stove choice - jotul or quadra-fire?

[lmmulcahy]

dear esteemed hearth wizards,

i'd be much obliged if you could share your opinions about a couple of wood stoves.

for a variety of reasons (mostly clearances and availability), i've narrowed my wood stove selection down to either the jotul f3cb or the quadra-fire yosemite. i've heard only good things about the jotul stoves, but haven't heard much at all about the quadra fire cast iron stoves. i'm considering the yosemite strictly because of the clearances. i'll need to top vent the jotul, where as the back vent on the yosemite will fit nicely, and, as far as i can tell, keep a low profile look.

jotul vs. quadra-fire: what say you?

thanks for any and all avdice and information,
lmm

 

[Corie]

Well, lets purge a little more information.



What's the area you're trying to heat?

Are you home all the time, or do you need a stove to deliver heat output over an extended time period while you're at work, etc?

 

[lmmulcahy]

small home - 1,200 sq ft, no basement. i'm replacing a much larger "hurrican" wood stove that was too big for the house, let alone the living room.
i haven't spent an entire winter here yet, so it's difficult to predict my needs. i think that as long as the stove can burn for 6-8 hours at night, i'll be just fine.
of course, with all this climate change ... who can tell?

it looked to me like the heat/efficienct specs for those two stoves where similar enough ... am i missing something?

thanks for your help,
lmm

 

[Corie]

I don't really have any personal or secondary experience with the Quadrafire, but I know from what some of the members here have said, the Jotul won't be much good beyond 5 hours. Let some of the current and previous 3CB owners weigh in first, but I know one specific member that says its 3-4 hours and reload on his 3CB.

LIke I said, can't speak for the Yosemite but I do like that side loading door though.

 

[lmmulcahy]

hmm ... that's pretty interesting.

the specs say "up to 7 hours" for the f3cb and "6-8hours " for the yosemite.
i'd love to hear more from any f3cb or yosemite owners.

 

[BrotherBart]

From a productive heat standpoint my F3 is pretty well done for after four hours no matter what I am burning in it. In fact since it is in my office I am going to burn nothing but pine in the thing next season since I have to feed it so often anyway.

I would love to hear from somebody that gets anything even near seven or eight hours out of one and how they accomplish it.

You must remember that manufacturer burn times mean until the last little glowing coal has gone dark. Under that scenario I could claim the Englander could burn for a week if I bank the coals.

 

[jpl1nh]

There are many more stove knowledgable people than me on this forum, but I have a pre-EPA Jotul that I love. The member review of stoves here rate Jotul very highly too. I too have been looking at the Yosemite, its a beautiful stove, and I agree with Corrie about the side loading capability. From everything I've read here, Quadrifire owners seem very pleased with their stoves and Quadrifire touts its guarantee. IMHO I think you'll do fine with either company, it just comes down to your preference and which will seem to work best in your situation. Decisions, Decisions...

 

[Corie]

I think they're both high quality stoves for sure. Both are well constructed pieces and use similar secondary combustion techonology. Both stoves have ash pans and both have start up air controls. I wish I knew the volume of the Jotul firebox to compare, but I bet its right in the ballfield of 1.45 cu. ft. firebox of the Yosemite.


After all that, if both stoves have the same firebox size, I vote for the Jotul, probably based on looks alone though. They are VERY comparable stoves and I think your decision will probably come down to asthetics.

 

[senorFrog]

For the burn times you're trying to achieve I'd recommend an oslo. A big step up from the 3cb, but has other advantages like a side door.

 

[Corie]

I'd say at the very least, the F400 Castine should be considered, rather than the rather puny F3CB

 

[Jay H]

I have a 1100sf ranch with a full unheated basement and I heated my house last winter with my freestanding Quad 3100 which is a 2.0cf firebox vrs the 1.45cf firefox the Yosemite is... I have a feeling you are going to be better off with a larger firebox, not necessarily for the heat/BTUs given off but just longer burn times. I didn't run 24/7 fires but the 3100 would be plenty of heat for that I think and the 3100 is rated by Quadrafire for up to s 2200sf house which is exactly twice the size of house I am heating with it. If the space requirements fit, it is nice to have the bigger firebox and I can get 5-6 hours of 400deg stack temp fire if I really load my firebox up for the night. However, like I said, I don't burn 24/7 so normally I will load the box a bit before I go to bed but typically I wont stuff it. I'm up early and I leave to work early...

Jay

 

[lmmulcahy]

thanks for all the info

... sounds like the f3 cb may be a bit under powered, but the oslo is definitely out of my price range . nice clearances tho.

anyone out there have some real-world burn times for the yosemite?
given the position of the stove in the room, i cannot take advantage of the side door in any case. sigh.

i hope to feed the stove high quality very dry wood (i'm (newly) in southern utah), maybe that will make a difference in the burn time?
i've only ever used new england wood before, and the stuff here is waaaaaaay drier and harder.

lmm

 

[Mike Wilson]

jotul vs. quadra-fire: what say you?

How could you even ask such a silly question! ;-P Jotul or Quad... Pffffft.... The answer is clear!

I would go with either a Jotul Castine, or, for burn time reasons, an Jotul Oslo F-500, so you wouldn't have to reload as often... crack a window if it gets too warm.

-- Mike

 

[begreen]

I would go for a bigger firebox. You'll need it to achieve longer burn times. The F3CB is a great little stove, but isn't a 24/7 heater. Depending on the wood, expect 3-4 hr usable heat / load. If you want a Jotul, I would consider the F400. You don't have to burn it super hot, unless it's really cold outside, and can give you about 6-7 hrs usable heat. But first, describe the current flue in detail. Include size, location height, interior or exterior, etc. Draft may end up being a deciding factor. If Quadrafire, consider the Cumberland.

But I would also strongly consider the Pacific Energy Alderlea. Our neighbors have the Spectrum equivalent in a similarly sized home and they are getting impressive long burn times with this stove and nicely regulatable heat.

 

[lmmulcahy]

well, i am certainly considering a larger firebox at this point. hmm.

regarding the flue: i have an 8" flue in place (from the old stove) up through the ceiling (the center of which is 19" from the rear wall), through the ceiling/attic and out the roof. it's about 12' long. i was advised (by both the quad and jotul folk) to reuse the 8" flue, install an 6" to 8" adapter, and the draft would be fine. any thoughts?

i'm trying very hard to mimimize the depth of the hearth around the exisiting flue placement - hence the choice of the very narrow stoves. tiny house, tiny room. i'll take a look at the pacific energy stove ... but my choices are definitley limited. i'm about 2.5 hours from the nearest stove shop (and home depot, for that matter) and i've found only jotul, quad, and napolean dealers. i'd like to have the vendor install it (yes they will drive that far for a price), so i'm pretty comitted to one of those brands.

all this info is giving me a lot to think about. which is good, because i'm having the hearth put in next week ...

 

[JBinKC]

If you decide upon a Jotul I agree with the Castine suggestion. I had the same dilemma at my Lake of the Ozarks home with about the same square footage as you but went with the larger stove and I haven't regretted it one bit. The Castine will save you time in handling and preparing wood with a much longer overnight burn, the large door and firebox will let you burn larger and longer pieces and if it gets really cold the stove will easily keep up.

 

[Corie]

As I said earlier, I think if you decide on a Jotul, you should definitely go with the Castine. You won't be disappointed with the firebox size, burn times and great looks. Anything smaller in the Jotul lineup and you're just not looking a 24-7 stove, as was mentioned above.

 

[titan]

Don't exclude Napoleon,especially if that dealer is nearby.I have seen them burning @ my local dealer's showroom many times.....they appear to be a well-made heater.Read the stove reviews on this site,they are highly rated by their owners.

 

[Corie]

Napolean's look pretty nifty when they're burning too with that single tube secondary system. Pretty neat little flame swirls.

 

[wg_bent]

I like the Quad for the optional blower. If looking in that size why not look at the VC intrepid II. It's a CAT, and local claims are longer burn times

 

[titan]

Do any other manufacturers employ a centered north-south burn tube like Napoleon?It's the only setup I've seen that creates that vortex effect in the secondaries.

 

[Corie]

I believe its just Napolean.



ANd yeah, the intrepid should certainly make the list. Smaller firebox, but longer burn times with the catalytic system. But I don't think he has a local VC dealer.

 

[wg_bent]

I believe its just Napolean.



ANd yeah, the intrepid should certainly make the list. Smaller firebox, but longer burn times with the catalytic system. But I don't think he has a local VC dealer.

Ahh, yes, no local stove dealer. An opportunity perhaps...

If looking at those stoves...and looking for whole house heat, The Quad wins due to the blower option. You'll get more convection heat out of it that move around the house a bit better. Now, some others may chime in here and say that any stove will set up natural convection currents, and a simple floor fan will do similar, but I think a designed in blower has an edge. This coming from a guy who has an insert with a blower, so take it with that grain of salt added.

 

[elkimmeg]

Since cost seems to be a qualifing issue, then why not consider the Englander lines of stoves? Why not the NC-13?

Btw I own an Intrepid II cat stove/.I believe it to be one of the finest small firebox area heaters in its size class
It will burn 6 productive hours and many times have enough coals at 8 hours for re- ingition

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Time for me to chime-in....

As it so happens, I've owned both the 3CB & the Oslo.
Both were "pretty" stoves, but very weak on burn times.
2-4 hrs. on the 3CB and perhaps 2-5 hrs. on the Oslo.
It was rare to ever achieve an overnight burn, even w/ the Oslo.
Very disappointing.....

Rob