Looking for opinions on what to do regarding dutchwest 2478

[Ejonesct]

Hey y'all, I bought my house in 2020 that had this dutchwest 2478 installed in it, looks like it was installed around 2007/2008. We've used it every winter and it rarely goes out, while it's a bit finicky to start sometimes, it's generally been great for us, but I'll warn that I'm definitely not an expert as this is my first wood stove.

Problem is that I know these are no longer manufactured and it looks like replacement parts are far more expensive than they would be for other stoves. While checking it out and getting the chimney swept this year we found the bricks and shoe refractory(??) are pretty cracked (see pictures) and probably need to be replaced. Based on what I'm seeing this is gonna be several hundred dollars, and I'm not sure if this is something I should/can easily do myself or if I would need to hire someone more experienced to do it correctly.

So my question for y'all, it seems really wasteful to get rid of an otherwise perfectly working cast iron stove that I'd think should last way longer than it has so far given the materials, but I'm not sure if it's just going to be more of a burden/cost to put off just replacing it with something that is newer, less fuss, and has readily available and reasonably priced parts, or if I should put the cost into this and maintain it. As I said it's my first wood stove so I just don't know what makes long term sense here. We are planning to be in our house for a long time so we want to do what makes the most sense for the future. Thanks in advance for any help and opinions!!

 

[EbS-P]

Personally I think putting the parts money towards a new stove makes the most sense. Memebers are running nearly 24/7 for months at a time for more than 10 years with basically zero maintenance costs. All the Pacific Energy stoves are good. Jotul F45 and F55. Are my favorites there are other good stoves too. If tax credits are important blaze king

 

[Ejonesct]

Personally I think putting the parts money towards a new stove makes the most sense. Memebers are running nearly 24/7 for months at a time for more than 10 years with basically zero maintenance costs. All the Pacific Energy stoves are good. Jotul F45 and F55. Are my favorites there are other good stoves too. If tax credits are important blaze king

Thanks for your thoughts, I was thinking that may be the case but didn't quite want to accept it. Appreciate the recommendations I'll take a look at those

 

[Ejonesct]

Just wanted to update here for posterity that given the alternative is throwing the whole thing out, I'm just going to do the minimum to keep it going for now as it looks like most of it is in operating condition for the time being. I feel comfortable after researching with the state of most of the stove except the right side brick and insulation, which I can replace for under $150. I know the stove won't last forever so we'll be looking for other models and will definitely be getting rid of this once the more expensive and more custom sized refractory gets to a worse state.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Just wanted to update here for posterity that given the alternative is throwing the whole thing out, I'm just going to do the minimum to keep it going for now as it looks like most of it is in operating condition for the time being. I feel comfortable after researching with the state of most of the stove except the right side brick and insulation, which I can replace for under $150. I know the stove won't last forever so we'll be looking for other models and will definitely be getting rid of this once the more expensive and more custom sized refractory gets to a worse state.

Your correct in that many other stoves require less maintenance. This being said, Doing a partial rebuild isn't that hard. I purchased my stove years ago and did my rebuild last summer. Yes parts are a little pricey but Im ok with that. My stoves well behaved runs 24/7 and is the primary heat source. Even though iv done a rebuild Im still wayy ahead in heating savings. I can do 3 full rebuilds for the cost of 1 heating season using oil.. So if I run the stove for 20 years and rebuild 2 or 3 times im like 60 k ahead.. looking at that way is pretty much a no brainer.

I did the rebuild myself and did a thread on it

Some of the VC stoves in the past haven't been that great and I agree with that. If your setup is good and the stove runs well and your saving money with it.. keep it going. Iv gotten parts and keep them so iff needed.. I can just rebuild in another 7 years