Wood stove for the long haul

[TessiersFarm]

Our woodstove is used up, again. Is there a stove out there that will last more than 6 or 8 years anymore? We are currently using a vermont castings duchwest which did the job but had a short life (6 years). We burn 8 to 10 cords of wood per year and the thing never shuts down from november until march. We are heating 2600 sq feet. The trouble with the duchwest is that the doors are not closing and sealing well anymore and the interior heat shields are warped and broken. I went through it last year and replaced all the gaskets and tried to fix the doors but they seam to be warped and just don't seal like they used to. I can't seam to find a woodstove out there that can even come close to the quality and functional ability of the old All Nighters, Old Mills and Fishers. I am Really looking at buying one of them used and refurbishing it.

I am not really all that concerned about some super efficient stove that costs $3000 and will only have a useful life of 6 or 8 years when I can buy a $500 stove that will last 25 years. My math says I will have to save $8500 dollars worth of wood to make it work and I can't see that happening anytime soon. I realize all the enviromental concerns but they ain't payin' my bills.

What am I missing here I obviously need some advice. Anyone with a lead on a stove good for 20 years or more and designed to burn for 4 months at a time.

 

[Todd]

If your burning 8-10 full cords you either burning wide open with most of the heat going up the chimney or there is a major leak somewhere, most people burn half that. With proper care and maintenance the new EPA stoves should last 10-20 years.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It sounds like you are looking for too much heat from the stove and over heating it.

I'd try a bigger stove. You could run it at a temperature that will not warp panels. If you are looking for lower cost try an Englander, Drolet or Century. I just picked up a new 75K btu Englander for $899. The large Dutchwest states it is capable of 55K btu. I think you were running it too hard.

Matt

 

[EatenByLimestone]

How is the home made boiler coming?

Matt

 

[TessiersFarm]

Homemade boiler is at a standstill for now, the underground piping and the building where it will be installed are on hold, I have been working 40 hours per week since January (Usually 50 or so = 20% pay cut) and there is not much extra money kicking around right now so there she sits with no way to give me what she's got, so to speak.

I realize the duchwest is maxed right out and the only way to heat the place is full out. My stack temp runs around 500 right now in order to heat the place.

 

[BrotherBart]

Run an old Fischer, I don't care how legendary they are, like that and the waves in the sides will look like something you could surf on.

 

[summit]

get a steel stove, and stay away from all the extra dampers and such.. get a straight, firbick lined steel unt: PE, lopi, avalon, englander, napoleon, somethin' don't got for a cast stove w/ refractory panels inside, flop dampers and rear chambers if you wanna get more than 6 yrs outta it withou replacing all the pretty parts and 2ndary burn chambers. even the cheaper steel stoves will only require a cera board baffle at @ $ 60-100 every couple yrs, but by no means are they toast if you have to replace one (you can even stuff a $5 pipe damper in and use it if you are lacking to replace said baffle).. lopis pe, regency,, avalons, i think lennox as well, have solid baffles for a couple more $ that last a long time or carry lifetime wttys.

 

[mayhem]

Get rid of the catalytic stove and go with a modern EPA non-CAT stove. Less complicated and not as prone to temperature spikes as the cat stoves...I had a Dutchwest Federal Medium stove and even after I got used to the CAT I still found it difficult to maintain even temperatures...that thing was either glowing hot or almost cool enough to lay your ahnd on it...very little in between. If you find yourself using that much wood to heat that spce, you may want a bigger stove thats more well suited to your house.

You may also be burning wet wood.

 

[Wet1]

Get a BK King... They have more than past the test of time, are plenty big enough to heat that area, and will save you a sh!tload of wood. It's hard to beat brick lined steel for durability and heat output.

 

[branchburner]

I agree with the guys about going for steel. It seems the more sq ft you need to heat, the more you want to rely on convection instead of radiation. A steel w/ blower should spread the heat better than cast iron, given the same size firebox (which sounds like you need to go bigger).

 

[SolarAndWood]

Get a BK King...

That was my solution to my 2 non-sealing, warped, broken, run too hard VCs.

 

[North of 60]

Get rid of the catalytic stove and go with a modern EPA non-CAT stove. Less complicated and not as prone to temperature spikes as the cat stoves...I had a Dutchwest Federal Medium stove and even after I got used to the CAT I still found it difficult to maintain even temperatures...that thing was either glowing hot or almost cool enough to lay your ahnd on it...very little in between. If you find yourself using that much wood to heat that spce, you may want a bigger stove thats more well suited to your house.

You may also be burning wet wood.

You cannot compare a VC/Dutchwest Cat to Woodstock or BK stoves. Two different controllable and preformance outcomes.

 

[Highbeam]

If you have the large VC dutchwest then you already have an 8" flue right? Go BK King to use that 8" flue.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Our woodstove is used up, again. Is there a stove out there that will last more than 6 or 8 years anymore? We are currently using a vermont castings duchwest which did the job but had a short life (6 years). We burn 8 to 10 cords of wood per year and the thing never shuts down from november until march. We are heating 2600 sq feet. The trouble with the duchwest is that the doors are not closing and sealing well anymore and the interior heat shields are warped and broken. I went through it last year and replaced all the gaskets and tried to fix the doors but they seam to be warped and just don't seal like they used to. I can't seam to find a woodstove out there that can even come close to the quality and functional ability of the old All Nighters, Old Mills and Fishers. I am Really looking at buying one of them used and refurbishing it.

I am not really all that concerned about some super efficient stove that costs $3000 and will only have a useful life of 6 or 8 years when I can buy a $500 stove that will last 25 years. My math says I will have to save $8500 dollars worth of wood to make it work and I can't see that happening anytime soon. I realize all the enviromental concerns but they ain't payin' my bills.

What am I missing here I obviously need some advice. Anyone with a lead on a stove good for 20 years or more and designed to burn for 4 months at a time.

VCs are garbage. Pick any other brand out of a hat and you'll be much happier.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Get a BK King... They have more than past the test of time, are plenty big enough to heat that area, and will save you a sh!tload of wood. It's hard to beat brick lined steel for durability and heat output.

x2

If heat is what you want the Blaze King King is the absolute top of the heap.

 

[madrone]

sounds like that stove was too small, and maybe your wood too wet. go steel and go big.

 

[foche911]

Question from the inexperienced: Can the Blaze King King be operated at low heat for long burn with good results? I do not have huge output need, but want long burntime and hopefully very long life. I have not seen anything else that comes close to it on burn time.

 

[Highbeam]

The BK King is a great stove but does not make as much heat as you would think. It is only rated for 2500+ SF and depending on where you look in the brochure puts out a max of no more than 97,000 btu when constantly loaded with wood. That's a lot of heat but certainly not the highest out there. The King is designed to be run continuously at the lower output settings and appears especially well suited for the long and low burns with the help of its automatic thermostat that regulates the heat output to the desired rate.

You must have an 8" flue for the king model and they (stove or pipe) aren't cheap.

Oh and you don't need to replace the ceramic baffle boards on the non-cat stoves every "couple yrs" unless you are careless and break them with a piece of wood jammed up against the roof.

I agree, the VC will be easy to improve upon. A new VC is even worse.

 

[maplewood]

My Pacific Energy is 16 years old and runs all heating season. I've never replaced the gasket, glass or any brick. Just done a cleaning every decade or so. It's great. It heats 1/3 of my house.
You are burning too much wood. I couldn't feed mine that much! (I assume you are calling a cord 4'x4'x8', and not a "face cord", which is 1/3 of that....) I agree with others that your draft is wide open or your wood is too wet. What type of wood is it? Dry hardwood?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

i'd go with the 30-nc with blower , or the big blaze king, the guys are right stay with steel and go big. with the 8" flue already there you could go either way. personally i think our 30 will heat with just about anything , but as i always say , im biased. that said that big BK is a BEAST! if either of those 2 stoves cant do it without running flat out, quit buying stoves and invest in insulation.

 

[humpin iron]

Quad 5700=3500 sq ft

 

[TessiersFarm]

I got no issues spending some money but its got to pay for itself, if it doesn't I'm gonna burn fuel and save my time. That is the reason I am shying away from an outside wood boiler. Prices I got are around 10 grand installed and that is a long long payback.

I am burning dry mixed hardwood, most of it a year plus or minus old and stored inside. I am running full out and I know a fair amount of heat is going up the chimney, the catalatic converter has been removed since about 3 years ago and I didn't see enough difference to spend the money for a new one. I hated the thing from day one but once you spend the money you kinda gotta make it float. I don't intend to make that mistake again. I don't know if I said it already but I am mostly interested in a good heater that will have a long, fairly maint free life. I realize gaskets, bricks and stuff need to be maintained but The basics should last, and from the 2 local stove shops I've been to I havent seen it yet. My wood consumption has not been an issue although if I could save a little it would help the work load but I only have cutting costs involved which I figure at about 20 to 25 dollars a cord yes 128 cubic feet.

The two I have looked at are the Vermont Castings non cat which I don't see as any better than what I got, and the Jotul which looks good but doesn't seam to be what I consider the work horse I'm looking for.

I am definatly going to look into this BK King, Thanks

 

[SlyFerret]

I notice that there isn't much mentioned about the floor plan of the house, and how tight it is.

Is the place exceptionally drafty?

2600 sqft is a pretty good sized house. Does the floor plan let you heat it effectively with a single stove?

I'm not saying it's not realistic to heat the place with a single stove, I just wanted to bring it up as food for thought.

-SF

 

[Frostbit]

For what you are needing, Blaze King and Pacific Energy stoves, in the high test versions, would be on my short list. I don't think you can do better that those. Any of the cast iron Yodels can't come close.

 

[TessiersFarm]

Floor plan is pretty wide open first floor with large opening into second floor bedrooms, We heat it pretty effectively now until -10 or so. The other side of the woodstove wall is a heated garage and below about 10 degrees the garage gets obandoned to a second woodstove. It is not a drafty house and is of fairly new construction although the garage uses up a lot of heat. We use very little heat other than the wood and I also burn a little wood in my work shop although I never really thought about how much wood goes to which place.

I liked the looks of the BK although I am leary of a catalytic stove at this point, I never liked the one I've got.

Thanks!