stoves this year

[netmouse]

What are the best stoves and set-up for year 2009?

I am paying a lot to air seal and insulate my house. My concern is my Vermont Casting Defiant stove installed about 1980.

I am considering replacing my stove given the tax credit for 30% up to $1500 (what is left after the new insulation).

I think a new stove would provide:

1. gets it's air from outside.

2. concern about any damper not being really air tight, and when stove not in use and damper closed that some air will leak up the stove chimney. Right?

3. concern that when stove in use, the hot air will go up the chimney to some extent. Right?

 

[Jags]

If you are making your house very tight, the use of an OAK can have advantages. EPA stoves even at their lowest setting will still allow some air to pass through the stove.

As far as the best stove?? Well...were gonna need a lot more info on what you are trying to heat. SQFT and house layout.

 

[netmouse]

The house is an old 1900 Victorian, two stories, 3 bedrooms, 1700 sq. ft. And I am in north NJ.

Current stove is in dining room corner and does heat whole house. I have grates at top of walls with fan between rooms on main floor and I have in living room a ceiling grate to get warm air upstairs. When I lost oil furnace in the worst winter weather for 12 hours, stove kept house cruising at 57 degrees per thermostat in living room.

Enough info?

 

[Jags]

Enough info?

Getting there.

How tight and what kind of R values are you working with for insulation?

Sounds like you are into the 2.5 - 3.0 CUFT of stove box area. Are you looking for 24/7 or nights and weekend kind of stuff? Limited budget or "hey this thing better be nice or the wife is gonna kill me budget"?

 

[Slow1]

How large is the room where the stove is and how much clearance do you need? i.e. how far from the corners of the walls are you willing to put the stove?

Do you intend to burn 24/7 or only 'nights, weekends and emergencies'?

Obviously I'm biased - but take a look at the Fireview at woodstock. I tend to think it would look amazing in an old Victorian house since the styling matches rather well. The main downside you will run into though is that you will need to have it out from the wall a bit more than some other stoves (I have no idea what your current stove requires). It is officially rated at 1600 sqft, but I believe they are very conservative in their ratings - if your house really is tight and well insulated I will bet it will be capable of keeping your house at more than 57.

I don't think I've seen a current stove that doesn't have an OAK option so if you decide you must pull in air from outside you will be able to. However do note that the decision to do so should not be a given - it is not really necessary in all cases and isn't really a "can't do harm" type of thing. However, if you can draw the air from a crawlspace below the house then you will have mitigated 90% of the potential downside risk of an OAK I believe.

 

[netmouse]

The dining room is about 16 X 12. There are over large open doorways (no doors) into a large living room and long narrow kitchen. High ceilings maybe 7 to 9 feet. No other rooms on main floor (has 1/2 bathroom).

The brick raised area for the stove in the dining room corner is about 4 X 6. Walls around it are also brick. Stove is about 17" from back wall and the right side is also about 18" from wall. When I looked at stoves in the past, a door on the right side is not possible as no clearance.

 

[netmouse]

Also, I use a space heater in living room - closed off by blankets in doorways - during the days (unemployed currently so home a lot). I turn up oil (steam radiator heat) about 4 PM and then get the stove running. The stove quickly takes over from the oil. I put the last log in about 9 PM and then the house cools down from there as I sleep.

As for R value - it'll be the best it can be after air sealing (attic and basement) and insulation. In attic the R value is R-30 for the ecobatt sustainable fiberglass followed by 8 " of greenfiber blown-in cellulose.

 

[Slow1]

How about a door on the left side? Woodstock will build you one that way if you need - that is how mine is. They are quite flexible from my experience and willing to help out.

For the Fireview it sounds like you have the clearance on the side fine - back might be a bit tight (I don't recall exactly), but if you put the rear heatshield on I think you would have to move it forward about an inch which I don't imagine would hurt you a bit given you have a 4x6 area to work with.

As to walls being brick - what is behind the brick? If there is wood behind the brick then they are still considered combustible at that point (wherever the wood is) so it doesn't help a whole lot, however (and experts will chime in here) I think you can measure clearance from the wood, not the brick. I'd still install whatever stove measuring from the brick just to be sure - clearances are minimums at any rate.

What size chimney do you have?

In any case there are other great stoves out there too - Do you even like the way the Fireview looks?

 

[Jags]

If you had the option of installing a stove that would handle the vast majority of your heating, would you use it that way? It sounds like a goofy question, but I am thinking something along the lines of a Fireview or a PE Super27 size wise.

That being said...if it were Jags puttin' in the stove, I would probably stick some 3.0 cuft thing in there to minimize wood loads and increase the burn length. But thats just me.

 

[begreen]

If you like the cast iron look, then perhaps the Pacific Energy Alderlea T5 or T6 would be a nice fit. If a side door is ok, then a Jotul F500 (Oslo) might also work.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

The house is an old 1900 Victorian, two stories, 3 bedrooms, 1700 sq. ft. And I am in north NJ.

Current stove is in dining room corner and does heat whole house. I have grates at top of walls with fan between rooms on main floor and I have in living room a ceiling grate to get warm air upstairs. When I lost oil furnace in the worst winter weather for 12 hours, stove kept house cruising at 57 degrees per thermostat in living room.

Enough info?

Unless you double walled and double ceilinged the whole house I wouldn't bother with a outside vent.

 

[netmouse]

Based on what I see available near me, the store guy has a rep coming to my house next Thursday to give free estimate on a Jotul 500 Oslo (as one of you recommended). List is $2246 for the basic black matte, plus about $350 labor if current install set-up is OK.

They also strongly do not recommend any outside air intake set-up.

Interesting, he said stoves no longer have a damper. And if I keep that little lever for air flow closed and the stove is off, minimal if any air would leak out the chimney. Make sense?

Now I just have to get past my fear of exploding glass doors (as read about on the internet and I posted about a year ago here). The store guy says he has never had anyone complain. And that is the only way stoves are nowadays.

I look forward to that federal tax credit of 30% of total cost up to $1500.

 

[TreePapa]

Now I just have to get past my fear of exploding glass doors (as read about on the internet and I posted about a year ago here). The store guy says he has never had anyone complain. And that is the only way stoves are nowadays.

I look forward to that federal tax credit of 30% of total cost up to $1500.

If you're really paranoid about the glass doors and can't get past that, the Woodstock Classic doesn't have any view door - no view, no glass.

Peace,
- Sequoia

 

[BrotherBart]

I sell exploding stove door glass insurance. For fifty dollars a year I will replace your stove when the door glass explodes. This does not include you screwing up and putting too big of a piece of wood in the stove and breaking the glass jamming the door closed.

Minimum five year insurance contract.

 

[webbie]

Handy people can get glass cut and install as replacement - at 1/2 or less the price of the factory replacements.

 

[firefighterjake]

Based on what I see available near me, the store guy has a rep coming to my house next Thursday to give free estimate on a Jotul 500 Oslo (as one of you recommended). List is $2246 for the basic black matte, plus about $350 labor if current install set-up is OK.

They also strongly do not recommend any outside air intake set-up.

Interesting, he said stoves no longer have a damper. And if I keep that little lever for air flow closed and the stove is off, minimal if any air would leak out the chimney. Make sense?

Now I just have to get past my fear of exploding glass doors (as read about on the internet and I posted about a year ago here). The store guy says he has never had anyone complain. And that is the only way stoves are nowadays.

I look forward to that federal tax credit of 30% of total cost up to $1500.

I think you would like the Oslo . . . it looks good (in my opinion), but more importantly it heats even better than it looks.

There isn't a damper . . . true . . . in the respect that you cannot completely close off the air. This is a good thing though since it means you can't close off the air in a modern stove and cause it to smolder to the point where it's producing a lot of creosote. However, you can alter the air flow to affect the way the stove is burning to some degree.

Exploding glass doors . . . from what I've seen and read this is a very rare occurence . . . and even broken glass doors is infrequent . . . as mentioned . . . typically from someone sticking in too long a split and then just slamming the door shut or trying to push the split in by using the door. Besides, trust me on this one, once you have a "glass" window in your stove you will find the visual appeal to be such that you could not imagine burning in a stove without one.