Summit or Spectrum?

[oldspark]

Hi there!
Been looking at a new stove for my house and I like the PE but not sure what size I need so looking for opinions.
House is roughly 2800 square ft but it is a "berm house" bottom floor is a walk in basement more or less.
Heats fairly easily with an old Nashua (made in 1978) unless its well below zero F and wind is out of South and then we pour the
coals to her with the big pieces of Oak.
I let the wood burner go out at night (if conditions are right) and wake up to a 62 degree house with a stone cold stove, will have to burn the new stove in a differant way I am sure, and that is with only a few pieces of wood when I go to bed.

I can not find the actual dim. of the PE fire boxes just the cubic Ft but 2 cubic Ft for the Spectrum sounds small to me.
I told the dealer about how the house heats and he thought the Summit might be too big and may not be able to burn it correctly.
Only source of heat right now (been that way for 30 years) so do not want a too small of stove but do ot want one I can not burn correctly either.
Any thoughts about this and what is the door size of the Summin and Spectrum and the actucal size of the fire box on both, LxWXH
Thanks

 

[76ER]

Firestarter,
I think you will find the Spectrum to be too small for the square footage you are trying to heat. If I remember correctly the Spectrum will heat up to 2000 sq. ft.. I was looking at this stove a few months back and believe the firebox is just under 2 cu. ft.. I use to heat with a PE Vista (small stove) in a poorly insulated 800 sq. ft. house. PE describes the vista as being able to heat up to 1500 sq. ft. (1.5 cu. ft fire box) but with the lack of insulation I have the stove could not keep up when the temp droppped drastically. The reason I mentioned that was because I chose a stove with 3.1 cu. ft fire box (Drolet Legend) that was listed as being able to heat up to 2000 sq. ft.. Needless to say, it heats my home beautifully. I can pack it full on cold days or just put a few splits in on the warmer days. Now I dont know the layout of your home or the insulation value so I would wait for some of the pros on this site to chime in. Don't be affraid of a bigger stove. I would like to know why the dealer thought you may not be able to "burn" the Summit correctly. Good Luck!

Ian

 

[oldspark]

Firestarter,
I think you will find the Spectrum to be too small for the square footage you are trying to heat. If I remember correctly the Spectrum will heat up to 2000 sq. ft.. I was looking at this stove a few months back and believe the firebox is just under 2 cu. ft.. I use to heat with a PE Vista (small stove) in a poorly insulated 800 sq. ft. house. PE describes the vista as being able to heat up to 1500 sq. ft. (1.5 cu. ft fire box) but with the lack of insulation I have the stove could not keep up when the temp droppped drastically. The reason I mentioned that was because I chose a stove with 3.1 cu. ft fire box (Drolet Legend) that was listed as being able to heat up to 2000 sq. ft.. Needless to say, it heats my home beautifully. I can pack it full on cold days or just put a few splits in on the warmer days. Now I dont know the layout of your home or the insulation value so I would wait for some of the pros on this site to chime in. Don't be affraid of a bigger stove. I would like to know why the dealer thought you may not be able to "burn" the Summit correctly. Good Luck!

Ian

After telling him how easily the home heats now he thought I would have to keep it turned down too far for a good burn. The house is well insulated and has good windows and the bottom floor is open, I know that too big is better than too small but the old stove I have now is on idle except in the mornings or very cold windy conditions so that is what the dealer was basing his thoughts on. The thought of too small a stove is a scary one but too big a stove would be a PITA also.
By "idle" I mean small fires with the flue temp in the yellow range on temp sensor.

 

[iceman]

if you can afford it get a summit... easier to make small fires than possibly make a smaller stove have big ones

 

[dispatcher101]

I have to agree with 76er. I think you will be disappointed with a medium sized stove. I would definitely go with the bigger summit. I have a T5 which is the same firebox as the Spectrum. It measures approx 20" deep x 16" wide x 12" tall. It is also rated at 2000 sq ft. It heats my 1500 sq ft tri level house well, however I will be installing a blower for next winter; we like our house warm (75-80) it struggles to maintain that when the temps near 0 (mostly due to our homes layout).

Regardless I think you will like the PE, they burn really well, and are super easy to operate. Some aren't too keen on the ash door, I use mine and really like it for cleaning out the really fine ash during the week, and doing a thorough cleaning on the weekend. I haven't had any experience with the with the EBT (extended burn technology) on the larger Summit or T6, I am sure someone can enlighten you in that respect though.

GOOD LUCK

 

[madison]

don't think twice, Go Large!

and depending on the room dimensions and location of the unit ,,,, and you committed to PE, then consider Summit vs T6 (radiant vs convective), tight quarters in the stove room, consider the t6, otherwise your choice, but go large.

 

[76ER]

Firestarter,
I had a wise old man say to me once..."It's easy to crack a windy"...my stove is in my kitchen which is at the back of the house...my kitchen has been as high as 108 but usually sits around 90 Deg. F...I use a fan to move the heat to the front of the house but if it gets to hot I open a window....I didn't have this option with the smaller PE Vista..Cheers!

Ian

 

[begreen]

oldspark, you know your house better than any of us. If it heats easily with a minimal boost on a cold day, then you might be ok with a 2 cu ft stove. Some properly designed berm houses use very little heat. However, if you are finding that when temps drop into the single digits that the house is hard to heat, then by all means go up a size to the 3 cu ft stove.

 

[summit]

go big or go home: for 2800 sq ft you'll want the summit when it gets below 0.... you can always make a smaller fire in a bigger stove if you don't need as much heat, but it does not work the other way 'round.

 

[oldspark]

You guys confirmed what I was thinking, I will only need the extra size when conditions are very bad (strong south wind, sub zero) but when you need it you need it, I just wanted your opinions because you people know a lot more about the new type stoves than I do. Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[begreen]

Just stumbled on this thread in a search. Sure am glad that you didn't choose a 2 cu ft stove.

 

[oldspark]

Just stumbled on this thread in a search. Sure am glad that you didn't choose a 2 cu ft stove.

AMEN!

 

[begreen]

How many cu ft is the old Nashua? 4?