Curious if anyone knows how long the burn time might be with the Pleasant Hearth 1200?
I am looking to install one in a 300 sq. ft. (10' x 30') sunroom/greenhouse space that is all glass on one side. Two sides are the former exterior sides of our home (the sunroom was an addition), and the fourth 10' wall has a glass exterior door and two windows. The other two walls contain a connecting door to the master bedroom and a connecting door to the living room, respectively. The space has a cathedral ceiling that is around 15' at the high point. There are also vents high up on the back wall which allow heat into the second story of our house.
During the winter, on a sunny day, temps can reach 100 deg F in the space and we open doors and windows to push hot air into the house, and sometimes turn on a fan as well. On really hot days we might have to crack a window a bit- the heat is only a problem because, in addition to plants, our three guinea pigs and three hedgehogs live out there and they cannot take too much heat.
We have radiant floor tubing in the concrete slab which provides "some" heat at night, but we have no way to store heat overnight when the sun goes down. Mostly we have been using electric space heaters but I want to get away from those.
I recently found a new, unused, Vermont Castings Resolute III that I really, really wanted, lol. I love the aesthetic of that stove and was going to make arrangements to go pick it up this week but after doing some research I am having second thoughts. I don't mind the price (it is $2800 which seems a lot to me but it has all of the options that were available for that stove when purchased new). I don't mind paying for it, but after reading about how fiddly the stove is, and that I might be faced with expensive repairs on an ongoing basis I started thinking about our other wood stove, which is an old Englander stove that my husband has owned for over 25 years and has moved three times. It is very basic- just a sheet metal box, some fire bricks, and a couple of vents. In over 25 years hubby has done exactly zero maintenance or repairs to it- he hasn't even replaced a fire brick even though a few of them are cracked- they stay in place so he doesn't mess with them. We live in MN and run the stove pretty much 24/7 for 5+ months of the year.
When I start thinking about the prospect of having to repair a VC stove, and the expense involved, and that is assuming that parts would even still be available when needed, I lose interest in it very quickly. Looking around to see what is available locally I see that Menards has a Pleasant Hearth 1200 which looks pretty basic to me. It is on sale for $622 right now and I am wondering if I should just go get one and skip the VC altogether. The 1200 probably sounds like overkill for the size of the space but given that we would be leaving doors and windows open and have the vents, plus all of the glass and the cathedral ceiling, I don't "think" we will have any problems.
My main question is whether I can leave a fire going at night without having it go out before morning. It would really need to keep going for 7 hours. I do not want to have to getup in the middle of the night to stoke the fire.
Any thoughts? Experiences? Advice?
Thanks in advance.
I am looking to install one in a 300 sq. ft. (10' x 30') sunroom/greenhouse space that is all glass on one side. Two sides are the former exterior sides of our home (the sunroom was an addition), and the fourth 10' wall has a glass exterior door and two windows. The other two walls contain a connecting door to the master bedroom and a connecting door to the living room, respectively. The space has a cathedral ceiling that is around 15' at the high point. There are also vents high up on the back wall which allow heat into the second story of our house.
During the winter, on a sunny day, temps can reach 100 deg F in the space and we open doors and windows to push hot air into the house, and sometimes turn on a fan as well. On really hot days we might have to crack a window a bit- the heat is only a problem because, in addition to plants, our three guinea pigs and three hedgehogs live out there and they cannot take too much heat.
We have radiant floor tubing in the concrete slab which provides "some" heat at night, but we have no way to store heat overnight when the sun goes down. Mostly we have been using electric space heaters but I want to get away from those.
I recently found a new, unused, Vermont Castings Resolute III that I really, really wanted, lol. I love the aesthetic of that stove and was going to make arrangements to go pick it up this week but after doing some research I am having second thoughts. I don't mind the price (it is $2800 which seems a lot to me but it has all of the options that were available for that stove when purchased new). I don't mind paying for it, but after reading about how fiddly the stove is, and that I might be faced with expensive repairs on an ongoing basis I started thinking about our other wood stove, which is an old Englander stove that my husband has owned for over 25 years and has moved three times. It is very basic- just a sheet metal box, some fire bricks, and a couple of vents. In over 25 years hubby has done exactly zero maintenance or repairs to it- he hasn't even replaced a fire brick even though a few of them are cracked- they stay in place so he doesn't mess with them. We live in MN and run the stove pretty much 24/7 for 5+ months of the year.
When I start thinking about the prospect of having to repair a VC stove, and the expense involved, and that is assuming that parts would even still be available when needed, I lose interest in it very quickly. Looking around to see what is available locally I see that Menards has a Pleasant Hearth 1200 which looks pretty basic to me. It is on sale for $622 right now and I am wondering if I should just go get one and skip the VC altogether. The 1200 probably sounds like overkill for the size of the space but given that we would be leaving doors and windows open and have the vents, plus all of the glass and the cathedral ceiling, I don't "think" we will have any problems.
My main question is whether I can leave a fire going at night without having it go out before morning. It would really need to keep going for 7 hours. I do not want to have to getup in the middle of the night to stoke the fire.
Any thoughts? Experiences? Advice?
Thanks in advance.
Last edited:
