Final Decision: Osburn, Harman, DutchWest, Jotul, Vermont Castings

[PA Fire Bug]

My wife and I spent Saturday shopping for wood stoves and gained a lot of useful information. We have found several mid-sized stoves that have a variety of prices and features. We are looking for advice from actual stove owners on the following stoves. Thank you.

Osburn 2300 $1500- EPA certified but the brochure does not list the thermal efficiency, like look and pedestal. Prefer side or top loading.
Harman Oakwood $2175- the Harman TL300 is an awesome stove but way too big for our living room (and more expensive). Like top loading. Great company reputation. Don't like decorative door. Prefer pedestal.
DutchWest 2478 (medium) $1749- should we be concerned with finding replacement parts or the company (Vermont Castings) going out of business? Left side loading a big plus. Efficiency rating much lower than other stoves (63%). Expect that this means burning more wood for the same amount of heat. Prefer pedestal.
Jotul F 500 Oslo $2100 - left side load a big plus. Saw the F600 Firelight but not the F 500 Oslo. Don't like decorative door. Prefer pedestal.
Vermont Castings (did not get price) - should we be concerned with finding replacement parts or the company going out of business? Top loading a plus. My wife doesn't like the two doors on front. We have a Vermont Castings coal stove (Vigalent) which has served us well but we have experienced long waits for replacement parts (glass, shaker handle).

 

[labrador]

Your long waits on parts for your present stove should give you a clue as to whether to go with Vermont castings. I would seriously consider the Jotul. I needed a door handle for my 550 Rockland and I was shipped a complete unit in less than a week.

 

[begreen]

Doesn't sound final at all. This is a wide range of stove types. One thing to consider is the cost of maintaining the stove 5, 10 yrs. down the road. From my experience, simple is better. Maybe look at the Napoleon 1450, Lopi Republic 1750 and the Pacific Energy Super 27 too. If you like pedestal and like the Harmon, look also at the TL300.

 

[firefighterjake]

My wife and I spent Saturday shopping for wood stoves and gained a lot of useful information. We have found several mid-sized stoves that have a variety of prices and features. We are looking for advice from actual stove owners on the following stoves. Thank you.

Osburn 2300 $1500- EPA certified but the brochure does not list the thermal efficiency, like look and pedestal. Prefer side or top loading.
Harman Oakwood $2175- the Harman TL300 is an awesome stove but way too big for our living room (and more expensive). Like top loading. Great company reputation. Don't like decorative door. Prefer pedestal.
DutchWest 2478 (medium) $1749- should we be concerned with finding replacement parts or the company (Vermont Castings) going out of business? Left side loading a big plus. Efficiency rating much lower than other stoves (63%). Expect that this means burning more wood for the same amount of heat. Prefer pedestal.
Jotul F 500 Oslo $2100 - left side load a big plus. Saw the F600 Firelight but not the F 500 Oslo. Don't like decorative door. Prefer pedestal.
Vermont Castings (did not get price) - should we be concerned with finding replacement parts or the company going out of business? Top loading a plus. My wife doesn't like the two doors on front. We have a Vermont Castings coal stove (Vigalent) which has served us well but we have experienced long waits for replacement parts (glass, shaker handle).

As you may or may not know hearth.com also has a Stove Rating section from actual owners of these makes/models . . . you may want to check out this section.

I cannot speak to many of these makes/models.

I will say I personally would not go with a Dutchwest or Vermont Castings . . . they look sharp . . . but if you do a search you will find many, many threads that may be eye-opening regarding warranties, defective parts, expensive parts, etc. That said, there are some members here who do have VCs and DW stoves and they are happy.

Jotul Oslo: I bought and use this stove for 24/7 burning. I have been tempted by many other stoves with fantastic burn times (Woodstock, Blaze King), stoves that look wicked sharp (Pacific Energy, Hearthstone) and stoves that are just plain neat . . . but the one thing I keep coming back to over and over again is that while I am tempted . . . I really do love my Jotul . . . it's near bullet-proof, looks sharp, has only a few minor "faults" (i.e. ash spills out the front door when reloading) and most important of all -- it keeps me and my family warm . . . which when the winds are howling and it's sub-zero outside is what I really want in a woodstove. My only regret . . . if I was to buy a new Jotul today I would go with the blue-black enamel version.

 

[labrador]

FFJ, I think I have solved the problem of ash spilling outside the door. I put a 1/4 " piece of angle iron that sits on the lip of my 550 rockland and it keeps ash from spilling out as much as before. Don't know if it will work in your stove. The angle iron is higher than the door opening.

 

[BrotherBart]

Get the Osburn. Big ass firebox for loading flexibility. Has a ped, which personally I hate. Made out of steel like God intended wood stoves to be made. Has a ped. Huge viewing glass. Has a ped. Very good reputation. Has a ped.

Oh, did I mention it has a pedestal. :coolsmirk:

 

[BrowningBAR]

My wife and I spent Saturday shopping for wood stoves and gained a lot of useful information. We have found several mid-sized stoves that have a variety of prices and features. We are looking for advice from actual stove owners on the following stoves. Thank you.

Osburn 2300 $1500- EPA certified but the brochure does not list the thermal efficiency, like look and pedestal. Prefer side or top loading.
Harman Oakwood $2175- the Harman TL300 is an awesome stove but way too big for our living room (and more expensive). Like top loading. Great company reputation. Don't like decorative door. Prefer pedestal.
DutchWest 2478 (medium) $1749- should we be concerned with finding replacement parts or the company (Vermont Castings) going out of business? Left side loading a big plus. Efficiency rating much lower than other stoves (63%). Expect that this means burning more wood for the same amount of heat. Prefer pedestal.
Jotul F 500 Oslo $2100 - left side load a big plus. Saw the F600 Firelight but not the F 500 Oslo. Don't like decorative door. Prefer pedestal.
Vermont Castings (did not get price) - should we be concerned with finding replacement parts or the company going out of business? Top loading a plus. My wife doesn't like the two doors on front. We have a Vermont Castings coal stove (Vigalent) which has served us well but we have experienced long waits for replacement parts (glass, shaker handle).

I would avoid Dutchwest/Vermont Castings like a case of Black Death.

Based on your list and what you like, it seems like you want the Osburn. You might also want to check out the Pacific Energy Summit. (A tear just ran down Big Redd's cheek)

http://www.pacificenergy.net/product_summit.php

 

[Swedishchef]

Hey Aroth

I have an Osburn 2300. I live in Quebec (7 hours from where Osburn make their stoves). I love it. It is my first wood stove and I looked around for quite some time before purachasing the stove. I paid more (I live in Canada so our $ is worth less than your $ and had it delivered). Here's what I love about it:

It's a ped with a HUGE ash pan (even though I do not use the pan, I would rather scoop them out into my metal bucket). The fire box is a pretty decent size.

The steel is 5/16th. I am convinced that if my house ever come tumbling, I will crall into the stove and it will save me.

It has a nice built it variable speed blower (standard on the 2300) and and HUGE glass door. The door is one thing I wanted. It pumps out quite a bit of heat via the door.

The thing I love about it the most is that it has a bypass damper you can open when reloading. This helps greatly get a really good draft going which in turn prevents smoke rolling out.

As I mentioned, I live in Quebec and it's damn cold this week. -8 to -10 F at night. I have been heating 24/7 since Friday and not a single heater turned on during that period. My wife even gave me a blast of crap last night because it was too hot in the house. My house is a bugalow that is 1275 square feet. Considering that the stove is in the basement, it's heating 2550 square feet.

Last night I had the fire raging before I went to bed..loaded it up pretty well. I went turned it down almost tight. Nice secondaries were burning with a few primaries. I get up this AM: a big pile of hot red coals! I tossed in a few other pieces and woooosh. The fire got roaring again in minutes. That was over 8 hours after I loaded it.

So, if you ask me, the price is right. $1500 isn't bad at all. I can't compare it to other stoves.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[BrotherBart]

A little point of clarification. I contacted Osburn a while back and that 5/16" steel is the top plate. The stove body is 3/16".

 

[bsa0021]

VC and dutchwest stoves should be avoided at all costs. They are very fragile stoves and the company will not stand behind their products. Look elsewhere.

 

[firefighterjake]

FFJ, I think I have solved the problem of ash spilling outside the door. I put a 1/4 " piece of angle iron that sits on the lip of my 550 rockland and it keeps ash from spilling out as much as before. Don't know if it will work in your stove. The angle iron is higher than the door opening.

I don't want to derail this thread, but Labrador I would love it if you could post another thread with pics showing what you did for your stove.

 

[tcassavaugh]

when i needed a cat or part for my vc/cdw i used black swan...they were reanonable and pretty quick http://www.blackswanhome.com/ I'm one that had no complaints about the vc...worked many years then passed it on to someone else to use. got rid of it primarily because of shorter burn times...now have a pe summit.

cass

 

[PA Fire Bug]

Thank you for all of the advice and for recommending the stove ratings page. It was very informative. I was impressed with the number of reviews for the Jotul Olso 500. Right now the Harman Oakwood is our favorite. The dealer that sold Jotuls did not have the Oslo 500 in stock but had a F 600 Firelight CB burning in the showroom. We like the look of the Harman over the Jotul but I would want to see the Olso 500 first hand. Since the stove will be in our living room, appearance is important. When I look at it every day, I don't want to wish that I had bought a different stove. The Jotul 600 is too big for our living room as is the Harman 300. If we had the space and needed the heat, we would've bought the Harman 300 last weekend. We ruled out the Dutch West. I have a friend who bought one a few years ago and loves it but we are concerned with the availability of parts. The Dutch West and Osburn had the lowest efficiency ratings. The Osburn 2300 looked better in the brochure than it did in the showroom. I was expecting a larger stove. It appeared to have a smaller firebox than the Harman Oakwood even though the brochure lists it as 3.1 cu ft which is larger than the Harman. None of the dealers had Pacific Energy even though one of them is listed as a dealer on the company web site. I like the look and efficiency ratings of the Pacific Energy. It may be worth a few phone calls to see if anyone in Central PA carries them especially since Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter (for the 100th time in 114 years). : )

 

[stanleyjohn]

Harman makes good stoves!We bought the insert version of the TL300 3 years ago and it hasn't let us down yet.We have a 1600sqft colonial and it heats the downstairs to near 80 and upstairs mid to upper 70s.The one thing that some dont like about the harman,TL300,Oakwood ,or VT is that they are down draft stoves which means that there is a back chamber that does all the EPA work vs tubes mounted on the roof of the stove.The downdraft design is a little harder to get going but when the afterburn does kick in you can expect some pretty long burn times.So if you want to see pretty flames dancing near the tubes!buy that type of stove ,but for long burn times and less reloading i would get a downdraft stove like a harman or others.

 

[PA Fire Bug]

We have narrowed our decision to the Harman Oakwood and the Pacific Energy Super 27. We just learned that friends from church (who are also our insurance agents) have a Pacific Energy. After taking a look at it, we are going to make a decision. We are waiting to hear back from two contractors regarding punching a hole through the living room wall into the existing chimney. We want to have the flue work and floor work done before buying a stove.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Good luck on your choice of the stoves! The oakwood which is a downdraft stove and the PE which has Baffle chambers on the roof of the stove which does the secondary burns that makes the stove burn clean.

 

[nelraq]

My personal observations on your 2 choices:

PE Super 27 - I burned one for two years - got rid of it last fall. Huge problems controlling the draft. If you buy one, seal off the ash dump door with silicone; or better yet, take the entire ash dump off and cover the opening with a gasket and plate kit - available from PE
Also, on the PE the door latches on to a bracket which is held on to the stove by - believe it or not - one small self tapping screw. Check the bracket really carefully for tightness etc. If you buy the stove, exchange the small screw for a larger, more beefy screw - one that will hold under all circumstances!

Harmon Oakwood - a beautiful looking stove that apparently really pumps the heat out. It was my first choice; the Jotul 500 was my second choice. I went with the Jotul and am very happy with it.
Reasons for not buying the Oakwood:
1. It has the downdraft combustion chamber - rather than the 'tubes' up top. Do a search on hearth.com for the Oakwood. You will read lots of comments re the extreme fragility of the combustion unit, the need for annual cleaning (meaning taking the back of the stove apart) etc. etc.
2. A large portion of the heat is apparently generated out of the back of the stove. Your rear clearances to combustibles are huge - don't remember the exact figures - but in my application I would have had to buy the 2 rear and 1 bottom heat shields. In addition I would have had to build and attach a clearance reducing wall to my existing gyproc wall.
Even with these drawbacks/problems I still wanted the Oakwood. The dealer had the stove in stock- but the 3 heat shields would be backordered - a minimum wait of 30 days! Meanwhile I had sold my PE stove and couldn't bear to turn on the boiler for a month!

Bought the Jotul and the 2 heat shields - had it home and installed within a week. Beautiful stove, and heats the house well!

 

[chad3]

I have to agree with Jake. The Jotul is a great stove. I do load only through the side now and everything is great. As again stated above, if you can get an enamel you will be very happy. Stove does exactly what I want it to do and have great CS standing behind it.
It takes some time to get used to, but I think for me this was due to older style stoves and not just because of the stove. Some days it still does not act like I think it should or would and this is while I have been running it for a few years.
Chad

 

[CTBurner]

jotul,s have had a lot a reports of cracks lately, search here jotul crack

 

[BrowningBAR]

jotul,s have had a lot a reports of cracks lately, search here jotul crack

Yeah, um, I must have missed those threads I guess. Doing a quick search for 'jotul crack' doesn't bring up any threads about issues with cracks in Jotuls for the last several months.

 

[mikepinto65]

jotul,s have had a lot a reports of cracks lately, search here jotul crack

Yeah, um, I must have missed those threads I guess. Doing a quick search for 'jotul crack' doesn't bring up any threads about issues with cracks in Jotuls for the last several months.

+1 I dont recall any threads on Jotuls cracking

 

[Todd]

jotul,s have had a lot a reports of cracks lately, search here jotul crack

Yeah, um, I must have missed those threads I guess. Doing a quick search for 'jotul crack' doesn't bring up any threads about issues with cracks in Jotuls for the last several months.

+1 I dont recall any threads on Jotuls cracking

I remember one thread where Wendell was looking into the 600 and the local stove shop said they have been having cracking problems and recomended the 500.

 

[mikepinto65]

jotul,s have had a lot a reports of cracks lately, search here jotul crack

Yeah, um, I must have missed those threads I guess. Doing a quick search for 'jotul crack' doesn't bring up any threads about issues with cracks in Jotuls for the last several months.

+1 I dont recall any threads on Jotuls cracking

I remember one thread where Wendell was looking into the 600 and the local stove shop said they have been having cracking problems and recomended the 500.

I think your remembering this thread

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51236/

Nothing in it mentioning cracking.

 

[begreen]

I am sure there is a thread or two buried in the archives about a crack in a Jotul. Almost all of these posts were at the bottom grate or in the surrounding base. They either had a leak at the ash pan gasket or were regularly using the ash pan door to start the fire in spite of stern warnings in the manual no to do this.

In general the reports of issues with the Jotuls are low. There was an issue with the air slider sticking on some F400 and F500s. But generally they are a simple, trouble free stove. You'll find that many folks come here to report or to find information on a problem they are having. What we don't hear are the thousands of happy customers that own the same stove or insert.

 

[Todd]

jotul,s have had a lot a reports of cracks lately, search here jotul crack

Yeah, um, I must have missed those threads I guess. Doing a quick search for 'jotul crack' doesn't bring up any threads about issues with cracks in Jotuls for the last several months.

+1 I dont recall any threads on Jotuls cracking

I remember one thread where Wendell was looking into the 600 and the local stove shop said they have been having cracking problems and recomended the 500.

I think your remembering this thread

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51236/

Nothing in it mentioning cracking.

Nope, this one on page 4 #67
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51158/P66/

Ialso agree with Begreens statement above, most issues were probably operator error.