Looking at a Quadrafire Isle Royale Today....

[Montgomery413]

After many hours of research, talking to folks on here, contacting installers and stove dealers we are one step closer to getting a replacement stove for our tired VC Vigilant.

I was really hoping to get away with a top venting steel stove, from previous posts I was looking at the Pacific Energy Super 27, Regency F2400, and lastly the Englander NC-30.

Our current step up has left all those options out of the mix. We had our fireplace measured the other day and to match up to our current stove pipe to liner layout we had to find something that would fit our 29" to center of pipe measurement. None of the top venting stoves we looked at would accommodate that layout with out significant redesign of our basement fireplace, so we have to find a rear venting stove.

I contacted the dealer recommended by our installer, as one would assume he does all the installs for this company. He stated he has had great luck with Quadrafire. To no one surprise this is not the first time I have spoke with an installer that swears by the brand they work with consistently. Although I realize that most of these high end stove manufactures make quality products that people have great luck with.

Now to the dollars and sense. When I called the store yesterday they said they have a Isle Royale floor model, porcelain mahogany, last years design (double doors, next year going to single). He quoted me $1899. From what I have seen that is a great price and from the real world testimony I have read on this site, that stove is a dream.

I'm looking to hear what people have to say about this stove. I can read about things for days on older posts but I like to read some fresh words about what I am potentially going to be living with and using for many years to come! I have attached pictures of our current setup. Thanks!

 

[Jags]

That is a great price.
About the stove....well, it works and works well. Highly reliable and has been one of the most trouble free "appliances" in my house. To date (since 2002) I have had to tap the upper right hinge pin back into place twice (TWICE - you can only imagine the nightmare maintenance issue that was.) /sarcasm. Same gaskets, same bricks, same everything. I am getting to the point that I might have to think about replacement of the baffles above the burn tubes and the replacement of the angle iron holder for the back bricks, but this thing has turn a mountain of firewood into ashes in its lifetime.
They ain't magic. There is no alien technology used in these stove, but they are a highly reliable, easy to use 3.0 cuft stove that works like they should. And a beauty to boot. LONG LIVE CAST IRON STOVES.

 

[begreen]

Great price for a great stove, especially considering it is enameled. That stove would be in my house today if it weren't for our clearances restrictions.

 

[branchburner]

Love top-loaders! I consider it a well-designed and great looking stove, at a great price... but my only concern would be since the Isle Royale is discontinued will replacement parts get more expensive, or become unavailable, should they ever be needed.

You say its last year's design, with double doors, next year going to single... am I missing something, since I thought these stoves were no longer being made?

 

[Jags]

... am I missing something, since I thought these stoves were no longer being made?

No - I believe the IR is discontinued and is to be replaced with one of the new models coming out.
I don't think I would be too concerned with parts availability for quite some time. They have made these stoves for a long time and there are a bunch out there. Parts supplies should be in the lineup for a long time coming.

 

[begreen]

The IS was replaced by the Explorer III this year. Similar look, but quite different construction.
(broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/Explorer-III-Wood-Stove.aspx)

 

[Montgomery413]

We looked at the stove today. It's perfect and we went for it. The original tag listed it at $2999, sale price $1999, final price $1899. We have looked at many different stoves and we knew with confidence that this was our stove. It should be getting it delivered and installed early next week. Bye bye Vigilant. The porcelain finish is not something we really wanted but it does give that stove a great elegant look and it didn't add to the price at all. We our very excited to get this stove up and running. It's going to be a huge upgrade for us.

FYI, great time to buy a stove. Dealers are hurting because of cheap oil prices, late in the season and at least out here in Southern New England a relatively mild winter. Every stove we looked at has some sort or rebate offering between $100-$300 off.

The dealer corrected himself, saying that the IR was replaced by the stove linked above. He showed me the Explorer III and it looks pretty similar from a distance but there definitely are some differences. He did mention that parts shouldn't be an issue for awhile. He cited some pellet stoves that were discontinued in the mid 90's that are just starting to see parts dry up.

 

[stovelark]

Hi Mont- fantastic find and purchase, a true cast iron heating beast that is quite capable. Don't worry about parts, they will be available for at least the next 20 years from Quadrafire, though as someone did mention, the later years the parts will get more pricey. But for now, celebrate, you got a bargain. The explorer series stoves' are the replacements for the IR, but they are a bit less appealing to most of us IR fans. Good luck with her.

 

[baseroom]

Ok I LOVE my IR! Have burned stoves my whole life 60 years. If you use dry wood, follow good burning practices, you will be very pleased! Jags is the expert! If you have questions come here and ask for help. That is a GREAT price! Welcome!

 

[Ash]

Another Isle Royale owner here. The stove is a heating beast and sounds like you got a hell of a deal. If I could still find one and get it for a price like you did I'd buy it and put it into storage for twenty years to use later.

 

[baseroom]

Another Isle Royale owner here. The stove is a heating beast and sounds like you got a hell of a deal. If I could still find one and get it for a price like you did I'd buy it and put it into storage for twenty years to use later.

Me too!

 

[Woody Stover]

If I had $2k to spend I might go for one of the other brands but getting a 3.0 cu ft fire box for just over $700 seems like a deal breaker to me.

If you get that good a deal on a quality stove, in enamel, the choice is clear.
Hope you've got some big splits; That stove likes to run, and you might have strong draft with that setup. Don't let too much wood get burning on the reload, start cutting the air early, until you know how the stove is going to act on your chimney.

 

[Montgomery413]

We would have gone for a lesser expensive stove if we didn't have a rear vent only situation. It actually worked out well the way it did. We are really happy we got this stove and all the positive responses reinforces our purchase!

 

[begreen]

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[OhioBurner©]

My folks also have a mohagany Isle Royale, and coincidentally it also replaced a old Vigilant that had been keeping us warm since I can remember (early 80's). Even though I don't think they use good burning techniques (he won't beleive the whole secondary burn thing and needing to use dry wood) it still does a better job for them then the Vigilant did.


My folks' stove room... sorry they have not put down the new floor yet after ripping up the old carpet but they have redone everything else in there.

 

[begreen]

Looks great. Nice hearth and room too.

 

[JA600L]

I bugged my local dealer about wanting to see one of those badly . They never stocked one. That is a great price. I would have been very tempted to buy one at that great of a deal.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Looks great. Nice hearth and room too.

Their house, despite being built in early 1800's, is setup great. That room is the central room in the house and pretty much every other room is open directly to it. The doorway beside the stove is the master bedroom, to the right of the pic is the living room (you can see the edge of one of the couches) and since they removed the dividing wall there the living room is almost entirely open to it. Just to the left of the bench is doorway to kitchen (you can see the edge of the door trim in the pic), and to the left of that is the bathroom. I'm standing in the big walk through closet, and right to my left is the stairway upstairs to 2 bedrooms. The only room that has to pass through another room is the dining room they added to the other side of the kitchen, that room gets cold. And I guess the stairs and open area around them to the bedrooms, but the heat rises up there good and passive vents through the floor of each bedroom. Very short ceiling too, and open concept as they say makes the place fairly easy to heat despite the old style construction with thin walls and brutal cold and wind on the NE shore of Lake Ontario (they were the coldest spot in the U.S. a couple weekends ago at -37!). They did say that morning they kicked on the oil furnace to help though. Sounds a bit silly but if I were to build new I might try something based right off their 200 yr old layout!

 

[begreen]

I'm a big fan of open floorplans and reasonable height ceilings. It makes a place much easier to heat.