Need a new wood stove

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JwinArkansas

New Member
Jan 9, 2022
1
Arkansas
Hi everyone. New here and looking for advice on wood stoves. We are really in a pickle and welcome any creative solutions. We grew up in Washington state and always used wood stoves as sole heat source.
Our lopi endeavour freestanding stove (2006 ish) was excellent. We could boil water on the cook top and it was so hot that we were "cooked out of the house". Same with a quadra fire insert (early 90s)in my moms house. (That's what I want in a wood stove). I dont want to be cold and I want to boil water incase of emergency.
We had a kuma insert installed in our new home in August. We were told that it would meet my expectations and perform the same as what we grew up with. However, the stove isn't hot. We can actually touch it even with a hot fire roaring. On a truly cold day, my house is still cold.
The new epa guidelines seem to have changed the way stoves are made now. Something about circulating air like a convection oven to "double burn"... does that sound right? I don't pretend to understand the nuances of how they are made but this stove just seems so insulated that it doesn't put out heat. We are burning 3x more wood than ever before and barely taking the chill out of the house. Our wood is really good aged, 15% moisture.
They are willing to take the stove back for a refund. I'm thankful for that so I can get what I want. However, I'm concerned that we might encounter the same issue if all new models meet this standard. Its winter now so it's kind of a worst case scenario to be without a stove especially when we planned ahead and got this in August.
Lastly, can I put a free standing stove directly on a hearth pad? Most freestanding stoves are too tall to fit in the fireplace opening. I need either low profile legs or none at all. Our dimensions for the fireplace are 27in tall 39 w and 4ft d. We also need to be able to connect to a 6in pipe because they are leaving the chimney liner they installed.
Thank you!
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Not sure about the free standing option, but is that the biggest insert that can fit in the opening? I got a lopi Large with a blower installed last year and it seems to heat a good 1500 Sq ft of my 2800. Fortunately we have a second fireplace and looking to get another. But I chose it has it was the largest that would fit. The blower and reburn helps as well.
 
To see if there might be a problem that would also appear with another stove:

-how did you measure the moisture content? On a room temperature and freshly split surface?

-how tall is your chimney?

-do you have a blower? (I don't know kuuma inserts)
 
Your closing the by-pass right?
 
How tall is the chimney? What speed do you run the blower on? Have you thought about adding flue temp probe?

I think you can just squeeze a Jotul with short legs but it will be tight. Double check my memory though.

I’d take the next week or or to see if you figure out why it’s not heating to your expectations.

Just some thoughts
 
Is this an exterior wall fireplace? Was a block-off plate installed in the damper area? If it is exterior and there is no block-off place then it could be that a lot of the heat from the insert is heating up the chimney and backside mass of the fireplace instead of the room. How large an area is the insert trying to heat? How high are the ceilings?

What temp does the thermometer typically read?

The 27" high opening will be a limiting factor. The post says the fireplace is 4ft deep. Is that a typo? What is the actual depth? What other brands does the dealer sell? FWIW, all inserts work by convection. What I think you want is a stove (or insert) that radiates more heat into the room. Flush inserts aren't great at that. The only surface area they have in the room is the face and door. Getting an insert that projects out onto the hearth 4-7" will help that.
 
I'm surprised that he never had the courtesy to at the least thank anyone for their thoughtful replies. People...
Who knows, a number of reasons for someone to stop responding.
 
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