is 3.0 cf firebox and is rated to heat up to 3000 sf and my house is 1800sf and we heat 100% with wood . Just because you have a bigger stove does not mean you have to put out monster heat. You can run about the same size fires in the bigger wood stove and have a clean burn , when you want more heat and longer burn time the bigger stove is the only one to do so.
Its basic , the heat you get off of a stove is per the amount of wood and how hot you run the stove , There is so many people that think because one has a big firebox it get loaded all the way up and dampered down and smokes ........... If you run the stove correct it can do everything the smaller stove will do per heat out put ++++ more / more heat when needed / longer burn times / less cleaning / hold more wood coal and still let you load what wood you need with out squeezing in the small fire box.
We clean our class A SS chimney one per year and get less than 1 cup of black dry ash and soot.
My stove is 3.0 cf firebox and is rated to heat up to 3000 sf and my house is 1800sf and we heat 100% with wood . Just because you have a bigger stove does not mean you have to put out monster heat. You can run about the same size fires in the bigger wood stove and have a clean burn , when you want more heat and longer burn time the bigger stove is the only one to do so.
Its basic , the heat you get off of a stove is per the amount of wood and how hot you run the stove , There is so many people that think because one has a big firebox it get loaded all the way up and dampered down and smokes ........... If you run the stove correct it can do everything the smaller stove will do per heat out put ++++ more / more heat when needed / longer burn times / less cleaning / hold more wood coal and still let you load what wood you need with out squeezing in the small fire box.
We clean our class A SS chimney one per year and get less than 1 cup of black dry ash and soot.
ALSO: As an option sense your looking to get a bigger/different stove ............
You might want to look at stoves with an secondary "auto air control" that helps controls the burn rate on long burn times .
My Pacific Energy Summit stove has the EBT ("Patented Extended Burn Technology". )for example and it opens and closes a secondary air control to adjust the proper burn rate .
Here is information on how the Pacific Energys Summit EBT control works.........
(broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/hoebt.htm)
You might want to look at stoves with an secondary "auto air control" that helps controls the burn rate on long burn times .
My Pacific Energy Summit stove has the EBT ("Patented Extended Burn Technology". )for example and it opens and closes a secondary air control to adjust the proper burn rate .
Here is information on how the Pacific Energys Summit EBT control works.........
(broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/hoebt.htm)
Roospike said:
The Summit rocks
! I can have a big or little load and as long as the temp is proper, there is no smoldering creosote problem.I can get 400-600 on two splits or full load. Have already done 10-12 hrs on a full box. But gotta figure the time to get her up to temp, and the last couple hours is a drop in temp. But still putting out heat.
here is another question since I have some experienced people posting here, in the morning I get up and load the stove around 5:30 and get it ripping...Then, before I head out the door at 7:15, I reload again and wait like 5 minutes for it to flame up as much as possible, then damper it down..At this point, its definately not burning as hot as the 5:30 load..At times I worry that its not burning hot enough to damper it down and think about creosote buildup..usually when I get back around 6pm there remains to be black chunks and some red coals..What do you htink about the creosote buildup when I do this?
My guess is your probably fine. If you rake the coals forward and open the air, things should pick up and burn with the next load. How big are the black coals? Typically I have some of them left in the morning also, but as soon as they're exposed to some air, they take off and become part of the fire again. If left till the point of a cold stove, most times they do burn nearly completely. Most times the peices left aren't much bigger than maybe 2 or 3 pencil erasers.
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