Replace good Earth Stove 100 series or not?

[Sportsman4004x4]

I have a mid 1970's vintage Earth Stove 100 series in my basement that I'm using to heat my entire house, and it does a good job. I'm trying to decide if upgrading to a newer stove would help me reduce the amount of wood I burn or not. Maybe better basement insulation and a smaller stove might be the better way to go. We usually keep the house at comfortable 76 to 78 degrees. I think the old Earth Stove is probably rated around 100,000 BTU. We only have to fill it up and run it hard on the coldest days. The rest of the time we toss in a log or two and have it set on medium. The house is 1200 square foot with R19 walls upstairs, an open stairway, and uninsulated concrete block basement walls with about 2 feet exposed above ground. I'm thinking maybe an Englander 30 or possibly a 13 if I insulated my basement. I also like the Pacific Summit or the Hearthstone soapstone stoves. Am I crazy for thinking of tossing this perfectly good old stove?

 

[swestall]

While you don't say how much wood you are burning, I suspect that you could cut it between 1/3 to 1/2 with a modern stove. To keep from producing much creosote you most likely have to burn that old stove hot as well.
Keep in mind that you might need to reline your chimney if it is not correctly proportioned to the new stoves design.

 

[Sportsman4004x4]

I guess I didn't say how much wood I was burning did I, sorry 'bout that. In the colder winter months I'm getting through a pickup load from a full size long bed about every 2 or 3 weeks. A pickup load is about a 1/2 a cord, so I suppose I'm burning about 1 cord to maybe 1 1/2 cords a month. I've been using dry elm since I have access to it for free. I get free firewood and my dad gets his cow pasture cleaned up, it's a good deal for both of us. I burn ash sometimes and I'm thinking because it heats a little better that it lasts a little longer too.

 

[crazy_dan]

I am replacing mine this spring not because of wood use but mine has cracked at the corners of the door. I did weld it back together but I feel it is time to replace it. I know in another thread some of the other Earth stove owners said theirs has cracked in the corners of the door opening as well. That is something to watch for and may be anther reason to think about replacing before it happens.
I am going to either replace it with an Englander 30 or a Pacific Engery super 27.

 

[Crabby]

I have a Earth Stove 100 series and I also go through a lot of wood. But I love the Heat it puts out. I know a lot of people who has this same stove and they love it as well. The only thing is I have clean my chimney almost twice a burning season. It doesn't build up that much but I do it to be safe. I would keep.

 

[Sportsman4004x4]

The twice a season cleaning is also what I do. The chimney doesn't usually need it, but the cap gets kind of caked up with creosote and definitely does need it. The chimney is double walled 8 inch so that probably helps with it not building up so much creosote. I can tell my cap has creosote build up when my stove doesn't get a good enough draft to burn well. I thought maybe the newer stoves wouldn't have that problem, but I don't know.