Top loading wood stoves

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TROY COOK

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 25, 2009
139
Ramsay, Michigan of the U.P.
We are looking to heat about 2000 square feet,our stove now just isn't big enough, but a great stove! Looking for feedback on top loading stoves in this ballpark, any help would be great..thanks
 
I'm sure an owner will chime in soon, but I think the Quadrafire Isle Royale looks like a great design for a top loader. We almost bought one, since we liked top loading our old VC, but we went with a Jotul Oslo instead. I've seen lots of positive comments here from Isle Royale owners.
 
I think the Quad is one of the few top loaders with burn tubes. The Harmans and the Lopi Leyden are downdraft stoves, good heaters but a bit tricky in my opinion. However, if you like to grill, it's hard to beat a Harman even if the downdraft system is a pain in the butt.
Are you looking for cast iron or steel?
 
We most likely would buy a cast iron stove this time. If we didn't go with a top loader we would buy a jutol f 500 ..
 
Because of space restrictions, one of our neighbors has to have a top loading stove. She looked at everything currently available this fall, but decided to continue for another winter with her old stove when she found out that Jotul will introduce a top loader to the North American market next year. I have no idea how large this stove will be or even if what she was told is absolutely definite. Might be worth checking into, however.
 
We originally had top load as a must have on our requirement list as we really liked it on the old stove. However, with a big firebox and loading NS, I don't miss it and stoves without it are simpler.
 
Lots of stoves to look at. The Isle Royale looks like the front runner! Thanks to all for the help!!
 

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I'd pause and look at the options. We were in this same position. I like top loaders and wanted to put in the Isle Royale, but ran into clearances issues for our installation. The Oslo is a great stove but I think you should be comparing to the F600 instead. If the space is easy to heat and open, then sticking to a 3 cu ft firebox is probably a good plan. (The Oslo is 2 cu ft.) FWIW, we ended up with a steel stove with a cast iron jacket. So far it's working out well for us.
 
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