British BTU Ratings vs. Others

[Rob From Wisconsin]

I'm looking to upgrade my stove to one that puts out more heat.
I have space restrictions, so I've got to be carefull on my selection.

My current British-made stove has a max. rating of 23,000 BTU.
I've found candidates, some of which are virtually identicle in size,
yet they are rated for almost twice the BTU output (40,000 BTU).
I find that hard to believe....

Do the British have a more conservative way of rating their stove BTU's???

 

[blujacket]

BTU=British Thermal Unit

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

BTU=British Thermal Unit

....no kidding..... %-P

 

[blujacket]

Doesn't matter where a stove is made, a btu is a btu. duh

 

[Pagey]

What blujacket is saying is that a BTU (as used to describe something's ability to heat) is a BTU, regardless of where in the world you're located. So a British made stove rated for 20,000 BTUs is the same as an American made stove rated for 20,000 BTUs. It is possible, I would think, for similar sized stoves to vary in their BTUs to some degree. Say if one of the stoves took advantage of secondary combustion to extract more heat from the same load of wood/same sized fire box.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit

A BTU is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of liquid water by one degree from 60° to 61°Fahrenheit at a constant pressure of one atmosphere.

 

[Todd]

Measure your firebox and go look for one that is larger. Don't even look at the BTU charts they make little sence. You can get about 20lbs of hardwood per cu ft of firebox. The more wood the more BTU's.

 

[tutu_sue]

I've noticed on the UK sites they use the minimum, nominal and maximum btu values. That 23k value might be the nominal value.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

I've noticed on the UK sites they use the minimum, nominal and maximum btu values. That 23k value might be the nominal value.

Yes, I think you are correct - that was my question.
I think stove manufacturers tend to over-inflate their BTU values, and perhaps
British mfr'd stoves are required to be a bit more "realistic" in their BTU listings.

You can't tell me that two (2) stoves w/ almost the same firebox size would have
such drastically different BTU ratings, especially when both are EPA compliant.

My 2 cents worth...

 

[burntime]

My hampton says 75k btu and 77% efficent, the epa tag says 36K and 63% efficent or there abouts. Same stove, just a low epa number and a overzeaolous marketing dept at war over numbers!

 

[SteveT]

There was a thread a few months back discussing Btu ratings. The webmaster weighed in with a comment to the effect that the published numbers are meaningless --- purely marketing hype. He's probably right.

But even an honest marketing department could publish - and defend - vastly different ratings. Stoves are not rated on Btu... they are rated on Btu per hour. So perhaps the marketing department for the British stove decided to publish the average stove output over several hours of a burn and the US guys give the rating at the peak output at any point during the burn. Sort of like the minimum/nominal/maximum tutu_sue referred to.

 

[burntime]

They probably can defend it...bottom line is if you get an old school honest guy or woman who knows what they are doing they would never post these high numbers.

 

[Jags]

Bigger heat = bigger stove. If you want more heat, get something with a firebox larger than your current stove.

 

[precaud]

British BTU's is from the Department of Redundancy Department.

 

[precaud]

EngineRep is right - the number expresses the maximum rate of heat output, normalized into a one hour period. Which is to say "IF the stove put out this much heat for one hour, it would output xx,xxx btu's." But it does not say that the stove can actually produce that rate of output for one hour. Maybe it only reaches that for 10 minutes at the peak of it's burn cycle. The smaller the stove, the less time it spends at peak output.

So if you're comparing stoves by btu rate, also compare the firebox volume and go for a larger one.

 

[begreen]

Maybe it's best to rephrase the question because it's known that stove companies marketing departments love to pump (and pimp) the numbers.

What size is the Dovre 400's firebox? What's the goal?

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Maybe it's best to rephrase the question because it's known that stove companies marketing departments love to pump (and pimp) the numbers.

What size is the Dovre 400's firebox? What's the goal?

It is a small firebox. Their max. stated BTU rating is about 24,000.
A competitor (un-named) claims 40,000+, and I can guarantee you
that their firebox is not twice as big (maybe 10% larger).

So what gives???

I need a stove that is "thin" (less than 20" deep),
that REALLY puts out more heat, and not just claims it.
I guess, in the end, I would have to go with something like
the Morso 3610 to really get what I need.....

 

[Pagey]

When you say less than 20" deep, do you mean the firebox itself, or the entire depth of the stove?

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

When you say less than 20" deep, do you mean the firebox itself, or the entire depth of the stove?

Actually, less than 20" from the front of stove (not including ash lip) to the rear,
including the flue/stove pipe, if applicable.

There is of course some give & take on the depth of a couple of inches.

Also, the Mrs. would pefer it to be cast-iron.

 

[Pagey]

Here's a link to a Morso 2110, which is 20" deep (including the lip) and is cast iron.

http://www.morsoe.com/us/Products/Stoves/2100/Model_2110/Morsø+2110.htm

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Here's a link to a Morso 2110, which is 20" deep (including the lip) and is cast iron.

http://www.morsoe.com/us/Products/Stoves/2100/Model_2110/Morsø+2110.htm

Yep, that's one of the models we're considering.
I'm still a bit sceptical on their BTU ratings also,
and their not a lot larger than what we already have -
just a couple of inches wider - only major difference.
With that in mind, it makes it difficult to justify the $2000+ price tag.

 

[Pagey]

Any chance you have a dealer nearby that would have a display up and running?

 

[karri0n]

So... an American Thermal Unit would be the amount of heat required to heat 1 pound of fry oil by 1 degree? Or is that 1 pound of High fructose Corn syrup by one degree?

 

[precaud]

Or is that 1 pound of High fructose Corn syrup by one degree?

Yeah, that's it!