Stuck on wood stove decision

[bholler]

The Resolute has a top loading feature that is wonderful in use. I truly miss that, just drop the wood in from a standing position. Now, I get to kneel on the floor in front of the new efficient, clean, stove anywhere from 3-5 times each day as I stuff it full of wood. My knees and back would pick the Resolute 100% of the time.

Yeah but how many times did you have to load that old stove? Especially top loading I have never seen anyone who could pack the stove nearly as tight as front or side loading

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Yeah but how many times did you have to load that old stove? Especially top loading I have never seen anyone who could pack the stove nearly as tight as front or side loading

Funny thing is, I don't even recall thinking about the loading of the old girl. Even if it was twice as often (which it certainly was not), the impact was way less on me. I definitely do not look forward loading the new one. Perhaps I should multi-task when I'm down on my knees with some good words for the Almighty. Would undoubtedly be a lot better use of my time and energy.

 

[ddddddden]

The Resolute has a top loading feature that is wonderful in use. I truly miss that, just drop the wood in from a standing position. Now, I get to kneel on the floor in front of the new efficient, clean, stove anywhere from 3-5 times each day as I stuff it full of wood. My knees and back would pick the Resolute 100% of the time.

Sounds like you need a raised hearth. I like mine @20".

 

[bholler]

Sounds like you need a raised hearth. I like mine @20".

Yeah that would be a good solution if bending down is that much trouble. It doesn't bother me in the least but to some I can see that it would

 

[begreen]

If raising the hearth, pay attention to the ceiling clearance requirement. For many stoves it's 84".

 

[ddddddden]

If raising the hearth, pay attention to the ceiling clearance requirement. For many stoves it's 84".

7' to the ceiling would rule out installation of a stove more than 1' tall in many rooms. So there are some stoves that can only be installed in a house that does not have 8' ceilings? Perhaps we should make a list, so folks with 8' ceilings can ignore these stoves. . .

 

[ddddddden]

Funny thing is, I don't even recall thinking about the loading of the old girl. Even if it was twice as often (which it certainly was not), the impact was way less on me. . .

Maybe you were not concerned with getting secondary combustion, so "loading" the stove may have been more like "throw another log on the fire" instead of burning in cycles and loading 40 lbs of wood all at once.

I reckon if I had to have a top loader, I'd look at the Rangeley, but I believe comments on it were generally to the effect that the top hole was good for dropping in a few splits, but not for fully loading the stove.

 

[branchburner]

I hope you make it up to NH to visit Woodstock... it may have an impact on your gut feeling. People get pretty good feelings when they visit, and the stoves are top notch.

I understand gut feelings about stoves, and I fell in love with my used Harman Oakwood at first sight. But the relationship was a bit stormy... sometimes your gut is really just your brain telling you, "trust me." Let's just say, a lot of people have been entranced by the look and feel of VC stove (or Harman) only to be sorely disappointed later on.

The nice thing about the Woodstock stoves is they are HIGHLY efficient, burning less wood with fewer emissions, and will almost without a doubt require less maintenance down the road than even a newly refurbished VC. And Woodstock customer service is the best... literally!

 

[ddddddden]

. . .79 VC Resolute refurb. It is a 100% rebuild with all new gaskets and cement. The upper and lower firebacks have also been replaced. . .

Speaking of maintenance, you may well have to do all of this again in, say, 10 years. You may have to do similar with a Jotul or Woodstock, but VC parts have become notoriously expensive. Ask the guy who did the rebuild how much those fireback pieces cost from VC. The Woodstock doesn't really have any "wear items" that you can expect to need replacing like the VC fireback. Worst case, you might get a cracked stone, and a piece of stone from Woodstock probably costs ~ $50. Woodstock replacement parts are notoriously inexpensive. I think a complete rebuild on a FireView would run less than $100 for parts, considerably less than for a VC.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

If raising the hearth, pay attention to the ceiling clearance requirement. For many stoves it's 84".

And, herein is my problem. My ceiling is about 76". It's an old house, and folks used to be smaller. All my doorways are about 72". I come in at 74. Still working on the heat shield above the insert to meet code...

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I hope you make it up to NH to visit Woodstock... it may have an impact on your gut feeling. People get pretty good feelings when they visit, and the stoves are top notch.

I understand gut feelings about stoves, and I fell in love with my used Harman Oakwood at first sight. But the relationship was a bit stormy... sometimes your gut is really just your brain telling you, "trust me." Let's just say, a lot of people have been entranced by the look and feel of VC stove (or Harman) only to be sorely disappointed later on.

The nice thing about the Woodstock stoves is they are HIGHLY efficient, burning less wood with fewer emissions, and will almost without a doubt require less maintenance down the road than even a newly refurbished VC. And Woodstock customer service is the best... literally!

I'm in general agreement with everything you said, but from experience, I am doubtful that the op would be disappointed in the Resolute experience, unless major part replacements were nece$$ary.

Hey, I bought an old Resolute that is sitting in the barn, and still went and bought a modern stove due to circumstances. I love my new stove, and I would love the old one if it were up and running. If I were him, I'd go with a new one, but would totally understand if he went in the other direction. Woodstock is on my short list in the event that I need an upgrade.

 

[bholler]

I'm in general agreement with everything you said, but from experience, I am doubtful that the op would be disappointed in the Resolute experience,

Or if they knew what a good new stove is like to run. I loved my old cawley lemay but after switching I would never go back to an old stove as my primary again.

 

[branchburner]

I am doubtful that the op would be disappointed in the Resolute experience.

Is it the same burn technology as the original Defiant? We had one and it was a beast at heating, but I was not a huge fan of the thermostatic damper... it was pretty easy to cut the air back too far ("airtight") and turn the thing into a creosote factory. It also seemed like the design for secondary combustion was prone to clogging after a few seasons, if I recall. Great stove in its day, no doubt.

 

[begreen]

7' to the ceiling would rule out installation of a stove more than 1' tall in many rooms. So there are some stoves that can only be installed in a house that does not have 8' ceilings? Perhaps we should make a list, so folks with 8' ceilings can ignore these stoves. . .

Clarification, that is an 84" floor to ceiling requirement. Permissible variations depend on the stove. Some defer to alcove requirements if the ceiling height is less than 7 ft. Others do not. Some manuals list no ceiling clearance height at all. If one is in a situation of too little ceiling clearance there may still be an option of a ventilated ceiling heat shield. This will depend on the manual and/or approval by the inspecting authority.

 

[Poindexter]

OP, you are now far enough down the rabbit hole to look at fuel with your engineering calculator.

1. How many BTUs (you can work in metric if you prefer) are you planning to pump into this 1200sqft basement?

2. How many cords is that annually?

3. Can you fit that many green cords on your property in the next 4 weeks or so so you can have some seasoned wood to burn this fall?

NB: Many of the high BTU eastern hardwoods take two years to air dry. Can you fit two years with of cords on your lot?

If you are still kinda thinking this is a good idea, someone (me this time) should remind you that time your dad told you to never buy something you have to feed.

If you are still at go, I suggest you bring in one years worth of pine right now, get it split and stacked and you'll have something to burn in Sep 2017. Next, by like tax day, you'll want to bring in a years worth of oak or hard maple so you'll have better wood to burn in Sep 2018. As you are burning the pine off this winter is a good time to split and stack the red oak you will want to be burning in Sept 2019.

I will say you can buy "seasoned" cord wood from a bunch of "people", but the number of people who can actually deliver dry seasoned ready to burn cordwood to you is very likely zero. It is sad but true all over the world. If you are going to plan to succeed at this, I strongly encourage you to buy green wood and season it yourself.

If you want to be burning dry wood in Sept 2017 you need to be splitting pine TODAY.