Decision time.....Hearthstone Tribute or VC Encore

[southbalto]

So this would be my first wood stove purchase. The home in the Baltimore/D.C. area and is about 2500sqft. Newer constrution with good windows/insulation. I'd like to pick up a stove that I can run Nov-Mar. Not expecting either stove to serve as primary heat, just supplemental.

I love the design of the tribute but the 1.2 sqft firbox has me concerned. The VC would be less expensive and puts out about 10K btus more but dosne't have the efficiency.

I want the stove to be able to heat the living room/kitchen area which is about 300sqft.

I've got good, dependable access to firewood and would like to use about 2 cords per year.

 

[Highbeam]

I would not buy a VC nomatter what the price. Check out the brands reputation and current economic status. You'll need parts and can't get them.

The tribute is quite small and even though the room you are using is 300 SF you will be trying to heat 2500. Why not kick it up a notch to a larger stove? My heritage is in a 1700 SF home but only a smallish, 300SF?, living room.

 

[firefighterjake]

I would not buy a VC nomatter what the price. Check out the brands reputation and current economic status. You'll need parts and can't get them.

The tribute is quite small and even though the room you are using is 300 SF you will be trying to heat 2500. Why not kick it up a notch to a larger stove? My heritage is in a 1700 SF home but only a smallish, 300SF?, living room.

If you're limiting yourself to the Encore and Tribute I would say in my own opinion there is no decision . . . I agree 100% with Highbeam's comments and would echo his first comment . . . do a search of Vermont Castings and read through some of the comments.

 

[southbalto]

What other stoves should I be looking at? I mentioned the Tribute and Encore because both are available used in my area. It seems like the older VCs can be picked up for 500-1000 or so. I love the idea of a soapstone stove and the tribute i was looking at was 1100. I'd like to keep the cost under 1500 for the stove if possible. Are there any older VCs that are worth picking up?

 

[firefighterjake]

What other stoves should I be looking at? I mentioned the Tribute and Encore because both are available used in my area. It seems like the older VCs can be picked up for 500-1000 or so. I love the idea of a soapstone stove and the tribute i was looking at was 1100. I'd like to keep the cost under 1500 for the stove if possible. Are there any older VCs that are worth picking up?

There are a lot of great brands and features. I checked out Craigslist in your area and to be honest it doesn't look like there is much being sold right now in terms of used woodstoves which isn't all that surprising with this past Fall's high prices on oil/propane/etc.

The Tribute is a beautiful stove . . . there is (as you have no doubt seen at CL) a sharp looking Tribute for sale on Craigslist, but as Highbeam mentioned I question whether the size of the stove and the size of the home will be an issue. If you have a way of closing off the living room area and/or the adjoining rooms I would suspect (but other soapstone and Hearthstone users can better tell you) that the Tribute would be good as a space heater . . . but I seriously doubt it would heat your entire home and as Highbeam mentioned the heat would tend to migrate away from the room and you would not get as much benefit from a better sized heater . . . unless you were able to close up the room/adjoining rooms . . . only my personal opinion here.

If you're looking for a stove only (and don't necessarily need a new chimney) there are several stoves that you can buy brand new that would fall into your price range. I know the Englanders, Napoleans and Regencys are pretty highly regarded . . . and for a bit more change you can go into some other brands such as Lopi, Jotul and Pacific Energy and of course the Hearthstone and Woodstock soapstone stoves . . . which incidentally, I agree, are wicked sharp looking.

 

[redhat]

Are there any older VCs that are worth picking up?

My experience with VC Encore cat models has been good, if you could find a used one in decent shape I think you would be happy with it.

 

[wellbuilt home]

If your home is 2500 sq ft you should get a larger stove . I hate splitting wood into small splinters to fit it in the stove . It is hard to really just heat one area with a small stove ,because the heat starts to spread to the rest of the house and may prevent the thermostat from turning on and making other rooms cold . If you get a small soap stone stove i would try a fire view with a cat for longer burns . I have a Hearth stone Equinox now and I'm burning a lot of wood , at the rate I'm going ill burn 6 or 7 cord this year My hearthstone heats the house efficiently in warmer temps down to around 30o last weekend it was in the teens and i was filling the stove like i was on a train building a head of steam and i wasn't really getting the house warm My house is over 3000 feet and i burn about 3to4 cord a year in my old VCDW cat stove EX large never use the heat. I don't even know if it works .

 

[mikeathens]

Definitely the Hearthstone, if you are limiting yourself to these stoves. On the other hand, I know you say you have a "maximum" you want to pay, but you will most likely find that in a year or two, you be kicking youself saying "I shoulda got a bigger stove". That said, why not a Hearthstone Heritage? VERY nice looking, easy to use, and probably a good choice for supplemental heat for a house that size.