Old vs New wood stove

I have an old Alaska Kodiak wood stove. My house is a 1500 sq ft ranch and the stove is in the basement. Would I benefit from purchasing a new wood stove? Are they significantly better?

Trying to contribute here, love the site. My thoughts are that we need more details. I am unaware of any clear advantage to a new vs. old stove other than EPA requirements. Assuming they have the same dimensions, I'd go with old for nostalgic reasons!

Maybe similar to a car EGA valve re-burning gasses? More heat?

I can second what Treeco said. When we replaced our pre-EPA stove with a Quadrafire 2100 our wood consumption went from 5 to 7 cords per year to under 3. Huge difference and no less heat.
Dok

I was like you, got rid of the old stove and got a new one, As TreeCo said it will use less wood and mine even puts out more heat than the old one and is smaller in size. Go for it you won't be dissapointed.

TreeCo said:

The EPA stoves use about a third less wood for the same heat output.

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That is a very subjective statement, 1/3 less whew that's a lot. My past experiences with the Jotul #8 and my Lopi would be mixed. While I don't dispute they might burn less wood but 1/3 give me a break, in my case it has been negligible as I have been cutting the same amount of wood, its not like one day I put in the Lopi and then all of a sudden didn't have to cut 3 pickup loads of wood. So all I am sayin is lab testing doesn't always = the same thing in the real world. I think it would interesting to hear from some other members of their real world experiences after a change out as compared to the lab tests.

I think 10% less on average might be a more realistic figure. The most striking difference is the wood MUST be seasoned. Otherwise you will be fighting a never ending (& frustrating) battle of excessive coals building up. What's amazing is how little heat is given off by the coals.
Al

TreeCo said:

Likely your Jotul #8 was a fairly efficient stove to begin with. I believe it's basic design is still seen in some of today's Jotul stoves....but with improvements made.
I used for years a Riteway Model 37 that was a down draft design that was designed so the smoke exiting the stove had to go down near the coals...it was well known to be more efficient than the top exhaust types. I added a catalyst to it in 1981....well ahead of the EPA mandates that started in 1989.

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No the Jotul is still around just moved it to the cabin, in fact we rebuilt it last year after it spent a week under water in the flood of 08 still works great. TreeCo I agree not all stoves are created equal new or old. So I guess the moral of the story is if you find a good used Jotul #8 buy it.:hmm3grin2orange:

lobsta1 said:

I think 10% less on average might be a more realistic figure. The most striking difference is the wood MUST be seasoned. Otherwise you will be fighting a never ending (& frustrating) battle of excessive coals building up. What's amazing is how little heat is given off by the coals.
Al

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:agree2:

I too wonder about new stoves over the old ones. Do they just burn cleaner or do they put out more heat. So far I only know 2 people with new cat stoves. Me and my wife both have left their homes saying....nice stove but wheres the heat??

Vermont Defiant

My brother is not sold on the catalytic stoves. His catalytic has been replaced twice and the third time removed it completely and stove burning much better.

The cat in my stove works but it has to be at a high temp for it too. Right now it's fine cause it's really cold outside but when the temps aren't that cold outside the stove will make the house too hot if you keep it hot enough for the cat to work. You can't stay in the house. A friend of mine has never used his cat, he just keeps the dampner open. Mine will get too hot with dampner open even with the air control shut off. I can't really see an advantage with the cat stove.

I know their supposed to burn the smoke and put out less pollutants, but untill you get the cat really hot it won't work and the stove still smokes. On some days that means it's gonna be too hot in the house to do that.

I have a Vermont Castings Dutchwest and while i'm happy with the stove itself i'm not really sold on the catalytic thing yet. When mine burns out it may not get replaced.

For wood consumption, it does use a little less wood. It's not 1/3 or even 30% better than my old one. Sometime i think it uses more especially on really cold days. The old stove i could put five sticks of wood in and they would burn till next morning, I can only get four sticks in this one and it will not last all night. Now on warmer days it will but when it's in the 20s and below it won't.

I know their supposed to burn the smoke and put out less pollutants, but untill you get the cat really hot it won't work and the stove still smokes. On some days that means it's gonna be too hot in the house to do that.

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My old non cat stove typically burns clean with no visible smoke from the chimney unless I just put 6 or more big pieces in it. Once its back to temp its clear. I can build a small hot fire or a large hot one and get the same results. I just hate to spend thousands on a stove to end up finding out it isn't any better than the old school stove that cost a few hundred.

TreeCo said:

Vermont Castings is taking a beating reputation wise. The suggestion seems to be to avoid them all together these days. I believe they've been bought and sold a few times lately.

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I hear this a bit also. My non-cat Defiant has been great. Granted, its only three years old...... but it looks good (had to get a stove the olady approved of) and cranks the heat out. Based on my experience with my stove so far I'd buy another one no problem....... but i'll admit i don't like hearing the rumors out there. Those rumors might have me looking at other brands of similar stoves. The stove we has prior was also an enameled VC, built in 1979. That one was great to me also....... no doubt still heating the house of the guy i sold it to.

One other thing to consider is the heating area for which your stove is recommended.

If you have a stove that's recommended for (example) 1000 sq ft and you are trying to heat 1500 sq ft with it, then you are likely better off buying a new stove (one that is rated for the area that you are heating).

real world experience - the world is getting colder!

trouba said:

So all I am sayin is lab testing doesn't always = the same thing in the real world. I think it would interesting to hear from some other members of their real world experiences after a change out as compared to the lab tests.

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I've noticed in recent years that from one winter to the next, come mid January my wood pile is increasingly smaller, this year I might run out of seasoned wood before the heating season's over. The reason is that winters are getting colder and I'm burning more, and this winter may be one for the record books, or at least I hope so. The weather is a factor on how much wood we burn, it's not just our stove efficiency.

Anyone using a stove in their finished basement to heat the entire house? Just wondering how this would work...does the heat find its way upstairs. I have mine in an unfinished basement with no ceiling so Im wondering how one in a finished basement with a ceiling would do.

TreeCo said:

Luckily your fears are unfounded! The new stoves are more efficient and have lower emissions. Emissions mean smoke, in case you didn't know. If the older stove you are referring to met the emission and efficiency requirements established in 1989, it would most likely still be in production. It didn't and it's not.

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Well its hard to say why a stove company would have gone out of business. The basic reason I've fell in love with the Nashua is because it appears to be very efficient and does pour out the heat. Top of stove can be 700 degrees and pipe a foot above is 100 degrees. Can't understand why a stove company that built something that efficient decided to stop.

Anyone using a stove in their finished basement to heat the entire house? Just wondering how this would work...does the heat find its way upstairs. I have mine in an unfinished basement with no ceiling so Im wondering how one in a finished basement with a ceiling would do.

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Thats me heating whole house from the basement. It works but not exactly the best when its real cold out like tonight at or near zero. Open floor plans are best but still expect about a 10 degree drop form floor to floor. Main 2 floors are 1800sq ft. Basement adds another 1000 to it and if its 20 or above it does a real nice job on the whole house. We are considering a second stove for the first floor next year to use on the real cold days. Basement stove will always be main source. Or like some I know just spend most of your time downstairs on the really cold days. Weather in Ohio doesn't stay this cold all winter so its not too much to endure a few less than ideal nights till it warms back up a little. My basement runs a constant 80 and the 1st floor will be 70-74. Tonight it will be 65-68 unless I keep it fired hot all night.

no i didnt read what everybody said but in my experence the older stoves burn hotter than the newer ones. we have a large yodal or how ever you spell it that is 2 years old. firstly the top plate that sections that top from the botton parts is cracked. second it does not burn wood hot enough to make a big difference in our house. third our old small yodal has more of an affect that the big guy does. I have no idea why but we run the thing wide open all the time with 2-3 year old dry hard wood and it never gets hot enough for us to turn it down. My has a huge old vermont castings and they will have to open windows in there house becuase it get up to 110 degrees. Imo older stoves burn hotter than the newer stoves. They might use up more wood but you get alot more heat.

I heat a 2 story 1800 sq ft from the basement with a new Pacific Energy Summit .It does a good job until the temps go below 15 .The new stove does not smoke at all when up to temp ,only for a few minutes after loading,and does use less wood than the old stoves I have had.The newer stoves use less wood but they do not heat like the older ones did in my opinion. I have had few stoves in this house and the biggest heater I had was the Harmon ,but the top load door was always jamming, so I had to replace it with the Summit.