Wittus/Romotop Stromboli

[joefrompa]

Hi all:

I can't find any reviews or really installed information on Wittus/Romotop or their Stromboli freestanding stove. It's gorgeous on Wittus' website and Romotop seems like a legitimate european stove maker. The few reviews I find online say Wittus may be unresponsive or not super easy to work with... I've had one conversation with them where they were perfectly nice but not helpful with identifying firebox size on the Stromboli (they told me to look in the manual after I told them I looked in the manual and couldn't find it). I recognize this is a pricey stove, I'm writing because:

1. It appears to be 80% efficient (not broken out by LHV/HHV but it's claimed to meet tax credit criteria). I can't find any info this is a cat stove, so unsure about this. Any insight?

2. It says it allows for a single wall pipe with 12" clearance to walls. However, BECAUSE THE STOVE can rotate 360 degrees, I can't tell what is required for what the wall should be behind this? Should I anticipate issues with a building inspector (I'm building a home) with a rotating stove set 12" from a wall surface?

3. Does anyone have any solid experience with Wittus or Romotop? Again, they seem like really well regarded stoves in europe....but information on burning, sizing, etc. is sparse.

Last thing I'll say is that my wife and I are picking a stove that is going to be a centerpiece in our great room/main living space. We're prioritizing design/look alot for that reason.

Here's a video of the stove in action:

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Here's the manual: (broken link removed)

Thanks,

Joe

 

[gthomas785]

Thats a cool stove but it doesn't appear to be EPA 2020 certified. I don't think you can legally install it in the US anymore.

 

[begreen]

Yes, the EPA certification is from 2005. Note that these are not large stoves, they are room heaters. Also, price out the cost of replacement glass. Curved glass is uncommon and very costly. Actually, so are Wittus stoves. They have some very cool designs but often cost $3K more than a North American stove. Contact the US seller and see if they are still for sale in the US. The EPA database shows none for Wittus. 914.764.5679 | [email protected]

The Hearthstone Bari is a similar design and it is EPA 2020 certified.

 

[joefrompa]

I spoke with them today and they sent me an order form and said it's EPA certified, but they didn't exactly give me confidence

 

[joefrompa]

BeGreen - I have literally been searching for months for modern stoves and don't think I came across Hearthstone Bari. Thank you!

That stove firebox size seems quite small though and I love everything else about it. 1.4 cubic feet?!?

It looks much larger than that to me in pictures (i.e. the firebox size easily looks as large as my Lopi 1750). Is this a difference in measurement technique?

This stove is going to be sitting in a ~1,000 square foot main room in SE PA in a brand new 2-story construction home with 2 zone heating (i.e. first floor, second floor). My vision for it is this:

- Comfortably heat the main room so we can turn down the heat upstairs and just cruise when it's 20-40 degrees here, which is what it is the vast majority of the winter. Likely drop home furnace efforts alot.
- Augment home heating during night-time to reduce the overall demand, but not replace it.
- Serve as emergency heat for the main room area during extended power outages

 

[clancey]

Bari Plus - HearthStone Stoves

Lined with heat-storing thermal brick for long-lasting comfortable heat. [...]Read More...

www.hearthstonestoves.com

Bari - HearthStone Stoves

The cleanest, most efficient modern stove on the market. [...]Read More...

www.hearthstonestoves.com

 

[begreen]

The Bari + installation also qualifies for the 25C tax credit.

 

[joefrompa]

Funny story: I called up a local dealer of the hearthstone bari and asked what the difference was between the bari and bari plus.

He was like..I think the Bari Plus is a soapstone exterior. Let me confirm.....ok I don't know what the difference is as the website doesn't show it.

Not sure what to do with that hehehe Love the stove though!

 

[SpaceBus]

Most of the round stoves will have smaller fireboxes and short burn times. They do look nice, but generally these stoves are used to heat a room while it is being used. These stoves generally are left to go out when the room is no longer in use. Most US designed stoves are meant to burn long into the night.

 

[begreen]

Funny story: I called up a local dealer of the hearthstone bari and asked what the difference was between the bari and bari plus.

He was like..I think the Bari Plus is a soapstone exterior. Let me confirm.....ok I don't know what the difference is as the website doesn't show it.

Not sure what to do with that hehehe Love the stove though!

It's like + cellphones. Taller and more storage (heat storage in this case). It is about twice the weight of the regular Bari.

 

[SpaceBus]

It's like + cellphones. Taller and more storage (heat storage in this case). It is about twice the weight of the regular Bari.

Do you think any of the increased mass options for these small round stoves help? They are very charming, as our OP has mentioned, but they are on the small side even for our house. Due to size I never really gave these types of stoves very much thought.

 

[begreen]

I've never run one, but it does have a good efficiency rating. Its primary design is as a room or area heater. The firebox is twice the size of the Morso 2B, so theoretically it should do ok, but that depends on the house size, floorplan, insulation, glass area, climate zone, etc. The Bari + puts a large mass of stone on top of the actual stovetop, surrounding the flue pipe. In theory that should add a lot of heat retention to gradually be released as the fire dies down. If it works well, that could help even out room temperature swings. Soapstone side panels can be ordered to further enhance this effect.

 

[SpaceBus]

I know the round firebox decreases useable firebox volume, but the bari is larger than I realized, larger than most of the round european stoves.

 

[joefrompa]

One of the interesting attributes to me after 10 years of wood burning (with an insert, on an external masonry chimney) is that when I burn low non-stop in a 2.2 CF firefox, it can easily keep my entire house at 65 degrees in 25-30 degree exterior weather. And this is a ~50 year old house with middling tightness. I'm not talking burning hot, or with full fireboxes either. I'm talking loading 3 splits once every 2-3 hours to keep a steady coal bed going and not over-heat the room it's in. And then it heats up the surrounding masonry a bit, and the ~350-400 steel stove, and it just stays.

I have to imagine a ~650 pound freestanding wood burning stove, stuffed with it's own masonry/stone, and a good catalytic converter achieving slow-steady long burns can give that really steady heat affect too. Would it heat my 3800 sq ft home in 10 degree windy weather? No. It could probably keep it at 55. But in 25-30 degree calm weather, I wonder if even with a small firebox it couldn't keep the house at a reasonable temperature where the furnace is just "topping off" rather than heating up. That's just ALOT of warm/hot stone, in an efficient burning package, with nothing cold soaking it (i.e. an exterior masonry chimney) constantly radiating heat.