How long should a stove last

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man - i hope a lot. i just bought a new jotul last year.
 
i was originally thinking about 20 yrs would be great - i'll be about 60 and ready to retire and start chopping wood full time instead of just all the time that i am not working. Who knows maybe at that time i'll get the castine.

btw - what is a clog and what happens when it pops?
 
We're on year 18 with our Fireview and I see no reason why it shouldn't last our lifetimes if properly operated and maintained. I have just written to Woodstock and received some valuable guidelines from Ron as to the things we should look for as indications that maintenance is necessary.

We loathe "planned obsolescence" and we buy things that will stand the test of time when treated and used properly. To me, a woodstove is a very basic item and with good husbandry it will last a very long time. Or at least it ought to!
 
Excellent post Bobbin. Especially the part about planned obsolescence. I hate that...

I see no reason a good wood stove should not last 25-30 years with ease and perhaps much longer. Probably the biggest problem is family size. It grows after we get married and then shrinks later. Houses tend to go the same way, so our needs change from time to time. But that is good and it is also good that we have so many good choices in sizes and types of wood burners.

As for us, we see no reason our stove won't outlast us as we are both in retirement.
 
I went into my local lopi dealer just before i bought my VC and they told me 10 to 12 years but I'm guessing thats just business as usual
 
The one I used until two years ago was well over a hundred years old, with one minor rebuild (by me). It was a cast iron parlor heater with indirect draft, a Mount Kineo Grand. Of course, there may have been decades in it's life, when it sat idle.
 
Our Jotul 602 is soon going into it's second lifetime as a greenhouse heater. It was rebuilt by me around age 20 and should have a lot more life to go. The enameling has stood up remarkably well. After the rebuild it really performed nicely. Like it was young again.
 
I got 21 years out of my last steel stove and it would still be here and burning but I/we stupidly burned it too hot and not being brick lined we eventually busted a weld in the back banging N/S big splits into the back wall of it. It could have been repaired and kept going but it was time for a cleaner burning stove and less wood usage. It didn't owe us anything more. It ended up costing us $35 a year.
 
Not dead yet, it became a good place to file the porkchops and ribs.
 
This reminds me of that old tootsie pop add. How many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie roll? How many years will Todd's stove last? The world will never know because Todd has an addiction and there are too many flavors out there to try.
 
:-) Yup :-)
 
When I was down in the burn lab with Mike and the fella that designed the 30 I told him that it was a strange feeling to realize that I was buying my last wood stove. At least I hoped it would out last me. Bob said that my grandchildren would be burning in my 30. Didn't have the heart to tell him we don't have any kids.

But if "Cap and Trade" gets approved with that wood stove change out program in it da old Sierra may get sanded, painted and headed into town for a swap. For what I have no idea. If Corie would get on the ball and stick re-burn tubes in the top of that wood furnace I know what it would be.

Wanted the damn thing in 1985 and still do.
 
Well, our old VC lasted us 23 seasons of serious burning. It could have been repaired, and lasted who knows how much longer. We just chose to make a change away from the cat / rear chamber design and toward burn tubes. Ultimately, I think if you want to run a stove as long as you can, it will be limited by availability of parts. Our new Jotul is so simple in design, parts could probably be easily made if the discontinue them many years down the road, except for the castings themselves. The construction seems rugged enough, and the cast parts thick enough (way more than our VC), that I'm anticipating the Oslo to last as long as we care to burn it. In another 25 years, I'll probably be too old (or cold) to fuss with a stove anyway, so it may very well be our last stove.

I think you'll find that most folks here change stoves much more often than "required", just to try something new.
 
The old Lopi that was in our house when we bought it was at least 25 years old. Wasn't a damned thing wrong with it except that it was old (technologically speaking), and therefore illegal to reposition and place back into service. I imagine it's burning just fine someplace else today, and will continue to do so long into the future, provided it's not abused. Rick
 
ohio woodburner said:
I went into my local lopi dealer just before i bought my VC and they told me 10 to 12 years but I'm guessing thats just business as usual

Oh no! :bug: Mine's 10 years old!

No signs of wearing out, same bricks, same gaskets. I painted it. I tightened the latch. I put in new tube pins. That's it. I suppose it'll just pop its welds sometime in the next 2 years and drop a load of flaming logs on the floor...
 
ohio woodburner said:
I went into my local lopi dealer just before i bought my VC and they told me 10 to 12 years but I'm guessing thats just business as usual

That seems about right for a for a Lopi or a VC.

I'll be pretty creased if I don't get 20 years out of my PE.
 
madrone said:
Bigg_Redd said:
ohio woodburner said:
I went into my local lopi dealer just before i bought my VC and they told me 10 to 12 years but I'm guessing thats just business as usual

That seems about right for a for a Lopi or a VC.

I'll be pretty creased if I don't get 20 years out of my PE.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/42141/


my blaze kings from the early 80's maybe late 70's im gonna run it for a while
 
Our SeeFire, brick lined, is into it's 19th season of full-time heating our house. I've had to replace an upper steel plate which aids secondary burn a couple of times, easy to do, just a piece of 1/4 or 3/16 steel bar, 4" wide, and a couple of screws. I see the flames of the SeeFire dancing over my shoulder, as night temps are now into the 20's and highs are in the 40's.
 
My stove is probably 30 yrs old, has no identifying marks whatever, and does not show its age, no warping. It should last until I replace it for something more efficient.
 
Stone is stone. Barring a huge calamity it lasts and it lasts. Our soapstone stove is cemented together and there are cast metal framing pcs. as well as interior housings to support the catalytic combustor. Clearly the marriage of materials indicates weak points and maintenance is necessary over time.

But I don't know very much about how heating/cool down cycles affect the life expectancy of metal castings. I've never been to the Woodstock factory but I understand they have an old soapstone stove on display there, the model for the Fireview/Classic series, I believe. I wonder how old it is and what did they have to do to refurbish it to make it once more serviceable?

Could someone speak to the effect of cyclical firings on cast housings and steel stoves? what happens to the metals in question, and how does that translate in "fatigue" over time?
 
madrone said:
Bigg_Redd said:
ohio woodburner said:
I went into my local lopi dealer just before i bought my VC and they told me 10 to 12 years but I'm guessing thats just business as usual

That seems about right for a for a Lopi or a VC.

I'll be pretty creased if I don't get 20 years out of my PE.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/42141/

There's one - still got some catching up to do with Lopi - and VC is miles ahead.
 
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