Help pick a wood stove for our family....

[JSL10]

I know it's been asked before but we're having a hard time picking a wood stove. There are several dealers in the area and they each have a couple different brands so lots of choices. Anyway, our home is new construction and about 3230 square feet, two story (pretty open design). We have a heat pump for our primary heat but prefer heating with a wood stove much of the winter and supplementing with the heat pump. Some things that are important to us are: Large viewing glass that self cleans nicely, non-industrial look (i.e. prefer legs vs pedestal, etc), ability to heat food on the top (not really cooking but at least heating soups, etc).

A couple stoves we've looked at are: Lopi Cape Cod (love the looks but are the initial problems posted here the last couple years been solved?), Lopi Liberty, Regency 3500 (requires pedestal which we hate), Blaze King Sirocco (want a blower and don't like the optional top mounted blower exhaust unit that would would be required which by the pictures looks like it would make heating things on top more difficult space wise).

Anyway, I'd love your input on these and others to consider. Thank you in advance!

 

[begreen]

3500 sq ft is a large area to heat with one stove. Fortunately you are in a mild climate area. Definitely stick with 3 cu ft stoves. I would add the Quadrafire 5700 step top, Ironstrike Legacy 260 or Canyon 310, and Pacific Energy Summit Classic. Some additional units to consider would be cast iron clad steel stoves. They put out a softer convective heat. Models include the Blaze King Ashford 30, Quadrafire Explorer III, Pacific Energy Alderlea T6, and Jotul F55.

For a larger stove you would need to go up to an 8" flue system. That would open the possibility to a Blaze King King Parlor and the Kuma Sequoia.

 

[Benchwrench]

My vote is for a Quadrafire 5700 with legs kit.
I used to have one like it for about 15 years, no complaints.
I'd compare it with the PE T6, crunch the specs.
However I do like the Blaze King, it's huge!
I Have roughly the same size heating needs but I went with an insert, not because I wanted to but had a gaping hole in my house that needed to be utilized efficiently.

 

[stovelark]

Thinking BG is suggesting some great choices for easy to operate heat hammers. Add for a great pricepoint if available the Osburn 2300 (can get legs for it) and 2400 (think its only on a pedestal). Both big heaters and good pricing too. I too like the F55 Carrabassett from Jotul.

 

[bunfoolio]

I heat a new construction home in mass with the jotul f500. New homes are so well insulted that it does 3200 square feet.

 

[JSL10]

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. I'll look at those other models. I might add that I don't expect to heat all the square footage to toasty warm. But want to heat maybe 2200 nicely and at least get the rest (more remote sections of home) enough to take the edge off. Also looking at BC Princess (kinda an odd pot-belly look but has a nice window).

 

[BIGDADDY]

Have you considered a coal stove?

 

[begreen]

Not sure you can have a coal stove in Oregon.

 

[JSL10]

Not interested in coal. We really liked the looks of the Lopi Cape Cod but the dealer said that the top of that stove would not get hot enough to heat food due to it's top air convection design. So still looking. I really want a stove that has a large glass area (tall) like the Cape Cod. Leaning toward the Lopi Liberty right now even though the glass on that isn't particularly tall. The last dealer also suggested the Quadra-Fire 5700. The ideal stove for us would be... good quality brand, large/tall viewing glass, good fire aesthetics when wanted, long burning/warmth for night, classy non industrial look.

Any thoughts on the Hearthstone Mansfield?

 

[begreen]

The Hearthstone Mansfield was on my list of stove choices for our house. It's a great heater. My wife didn't like the duck feet on the older Mansfield which are now changed to a narrower leg style. We ended up with the T6 which has similar burn characteristics but a more flexible cook top.

 

[BalsamoNY]

You might want to look at that Lopi Cape Cod in otter brown, it's large enough to heat my whole home 3,600' Sqft and looks beautiful. The dealers correct about the top not getting hot enough to cook, but it's a small sacrifice to the beauty and warmth you'll experience.

 

[bunfoolio]

Some great stoves have been mentioned but don't forget about jotul. Thier stoves look great. F500 or f600 should do the job.

 

[begreen]

And the Jotul F55