Did I do the rite thing?

[Jclout]

Hi guys, You know the story, all my stoves are smoke dragons and recently the carbon monoxide detectors went off. Well I'm looking into a new chimney or repairing the old one and I have an appointment with another sweep to check out my situation and probably pipe in some air for the stove from the outside. My wife and I bought a new medium cast iron non cat Dutch West stove today with an outside air kit for $1195. 52,000 btu, 63% efficient, 1.49 grams/hr, 800-1600 sqr. ft. My location is the basement with the cellar door opened for the heat to go upstairs. The cellar area is 450 sq. and the upstairs is 723 for a total of 1173 plus the stairway and a small bathroom. Do you think this stove will handle it, or did I need to go to the large DW?, I hope not, this was the last day of the sale. The other option was a Quadra fire 3100 used in the show room at a discount for $800. Steel stove, 52,000 btu, 79.5%, 1.1 grams/hr, 13-2200 sq.ft. It also has a 4 point combustion system. The DW has the Everburn system found in some
VC stoves. The DW is heavier and better looking for sure but I dont know if the burning system is as good. Somebody tell me the Med DW will do the job, please. My wife was absolutely fantastic to let me buy that stove! and it does seem to have been a good deal.

 

[Gooserider]

Well usually to do the "rite thing" you need to go to the church of your choice.... :lol:

However, it sounds like you made a reasonable choice, albeit not one I'd have made.

You've been on the forum long enough that you've probably seen many of the ongoing discussions about the potential problems of stoves in basements.

There are also many users that have reported issues with Everburn style stoves not delivering the secondary performance they were expecting. I'm not sure what the right answer is to the question of whether there is a problem with the Everburn design, but I'm just as glad that I went cat, rather than the everburn that was also on my short list.

What is the firebox size - BTU and area numbers are next to worthless when looking at stoves, and there is little to suggest that EPA gph ratings are useful as a comparison either. A bigger box gives more heat and / or longer burn times, but IIRC the medium DW should do OK in that regard.

It will all depend on what you end up with as to whether it does the job well or not.

Gooserider

 

[Jclout]

Gooserider thanks for responding. Last night I read a bunch of the info from Hearth on the Everburn problem. I'm thinking that it wasnt the rite choice over the Quad for ease of burn and possibly fire box size, 2 cu/ft for the Quad, dont know for the DW no specs on it that I have been able to find. There seems to be a lot of trouble with the Everburn Technology.

Thanks, John

 

[Gooserider]

I would say that you sound like you have enough experience to do better with the Everburn than a complete stove newbie (assuming that old habbits won't screw you up) but given the wide range of people saying they are having problems with Everburn type stoves, and the lack of people saying they are getting good results with them leaves me feeling a distinct lack of comfort in reccomending them.

I feel fine with the cat stoves, as there are not that many unhappy cat people, and lots of very happy ones, so I think on balance that a cat is a very positive choice. There is not the same level of balance on the non-cat models, so I feel it is appropriate to mention it as a possible concern.

If you do go with the Everburn, I'm sure all of us would appreciate you keeping us posted about your results either way as it would provide yet another set of observations on how the stove performs.

Gooserider

 

[begreen]

Goose, have you ever considered the diplomatic corps?

 

[Gooserider]

Goose, have you ever considered the diplomatic corps?

No, as I am usually far from diplomatic about politician types, though I do interact on a very regular basis with a genuine US Presidential candidate, and am likely to be running for admission to the Electoral College in '08.... I actually have a pretty decent collection of personally inscribed books by former presidential candidates as well.

Gooserider

 

[Todd]

After all the bad news I have heard here about these down drafting everburn stoves, I'd see if I could take it back and purchase the Quad. It sounds like the Dutchwest would do the job, but it is so finicky and troublesome, it wouldn't be worth it.

 

[Jclout]

Thanks guys, I talked to the dealer tonight and I can apply the DW ballance to the Quad but it will cost about $2-300 more
It heats 13-2200 sq.ft. compared to 8-1600 DW but the burn time is only 8 hrs compared to 10-12 DW. It sure sounds easier though

 

[webbie]

Good luck with the Quad or DW.

I don't know if we really have enough information here to (sample size) to accurately judge that one is better than the other. It's anecdotal, but at the same time some of the members with vast wood burning experience have had a hard time adjusting to the new VC's. - Only time (years) will tell.