Greenfield vrs GF500: smart thermostat and low btu rate?

[eury]

Hi,

Long time wood stove person moving to a gas stove in a newish log cabin (1500sqft A frame, built in 2000) at 7000ft w/ lots of annual snow that gets rented out. It's well insulated (for a log cabin), takes a bit to get warmed up, but retains heat very well.

The important factors for us are cost, use without power, internet/ remote start, ease of use, running costs and of course things like warranty, life of unit etc.

Our top two contenders were the more expensive gas stoves we researched (of course!). We also looked at the Kozy brand. All of the stats on these two stoves are very similar except minimum burn rate turn down. The Greenfield goes down to 7400 btus and the GF 500 only to 14,000. Of course the cost of running the Greenfield at the lowest btus is much less. We also want a blower.

Does anyone have experience with the after market smart thermostats? Recommendations?

Also are low turn down btus important? I just had a dealer tell me that why would that matter since the thermostat will just cut off. I guess it could be important if people want the 'fire look' when its already at temp.

Im also looking at warranties and dealer customer service for making a decision. Anything else?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DAKSY]

I burned a GF500 for many years & it's a good unit, but your turndown BTUs are off by a zero.
Low BTUs are 14,000 for LP. I always had it set on high & used a Skytech 3001 Remote T-stat.
When the price of LP soared around these parts, I sold it & installed a Harman P43 pellet stove.

 

[eury]

Thanks for your feedback. I corrected my BTU typo. We currently have a pellet stove (Whitfield- no longer made) and have had multiple problems getting it to run and paying guests especially dont want to deal. I do worry about the price of propane, but the pellets are $7 per 50 lb bag.