I moved my old stove (old Sierra 'smoke dragon') out of the way to get my floors redone. This would certainly be as good a time as any to replace the old one with something modern. Given my extensive research last year, and given my flue situation ( I need a rear vent stove), I'm looking at either the Isle Royale or the F 500 or F600 Jotul. We heat the whole house with the old Sierra, sometimes too hot. I think either the Jotul or Quad will do the job, but I am concerned about my wife learning to operate the new stove. I must admit I like the side loading door on the Jotul, but seem very drawn to the Quad.
Ease of Operation - Jotul v. Quad Isle Royale
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The Isle Royale is a slightly more complex stove in that it has a separate start up air control in addition to the primary air control. How large an area are you heating?
About 1800 square feet. House was built around 1920, little or no insulation in the walls, I've added some in the attic. We're again considering adding on, I would put a second stove (smaller probably a PE T4 or 5) in the addition. My old Sierra is a beast. It would warm this house up very, very well, even on below zero nights, but I had to add wood every 3 hours and run it wide open.
If that is one of the old Sierra 8000 stoves then the F500 should do the job just fine. Or, the local dealer in Manassas, VA is selling the current version of the 8000. :coolgrin: It is now a cat stove with a big honkin glass in the front loading door and a still has a side loading door. Just not made in Harrisonburg, VA like yours was.
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Wow, takes 28 inch logs. I've been cutting all of mine at 18 inches since I'm not sure what may be coming. But at 433 pounds I'm sure it's a lightweight compared to the one I've got!
Hoo boy . . . You better hope Dixie, Bobbin or Shari doesn't show up . . . they'll tell you a thing or two about women and running woodstoves. 
On a serious note . . . and I am being serious here . . . running a woodstove is not something that is the exclusive domain of guys . . . although many guys tend to like fire . . . probably goes back to when we were young, setting fires and peeing the bed (a myth by the way) . . . but honestly, you don't need to have that extra appendage to be able to capably run a stove . . . women have been tending fires for a very, very long time . . . and surprise, surprise they didn't burn down the little house on the prairie or the cave. Truth be told, my wife runs the stove better than me . . . sometimes . . . but I won't admit that in public . . . well most of the time I won't admit that in public.
That said . . . I can't speak to the Quad, but the Oslo is wicked easy to use and run . . . providing you have good seasoned wood. Thermometers on the stove and on the stove pipe helps a lot when you're a newbie burner . . . getting the fundamentals down in terms of "Do"s and "Don't"s is good (i.e. do make sure your temp is up to X before slowly cutting back the air and don't allow the temp to get above Y) can be helpful . . . and once those fundamentals are down pat it's a pretty simple thing to run the stove . . . load, bring the temp up to X, slowly cut back on the air and at a certain point you'll find the secondary combustion is sustained . . . then you just sit back and enjoy the show for a few hours before repeating the process.
On a serious note . . . and I am being serious here . . . running a woodstove is not something that is the exclusive domain of guys . . . although many guys tend to like fire . . . probably goes back to when we were young, setting fires and peeing the bed (a myth by the way) . . . but honestly, you don't need to have that extra appendage to be able to capably run a stove . . . women have been tending fires for a very, very long time . . . and surprise, surprise they didn't burn down the little house on the prairie or the cave. Truth be told, my wife runs the stove better than me . . . sometimes . . . but I won't admit that in public . . . well most of the time I won't admit that in public.
That said . . . I can't speak to the Quad, but the Oslo is wicked easy to use and run . . . providing you have good seasoned wood. Thermometers on the stove and on the stove pipe helps a lot when you're a newbie burner . . . getting the fundamentals down in terms of "Do"s and "Don't"s is good (i.e. do make sure your temp is up to X before slowly cutting back the air and don't allow the temp to get above Y) can be helpful . . . and once those fundamentals are down pat it's a pretty simple thing to run the stove . . . load, bring the temp up to X, slowly cut back on the air and at a certain point you'll find the secondary combustion is sustained . . . then you just sit back and enjoy the show for a few hours before repeating the process.
I love my Isle Royale, but got to remember to close down the startup air once things get going... A few times it got a little too hot.. The stove make a odd throbbing/whooshing sound if you leave it on to long, a good warning system..
Jake, my wife has never mastered the old smoke dragon where it was just open dampers, paper, kindling and light. Maybe my oldest daughter will be a quick study on a new one....
FFJake:
Did you miss that history class back in grade school where it was taught that ALL cavewomen tended the fires and did all the cooking while the only thing the men did was hunt & run around thumping their chests ? It was quite some time later that cavewoman taught caveman how to start a fire but before she could even do that she had to teach him patience.
Seriously, around here I tend the stove, haul & split the wood & stack it. Hubby only helps with the firewood when/if his health allows.
Oh, yeah - he also tells me when I should add a round or two when he's 'getting chilled'.
Shari
Did you miss that history class back in grade school where it was taught that ALL cavewomen tended the fires and did all the cooking while the only thing the men did was hunt & run around thumping their chests ? It was quite some time later that cavewoman taught caveman how to start a fire but before she could even do that she had to teach him patience.
Seriously, around here I tend the stove, haul & split the wood & stack it. Hubby only helps with the firewood when/if his health allows.
Oh, yeah - he also tells me when I should add a round or two when he's 'getting chilled'.
Shari
ShenValSteve said:
Hmmm . . . maybe some posted directions . . . and is it that your wife couldn't master the stove . . . or didn't want to master the stove? There can be a difference . . . I have a buddy who's wife just hates to load the stove and deal with it . . . she prefers to simply let the fire go out and turn up the oil boiler . . . and pay the oil company. My wife on the otherhand is as cheap as I am . . . we both run the stove.
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