what would the best size alderlea for me T5 or T6

[RIDGERUNNER30]

hey guys, I got a question for you I have been doing alot of research on wood stoves and want the look of cast iron, I love the look of the jotul f 500, but alderlea's look really good, I have about a 2000 sq foot house with one bedroom upstair, the stove will sit in a den room where we mostly hang out it's a 400 sq foot room. would a alderlea T6 be to big? I will be heating my house with wood if i can tired of my heat pump, we like our house to be 75 to 76 degrees. I recently called a jotul dealer and talked about the f 500 and when i told him about the alderlea"s i have been looking at he acted like they where a junkie stove and were not of good quanity. I seem to think he is narrow minded. the T5's and T6's come with a limited lifetime warranity and jotul with a five year, I really want to make good choice guy's I'am using tax rebate money to buy a wood stove and I don't have extra money to buy another stove if it can't haet my house warm or I start haveing problems with it . If you guys where going to buy a cast iron stove to heat your 2000 sq foot house what would it be T5 or T6 or jotul F500 oslo

 

[jwscarab]

I may be biased, but go with the T6. I have one and love it. No it is not a junk stove - actually built like a tank. It is very easy to run at lower temps so you wont be going too big.

 

[hardcore]

I'm new to wood stoves and have gone through hours of research. I ended up with the Jotul F500 because of these reasons:

1. Oslo, in my opinion, is a nicer looking stove. Alderlea is too boxy for me.
2. Oslo comes in enamels instead of just matt black cast iron so it is easier to keep clean and new looking.
3. Oslo has the side door for loading
4. Haven't seen the Pacific energy burn, but on youtube, the secondary burn on the jotuls looks amazing
5. Jotul stoves seem to be the best built stoves out of any that I looked at. Don't get me wrong, the alderlea seems to be built well also, but the slide out hot plates squeaked and didn't swing out easily on both the T5 and T6 that I looked at.


As far as heating performance, which is obviously very high on the list, I can't comment. I'm thinking the T5 would compare closer to the Oslo, and the T6 would compare with the Firelight. You can't go wrong with any of your choices on your short list.

 

[begreen]

They're both fantastic stoves. As for size, the T6 would better be compared to the F600. Whether it would work in the den location will depend on how open that room is to the rest of the house. If the den is somewhat central and has a large opening to the rest of the house, then go for a big stove. If the den is off at one end of the house and only has a regular doorway, then I would stick with the T5 or the F500.