What's the possibility of a larger Woodstock Stove???

[Easyellis8]

I've been lurking on this site for a while and have a few posts under my name; I have read comments from fireview owners saying that they are easily heating 2,000 sq feet in a tight house even though the stove is rated for 1,600. I am not sure of the life cycle of these stoves, but has anyone heard about the possibility of a new stove with a larger fire box. The house that we are looking at purchasing is a newer home with good insulation but the floor plan does not lend itself to being open and flowing. Though the fireview is an excellent stove and receives rave reviews, I'm thinking that it will have difficulty heating a house tlhis size.

 

[KeithO]

If you factor in potential heating and cooling costs, not to mention hikes in property tax, I hope you are looking towards the future and the expectation that all fuels are likely to continue to increase in cost. If you are buying, now is the time to seriously re-consider the "bigger is better" concept and things like superinsulating vs only code compliant building practice. Your wallet will thank you in the years ahead. Virtually everyone I speak to today is expecting the gas price to shoot back to $5/gal after this election.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Ed, though I have nothing definite nor has Woodstock committed (as far as I know) to it, I have heard from a source that they indeed might look at building a new stove with a larger firebox. When that will be is difficult to tell. Personally, I think there would be a decent market for a larger stove, but we'll leave that to their marketing people to decide.

As for the stove heating a larger area than is advertised, yes, many do claim that and I do not doubt it if the home is well insulated. However, when you have to move the air, things get a bit different. It all depends upon the layout of the home. I was in a very large home (guessing 2500 sq. ft. or more) that is heated with a Fireview but it also had a huge open area and they also used a furnace for a backup. Still, it was plenty warm in there while we were visiting. Our home is, well, drafty, to say the least. But now with the Fireview, if we insulate too much it will probably cook us out! Either way, we are well satisfied with the stove.

Good luck in your quest for the stove and chainsaw. btw, we've owned several saws over the years but our present Stihl saw we have to say has been our best saw ever. I've never saw a saw saw like that saw saws.

 

[Easyellis8]

[quote author="KeithO" date="1222533635"]If you factor in potential heating and cooling costs, not to mention hikes in property tax, I hope you are looking towards the future and the expectation that all fuels are likely to continue to increase in cost. If you are buying, now is the time to seriously re-consider the "bigger is better" concept and things like superinsulating vs only code compliant building practice. Your wallet will thank you in the years ahead. Virtually everyone I speak to today is expecting the gas price to shoot back to $5/gal after this election.[/quote

Any home that we purchase will have more than adequate insulation, this is not a custom build but a newer, existing home. I do not want to speculate on the gas prices after the election, but going with a nice stove will definitely cut down on the cost of heating my home.

 

[Easyellis8]

Ed, though I have nothing definite nor has Woodstock committed (as far as I know) to it, I have heard from a source that they indeed might look at building a new stove with a larger firebox. When that will be is difficult to tell. Personally, I think there would be a decent market for a larger stove, but we'll leave that to their marketing people to decide.

As for the stove heating a larger area than is advertised, yes, many do claim that and I do not doubt it if the home is well insulated. However, when you have to move the air, things get a bit different. It all depends upon the layout of the home. I was in a very large home (guessing 2500 sq. ft. or more) that is heated with a Fireview but it also had a huge open area and they also used a furnace for a backup. Still, it was plenty warm in there while we were visiting. Our home is, well, drafty, to say the least. But now with the Fireview, if we insulate too much it will probably cook us out! Either way, we are well satisfied with the stove.

Good luck in your quest for the stove and chainsaw. btw, we've owned several saws over the years but our present Stihl saw we have to say has been our best saw ever. I've never saw a saw saw like that saw saws.

I would love a home with an open layout but all the ones that we have looked at doesn't lend itself to being open; that is why I asked the question about the larger stove. Most homes that we've looked at are newer, existing homes and the insulation and windows aren't too much of a concern.

We are not committed to 24/7 burning but the idea of 10 plus hours on a load of wood is appealing to me, overnight and weekends are a given though. I've looked at some other brands such as hearthstone and jotul, both of which are nice stoves and companies but the ease of use with the catalytic lends itself to the dynamics of my family.

Thanks for the info and I'll keep my ear out for any news concerning a new stove. Also, looked at the huskys and stihl chainsaws a couple of weeks ago, both are nice but I put the purchase on hold. Right now a cord of wood in S. IL can be purchased for 100-125 dollars which is not bad at all. When you do the math on the saw and all the bits that goes into heating with wood it doesn't make much financial sense to jump in too far with wood so cheap. Knowing me I wouldn't stop at the saw, I would want a truck and trailer and of course the splitter, the Toyota Tundra that I'm looking at is not cheap.

 

[Todd]

I talked to Woodstock a couple weeks ago and asked them this question. The response was there are some other stoves on the drawing table, but nothing in the works for the near future. I suggested a 3cu ft fire box stove would be great for those larger homes over 2000 sq ft, they said they have many happy Fireview owners heating over 2000 sq ft. I think the 1600 sq ft number is pretty conservative. If you look at Hearthstone's similar sized stove, the numbers are higher.

Besides you have the 6 month money back guarantee, so you can try it out and see, they even pay the freight charges on return.

 

[Easyellis8]

I agree that the 1,600 sq ft is pretty conservative because of the testimonies of others who are heating larger places with it. The return policy is the best I've seen, I will use this option if I have to but I do not want to go through the hassle if I do not have to. That's why I'm trying to get all of the info that I can to make the best decision the first time out of the gate.