I'm looking for a little stove for the family cabin. The cabin is approx 35 feet long and 16 feet wide. As of now, no insulation. Floor plan is 3 sections or rooms. Back section is 5 x 16 wide and has the bathroom and a small area for shoes, tools etc. Heating this is not important. Middle section/room is 10x16 and is the sleeping area. Somewhat important to heat in summer and shoulder seasons, but the last few times I went up in the winter I had it closed off. The front area is 20 feet long and 16 wide. This is the area that needs to be heated. There is a fairly comfy futon that I usually pull out when I go up to do some ice fishing or skiing. It's big enough for me and the dog. The wife isn't into colder weather activities. It's just one big room.
So on to the heating needs of the cabin. There used to be a potbelly stove installed in it. It needed to be replaced and my father had me pull it, and the singlewall chimney out. He had me install a 22K btu ventfree in it's place. I want it out. The cabin is very exposed as it is on a peninsula with a mile of lake behind and 4 miles of lake in front of it. Experience with the VF tells me that with a good wind going, 22K btu is not enough to raise the temp very fast. Maybe 2 degrees an hour... Maybe. I've brought up a kero heater that also threw about 22K btu and together they raise the temp fairly quickly, even with the wind. When the kero is turned off, the temp rapidly falls. (It did rise back up when the wind quit over night. I woke up to temps in the high 60s.) So I believe my little front room needs around 40K for heatup on a 10 degree day with wind. To hold temp on the same day I think I need around 30K btu. A fairly heavy load for a 300 sq ft room! At night, without the wind, around 15K would probably fill the need. This is obviously a leaky structure.
On to the stove needs:
The room is small to CTC is important. When I pulled out the potbelly, which had 2 feet in all directions around it, I gained so much room. I have to give the VF a high-five on giving floor space.
I like non cat, if only because I might have to use wood that isn't the most ideal. If for some reason I can't bring wood from my stacks at home I don't know what I'll be burning.
I like the cook top option. There is a propane stove that I use to heat and cook on, but if I don't have to fire it up I'm happy. Also, I hate having to rely on something in a tank that can empty without much notice. Dragging a hundred pound tank through snow in order to refill it could ruin the fishing. I'd probably pack it up if my tanks were empty.
Cast iron or steel, not overly important as the stoves I've purchased as an adult have been steel. I think I'd like CI in the cabin though. The soft heat may be nice in such a small room too.
Firebox size, important because of the need for a good charge to heat the place up, but super long burn times are not very important. I don't live in the cabin in the winter so relighting fires here and there wouldn't be a turn off and I'd hope the CI would even out the heat delivery a bit. Shoulder seasons are shoulder seasons and I wouldn't need long burn times then either.
Window, not really important, but I've noticed the wife feels warmer when she sees a fire. Who knows, maybe I'd be able to get her up in the winter. Maybe she'd actually use the snowshoes I bought her a few years ago.
What do y'all say? I think the PE T4 is a good looking stove. It states 56K btu out of a 1.5 cu ft firebox. I should be able to get 40K btu out of it and then choke it down. It has both CI and Steel construction. Nice window and I like the wings for pot warming racks. How durable is the PE firebox. It says it has a steel baffle. Is it a better design than the ceramic baffle in the Englander stoves? It's the one thing I don't like about my 30.
Any suggestions? Other stoves I've looked at are the 602. It had many of the same features, but I wasn't sure how well I'd like it sticking out into the room and the CTC were not as close. I've looked at the Quad step tops. Interesting, but quite pricey.
Matt
So on to the heating needs of the cabin. There used to be a potbelly stove installed in it. It needed to be replaced and my father had me pull it, and the singlewall chimney out. He had me install a 22K btu ventfree in it's place. I want it out. The cabin is very exposed as it is on a peninsula with a mile of lake behind and 4 miles of lake in front of it. Experience with the VF tells me that with a good wind going, 22K btu is not enough to raise the temp very fast. Maybe 2 degrees an hour... Maybe. I've brought up a kero heater that also threw about 22K btu and together they raise the temp fairly quickly, even with the wind. When the kero is turned off, the temp rapidly falls. (It did rise back up when the wind quit over night. I woke up to temps in the high 60s.) So I believe my little front room needs around 40K for heatup on a 10 degree day with wind. To hold temp on the same day I think I need around 30K btu. A fairly heavy load for a 300 sq ft room! At night, without the wind, around 15K would probably fill the need. This is obviously a leaky structure.
On to the stove needs:
The room is small to CTC is important. When I pulled out the potbelly, which had 2 feet in all directions around it, I gained so much room. I have to give the VF a high-five on giving floor space.
I like non cat, if only because I might have to use wood that isn't the most ideal. If for some reason I can't bring wood from my stacks at home I don't know what I'll be burning.
I like the cook top option. There is a propane stove that I use to heat and cook on, but if I don't have to fire it up I'm happy. Also, I hate having to rely on something in a tank that can empty without much notice. Dragging a hundred pound tank through snow in order to refill it could ruin the fishing. I'd probably pack it up if my tanks were empty.
Cast iron or steel, not overly important as the stoves I've purchased as an adult have been steel. I think I'd like CI in the cabin though. The soft heat may be nice in such a small room too.
Firebox size, important because of the need for a good charge to heat the place up, but super long burn times are not very important. I don't live in the cabin in the winter so relighting fires here and there wouldn't be a turn off and I'd hope the CI would even out the heat delivery a bit. Shoulder seasons are shoulder seasons and I wouldn't need long burn times then either.
Window, not really important, but I've noticed the wife feels warmer when she sees a fire. Who knows, maybe I'd be able to get her up in the winter. Maybe she'd actually use the snowshoes I bought her a few years ago.
What do y'all say? I think the PE T4 is a good looking stove. It states 56K btu out of a 1.5 cu ft firebox. I should be able to get 40K btu out of it and then choke it down. It has both CI and Steel construction. Nice window and I like the wings for pot warming racks. How durable is the PE firebox. It says it has a steel baffle. Is it a better design than the ceramic baffle in the Englander stoves? It's the one thing I don't like about my 30.
Any suggestions? Other stoves I've looked at are the 602. It had many of the same features, but I wasn't sure how well I'd like it sticking out into the room and the CTC were not as close. I've looked at the Quad step tops. Interesting, but quite pricey.
Matt
