Modern/Contemporary Stoves +/-'s

[TrevorZS]

Hello all, new here and new to looking at stoves.
I've done a fair amount of web searching and could use some help/advice.

I'm looking mainly at modern/contemporary wood burning stoves, and would like to hear other's +/-'s on them.

Ones I know of are:
Rais, Scan/Jotul, Wittus (Wolf), Morso (the modern soapstone models), Max Blank, Bari (by HearthStone)... but would like to also hear about others as well.

Any anyone offer any experience on – use*, reliability, actual heat functionality (vs being more decorative), maintenance, etc?

*e.g. Seems like they all have pretty small firebox sizes (kind of a concern, not just low BTUs, but also, burn time, and only being able to fit tiny logs) … but would appreciate anyone’s experience to see how this worked out for them.

Thanks,
--Trevor

 

[hookspacken]

I guess it would depend on how you are planning on using the stove. I dont think theat most of the contemporary stoves are designed to be primary heat sources, more so they are for occasional fires in the evenings.

 

[jpl1nh]

When I started looking at new stoves, I too was surprised by how small the fireboxes were for medium size miodels I was looking at. Then again, contemporary stoves are more efficient by up to 1/3 which means you can have a smaller firebox. I have a Woodstock stove which replaced an old Jotul that I had. I was sad to see the Jotul go and a bit apprehensive that I might not like the new stove. WRONG!! The Woodstock is lightyears better than the old Jotul. It is my primary heat source, easy to use, beautiful to look at, miserly on wood use and extremely clean burning. New stoves in my opinion rate ++++++++++++, if there was any - at all it can be somewhat pricey depending on what you get. They are more functional, more efficent, transfer heat better and more evenly, go for it without reservations!

 

[Burn-1]

Ones I know of are:
Rais, Scan/Jotul, Wittus (Wolf), Morso (the modern soapstone models), Max Blank, Bari (by HearthStone)... but would like to also hear about others as well.

Any anyone offer any experience on – use*, reliability, actual heat functionality (vs being more decorative), maintenance, etc?

*e.g. Seems like they all have pretty small firebox sizes (kind of a concern, not just low BTUs, but also, burn time, and only being able to fit tiny logs) … but would appreciate anyone’s experience to see how this worked out for them.

Trevor for ones available in the US you could add (broken link removed), (imported by the same group importing Max Blank), the (broken link removed to http://www.pacificenergy.net/product_fusion.php), and one I just found today (broken link removed), which isn't quite modern looking but not bad either.

There are tons of European makers like (broken link removed to http://www.rika.at/en/woodburning_stove/), (Austrian), Hwam, (Danish), (broken link removed), (Italian), (broken link removed to http://www.termorossi.com/inglese/01_a_stufelegna.html), (also Italian), (broken link removed), (Dutch), (broken link removed), (also Dutch), (broken link removed to http://www.hergom.com/gama_estufas_estufas.php?idioma=es&estufas=lena&opcion=todos&PHPSESSID=1f9203d94e1328cf6cd16856d9c00855), (Spanish), (broken link removed to http://www.nibe.com/stoves/contura.htm), (Swedish), (broken link removed to http://www.nibe.com/stoves/handol.htm), (also Swedish), Harvia, (Finnish), and my favorite the Topolino made by Tonwerk-Larsen, (Swiss). I have a few more links but you get the idea.

I don't have any personal experience with any of these but I would first note that Europeans live in much smaller houses than most Americans and Canadians and need less heat to begin with, and there is also probably less space for wood storage as well. If you check out the sites you will see the numbers put forth by the European stove makers would seem to be as efficient as most North American counterparts. In general Europeans are about form as well as function so I don't think that these are meant to be for decoration more than heat. Style and substance go together, like Pininfarina coachwork in a Ferrari.

The main drawback for us is that none of these stoves is imported to the US as far as I know and given the sorry state of the greenback vs. the euro, these would set one back serious money for ultimately less heat output in most cases due to the disparity between European and North American dwellings. That said, when I was looking at these my wife was over my shoulder and asked why we don't have a wood stove that looks like 'one of those'. She said she would help more with the stove if we could get one. I can dream.

 

[TrevorZS]

Thanks 'Burn 1' - that was a nice list. Below are a few more.

I also checked the reviews but didn't see any listed ... there has to be folks out their buying these as there are some US importers.

What I can't believe is American manufactures aren't diversifying their models to include styles like these. However, I heard from an importer two main reasons for this –
1. US stove dealers are mainly ex-installers & tend to be blue-collar in mentality (instead of having a designer mentality) which leads them to be unwilling to stock support anything having style or new/different from what they used to install themselves.
2. The EPA makes it hard to approve imported stoves imported.

Help anyone? I can’t buy a stove that is mostly decoration*, but they look so much nicer that the boring old fashion US models.
*It’s hard to tell how big a heat producer these euro-stoves are. The fire boxes are small, but suppose to be more efficient (not sure how that works either).

Thanks,
--Trevor

Other Contemporary Design Stove Sites:
(broken link removed) (Italian stoves)
http://www.bordelet.fr/ (French stoves)
British site, multiple lines)
http://www.continentalfires.com/
http://www.firesonline.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
US importer of European stoves
(broken link removed)
http://www.fiamma.us/

 

[Gooserider]

It's a bit of a chicken / egg situation - you aren't going to sell contemporary stoves if there is no demand for them, and you can't generate the demand if nobody is selling them... Personally, I want a stove that looks like a stove, not a reject from Star Drek or a video game, so I want to stick with something more "classic looking" like most of the US stoves, or even a Jotul. (It's a STOVE Captain, not a warp drive... :lol: )

As to the testing, I think it's partly a commentary on the expense of getting past the EPA / UL testing procedures, and also I've heard that the Euro stoves are designed to a different set of standards than the US - The EPA standards have focused almost exclusively on gpH, whereas the Euro stoves are more concerned w/ overall efficiency, so it may be a case of the Euro stove burning clean overall, but not meeting the EPA standards. (I remember a while back when we had the lady from the Mediteranean asking for advice, it appeared that her stove didn't have any sort of secondary burn technology in it at all...) If that's the case, the stove would need a redesign to meet US standards, and that probably wouldn't be worth it.

Gooserider

 

[Bill]

There's a store by me that has contemporary stoves, there expensive, and there is very little demand for them.

Then again, contemporary stoves are more efficient by up to 1/3 which means you can have a smaller firebox. Can someone explain this quote, I don't get it?

 

[senorFrog]

Don;t forget to check out these: http://www.vogelzang.com/

 

[Gunner]

There's a store by me that has contemporary stoves, there expensive, and there is very little demand for them.

Then again, contemporary stoves are more efficient by up to 1/3 which means you can have a smaller firebox. Can someone explain this quote, I don't get it?

Compared to a smoke dragon

 

[webbie]

Hello all, new here and new to looking at stoves.
Ones I know of are:
Rais, Scan/Jotul, Wittus (Wolf), Morso (the modern soapstone models), Max Blank, Bari (by HearthStone)... but would like to also hear about others as well.

Any anyone offer any experience on – use*, reliability, actual heat functionality (vs being more decorative), maintenance, etc?

Not as much wood in Europe, and smaller boxes are more efficient in general for smaller flats (average house size is smaller too).

That said, companies like Scan and Morso and others make some decent fireboxes in their larger models. That list, plus the few other suggestions, seems like PLENTY of choices.

I'm repeating myself here, but the Avalon of 2007 looks exactly like the Avalon of 1984. Same with a lot of other manufacturers. Many years ago, Lopi was on the leading edge of new stove design....but they went broke overspending on R&D;. You cannot force a market, and you must provide what people want to buy.

A lot of the modern designs have went to fireplaces......since a wealthier client can be had in some areas. Example - Albers in Central NJ have always sold top-of-the-line Fireplaces in all styles....

But I can tell you with confidence that our stove warehouse had piles of Avalons, VC and Jotul in it....and that is what people wanted to buy. We would often bring in a modern look (Piezetta, etc)....and it would just sit there.

Just like Ford Pickup Trucks and Chevy Surburbans.......we have a certain taste (or lack of in some views), and that dictates what the customers will see and buy.....

 

[WILDSOURDOUGH]

Another factor in stove choice is that a modern contempory designed stove only goes with a contempory home- more the city, less the heartland/country. Space and layout is a concern in the overall design as well as "the look", and as such - a wood/ gas stove is usualy part (or not) of the original design- not an add on.
Many of us country folk either have always had a stove, replacing a stove, or have got tired of the oil/gas companies and are returning to roots and retrofitting a stove into a home. Not likely that we would install a stove that looks like, and is in fact a pitcureframe that has to be built into a wall or an art object. There are many "charms" in "the look" of a modern stove- but when money meets the dealers counter, I will take - Tried and True with "looks" over an unknown. Maybe, just maybe that is why you can find lots of sites and info on these exotic stoves- but very few in the stores or in use.

 

[BrotherBart]

Another factor in stove choice is that a modern contempory designed stove only goes with a contempory home- more the city, less the heartland/country. Space and layout is a concern in the overall design as well as "the look", and as such - a wood/ gas stove is usualy part (or not) of the original design- not an add on.
Many of us country folk either have always had a stove, replacing a stove, or have got tired of the oil/gas companies and are returning to roots and retrofitting a stove into a home. Not likely that we would install a stove that looks like, and is in fact a pitcureframe that has to be built into a wall or an art object. There are many "charms" in "the look" of a modern stove- but when money meets the dealers counter, I will take - Tried and True with "looks" over an unknown. Maybe, just maybe that is why you can find lots of sites and info on these exotic stoves- but very few in the stores or in use.

That and nobody is going to dribble bark on the carpet in a million dollar condo that would be the best fit for the contemp. stoves aesthetically.