It's 30º here currently and predicted to go down to 22º and it's windy. Where Highbeam lives it will probably be in the teens.
N/S loading means full stove loads...Neither of the two stoves mentioned has andirons so it's a moot point. A full load provides longer burn time or more heat potential over a longer time. Seeing that you have loaded the Super's firebox on your sister's T5 this should be apparent.
Yeah, tonight it's cold there but how often does that happen when your average low temp for January is 37? How often are you running full loads? Maybe your house, with air infiltration and lots of windows, allows you to run bigger loads a lot of the time, I don't know.
I often see you advising folks that are worried about cooking themselves out with a particular stove that they can just burn smaller loads. I guess with a bigger house and proper measures to distribute the heat, the roast-out isn't as likely to happen.
Cat stove owners like Highbeam, stoveliker and myself have the option of loading full but just running the stove low by cutting the air, yet still burning clean.
I don't know that my SIL has
ever run a full load. All I've seen her load is maybe 2/3. The longest she's ever gone is about 8 hrs, so partial loads are fine for her.
I cut all wood for three stoves, two SILs and ours, at 16". That won't fit E-W in the T5, which isn't a true square-loader. Now, I
could find enough short splits to try E-W in the T5, but I haven't even started that many fires in her stove, much less loaded it E-W to try that out.
My EW loader was a small Century. I think it was a great little stove.
I like being able to stuff the firebox full with my NS loading. I remember having to save a wedge to hold rounds from rolling against the glass with the century. When it did happen, I never freaked out. I left it there until it was time to reload. No damage ever came of it. I got a black smudge on the glass. I got over it.
I think I could get the Century cruising much faster than my T5. It was a lot less metal, so it’d heat up fast. The lack of cladding ment it was super radiant.
I think EW loaders look nicer when burning. The ends of the logs just aren’t as aesthetically pleasing to my eye as the long grain is. I can live with this though.
Now, that's some refreshing input, amongst all this nay-saying.
With The fully east west stove logs can roll into the glass or fall out onto the hearth partially lit. A dumb design.
How often has anyone posted that a log rolled out on them? Not often, that I'm aware of.
Just put your gloves on, grab the flaming log and throw it back in. Nut up, no one said burning wood was for the faint of heart! 😆
Maybe the design isn't fool-proof, but the dumb operator is probably more of an issue. You split your own wood, right? You could just make some flat splits to put in front, so they couldn't roll into the glass or jump out on the floor. Problem solved.
No problems here with our E/W PE Vista. No rolling logs on the glass. Fits nicely on a corner pad with tight clearances. No issues heating our 1,900 sq ft cape well. We think it was a smart decision buying it. Also was less expensive than the bigger stoves so we saved some money. There’s a great review online of a guy in Alberta with a Vista heating a larger 2,400 home in temps much lower than we have. His review was spot on.
Another non-nay-sayer...I like it! 😏
Yes, I think price was one consideration for my new-burner friend, as was small footprint with the limited room where the stove is located.
The fact that guys like you and the online guy are heating much bigger spaces gives me hope that the Vista will do the job for my friend. He's got some air leaks to address, and 9.5' ceilings, but about half the sq. footage of you guys.
Sounds like logs on the glass isn't a problem for you, or load size either, so maybe this whole N-S vs. E-W business is a bit overblown.
when dialing down, the middle burns first, and the fire slowly moves sideways, when the middle splits are gone.
Yeah, I thought about that after posting about putting different woods at different depths, front to back in the box. Same could happen if you start the fire in the center, as I did with the N-S loading Buck 91 Bay.
Back to the question though. As begreen said, apart from preferences discussed above, both seem to be solid stoves. Do what pleases the eye. One can get used to things that are only preferences.
Right, let's try to give Bru71 some other info to aid in his decision. I saw that he's got 1800 sq.ft, open layout on one floor. So probably not gonna be a super-tall chimney where overdraft would be a concern. Not sure of the insulation/air sealing level of the home.
He's also not too concerned about the appearance of the stove, from what I saw.
One big reason I got the T5 for my SIL was its simplicity. No cat to replace, and very few moving parts with no bypass. I also liked the "floating firebox" concept..made sense to me. It's a quality stove. Hers is a 2019, so not quite the same as the new one...no EBT.
New-burner and I went to the Lopi shop, but I don't recall if they had the Evergreen. We looked at the Endeavor and Answer.
I fell in love with the grated ash-handling after I got the Dutchwest, and so I got it again with the Keystone. It makes the worst maintenance task of burning wood, dealing with ashes, a piece of cake. I got a Fireview for more heat, but then was painfully reminded what a pita is was to shovel ash. I resolved to tighten up the house so that the Keystone could handle cold weather better, and sold the Fireview to my BIL.
The Endeavor has a grate in the floor of the box, did I mention that?
😏 And I think you could cook on the step-top. I've never cooked on a stove, myself.
Quickly, run for your life! I see the ash-grate nay-sayers cresting yonder ridge, pitchforks in hand!
