New to Wood Stoves

[Romancommander]

Hi All,

I recently bought a home which uses a wood stove as a main heat source. It has an old 30 year old custom Napoleon wood stove in it right now. The home seller agreed to buy a new chimney liner and have the stove WETT certified. See pic of wood stove below:

I am thinking about what to do for HVAC. My house is built into a hill so it is fairly well insulated. It is 2500 square feet. It has baseboard heaters as a supplementary heat source. I want to try and use the baseboards as little as possible. I viewed the home during summer and it was really cool even when it was 30 celcius outside. I dont really think I need A/C.

I am thinking about upgrading my wood stove to something more efficient? Any recommendations? I have heard Jotul and Hearthstone are good... Also any tips for a new wood burner?

 

[webby3650]

Jotul makes a great product. For the most part they are all well built, only a few to avoid. Avoid anything that uses a downdraft combustion system. If it has a top load door, its likely one to avoid. (Quadra fire isle royale is the exception)
Look at the ones you mentioned as well as Blaze King, and Woodstock, for starters. These are some of the most well liked stoves out there. You can get as flashy as you want, from porcelain to flat black, depends on your preference. I have a Jotul in brown enamel, the fit and finish is next to none! But my Blaze King will outburn it by several hours with ease! Its really gonna come down to looks and how long you need it to burn on a load of wood.

 

[Oregon aloha]

Everyone has their favorite stove company. In your location I would recommend the Kodiak made by Enviro wood stoves. Personally I have a Kuma stove and if they are available to you then the Kuma Sequoia would be another good option.

 

[begreen]

The Jotul F55 would work there. Canada also makes a lot of good stoves. Take a look at the 2.5 to 3 cu ft stoves offered by Osburn, Enviro, Regency, Pacific Energy and Napoleon.

 

[Grisu]

Check which size flue you have there and if the masonry chimney is lined. Most modern stoves use one with a 6" diameter, only very large stoves need an 8" flue. Will usually someone be at home to feed the stove or would you prefer one with long burn times (> 10-12 hours)? For the latter I would recommend a catalytic stove from either BlazeKing or Woodstock.

Do you know how many cords did the previous owner burn in a winter and will he leave any seasoned wood with you? You will absolutely need dry wood when burning in a new stove.

 

[prezes13]

I think that I would go with blaze king stove. After reading all the positives opinions about bk stoves I am obsessed about owning one.

 

[Romancommander]

Hey guys, thanks for your responses. My old stove has an 8 inch flue so I will need to change over to a 6 inch flue. Is this expensive?

Also I just found out that the new chimney liner that the seller installed doesnt use a cleaning entrance that was created in the room behind the stove... hard to explain. The seller says there is a new way to clean with a vacuum cleaner or something?

Anyway, I live really close to Napoleon dealer and they have this reasonably priced S4 wood stove which is around $2000 plus $400 for installation. Think I should just get this? It looks pretty modern. Both me and my GF work so we won't be home during the day to feed it.

(broken link removed to http://www.napoleonfireplaces.com/products/s4-wood-burning-stove/)

Really appreciate all the assistance!

 

[jeff_t]

The seller had a stainless steel liner installed? Is it 8"? In a masonry chimney, I take it?

For a stove with a 6" flue collar, you would need to have a whole new 6" liner installed. Or buy a bigger stove for the 8" liner already there, if that's what it is. You may pay more for the stove, but being able to utilize the current liner would probably even the cost out. And I must say the Blaze King King is an excellent 24/7 heater.

Whatever you put there, get rid of that 90° elbow. Use two 45s instead, for better draft.

The clean out isn't a big deal. You can brush from the top, take off the connector pipe, and suck out whatever falls down with a shop vac.

The biggest, bestest tip for a new burner is to get busy cutting wood. Get 2-3 years ahead on your wood supply, and keep up with it. Truly dry wood is hard to buy, and modern stoves need it.

 

[webby3650]

Just because you have an 8" liner doesn't mean you can't use it with a 6" stove. You might have better results if it was 6" all the way up. I have had very good results running a 6" stove on an 8" flue. Mine is short and straight up though, not all flues will have good results.

 

[prezes13]

Since you have an 8" flue already and have a larger house and you are looking for long time burns maybe you should look into a large stove? Like blaze king king or hearthstone equinox? They will be more expensive but will pay for themselves in a long run. Also will heat your house better and will give you longer burn times.

 

[danimal1968]

Jotul makes a great product. For the most part they are all well built, only a few to avoid. Avoid anything that uses a downdraft combustion system. If it has a top load door, its likely one to avoid. (Quadra fire isle royale is the exception)
Look at the ones you mentioned as well as Blaze King, and Woodstock, for starters. These are some of the most well liked stoves out there. You can get as flashy as you want, from porcelain to flat black, depends on your preference. I have a Jotul in brown enamel, the fit and finish is next to none! But my Blaze King will outburn it by several hours with ease! Its really gonna come down to looks and how long you need it to burn on a load of wood.

I believe another member just posted that he'd gone through looking at Woodstock's UL certification and that they are not certified by UL Canada, which essentially rules them out for our neighbors to the North.

It's in this thread, down at the bottom: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/ideal-steel-hybrid-owners-testers-info-appreciated.129078/

 

[tcassavaugh]

looking at your choice of stove and its claim to heat 800-2000 sq feet, and your location in Canada I think i'd get a bigger box. i think stoves have a tendency to inflate their heating space capability. personally, i'd rather have a large stove and build a medium fire than have a medium stove and have keep it blazing in order to heat the house. i'd get one with an 8" collar to match the chimney liner if able. if that's not a choice I would get a large or extra large fire box and a 8-6 inch converter/neck down adapter. like many here I like the idea of a blaze king...king or princess but I don't have one. I do have a Jotul F3 CB that is also classed as a medium stove that only takes 18" max wood and is touted as heating 1300 sq feet. I have it in the living room of a pretty open floor plan with about 1200 sq feet on the main floor and it heats the house nicely. That said, it will only burn 4-6 hours before needing to be fed again. It will maintain only a few coals after that and by 8-12 hours only a few are left, the cast iron is warm, and normally I can at least restart another fire using the few coals still in the stove. my stove would not do well trying to heat much more than that. I leave for work at about 0200 and my wife leaves around 0700 and I return about 1400 so on that schedule it gets fed every 5-6 hours that lets it work pretty good. My PE Summit is an extra large, I believe, and I have in the basement and use during the dead of winter burns easily 10 hours between a load. It will heat the whole house but uses a lot of wood in doing so. I use the little stove during shoulder seasons and if its not too cold out. when the going gets rough, like it did this winter, I have to light up the big gun......and sometimes run both stoves.
good luck in your hunt.....heed the wisdom on this forum, there are a lot of long time wood burners that offer great advice and counsel. somebody has been there done that....and done it again and learned from it.

 

[begreen]

The S4 is a new model introduced last year. It is a nicely made stove. If you want to go a bit larger for longer burn times consider the Napoleon 1900, Pacific Energy Summit, Osburn 2400, Enviro Kodiak 1700 and Regency F3100.

 

[dougstove]

Pacific Energy, Summit or Super27.
I replaced a Napoleon similar to yours with one, and there is no comparison.
My wood consumption dropped ~30%, my house is warmer and my burn times are longer.
I would also consider having a new steel stove pipe installed, straight up from the stove and separate from the masonry chimney.
Then, when convenient, you can demolish the masonry chimney down to ceiling height, have it as a heatsink and eliminate a big heat channel through your attic and roof.
cheers, Doug

 

[cheechblu]

Can't go wrong with a Jotul. I have the F600. Going strong for 10 years now. Heats my open plan 2400sq/ft home till the high is below 30 degrees. Then I gotta kick on my coal furnace in the basement.
I've also read a lot of great reviews on the Drolet HT2000. Check out their site. Has a big box and they're made in Canada. Have fun searching.