Looking for new stove advice

[Oregun]

New here but have been wood heating my house for 40 years now.
My current stove is about 30 yrs old Russo cat stove with about 2 cu ft firebox.
This heats my 1400 sq ft 2 story house well but it tends to huff if I set the air too low.
It will burn 8-12 hrs fully loaded. I burn only fir in the Pacific Northwest.
My chimney is 16' from the ceiling through the roof of 8" triple wall with a rotating cap and
about 7' of double wall down to the stove. Temps here are usually pretty mild in the winter but last
week it got down to 5F a couple nights. I burn about 2.5 cords /yr of doug fir that I get from
the state forest. Looking for a longer/cleaner burning stove preferably with a right side load.
My current stove puts out about a gallon of creosote per month in the flue.
Going to use my old stove to heat my unattached garage.

 

[Niko]

Www.blazeking.com

Since you are used to cat stoves i think you will love new ones.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I burn about 2.5 cords /yr of doug fir that I get from
the state forest. Looking for a longer/cleaner burning stove preferably with a right side load.
My current stove puts out about a gallon of creosote per month in the flue.
Going to use my old stove to heat my unattached garage.

A gallon of creosote a month off 2.5 cords per year? This seems heavy. How long has the wood been drying? What temps are you running on the stove?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The woodstock keystone and fireview are side loadin and cat stoves, but the amount of creosote produced needs attention.

 

[Oregun]

The wood has been down for a year or two but laying on the ground. I cut and split it typically in the spring and stack it in my garage by may. I load up my stove when it has a good bed of coals in the evening and the cat thermometer on the top of the stove reads about 1000 F after it stabilizes. I am turning the air down to the minimum to get it to run this low otherwise it will go up to 1200-1300 which will cook us out. 1000 F on the top of the stove seems to heat the house well even when the temps get in the teens.

The biggest problems are adjusting the air just right and too much creosote and dirty glass. So I clean the flue every other month in the winter. It does seem a little better since I changed the cat last year. I was looking at the Ashford 30 stove and was wondering if that would be a good replacement. I know that is not side loading but I want a longer burn time. I also don't want to have
fans running on the stove.

 

[begreen]

The Ashford 30.1 would be a good choice, especially for the west coast due to lower shipping costs. If you are trying to save a bit more then also look at their Sirocco line.

 

[Oregun]

The Ashford 30.1 would be a good choice, especially for the west coast due to lower shipping costs. If you are trying to save a bit more then also look at their Sirocco line.

Got a quote on Ashford 30 for $2866 cash/carry. How much cheaper do the sirocco's run?

 

[Squisher]

Are you reusing the 8" chimney?

 

[Oregun]

Are you reusing the 8" chimney?

Yes, the guy that quoted me the stove contacted Blaze King and they said the 8" would work ok,
going bigger was ok but not smaller.

 

[Squisher]

If they ok'd it, they would know better than me. I would guess that that's about the limit to oversizing at that height of 16? I'd be curious to hear others thoughts.

Exciting time new stove shopping.

 

[Oregun]

Would be 7 ft of 6" double wall to the ceiling then 16 ft of 8" triple wall so 23 ft total.
This would be straight up.

 

[begreen]

Got a quote on Ashford 30 for $2866 cash/carry. How much cheaper do the sirocco's run?

That would depend on your dealer. Best to give them a call for a comparison price.

 

[Oregun]

Are there any other stove makers that make stoves with extended burn times like blaze king?
I have been reading about problems some people are having with smoke/creosote smell & draft problems
with blaze king and my wife can't tolerate any of that.
Can the Cape Cod model be throttled down for extended burns?

 

[kennyp2339]

Woodstock stoves are fairly equal to BK, maybe slightly less burn time, they are made on New England so you would have to factor truck shipping. I own a BK princess and absolutely love it.

 

[Oregun]

Woodstock stoves are fairly equal to BK, maybe slightly less burn time, they are made on New England so you would have to factor truck shipping. I own a BK princess and absolutely love it.

Thanks, I am getting a quote from Woodstock on shipping to Oregon. Is your BK smoke/odor free? The burn times
for Woodstock are only rated at 14hrs vs 30-40 hrs for the BK's.

Update: got this back from Woodstock. Their stoves don't sound much better than my 1988 cat stove as far as burn times.
Thank you for contacting us with your interest in our stoves. We have 6 different models all weighing a different amount. To ship a stove to a business in that zip code that would have either a forklift or a loading dock and can take deliveries from a full size tractor trailer, the freight rate would be between $445.00-$687.00. The two larger, and heavier stoves, the Progress and the Ideal Steel Hybrids can heat between 1500-2200 square feet and on a full load of mainly well seasoned hardwoods, the burn times are between 12-14 hours. Douglas Fir can be used but it needs to be split and dried at least two years to be effective and because it is a softer wood, you may not get that full burn time.

 

[Tavery]

Did you get the BK 30 installed? I am curious if it meets your expectations.
when building our 1500sq single level home here in Missouri last summer I located the woodstove centrally in the floor plan.
It came down to a choice between the BK Ashford 30 and the Woodstock Absolute Steel.
I ordered the AS in the spring at pre production pricing and couldn't be happier.
I have heated exclusively with wood this winter using 1.1 cord of seasoned oak thus far.
burn time? Honestly I have never loaded the stove all the way up to test it for anything beyond 12 hours. It puts out more heat than my well insulated house can take on the front side of the burn cycle if I do. I think this would be True with any stove. Unless your willing to tolerate cresote and smokey chimney. (I am aware of BK claims)
but if you need the heat on those cold days? No problem!
this thing will crank out the BTUs when needed.
if loaded and going the secondaries kick in beautifully for a little while. First hour or so. Then the catylitic burn takes over from there for the rest of the burn cycle.
the glass blacks out everytime. Stove top Temps of 400-500. For 6-8 hours then slowly goes down from there (the way I've been doing it).
I have removed exactly 10 gallons of ash and cleaned flue on Jan. 1st. Which yielded 1 quart of flaky creosote. Hope this helps.

 

[Oregun]

I had settled on the Ashford 30 since it seemed to excel in the slow burn but decided to go a different way
after reading extensively on this forum folks who had smoke/odor/draft problems with BK plus I really couldn't
see seasoning my firewood for 2 years time. My wife can't tolerate any smoke or odors.
Decided to get a pellet stove , Harman XXV so that I can get better control of the burning/heating. Found a used one
that was only used 1 season and am picking it up this week.
Thanks to those that replied. So ends 40 years of heating my house with wood stoves.
I am moving my old wood stove into my garage so it will still get some use.

 

[begreen]

Closing thread. Check into the pellet forum here for help with the Harman if you need it.