Hello all!

[Ashy]

I finally registered here to become a posting member. I've been reading these forums so long, I feel like I know some of you ; my kinda people in here.

I live in a snow belt region of lower Michigan and have been a lifelong wood stove user. Some of my earliest memories are of my brother and I being used as Dads wood hauling mules. I eventually grew up and of course have heated with wood ever since. I currently own a Grandpa Bear Fisher, and it has been a reliable ole friend, heating my house and family for 25 years now, but as I'm getting older I want to cut down on the wood needed to feed that ole dragon. I just recently started researching/shopping for a new stove.

I've installed all new Class A piping ( not sure if it ages out, but I figured it was time) because it was there when I bought the house, and even though I had no problems all these years I wanted new on new. Going to be ordering the stove in a few weeks once I'm home from a much needed vacation, and hopefully sparking a fire up come mid October.

I think I've settled on a PE summit or the large non-cat Regency (model name escapes me at the moment). I have about 1800 sq ft, two story house. It is an old farmhouse....modernized, but not as well insulated as it could be, and stove is in a far corner of the house. Because of these reasons I'm thinking of going with a bigger stove than what I need sq footage wise.

Question
* With only experience being with the smoke dragon Fisher, will a modern, more efficient stove, such as the ones I'm looking at be too much? The PE summit, for example, states could heat up to 3000 sq. ft. I like the idea of buying bigger than I need, but to what degree? Because of higher efficiencies, will a stove rated to heat 2000 sq footage be enough?

Thank you in Advance
Ashy

 

[begreen]

The ratings don't mean a whole lot. There is a big difference between heating a 3,000 sq ft home in Western WA than in Michigan. Go for a big ~3 cu ft stove. It will not be too much. What will make a difference is fully seasoned wood. Modern stoves need dry fuel for best performance.

 

[Highbeam]

I agree with Begreen and your first guess to go 3+ cubes. Old farmhouse in Michigan, coming from a grandpa bear, you’ll want high output.

I prefer the summit from your choices due to the stainless steel firebox roof. The ceramic boards are very fragile.

 

[bholler]

I agree with Begreen and your first guess to go 3+ cubes. Old farmhouse in Michigan, coming from a grandpa bear, you’ll want high output.

I prefer the summit from your choices due to the stainless steel firebox roof. The ceramic boards are very fragile.

Regencies are not fragile at all. And the new ones have gone to about 1" thick vermiculite board. The only issue I had with the ceramic ones was that some warped. But luckily they did it right away if they were going to. I just warned customers and kept and extra set on hand

 

[Highbeam]

I bet those 1” thick boards are extra expensive when you need to replace them. They cost about 10% of my stove price for the half inch boards in my nc30.

Still, would rather have stainless steel.

 

[buc74]

I had the Summit in our last home at 1700 sq. ft. with average insulation. We used softer woods(pine, silver maple, etc. ) when less heat was needed and less wood in the box at times too. Loved the Summit!

 

[Prof]

I love the summit--it is a simple, very controllable stove. It can put out some serious BTU's when needed, but does well with smaller loads too. BTW, it is a great stove to cook on as well. I fry eggs, cook soups, and more on mine.

 

[bholler]

I bet those 1” thick boards are extra expensive when you need to replace them. They cost about 10% of my stove price for the half inch boards in my nc30.

Still, would rather have stainless steel.

But you don't have to replace them. The ones in mine are 10 years old and perfectly fine. Nothing against pe and their stainless baffles. But the recency ones are really durable as well. The vermiculite ones are even better than the cast ceramic ones. The cost is also comperable to most other baffles.

 

[kennyp2339]

Welcome, both stoves will do the job well

 

[bholler]

I think the PE is a little bigger than the biggest noncat from regency now so I would probably go with the PE just for that reason. Otherwise they are both good reliable stoves and will work well

 

[Ashy]

Thank you all for the advice. I am leaning towards the PE, as my local stove shop recommends it also.

 

[Gearhead660]

Welcome! As I too have an old farm house, I also recommend a larger stove, can always make smaller fires, cant make the stove bigger.