@SpaceBus thanks for your reply. I went back and read your original thread (linked above) about your install and initial thoughts. Seems like a pretty good little stove!
I would love to hear any more of your experiences that you'd like to share, plus it would be great to have another updated thread about this on the forum in case anybody else is in my shoes. Have you figured out a smoke-free start without the small butane torch?
I would prefer the glass top, but will likely have to top vent given my tight space, so not sure if that will work.
My house is very small (~600 sq ft), but not very well insulated. Additionally, there is an above-grade plumbed crawlspace that I hope can be heated just with spillover from the living space. I will be doing some air sealing and insulating over the next couple of years, but will still end up with only a mediocre result (i.e. will go from an ~R-24 roof cavity to an ~R-48, etc.)
How much room is in the crawl space? It might just end up robbing heat from the whole house. I take it you are in some kind of tiny home? Rear vent might not be a big deal depending on how much space you need behind the stove. We a very well insulated (R23+ walls, R50-ish attic) saltbox and the cookstove cannot be the sole heat. It can provide 100% of our heating needs down to 20's during the day and around freezing at night. The output is there, but due to the way the stove is designed it doesn't actually heat the house nearly as well as our free standing Morso 2b classic. Our Morso has a smaller firebox, is cast iron, and more efficient at getting the heat into the house. The North dumps most of the heat into the top and oven, and those BTU's eventually go up the flue. This is a plus in my opinion, since it allows for a lot of flexibility in use. On cold mornings and cold nights I burn both stoves. Now that winter is mostly over we are just burning one stove at a time, usually our cookstove.
All that being said, I do know of one way you could maybe make it work in such a small space. We have two portable ducted AC units that can also run in reverse for heating. We have one in our living room, and the other is upstairs and only used in summer. This is basically a heat pump that is inside of the heated envelope. In short it pumps cold air out of the house, which works well in combination with the stove. My wife or I used to reload the Morso during the night, but even on cold nights into the negatives with high wind if I load up both stoves full and remember to turn on the heater we can easily keep the heat over night. Since the heat pump is pumping cold air out of the house, this makes the stoves cool a bit faster. I used to have embers in the morning with the Morso when loading full of hardwoods 8+ hours later, but with the heat pump running only ash is left behind. Even with this minor drawback of cooling the stoves a bit faster, the house stays much warmer without reloading. Well worth the $25-50/month to run the unit considering we went from three cords a winter to two cords so far this season.
I can easily get a smokeless start these days, and just using matches! Now I just crack a window/door, and start small fires with very small kindling. A big part of our issue is house tightness. On calm days without wind the draft in the flue is not strong enough to pull in enough make-up air. Once the stove is going this is not an issue, just for total cold lights. Even if there are just a few embers left I don't usually have to open the door. All that being said, I think an interior flue would have solved most of our issues. Due to the layout of our hose the bathtub is directly above the cookstove, so I went through the wall and right up the side of our house. Looking back now I could have overcome this and figured out an interior flue, but I'm still happy with this setup. Eventually I'll build an insulated chase for the exterior chimney and hopefully not have to crack the doors to start the fire.
The only beef I have with the stove itself, not install related, is the low quality black stove paint used on the painted parts of the stove. With that in mind I would suggest the stainless version. I wanted one, but they didn't have any in the US with a left hand flue in stainless. The black paint does not tolerate any tomato products and I have many bare spots from splatter and spills.
The refractory lining is not very durable, like many stoves, and I suggest buying an extra lining kit with the stove if you buy one, I'll be getting a second set myself, about $300. My back refractory piece is pretty cracked up, but staying in place. I was a bit overzealous on a hot reload early into ownership...
I absolutely love cooking on the glass top. It is totally worth whatever you have to do to make a rear vent work. It heats up very fast and gets hotter than the steel top. It's easy to clean with a razor and polishing kit. There are some micro scratches on it from using cast iron cookware, but you can only see them when looking very close. The oven is also amazing. Cooking times will not be the same as most instructions since the oven is not ventilated. For example, pizzas come out better, but take a little longer since the steam can't escape. There are few things I prefer to bake in an electric appliance, and usually I'm air frying it in that case. I can still make things crispy in the cookstove, it just takes longer and I have to open the door at least once to let the steam escape.
Short version of the above paragraph: Things on top are faster, things in the oven take longer.
I'll definitely update my original thread for other people looking at this stove.
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