Woodstock Fireview vs. Jotul F600 Firelight

[lumbajac]

Hello,

I posted in the Boiler Room about 1 week ago. Will first repeat much of that post to introduce my situation... then get to my question.

I have recently sold my home located on 5 country acres of which I heated both my in-floor radiant heat and domestic hot water with a Taylor outdoor wood boiler. The Taylor worked well for me and I loved not having a heating bill. Reason for selling and moving was to get closer to work. I now own a 3/4 acre lot in town and am now finalizing plans for a new 2400 sq.ft. home. The home will be less than a 5 minute walk for both my wife and I to our place of employment. Additionally, this will result in saving (at last year’s prices) an average of $475 per month in gas for our vehicle.

For the past 2 years as we’ve worked on our new home endeavors, I’ve planned on using a Greenwood boiler in the home, to be located in the basement. However, thanks to many on hearth.com I’ve discovered a lot of problems with the Greenwood. Additionally, I talked with my local HVAC contractor who contacted Greenwood and sensed a lot of issues with their boiler. The issue at hand now is that my HVAC contractor has steered me towards installing a natural gas forced air system. As he says, “You can buy a lot of natural gas and good insulation with the $10K+ a wood boilder-hydronic system will cost you.”

After a lot of excellent feedback from the boiler room, I still have financial concerns with a wood gasification boiler, hot water storage, and the whole hydronic/radiant installation that would be involved. I may still go that route, but have been influenced some by posts on www.woodheat.org. I am now considering going with the cheaper natural gas forced air system my local HVAC contractor speaks of. However, I must burn wood as it has been a part of my life from birth and can't get away from the nostalgic side of it nor the economic side of it as I have free wood available and love to cut it. With that said, I am looking at having a free standing wood stove in my main living area, which is open with the kitchen as well as the majority of the first floor... large staircase is open to the second floor.

I would like to get as much out of such a woodstove as possible and limit the amount that the natural gas forced air would kick in. I would proably be burning from mid-September through mid-May in the cold Upper Peninsula of Michigan winters. I have spent about 8 hours online looking through the options and beleive either the Woodstock Fireview or the Jotul Firelight would be my best option and the best product. I am leaning towards the Woodstock Fireview as I like the soapstone and the catalytic burn. However, Woodstock lists the area that can be heated as up to 1600 sq.ft... I am building 2400 sq.ft. However, I plan on really insulating the new home very well. I like the Jotul being cast iron with quick heating response and I also like the look of the Jotul slightly better... but looks are not of most importance to me. Additonally, the Jotul is listed to heat up to 2500 sq.ft. with a whopping 81,500 max BTU's/hour. This concerns me a bit though as I don't want to get cooked out of the home.

Any thoughts, advice, etc.

Thanks,
lumbajac

 

[SPED]

Hi lumbajac, and welcome.

I'm sure you will get much more informed posts on this, but I purchased a firelight a few weeks ago so I figured I'd throw in my .02. I'm heating 2000 sq ft, some of that with vaulted ceilings(600 sq ft) and I'll say so far I have no problem keeping it warm enough, nor do I expect any when I use it in some real cold weather next year. Also, my house only has r-13 in the walls and r-19 in the vaulted ceilings, r-38 in the rest of the attic. I am also able to warm the house up even in milder temps like we are having right now(highs around 40) without roasting us out by having smaller fires. I didn't really look at the soapstones when I made my purchase so I won't be much help there, but just wanted to say I love my firelight and am happy with my purchase. The one issue I did have with the air control has been taken care of by my dealer, I need to write another post on that.

Anyway, good luck with your purchase and the house, IMHO you are looking at two really nice stoves, and I think you'll be happy with either.

 

[lumbajac]

Any idea as to whether or not either the Woodstock or the Jotul has an external air source option for combution? I've seen some woodstoves with this option and think it would be a good one to have.

Thanks,
lumbajac

 

[SPED]

Any idea as to whether or not either the Woodstock or the Jotul has an external air source option for combution? I've seen some woodstoves with this option and think it would be a good one to have.

Thanks,
lumbajac

Outside air kit is definitely an option on the jotul, just read this straight from the manual, I'm not sure on the woodstock. I believe a lot of people just make their own or use universal ones as well.

 

[Todd]

If you have a very well insulated home with an open floor plan the Woodstock will heat it. That 1600 sq ft number is very conservative an I have seen reviews of Fireviews heating more than 2000 sq ft easily. They do have an outside air kit that hooks up to the stove. I just recently purchased one and it works great. If your looking to burn 24/7 go with the soapstone, you won't be sorry. Nice even heat output and you can sit close to the stove without feeling the seering heat of metal stoves. I have a pretty well insulated 1800 sq ft home in NW WI, my Fireview's installed in the basement and keeps the house above 70 except very windy below zero days.

Where in the UP are you? In my US Coast Guard days I lived in Houghton, Marquette, and Sault Ste Marie. Loved it up there.

 

[asmith1]

I just ordered a Fireview with the outside air kit last week. The house I am building is only 1600sqf so the heat output is not as much a concern. I wanted to make sure it would go overnight and through the work day. I like to burn 24/7 starting in mid to late Oct. My new house is in a neighborhood so I wanted the cleaner low burn of the catalytic. I did a lot of research and it seems there are quite a few fireviews in larger homes with good results. A well insulated building envelope will be a good long term investment that is much harder to do later. I'm giving up some other things to put the money there.
Good luck

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hello and welcome to a Yooper! Hey, I used to live in the U.P. of Michigan and our heating season lasted from July 5 until July 3rd! Tough sledding on July 4 though.

Todd has some good words for you on the Fireview. Especially when he speaks of not feeling that seering heat from steel or cast stoves. We toyed with the idea of a soapstone stove for many years and have not been sorry we bought one last year. This is our first year with it and we are simply amazed. It looks very nice, gives us more heat than our old Ashley and uses a lot less wood. Hard to beat that. But I've known people who own Jotul stoves and like them too. Go with whichever one you will feel more comfortable with and you won't go wrong.

 

[bcnu]

I have a Hearthstone and really enjoy the feel of soapstone. Someone in CA. had a Fireview, new in crate, for $1200 and no bids. I was tempted to get it just to try out a Woodstock but passed.

 

[lumbajac]

Was that $1200 Woodstock on eBay?

 

[bcnu]

Was that $1200 Woodstock on eBay?

Yes

 

[BotetourtSteve]

2 months with a "Big 6" (my new nickname that I am sure will catch on and become universal...) and I am very pleased with the heat production. Under the correct conditions (good wood, draft, etc) you will have no problem with 10 hr + or - heating that will bottom at at 200-250. It likes to stay at 200 for a long time past main burn time.

If you are looking for max heat, get the blower - I did and it makes a significant difference in total heat output. At 200-250 temps in the morning before reloads, there is not a great deal of radiant heat coming off the stove, but the blower is still pushing plenty warm air.

Easy to use, straightforward stove. There is the air control handle issue (it sticks on some stoves) that some including myself (mine is not so bad as I just jiggle mine a bit to get it to move) have had to deal with, but Jotul is aware of that and has a replacement kit available under warranty and may already be retrofitting new models. One other little thing that I had to get used to after having a steel stove for years is getting used to the fact that a cast stove is not 100% airtight, so don't be surprised once in a blue moon (usually under poor draft) to have a very little bit of smoke come from a joint on the stove - not a bit different than a little smoke that would normally come from a pipe joint under the same conditions with a steel stove. Again, if you are familiar and comfortable with wood stoves, it is absolutely no big deal - very fair trade-off for how long the cast holds the heat. Oh, and I always sideload too - side door easy to use and get wood into - not a big fan of the double doors in front as far as opening/closing for loading. I haven't put up my ratings on that page yet, but they would be "1"s.