Hi. New member here. I've lurked for a long time but now I need honest opinions from people that know. I'll give my history first I guess.
In 2006 we purchased an old house that has been moved twice in location. It had electric heat and was very cold for the first winter. We're talking a $5-600 monthly power bill and freezing to death haha. I decided that winter that the next winter would have a wood stove.
So my first unit was a cast iron acorn voyager wood stove. Very big stove and being cast iron, it took a lot of wood to get it heated up, but once heated, it stayed warm a very long time without fuel even. We used that unit for 5 years burning 14 truckloads a winter. A lot of wood and a lot of work. So we decided on an upgrade to a more modern stove.
Unit number 2 was a drolet classic 2200. It was a tremendous amount easier on wood and gave off really good heat. I cut my fuel usage down to 8 truckloads the first winter. I was loving that, but all I could get was 6-8 hours burn time. Less than optimal with such an old house. We took that unit out in favor of a promise of longer burn times and less wood usage 2 years ago in 2021.
The third unit that's in use now is a drolet tundra 2 wood furnace. It can really put out a lot of heat, but the promise of less wood usage isn't there. In fact I am using almost 3 times more than the drolet classic. Far, far to much fuel. And I'm not getting the promised burn times either. The stove is gone out the majority of mornings. The big problem with the wood furnace is that it's in my garage. I don't have a basement so I'm not getting any radiation in the house. I have to burn a lot of wood to heat the house and maintain the temp because of the lack of radiation. Whole the garage and the room above the garage are very very warm.
So, we are going back to a wood stove inside the house. I'm looking for recommendations on a good unit, with long burn times, that requires little clearances. I would love to have a catalyst stove but I don't have the budget for it unless my tundra 2 sells. Without the sale I have a $2000 budget for the stove alone. Please give me your thoughts. I'm very sorry for the very long initial post but I feel the more info you have the better.
In 2006 we purchased an old house that has been moved twice in location. It had electric heat and was very cold for the first winter. We're talking a $5-600 monthly power bill and freezing to death haha. I decided that winter that the next winter would have a wood stove.
So my first unit was a cast iron acorn voyager wood stove. Very big stove and being cast iron, it took a lot of wood to get it heated up, but once heated, it stayed warm a very long time without fuel even. We used that unit for 5 years burning 14 truckloads a winter. A lot of wood and a lot of work. So we decided on an upgrade to a more modern stove.
Unit number 2 was a drolet classic 2200. It was a tremendous amount easier on wood and gave off really good heat. I cut my fuel usage down to 8 truckloads the first winter. I was loving that, but all I could get was 6-8 hours burn time. Less than optimal with such an old house. We took that unit out in favor of a promise of longer burn times and less wood usage 2 years ago in 2021.
The third unit that's in use now is a drolet tundra 2 wood furnace. It can really put out a lot of heat, but the promise of less wood usage isn't there. In fact I am using almost 3 times more than the drolet classic. Far, far to much fuel. And I'm not getting the promised burn times either. The stove is gone out the majority of mornings. The big problem with the wood furnace is that it's in my garage. I don't have a basement so I'm not getting any radiation in the house. I have to burn a lot of wood to heat the house and maintain the temp because of the lack of radiation. Whole the garage and the room above the garage are very very warm.
So, we are going back to a wood stove inside the house. I'm looking for recommendations on a good unit, with long burn times, that requires little clearances. I would love to have a catalyst stove but I don't have the budget for it unless my tundra 2 sells. Without the sale I have a $2000 budget for the stove alone. Please give me your thoughts. I'm very sorry for the very long initial post but I feel the more info you have the better.
