Stove Selection

[thebearded1]

I thought i had it narrowed down to the stove i want but after reading many posts on here i'm second guessing if its a decent choice. My house is a roughly 900 sq ft single story home built in the 50s located in southern Maryland. I'm looking for a stove to use to help with heating the house as last winter my heat pump wasn't cutting it and I also had to remove 2 large Green Ash trees so I have plenty of firewood. The room is small so I was looking at finding a stove with low clearances so it doesn't take up half my living room. I almost bought the Quadrafire Discovery I but the dealer was very unhelpful and I couldn't find any reviews on people using that stove. Is there a reason I'm not seeing a lot of reviews on the Quad Discovery I? Is it just new? Is it really not that great?

I understand being a secondary burn stove it has a 7 hour burn time and I may have to tend to it at night to keep it going till morning. Other stoves I found that have decent clearances are the Quad 2100 and 3100 and the Lopi 1750. Do any of these stoves stand above the rest? Any help is much appreciated I hope i've given decent information for yall to help and i've tried to do my research.

Thanks!

 

[Woody Stover]

The Lopi has a bigger box that should go overnight but you have to make sure it won't roast you out if you load it full. EPA numbers seem to indicate it will run a little lower than the others you mentioned, but those would burn down sooner with their smaller fire boxes. https://www.epa.gov/compliance/list-epa-certified-wood-stoves
How is your insulation and air-sealing? If your stove burns down later in the night, do you think your heat pump can slow the cooling of the house enough to get you through 'til morning? I would hate to have to get up in the middle of the night to feed the stove...

 

[thebearded1]

I have improved the insulation and air gaps in the house but i still need to do more. I'd like to add more attic insulation at some point and I have only been able to replace a few windows in the house. The other windows that are leaky I use the plastic film window insulation in the winter. Right now i keep my thermostat around 68/70F so my hopes are the woodstove would bring the house warmer than that and the heat pump would be ok for holding it there once the fire died out. Waking up in the middle of the night doesn't seem ideal either but i have a dog that usually already does that to go out. The biggest problem with the heat pump is when it goes into that defrost mode where it runs in reverse and makes the house even colder. Its gotten down to the upper 50s in the house before because the heat pump kept needing to defrost. It wasn't severely iced over either as in a leaky gutter pouring on the unit.

 

[thebearded1]

I was also planning on installing an outside air kit so that way the stove isn't pulling air through the windows and other areas making other rooms colder

 

[thebearded1]

Does anyone have any other suggestions for a stove that may work well for my situation?

 

[bholler]

Does anyone have any other suggestions for a stove that may work well for my situation?

With a space that small I would be looking at cat stoves probably one of the smaller blazeking stoves so you can shut them down lower.

 

[begreen]

A stove in the ~1-6-2.0 cu ft range will do the job, but with milder outside temps it will be hard to do overnight burns and not overheat the house. Can we assume that this is primarily for when temps go below say 40 or 45º. Above that there shouldn't be an issue with heat pump defrost cycles.

 

[thebearded1]

... Can we assume that this is primarily for when temps go below say 40 or 45º. Above that there shouldn't be an issue with heat pump defrost cycles.

Yup, i figured using a stove above that temp in my house would definitely overheat it. This would be just to help save some on the electric bill and when the heat pump starts to struggle. I've been reading more and more and almost starting to think now a catalytic stove would be the better choice. Perhaps the Blaze King Sirocco, 20, Ashford 20, Chinnok 20. The Lopi Cape Cod sounded like a good one too. Not sure where they stand price wise so i am going to visit a Lopi dealer Saturday and maybe a Blaze King dealer too. The Quad stoves i was looking at were around $1800

 

[begreen]

You might consider a smaller Woodstock stove too. The Cape Cod has some issues that are worth reading up on.

 

[thebearded1]

Thanks this is helpful I will look into the Cape Cod more and have begun looking at the Woodstock stoves. They seem expensive but I guess you get what you pay for. Hopefully they will still have some decent clearances too.

 

[Rickb]

I would look at the smaller woodstocks and blaze kings. The woodstocks have great reviews and the company really backs there product. I love my blaze king and its in a smaller room (700sqft finished basement room.), but I also circulate air up to my main floor. You could also try a smaller non cat stove but you will not be able to regulate it as well other then how much wood you put in it.

 

[thebearded1]

After looking up Blaze King dealers in Maryland it didn't look too hopeful. The closest dealer doesn't show any Blaze King stoves on their website, the other two are a heating and plumbing company and a contracting company so I'm guessing those are probably just installers but will call anyway to double check.

 

[Woody Stover]

I will look into the Cape Cod more and have begun looking at the Woodstock stoves. They seem expensive but I guess you get what you pay for. Hopefully they will still have some decent clearances too.

The Cape Cod looks big. I have a Woodstock Keystone which is about half the fire box size (1.5.) With the air between .5 and .75 (scale of 4) I can control the output well, with the cat glowing brightly, or dimly. It will easily burn overnight, even on mid-output wood like Black Cherry, etc. We are heating a 750 sq.ft. main room and additional 250 mudroom/bedroom. Door to the bedroom is usually closed down to about 6" to keep it cooler. The stove will draft well on a short stack, down to 13' is do-able but pushing it a bit in warm weather. I have 16'. The stove couldn't be easier to run, and has a grated ash-handling system, doesn't get any easier. It is a seamed stove, not a welded-steel box like the BK, so you may have to deal with patching a seam at some point. Not that the BK won't have its share of leaks..
I'm a Woodstock fanboy so YMMV, but I don't think you can go wrong with this stove. begreen suggested it to me, and I had already seen the rock-solid build quality on a used Fireview that my SIL had bought, so I took the plunge. Yes, it's a bit pricier than the stoves you first mentioned. But I have no regrets, IMO it was money well-spent.
You can email or call them with any questions, they're happy to help. Excellent customer service, since they have no dealer network.

 

[thebearded1]

I was looking at the Keystone, the added benefit of the soapstone would be nice too. My chimney probably is only about 8-10' from the wall thimble to the top. I guess I may need to add a pipe to extend the chimney higher? Would adding a outside air kit assist at all with draft?

 

[Woody Stover]

How high would the thimble be above the stove top? Then you'd have two 90* elbows to an external Class A chimney? That would take a few feet off your effective stack height. It sounds like your house still leaks some air, so you shouldn't need an OAK.
Yeah, my wife's recliner is within 7' of the stove and she doesn't get roasted, with the soapstone. But you can still feel the radiation anywhere in the room that's in line-of-sight.

 

[thebearded1]

The thimble wood be 44" above the stove going into a masonry chimney that I'm putting a liner in. I was going to do the outside air kit since the house is so leaky that way it isn't pulling cold air through my bedroom windows

 

[Woody Stover]

So 4' plus 8-10' minus the elbows would give you 10' or less. I would add a transition plate and a 4' section of Class A to the top. The stove won't pull a huge amount of air into the house I don't think, but obviously it will be some. I'm no chimney expert, maybe one will chime in.

 

[thebearded1]

Yea I will probably start another post on that and an install question

 

[thebearded1]

The Woodstock Keystone would end up costing me around $2850 and I'd have to find somewhere to have it shipped that either has a fork lift of loading dock. Turns out the closest Blaze King dealer is an hour away and doesn't even have any BK stoves in their showroom so not sure how knowledgeable the staff will be on them. Does anyone here have a Blaze King Ashford 20, Sirocco 20 or Chinook 20 any have anything to say about how they like it? I'm working on getting prices for the Blaze King stoves to compare with the Woodstock. The Woodstock seems like a great stove but I was not ready to pay $3000 for the setup.

 

[Rickb]

The Woodstock Keystone would end up costing me around $2850 and I'd have to find somewhere to have it shipped that either has a fork lift of loading dock. Turns out the closest Blaze King dealer is an hour away and doesn't even have any BK stoves in their showroom so not sure how knowledgeable the staff will be on them. Does anyone here have a Blaze King Ashford 20, Sirocco 20 or Chinook 20 any have anything to say about how they like it? I'm working on getting prices for the Blaze King stoves to compare with the Woodstock. The Woodstock seems like a great stove but I was not ready to pay $3000 for the setup.

<-------------- Sig sig below.

 

[Rickb]

Glass gets pretty dirty because the air wash is not great and I burn it at the lowest setting all the time. This is my starting procedure.
Load stove with 4 or 5 (3-4inch) splits.
Start with propane torch for 2 minutes.
Leave door unlatched for 2-5 minutes then latch door.
10 minutes later close bypass and turn thermostat all the way down.
If room is cold turn fan on for 1 hour.
7 hours later reload if outside temps are below 30.

I almost never fully load the stove and I usually only load once a day during the week unless it is very very cold out.

For example today the high was 34F and was overcast. I was home all day and because its friday we will be up late so I only loaded 3 splits at 3pm. I will reload in 4-5 hours and load another 3 or 4 and it will still be warm tomorrow morning when I wake up and come down at 8-9 am.

 

[KennyK]

The Woodstock Keystone would end up costing me around $2850 and I'd have to find somewhere to have it shipped that either has a fork lift of loading dock. Turns out the closest Blaze King dealer is an hour away and doesn't even have any BK stoves in their showroom so not sure how knowledgeable the staff will be on them. Does anyone here have a Blaze King Ashford 20, Sirocco 20 or Chinook 20 any have anything to say about how they like it? I'm working on getting prices for the Blaze King stoves to compare with the Woodstock. The Woodstock seems like a great stove but I was not ready to pay $3000 for the setup.

Might be worth keeping your eyes out for a used Keystone on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace. They come up pretty regularly in the Northeast, maybe not as much in your area but worth looking. I just looked on eBay and saw there’s one for local pickup in Virginia. If you’re up for a drive, you could probably offer a good amount lower than the asking price and maybe walk away with a good score...

 

[thebearded1]

So it looks like the Sirocco 20 is $2535 plus $300 with the fan so not much of a difference from the Keystone. "

Yea I came across that Keystone for sale in Virginia and thought about it but its a 9 hour round trip from me. I guess I'm just going to keep an eye out for a used stove but I never see too many catalytic stoves for sale. I guess everyone likes them and wants to keep them. I just can't pull the trigger on a $3000-$3500 setup (including the double wall pipe and extending the chimney) right now.

 

[kennyp2339]

Englander 17vl has minimal clearances and a decent firebox size and wont break the bank, plus it has a dedicated oak connection, sometimes on smaller stoves they are harder to come by.

 

[thebearded1]

I had looked at Englanders too when I first thought of getting a stove but I think with my small house a catalytic stove will be the best option so I don't overheat the house and have to keep restocking it through the night.

In regard to the Keystones how are they about getting replacement parts such as the Cat? I see they are out of stock of the Keystone cat at the moment. When looking at a used stove how can you tell if the cat needs replacing? Any other things to look out for when looking at used stoves?