Best non-cat stove?

[Jfior1983]

What would be a few good options for top of the line stoves with no cat? I hear Lopi has a good option.

 

[begreen]

As stated many times before, there is no best stove, only the best choice given one's needs, be they aesthetic, heating capacity, ease of use, ease of maintenance, etc. One man's treasure could be another's last choice.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

As stated many times before, there is no best stove, only the best choice given one's needs, be they aesthetic, heating capacity, ease of use, ease of maintenance, etc. One man's treasure could be another's last choice.

Bingo, OP please give us some info house size, heat needs, current chimney if you have one. And be prepared for folks to ask about your wood.

 

[Jfior1983]

House is 1550 sf with vault ceilings. Will be running stove as primary heat source through winter in Alaska. -10-25+ degrees most of the time. Furnace as backup. Would be burning either birch or spruce. Looking for a nice fire viewing glass door. Don't want to deal with the cat. So I'm looking for what options there are for efficient secondary burn or comparable stoves. Easy of operating would be nice, since I would be teaching my wife to use it as well. I like to try to get the best I can when I invest in something big, so I'm looking for whatever would be considered top of the line. Would also be doing some cooking on the top. Thanks for the advice in advance.

 

[Todd]

My opinion is PE, Jotul and Lopi for top of the line non cats. Lopi may be all hybrids now but I’m not sure. Look at the stoves with 2-3 cu ft firebox.

 

[panderson03]

House is 1550 sf with vault ceilings. Will be running stove as primary heat source through winter in Alaska. -10-25+ degrees most of the time. Furnace as backup. Would be burning either birch or spruce. Looking for a nice fire viewing glass door. Don't want to deal with the cat. So I'm looking for what options there are for efficient secondary burn or comparable stoves. Easy of operating would be nice, since I would be teaching my wife to use it as well. I like to try to get the best I can when I invest in something big, so I'm looking for whatever would be considered top of the line. Would also be doing some cooking on the top. Thanks for the advice in advance.

Our place is in northern Minnesota. It seems as though we have a similar climate. We have 1250 sq ft on the main level with a 3/4 loft. We chose Lopi Liberty Nexgen. It will be installed early September (just in time for shoulder season).

 

[Todd]

If you have high ceilings and an open floor plan I would opt for a more radiant stove. They are very hard to come by as non cats. Drolet make a nice stove and I think they have a couple radiant heaters.

 

[stoveliker]

1550 sq ft doesn't say much; if the heat can't spread you'd be only heating the room the stove is in.

 

[begreen]

House is 1550 sf with vault ceilings. Will be running stove as primary heat source through winter in Alaska. -10-25+ degrees most of the time. Furnace as backup. Would be burning either birch or spruce. Looking for a nice fire viewing glass door. Don't want to deal with the cat. So I'm looking for what options there are for efficient secondary burn or comparable stoves. Easy of operating would be nice, since I would be teaching my wife to use it as well. I like to try to get the best I can when I invest in something big, so I'm looking for whatever would be considered top of the line. Would also be doing some cooking on the top. Thanks for the advice in advance.

In AK I think BK is the most popular cat and PE stoves are the most popular non-cats. That said, Lopi makes some good non-cats too as well as Jotul. Osburn/Drolet are also decent stoves.

How open is the rest of floorplan to the stove room?

 

[Jfior1983]

The main living room and kitchen are open, 1 master bed upstairs behind loft, and 2 bedrooms downstairs. I'm thinking now between the Jotul f45 and f55. I like the idea of the f55, but i don't want to roast my family alive if my house isn't big enough for it. Anyone have good/bad experiences with those Jotul stoves? Is the whole "build a smaller fire in a bigger stove" thing accurate? It would be a shame to not use the stove to its full capacity just because the house is small. Thats why the f45 might be the way to go. But the stove is sort of the focal point of the entire house, so the larger f55 is appealing. The current stove is a super old Blaze King. Inefficient, but looks awesome.

 

[stovelark]

In your climate, go big. The Jotul Carrabassett is a big steel shell stove with cast cladding. Great choice. So would be large PE stoves.
Most important thing, good dry seasoned wood. The rest will be easy. Stay warm.

 

[Todd]

With all those big windows go with the F55. I have the F45 and feel it is a bit oversized, I have no problem burning a smaller load clean when I don’t need much heat.

 

[Highbeam]

Ugh, looks like that BK has an 8" stack and tall too. How are you going to deal with that?

 

[Jfior1983]

I guess I’m totally ignorant about this…I assume it can be retrofitted? What’s wrong with the height?

 

[stoveliker]

A new flue is expensive. Often more so than the stove.
There are only a few stoves that run on an 8" flue (ID).

 

[EbS-P]

I don’t know of any 8” non cat stoves. If the chimney is as old as the stove I’d definitely be looking it over very closely. Maybe at the ceiling box you could get an adapter and run 6” double wall inside to then keep the existing 8” class A. But then at that point why not change the whole system to 6”.

You if the stove and chimney pipe look ok I would just replace it with a new BK King (an 8” catalytic stove).

 

[stoveliker]

The beauty of that BK is that it can run high, but also can run quite low so you don't get roasted out of your room.

The disadvantage is that it's more of a convective heat shedder, and given your high ceilings that might be less ideal than sitting in the radiative heat of another type of stove l.

 

[Jfior1983]

yeah, i'm pretty sold on the non-cat stove. If the flue needs to be retrofitted or replaced, unfortunately thats the route I would take.

 

[Jfior1983]

from my contractor....."we would change the inside pipe to 6” double wall and increase to 8” at the silver metal best if it’s in good condition. The new pipe telescopes". Does that raise any red flags with anyone?

 

[Highbeam]

from my contractor....."we would change the inside pipe to 6” double wall and increase to 8” at the silver metal best if it’s in good condition. The new pipe telescopes". Does that raise any red flags with anyone?

At this point of the season this plan might be fine. Moving to the smaller 6” is not just a pain because of cost but because it’s smaller so the roof repair is much harder. Even the ceiling repair can be harder depending on the transition style.

Telescoping vertical interior black pipe is what I have and recommend for hooking to the stove. I recommend double wall interior pipe.

Really tall pipes, especially oversized ones can draft hard. Harder than your stove was designed for. You may find that you need a key damper.

 

[Jfior1983]

At this point of the season this plan might be fine. Moving to the smaller 6” is not just a pain because of cost but because it’s smaller so the roof repair is much harder. Even the ceiling repair can be harder depending on the transition style.

Telescoping vertical interior black pipe is what I have and recommend for hooking to the stove. I recommend double wall interior pipe.

Really tall pipes, especially oversized ones can draft hard. Harder than your stove was designed for. You may find that you need a key damper.

Thanks, very helpful.

 

[begreen]

If the chimney pipe is still good I would convert the interior stove pipe to 6" and add a key damper to it to regulate draft strength.

With the open floorplan a Lopi Liberty or Pacific Energy Summit would work well.

 

[Jfior1983]

Thanks…do you find those 2 brands to be better than jotul for non-cat stoves?

 

[begreen]

Not really, the F55 would also work. I wasn't sure if there was a Jotul dealer in the area.

 

[xshmoox]

If you haven’t made a choice I vote for the PE enamel alderlea t6. PE stoves really easy to get going and also get the hang of for your wife to use plus to cook on. And maintenance is a breeze compared to most stoves.