Hello All,
I've been poking around on the site and have learned quite a bit so far. My husband and I are going to be replacing the wood stove that came in our house, an Englander. They purchases is at Lowe's, as I understand.
The previous owners heated the house elusively with wood. Though the did install radiant heat prior to moving out, they never used the system. The source for that system is heating oil, which is operated by a Toyo.
In the 2 winters we have been here, we pretty much kept a fire going in the little Englander 24/7. It helps offset the cost of heating oil and frankly, we like the heat too. Though sometimes, it will cook me out of my own house. While not a bad little stove, you need to feed it regularly. My husband is pretty great about this, me not so much. I forget.up in the Alaskan bush (off the road system), so he knows about life with a wood stove. My family grew up using one as needed or when we wanted to.
Our house is a 2,000 ranch located in South Central Alaska. The wood stove sits nearly in the middle of the house, is a kind of semi-divided great room. There are 2 bedrooms/bathrooms behind the stove, a family room and dog room that sit on the other side of the house. Winters here are range from 35 F to -30F. Our area will get a NE wind often, which broad sides the house. A comfortable temp for us in the winter is 68-72 degrees, of course, that depends on what the outside temps are too.
We are a little overwhelmed by all the wood stove choices, some of which are not available in Alaska. Husband would like a catalytic or hybrid stove due to the long burn. I want something that is practical and attractive. I think they can be one in the same.
Blaze Kings are on our list. I am not sure we could go wrong with any of their models. We were also looking at Hearthstone Heritage, as I like the soapstone look and the side door, but I after reading up on the Hearthstone Heritage, I am not so sure about it now. It seems to not perform as well as a primary heat source, the soapstone heat "goes up the chimney" instead of the room, and has the potential to crack. Lopi was another brand we were looking at.
Is there any other models out there we should consider? Any comments on the above are welcome too.
Thanks!
I've been poking around on the site and have learned quite a bit so far. My husband and I are going to be replacing the wood stove that came in our house, an Englander. They purchases is at Lowe's, as I understand.
The previous owners heated the house elusively with wood. Though the did install radiant heat prior to moving out, they never used the system. The source for that system is heating oil, which is operated by a Toyo.
In the 2 winters we have been here, we pretty much kept a fire going in the little Englander 24/7. It helps offset the cost of heating oil and frankly, we like the heat too. Though sometimes, it will cook me out of my own house. While not a bad little stove, you need to feed it regularly. My husband is pretty great about this, me not so much. I forget.up in the Alaskan bush (off the road system), so he knows about life with a wood stove. My family grew up using one as needed or when we wanted to.
Our house is a 2,000 ranch located in South Central Alaska. The wood stove sits nearly in the middle of the house, is a kind of semi-divided great room. There are 2 bedrooms/bathrooms behind the stove, a family room and dog room that sit on the other side of the house. Winters here are range from 35 F to -30F. Our area will get a NE wind often, which broad sides the house. A comfortable temp for us in the winter is 68-72 degrees, of course, that depends on what the outside temps are too.
We are a little overwhelmed by all the wood stove choices, some of which are not available in Alaska. Husband would like a catalytic or hybrid stove due to the long burn. I want something that is practical and attractive. I think they can be one in the same.
Blaze Kings are on our list. I am not sure we could go wrong with any of their models. We were also looking at Hearthstone Heritage, as I like the soapstone look and the side door, but I after reading up on the Hearthstone Heritage, I am not so sure about it now. It seems to not perform as well as a primary heat source, the soapstone heat "goes up the chimney" instead of the room, and has the potential to crack. Lopi was another brand we were looking at.
Is there any other models out there we should consider? Any comments on the above are welcome too.
Thanks!
