New member needing help picking a stove for North Central Florida home

[Saburai]

Hello All! Very happy to have found this place. Seems like a wellspring of good folks and knowledge!
We're doing a complete renovation on a small house(980sq. ft.) in Archer Florida, right between Gainesville and Ocala. We're planning on a stove or less likely a small free standing fireplace. In my research I came upon Kuma stoves and was quite impressed, eventually speaking with Jack for 20 minutes or so and came away convinced of the quality of the product and the integrity of the company. Since then, I've been pondering... Although it does occasionally dip below freezing here for a few night's in the colder months, it's nothing like the majority of the country, saying nothing of the northern reaches. Nonetheless, one of the reasons we live here is our dislike of colder weather... This brings me to my questions. 1) Kuma is a hybrid cat stove and I'm concerned that to take advantage of this, I'd be producing more heat than needed to kick off the cat/secondary combustion. Is my assumption correct? 2) perhaps we'd be better served by a more traditional stove? 3) as I alluded to, a small free standing fireplace, while certainly not as efficient, might be simpler to use and more aesthetically pleasing as well? 4) are there small free standing fireplaces with heat tubes and forced air options? I'll add that I've built many fires in pits, stoves, fireplaces and saunas. So although this will be a first purchase, I'm not a stranger to fire making. Many thanks to all for taking the time to read and hopefully some great advice!
Best regards and TIA,
Rich in Archer

 

[begreen]

The Kuma could be a good choice. How large of an area would the stove be heating, the whole 980 sq ft, or mainly just the stove room? Is the floor plan pretty open? How well insulated is the house? Will the renovation include a modern, high-efficiency heat pump?

 

[Saburai]

The Kuma could be a good choice. How large of an area would the stove be heating, the whole 980 sq ft, or mainly just the stove room? Is the floor plan pretty open? How well insulated is the house? Will the renovation include a modern, high-efficiency heat pump?

Wow! How time flys! My apologies for not replying when I first saw your post.

As of now and for the foreseeable future, heat will be provided by an electric element in a traditional central A/C configuration. There's a plan in place for a 500 sq.ft. addition. At that point we woud most likely upgrade to more morden mini split units. For now it is what it is...

The floor plan is somewhat open, with a main area, the length of the house for living and dining, open to the kitchen. The bathroom is on the opposite side of the kitchen, with a small mud room/laundry to one side and the bedroom to the other.

Since my first post, we've had a chance to visit the wood stove store in Gainesville. My wife and I both found the Morsø 7110 to be both the size we were looking for as well as the clean lines aesthetically appealing, perhaps more than the Kuma Aspen LE. That being said, function is more important than form, and visually we do like both.

As you probably know, the differences between the two are that the Morsø is cast iron w/o a catalytic converter and made by a larger much older company in Denmark.

The Kuma is a hybrid welded steel cat stove made by a much smaller and newer company here in the USA.
Kuma produces the the most efficient stove available with one of, if not the best warranties avaliable. I’ve spoken with both the owner and his son a few times on the phone and I’ve come away pretty impressed…

However, as I've said, we both like the appearance of the Morsø a bit more than the Kuma and of course there’s that certain something about cast iron…

In the unlikely event that I needed parts, warranted or not, I’m thinking that it’d be easier to get them from Idaho vs. Denmark…

In the end, they’re probably both great stoves, priced similarly, hence the difficulty deciding…

Edited to add that we are of course open to suggestions for a different manufacturer- you folks know more about stoves than we do!

 

[begreen]

Take a look at the Jotul F35 and the Pacific Energy Alderlea T4. Both have cast iron jackets surrounding a welded steel stove.

 

[Saburai]

Take a look at the Jotul F35 and the Pacific Energy Alderlea T4. Both have cast iron jackets surrounding a welded steel stove.

Thanks for the speedy reply!
I'll take a look at them now.

 

[Saburai]

If you'd be so kind as to give a quick heads-up about the benefits of the steel liner cast iron combination?

 

[begreen]

They have all the benefits of a steel stove (durability, lower maintenance). The cast iron jacket has an air gap from the steel stove body which buffers and softens the heat and stores it for later release as the fire cools down. This leads to a more even heating of the area with less room temperature swing. Another advantage is that the paint on the cast iron stays at a lower temperature so it does not grey out over time but instead stays fresh looking.

 

[Saburai]

They have all the benefits of a steel stove (durability, lower maintenance). The cast iron jacket has an air gap from the steel stove body which buffers and softens the heat and stores it for later release as the fire cools down. This leads to a more even heating of the area with less room temperature swing. Another advantage is that the paint on the cast iron stays at a lower temperature so it does not grey out over time but instead stays fresh looking.

Many thanks!

 

[Saburai]

They have all the benefits of a steel stove (durability, lower maintenance). The cast iron jacket has an air gap from the steel stove body which buffers and softens the heat and stores it for later release as the fire cools down. This leads to a more even heating of the area with less room temperature swing. Another advantage is that the paint on the cast iron stays at a lower temperature so it does not grey out over time but instead stays fresh looking.

I did a brief search and it seem that both the steel liner stoves you suggested are cleared for the needed EPA tax break, so that puts them in the running alongside the Kuma and the Morsø 7110B. Are there any downsides to the steel liner stoves that you can think of? Perhaps more difficult to repair do to the increased mechanical complexity? Or anything else? If you were picking for yourself out of the four stoves on my short list, which would you choose? Why? Those questions are posed for the consideration of anyone else who might be interested in helping me out with the decision.
Thanks All!

 

[begreen]

Not really, they provide the best of both worlds. The Alderlea is one of the simpler stove on the market and with all stainless components in the firebox, it is very low maintenance.

 

[Saburai]

Not really, they provide the best of both worlds. The Alderlea is one of the simpler stove on the market and with all stainless components in the firebox, it is very low maintenance.

Thanks again! So I'm assuming that's the one you'd chose. I'm still sort of leaning towards the Kuma. Here's why: from what I understand, the hybrid cat design will function better "low and slow" which is where we'll be burning most of the time. Other considerations are they're a small American company with, from what I've read, a very good product and excellent customer support. Being steel, in the unlikely event that the stove would need repairs, I can weld it. However, if I'm correct in my understanding, the cat stoves are more sensitive to the moisture content of the wood. This could be a problem as the humidity here is extreme for a good part of the year...

 

[kwendt]

I am also considering between the PE Alderlea T4 and Jotul F35... and I think.... both are EPA 2020, but neither actually qualifies for the 30% tax credit. Am I wrong? And thanks @begreen for the explanation on cast iron and steel sleeve benefits.

 

[begreen]

That's correct.