Building a new 2100 sq ft. house, open floor plan-ranch style, 9 ft ceilings. Our old house had a VC Dutchwest cat stove year 2000 model that I didn’t care for. After reading for days on end through this forum, I realize part of it was the stoves fault, part of it my fault. Anyway, we like to burn 24/7 and I really don’t want to be replacing a cat every 2-4 years in the stove. I’m considering the Jøtul 500, and also the 600 simply because the 600 has the right side loading door which would be ideal for us. And we like the top loading Jøtul Rangely. We also are considering a pre 2020 non cat Hearthstone Heritage but I’m not sure it will put out enough heat to constantly heat the whole house. My question is will the 500/600/Rangely put out too much heat and require us to keep it turned down low and create creosote or will that be a non issues with these newer stoves? I want to keep it simple but this is a lot of money and I want to get it right!
Need some advice....
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I think the Jotul 500 or 600 would be fine in 2100 feet. The problem is the 600 is discontinued, the 500 is now catalytic. You’d need to buy the stove now if you can find a dealer that can get one. I’m not a fan of the rangeley, have you seen one in person? Have you considered a Hearthstone Manchester? The side door can be ordered on either side and the 2020 model will continue to be non-cat I’m pretty sure.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Thinking about new versus old construction. Our code just changed to R38 in the attic. Might make a difference when trying to pick a size of stove. I would be considering an outside air kit with new construction. Will you have a gas furnace too? heat pump?. I have an f400 and it can be controlled pretty well. I burned a fair bit of wet wood and even turned down low I burned mores than a cord and had no creosote. With dry wood the new stoves are pretty good. I tried last winter to do 24/7. Nah now I just set the thermostat at 65 and go to bed. Wake up some days to coals and an easy relight others I just use lots of kindling and a fire starter or hit the button on the wall. We have a 10 year old heat pump that was top of the line efficient when it was put in, but out insulation is not great. So during the coldest week of the year we are cold low mid to low 60s inside unless I use the resistive heat strips. if it’s really cold and the hottest we are hot low 80s if it’s really hot. I like my Jøtul a lot but don’t think I would ever want a cat stove of any brand.
As a point of reference my father-in-law has an F400 in southern Maine pre built 80s or early 90s construction. We lost power before Christmas lows to single digits and the F400, run hard, kept 2000 sq ft livable for 4 days while we were without power. We sat in the living room were comfortable and slept with several blankets.
I love the thought of build a new house. I got all sorts of ideas and half the budget. Hope that was helpful.
As a point of reference my father-in-law has an F400 in southern Maine pre built 80s or early 90s construction. We lost power before Christmas lows to single digits and the F400, run hard, kept 2000 sq ft livable for 4 days while we were without power. We sat in the living room were comfortable and slept with several blankets.
I love the thought of build a new house. I got all sorts of ideas and half the budget. Hope that was helpful.
One thing that seems odd about the 50 is they tout the top loading as being advantageous for the elderly and yet the ash pan is set rather far from the front of the stove requiring handling it by feel or getting down to see what you are doing which is anathema to the top loading advantage. Course, some people don't use the ash pan.
Both the 50 and the 55 are rated for 83,000 BTU and yet the 55 specs for 2,500 sq ft. which may just mean the firebox is a tiny bit bigger.
You really don't have to worry about creosote as long as you have well seasoned wood and don't try to throttle back the stove too soon.
I've got my stove down to load it, leave the air about half way to get a good burn going , set my watch's timer for 5 minutes and come back and kick the air back to where it's going to need to be. I never come back and find it smoldering, making smoke.
Both the 50 and the 55 are rated for 83,000 BTU and yet the 55 specs for 2,500 sq ft. which may just mean the firebox is a tiny bit bigger.
You really don't have to worry about creosote as long as you have well seasoned wood and don't try to throttle back the stove too soon.
I've got my stove down to load it, leave the air about half way to get a good burn going , set my watch's timer for 5 minutes and come back and kick the air back to where it's going to need to be. I never come back and find it smoldering, making smoke.
Thanks for the input. The Manchester is now a cat stove and the dealer can’t get a Manchester without it. They do have a non cat Hearthstone Heritage. He said the Jotul Oslo 500’s are still non cats, so if that’s true, that may be our best option.
He means he can get non-cats still. When they are gone it will be a cat stove. With no bypass! ??
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