Q&A Jotul vs. Vermont Castings

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QandA

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Nov 27, 2012
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Question:

We are looking to install a woodstove in our cabin (located in northern Minnesota) this summer, would appreciate any guidance you could give. Have decided that we like the looks of cast iron stoves, and are looking at Jotul and Vermont Castings. Have narrowed it down to the Jotul Series 3 CB and the Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim. Both are non-cat stoves. According the literature: the Jotul puts out 42,000 BTU/hour while the VC is rated at 40,000 BTU/hour. The Jotul's heating capacity is 1300 square feet, while the VC is 800-1600 square feet. The Jotul's max. burn time is 7 hours, and the VC is up to 9 hours. Our cabin is an A-frame design, with a very open layout (main floor with a loft). The square footage of the main floor is is 700 sq. feet, and the loft is 240 sq. feet, for total of 940 sq. feet (is this the correct way to calculate sq. footage for woodstove use, i.e., should you add the square footage of the loft to the main floor for a total?). The cabin is not real "tight", and is only average insulated. We have electric heat also, which we've used the past two winters, and works fine. However, we'd like to use the stove as much as possible (and use the electric as a back-up/in addition) as it's much cheaper than electric. We're trying to decide which stove would best suit our needs (i.e., don't want to have too big of a stove so that we have to burn small fires to be comfortable, nor do we want a small stove that we have to keep going at maximum all the time). Would very much appreciate your thoughts. Thanks a lot, Mark

P.S. Have heard that Dovre is another manufacturer of cast iron stoves, however, these are not sold in our area. Do they have any models (preferable non-cat) comparable to the Jotul Series 3 CB and the VC Resolute Acclaim?



Answer:

I have sold and used both brands and they are both quite good. However, the Vermont Castings model has a larger firebox and top loading- the result being that more wood can be loaded in the firebox. This means a longer burn time at a higher output. The Jotul is a great stove, but in your case, I'd go for the VC (or step to the larger Jotuls).

Update 2000- Jotul has introduced 3 new woodstoves which fit virtually ny need ...so visit them at https://www.hearth.com/jotul

Link: Jotul Stoves

Link: Vermont Castings
 
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