Cast or Steel? All advice appreciated

[Backroads]

Well I've been lurking for about 6 weeks and finally decided to post. I've been reading A LOT! Trying to get as much information before I ask a redundant question. So here it goes; I'm ready to get rid of my VC Defiant, the back is cracked and the back passage above the intake is broken and falling apart. The stove put out great heat but burned really dirty. I had to clean the pipe a couple time last year (could of been the wood, this year I'm cutting my own). Anyways, I think I've got it narrowed down to two stoves and wanted some opinions on a direct comparison.

Jotul Oslo F500 vs. Quadrafire 3100

I know it's apples and oranges. Just a couple hundred dollars seperate them. The house it will be heating currently is basically a ranch with cathedral ceiling. I mention this because the dealer said with high ceilings the side load is better suited. I'm looking at about 1500sqft so either stove should do well. Eventually when we build a house it will end up in the basement of our home so looks right now are not a "big" deciding factor but currently the stove will be in our living room. Hope this is enough info for you and I appreciate any honest opinions. I took everyones advise and started to get to know the dealer because I definately want someone who will stand behind their product.
Thanks in advance guys!

 

[backpack09]

It is all personal preference and what your wife wants to look at. Both will heat as described. Just one will cost alot more and be prettier, and the other will be cheaper and look like it belongs in a cabin somewhere. If your wife can deal with the looks, and you can deal with the savings the smart money is usually on the plate stoves. My wife couldn't deal with an ugly stove... So we have a modernish looking morsoe.

 

[BrotherBart]

I own neither of the stoves but have looked at them and they are both top quality wood stoves. I for the life of me can't figure out why that dealer would think side loading is in any way connected to performance with cathedral ceiling? The side loading is great, but so is the front to back loading capability of the Quad.

One consideration is that the Quad has a blower option. Whether you need/want that right now I think it will become a big consideration for heated air distribution should you ever put the stove in a basement.

 

[Jags]

I for the life of me can't figure out why that dealer would think side loading is in any way connected to performance with cathedral ceiling? The side loading is great, but so is the front to back loading capability of the Quad.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. "How" the wood gets into the stove should have NO affect on performance of the stove. Hmmm...not sure if there was a sales agenda there or not????

I have never owned either of the 2 stoves in question, but I do own a Quad (cast iron) and can only say that my stove has been flawless. Both stoves are solid. I would let the wife pick, no complaints then.

 

[fossil]

We have one of those butt-ugly steel stoves in our great room with cathedral ceilings. The combination of a blower kit and a ceiling fan, in my experience, is a very effective way to take advantage of the stove's capability. Since neither my wife nor I have any taste, we chose the disgusting, shabby apperance of the Lopi Liberty for our application. We're very pleased with it. Rick

 

[BrotherBart]

I am in the same bind fossil. One of these days if my ship comes in I plan on replacing the aesthetically pleasing lines of my steel stove with a lump of cast iron sitting on my hearth. But I will have to wait until my eyesight gets considerably worse. :lol:

 

[fossil]

...I will have to wait until my eyesight gets considerably worse. :lol:

Mine's already going, and since we're basically tasteless people, what few folks ever visit don't give a crap what our stove looks like either, so I'm content for now. I figure it's my daughter's problem, as she'll likely be the one stuck with trying to sell this place someday...I'll make an effort to leave her enough additional $$$ to scrap that hideous hunk of sheet metal and get something prettier in its place. :lol: Rick

 

[gerry100]

Just a few minor differences (i think).

The cast stove of the same general dimensions should be heavier due to the thicker walls of castings. This may give you a larger theraml flywheel. ie retains more heat.

A well built welded steel stove will be less susceptible to cracking if heated too fast. Hard to do if you're paying attention.

Buy the one that looks best in your place.

 

[Backroads]

This is how it was explained to me:

"The high ceilings create a natural draft towards the peak. When you open the stove it will naturally want to pull some of the smoke out of a larger door. With the side load it is a smaller door and less likely to pull the smoke out of the stove."

Don't know if he was blowing smoke or not. The one thing that makes me worry about the quad is the size of the firebox. 16" is a little small compared to the 22"

 

[fossil]

If your stove /installation combination ("system") has good draft, the pressure inside the door (while you're burning) will generally be lower than the pressure outside the door (makes no difference what the dimensions of the door on the stove are, or the height of the ceiling in the room), so you should be able to open the door and do what you gotta do with minimal smoke escaping out of the stove into the room. If that wasn't the case, then the stove would be drawing its combustion air down through the chimney and exhausting its combustion products backwards out into the room. That being said, the instruction manual for my Lopi Liberty cautions me to shift the bypass damper every time prior to opening the door, just to make sure the draft through the stove is optimal. The instructions for my little CFM shop stove say basically the same thing. I rarely find that it's necessary on either stove, and almost never do that, I just open the door and take care of business, no problem, no smoke in the room. The only time I bother is when I've carelessly let the fire burn down to a near-smolder and want to reload...then I'm gonna want max draft through the box for a while anyway. You'll figure it our as you learn your stove...but in my opinion, the ceiling configuration of your room has nothing to do with your choice between end, top, or front load woodstove. Rick

 

[Bill]

I have a 19' ceiling and my stove never lets smoke draw into the room. I open the damper and then open the door slowly, never a problem. One other note fans make noise, when your trying to watch TV or sleep that could be a concern.

 

[stoveguy13]

the f500 is a much better choice in this case if the deffiant did well for you the f500 should do a great job

 

[TMonter]

Big fan of the Quad here but both staves should be good choices. What I like about the new 3100 is that the new air system allows you to start the stove with the door closed and won't let you accidentally leave the startup air on.

Plus I can vouch for Quad's warranty and warranty service being excellent since I had the opportunity to use it last year.