Can you advise small stoves to look at and stay away from

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MarkinNC

MarkinNC

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Oct 3, 2010
529
Leicester, NC
As in the title: the purpose is to heat my brothers basement only, 24-7 during power failures. The house is newer (~ 15 years old), well insulated, located in SW MI. Were talking about 1000 SF of finished insulated space that includes one bedroom. The layout is not conducive to vectoring heat upstairs.

I did a search and looked at the nc 13, Timberwolf 2100, Lopi 1250 & Republic, True North TN 19 (too big I suspect). I looked at Jotul's page but like most makers I don't know about small stoves.

Oh, any good stove dealer recommendations in the Kalamazoo area would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Love my Jotul 602. Burns well, small footprint, clearances are tight if you go for all the heat shields.
 
One of the new smaller BK stoves will do the trick! ;) I don't think he could go wrong with the Lopi or Englander.
 
For the money the Englander 13-NC was pretty much born for that application. Check the clearances though.

OK. I did it. After all these years I actually recommended one of their stoves. Love'em. Own'em. Just never recommended one.
 
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Englander 13 (steel, non-cat), Woodstock Keystone (soapstone, catalytic), BK Chinook 20 (steel, catalytic), Jotul Castine (cast iron, non-cat).
 
I have tried many in small size-by far the best is Woodstock Keystone. Often had enough embers for relight after 16 hours.
Unlike non cat stoves which smoke if you throttle them way down, cat stoves re-burn smoldering smoke with the activity of the cat.
Window stays remarkably clear.
 
I recently bought a Country hearth 2000 model from tractor supply for $499. Its rated to do 2000 SQ feet, but the stove is quite small with close clearances and comes with a blower as well. I was not expecting too much but was pleasantly surprised at how well the stove performs. And its a great looking stove as well. Since this application would only be used as a backup emergency heat source im guessing a cheaper solution would work well here,but you will be tempted to fire it up more often than just a power outage.
 
I'd recommend that you get an EPA stove vs a non-EPA stove. There are many small stove options. It would help to know more about the style you are interested in and the location it will be installed. The downside of a small firebox is going to be the length of burn time that you get. In general, small stoves (1 to 1.5 cu ft) can burn 24/7, but they will need refilling every 3-5 hrs.

A smaller cat stove like the Woodstock Keystone or Blaze King Sirocco would be a good choice for 24/7 burning in this space. Both stoves will burn at a low fire for a long time. In addition to the aforementioned stoves, a couple stoves to look at in the non-cat range are the Napoleon 1450 and the Pacific Energy Super 27. The latter has excellent, long burn times. It's a 2 cu ft stove, but it handles partial loads of fuel very well. I like this stove for it's stout construction at a reasonable price. If you wanted to get a nicer version, with a cast iron jacket and softer heat, then I would recommend looking at the PE Alderlea T5 or Enviro Boston 1200.
 
Being in a tight well insulated basement I would also look into OAK.
 
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Thanks everybody for your recommendations. I will forward them on to my brother. That is a good point about running the CAT stove on low. I don't think he is interested in a rock stove because it is for backup, so he wants the cooking ability of steel or iron. I look forward to researching them myself!
 
BrotherBart said:
For the money the Englander 13-NC was pretty much born for that application. Check the clearances though.

OK. I did it. After all these years I actually recommended one of their stoves. Love'em. Own'em. Just never recommended one.
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yeah but you've been dying to for ages secretly :)
 
Of course it depends entirely on your preferences, but we needed a small stove for our kitchen and my wife loved the looks of the Hampton H200. See my signature.
 
Love the Buck Stove, my concern for their basement install is make up air, I strongley suggest oak.
 
Looks like nothing for PE in Kalamazoo, but here's what shows up outside of town.

[Hearth.com] Can you advise small stoves to look at and stay away from
 
cwill said:
Sackett fireplace and The fireplace and grill shop, are the only dealers in Kzoo. There are a ton of good dealers in Grand Rapids. I really like the folks at Three chimneys in Byron Center or Beldon Brick in GR.
http://www.beldenbrickandsupply.com/
http://threechimneysfireplace.com/
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Thank you very much. My parents had the hearth built buy the Sacketts back in the day (I wanna say they were brick dealers). A lot can change over the years though. Thanks for the tips.
 
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