Help picking a stove

[njdrt-rdr]

I could use some help picking a stove. I'm going blind from all the info I've been reading and the stoves I've been looking at.
House is 1772 sqft total. Ranch house in Northern NJ. 8 foot ceilings. stove will be in the corner of a 15 X 17 room that is the center of the house. The end of one wall that the stove is on has a opening to a hallway with 3 bedrooms off it. The end of the other wall that the stove is on has an opening wide to the kitchen and dining room (all open floorplan appx 12 X 25)
I'm coming from an old insert in a zc fireplace that I took and and am starting from scratch.

I usually start the fire from 6-7pm each night and tend til I got to bed about 11 pm and then let burn out. The old stove would be done heating in about 3 hours. I had a vent in the ceiling of the stove room to some insulated duct pulling air to each bedroom. It would do ok maintain temps in the bedroom, but would not heat them up. so I'm still undecided if it worked well or not.
I also burn 24 X 7 when home on the weekends. I have not burned while out of the house intentionally. If a fire would be running, I would go out to dinner, but I would not start a fire and then leave for work. If I knew I would not be home, I would not burn the stove.

Anyway, been looking at stoves. This will be a corner installation
I'd like to get a stove that tucks into the corner as much as possible, but it's not the primary factor, nor is price the primary factor. Getting a quality and efficient stove is the primary factors. Also the size and openness of the viewing window. The wife wants to see the flames. I'm also not 100% sure I like a top loading stove, but I'v enever owned one to make an educated guess.

I can get away with less side clearance in the Hearthstone heritage with an optional lock that locks the side door closed.

Right now at the top are
Hearthstone Heritage. Lopi Endeavor and jotul f500. I would go with the hearthstone because we really like the way it looks, the thing that's stopping me is that the soapstone stove takes longer to heat up than steel or cast iron. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I know the heat will last longer. but my initial thoughts is if I were starting from scratch each night or a weekend morning, it would be 3 hours before the stove was up to temps.

We have looked at avalon arbor & ranier, dutchwest medium, harmon oakwood, hearthstone heritage and phoenix, jotul f500, vermont castings endavor, quadrafire 4300

Can anyone lend any insight as to what they like/dislike or any other suggestions.

Thanks for the help,
Nick

 

[eernest4]

Since you ask for it, yes, I do have some thoughts.

Stop wasting your money on a top end stove. Its only a heating appliance, for josh darned!

Englander model 50-30ncl or 30 ncp rated 2,200 sq ft , 75,000 btu epa secondary burn
8-10 hr overnight burn, 3.5 cu ft firebox. Just ask brother bart, he heats 2,500 sq ft with his
& its the only heat in the whole house.

The do make a mid sized model rated 1200-1800 sq ft, for less money, same stove just smaller firebox, but I dont have the specs committed to memory.

With stoves, more money does not necessarialy mean a better stove; but only more bells & jingles, & bling, unelse you upgrade to a larger firebox.

My feeling is that the englander is on a par fuctionally & quality of construction, with most
of the high end stoves of the same firebox size, except for bedaziling looks, but stupid me, somehow , I expect a stove to look black , not all shiney like some fancy ladies jewlery.

www.overstockstoves.com $900.oo delevered, in plain jane black, to the closest frieght terminal to you.

or home depot.com $1,285.oo ,same stove with a fancy imitation gold door ,gold handle & gold trim.

or lowes home improvement , $1, 100.oo same stove in pueter door, handle & trim ,but called summersheat
brand.

also,ace hardware and truevalue hardware.

But, maybe you want to impress some one with the bueaty of your stove.

Look at the picture of my avitar. It was a big mistake spending $20K just to impress some jerks who got so jelious they dont have one that they snuck back in middle of nite & broke my windows.

That was the last time I spend one cent to try to impress anyone, ever again. Big Mistake.
But it sure do drive nice at 160 mph, so at least it impress me & I'm sure some cop will be smiling ear to ear when I eventually get pulled over for speeding & he say, "Do you have any idea how fast you were going back there?Well, Neither do I, because my radar meter dont even go that high." Another Big Mistake.

Save your bucks for what is really important, like a family emergency fund & buy a well made, american made, less expensive stove.

 

[begreen]

Lots of questions...
A soapstone stove won't take 3 hrs to produce meaningful heat. Within less than an hour it will be cooking if you use good wood. I'd go with the Heritage. The Oslo is a great stove, but it needs extra clearance in a corner install to accommodate the side door, Jotul discourages this use in the manual. Do take a look at the Quadrafire Isle Royale while you are looking at Quads. Nice looking stove and a serious heater.

 

[njdrt-rdr]

Stopped trying to impress people in my twenties. Went to the 3 closest wood stove stores and this is what they sold. Never heard of the brand or the overstock stoves site. I will check them out.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[begreen]

Do a bit of looking on the site. Englander is well represented here. We have an engineer, a dedicated support person and a resident comedian all burning and supporting Englanders. It is the best American buy.

If you go north of 48, you will also find the Pacific Energy stoves. The Summit has a near cult like following on this site.

 

[JimWalshin845]

Just some thoughts:

Do you have the time?

Your wood source?

If you purchase wood what is the price?

Solid fuel is the way to go but it is a dedicated lifestyle.

If you are going to make the investment do you have these questions answered?

Good luck in your search,
Jim

 

[BJN644]

If you are going to be burning from a cold start every day I would avoid soapstone and the down draft back burner types, you will be disapointed. If on the other hand you decide to burn 24/7 I have been getting good 10+ hour burns with my Oakwood, but it's been running 24/7 for the past couple weeks. From a cold start it needs to be baby sat for close to 2 hours. I had a Hearthstone Phoenix before that and it took close to 2 hours before it would throw any apprieciable heat out of it. Just my 2 cents.

 

[njdrt-rdr]

My wood source has been my own trees or free stuff from other people, the newspaper, the side of the road, etc.
Yes, I have the time. I've been burning in an insert for 9 years now (with an insert mfg in 1985). I'm now moving to a freestanding wood stove in a different part of the room.

 

[JimWalshin845]

I think a stove is much more than a heating appliance... it is a piece of furniture that you will look at every day.

No harm at all spending for something that you may enjoy the rest of your life rather than something that is just another appliance!

 

[webbie]

Exactly! Ask BG to replace that Jotul with a steel box and see what he says!

Everyone has a different outlook, and we certainly don't see your net worth or financial statement, but many or most of the brands you mentioned are excellent. Folks usually use other criteria, such as what fits best with the scheme of the house, what is more eye-pleasing, the log length, exactly how you want to use the stove, etc.

You can tell us all that stuff and get some advice here, or if you found one of those dealers who appeared to be trustworthy...well, you can't beat that.

I think you are on the right track with the Jotul, Lopi, etc. if you want a fast heat-up. A steel or cast updraft non-cat model is likely to heat faster from a cold start.

I think a stove is much more than a heating appliance... it is a piece of furniture that you will look at every day.

No harm at all spending for something that you may enjoy the rest of your life rather than something that is just another appliance!

 

[eernest4]

njdrt-rdr,

I think I have your handle figured , new jersy dirt bike rider, right?

I had several street bikes in the 60's & 70's & still have a 1970 honda 360 cc in the garage.

lets see if I can remember!

1965 suzuki 50 cc, 1966 suzuki 150 cc,1969 triumph bonneville 650 cc, twin carb,twin pipes,1972 bmw 750 twin horizontally opposed jugs w drive shaft, unknown year moto guzi 100cc dirt bike,
1970 360 honda, 1985 honda 1000cc gold wing.

Then I got old. I'm still getting more older.too old to ride anymore. :ahhh: 8-/

 

[Arlo]

If you are interested in looks and function, I have been very happy with my Jotul F-600 CAT model. They no longer make it a CAT but it is Clean Burn.

Where in northen Jersey? I was born and raised in River Edge, Bergen County.

 

[njdrt-rdr]

Yes, NJ dirt bike rider. Although don't ride much in NJ unless it's a club organized event. No legal trails to ride on. I ride a suzkui street leagl dual sport bike. Stopped riding street bikes years ago when I compound fractured my leg. Had a honda cl360 as my first bike.
anyway,
I'm in Glen Gardner, which is in Hunterdon County.

My wife at the moment really likes the look of the soapstone. and I'm having her debate the issue of the slow start up versus the longer heat time. While I won't get the heat immediately, I think it should last longer into the night and she usually wakes up during the night, so she could reload it and I would burn into the morning.

Does anyone burn when they are not home. Wondering if I were to burn all night and then throw a load in before I left for work it would still be warm when I got home. I'm being told by the store that if the stove is properly installed you can burn it 24 x 7. I can't confirm or deny that. Usually leave the house at 8am and am home about 5.

 

[begreen]

Exactly! Ask BG to replace that Jotul with a steel box and see what he says!

Well, that depends... what if it's a cast iron clad steel box? If someone wants to park a T6 on my doorstep, I'm not going to say no. ;-)

I wanted a 3 cu ft box from the get go, but my SO wanted the visuals to be right. Now she's getting tired of frequent loading in the living room. Sooooo, I try to keep an open mind. There appear to be only 2 stoves that will fit the clearances for 3 cu ft in our corner install. Sadly neither are Scandinavian.

 

[lazeedan]

I think you would still have a warm stove after 9 hours with a soapstone. I have a Homestead and it just keeps impressing me. This is my first year burning it. But we burn 24/7.