Jotul F400 Castine?

[BlackGreyhounds]

Considering this for my house, 1200-1500 sq ft new (<10 y.o.) ranch. Any feedback regarding performance, size or other would be great before I pull the trigger. FWIW, we have an oil furnace to back it up, but would like to decrease the use of dino fuel as much as possible. Also, we like it on the cool side, like 58*F.

 

[begreen]

The F400 is a good radiant heater. It prefers a straight up chimney and decent draft. The stove will burn about 4-8hrs depending on the wood and how hard the stove is being pushed. That (58F) is a cool temp. We don't leave it that low ever. You will likely find the stove room quite a bit warmer when the stove is burning. Like all modern stoves, the Castine wants fully seasoned wood to burn best. It loads E/W which limits loading method a bit so that logs don't roll against the glass.The F400 is blue black enamel is one of the best looking stoves sold, IMO.

As an alternative you might want to consider a convective stove that radiates less direct heat. If the flue system is under 15 ft, I would look at the PE Alderlea T5.

 

[Grisu]

Also, we like it on the cool side, like 58*F.

That will be hard with a stove unless you also like lots of fresh air. For a newer and hopefully well insulated home I would also look at a catalytic stove like the BlazeKing 20 series or the Woodstock Fireview. You will get a more controlled heat output and longer burn times compared with a secondary burn stove like the F400 or the PE T5. Consider adding an outside air kit should your home be relatively air-tight.

 

[Oakwood5]

Recently installed the F400 and we are pleased. The living room is closer to 80 degrees and the rest of the house is in the mid 70's. We do have a second story and get a lot of natural draw up the stairs. Have found the two downstairs rooms furthest from the stove are a lot cooler but not 58. The stove has worked the best when it is full and hot. Our home is just over 1800 sq ft and this stove does not like anything but very well seasoned good wood. Good luck.

 

[rsw49]

Our F400 was installed last Oct so this is our first season operating the stove. We do not heat full time since it is a country "weekend" home for us but we have been spending two to three nights a week there. It easily heats our 1200 sq ft ranch manufactured home. We had a number of poplar trees taken down so for this first year we have been heating exclusively with poplar. Nothing else dry enough. Our burn times range from 4 to 6 hours running from fire start up to cruise temps of usually 500 to 650 and down to 250 to 300 just prior to reload. With our open floor plan we can easily keep the house 70 to 75 degrees even with the negative 10 degrees we had several nights ago. On one occasion we had several large pieces of white oak and had coals the next morning after 9 hours. I think it would be difficult to keep the temps down to 58 degrees. As Grisu mentioned above a cat stove would be a better candidate to maintain lower consistent temps.

 

[begreen]

300F stove top temp is a bit cool for this this stove. It should be operated in the 400-650F range.

 

[rsw49]

I may not have been clear in my wording but I meant 250 to 300 on the cool down portion just before reload. Normally I operate the stove in the 400 to 650 range as you mentioned.

 

[begreen]

All clear, I just missed that. Sounds like you are doing great.