New stove, what would you choose?

[Csailors]

I am finally in the market for a new stove. 2500+ sq ft home, stove is in dining room central located in house. Needs to handle 18-20" pieces. Prefer no reburn or catalyst style if I can get away from it.

Obviously price is a concern, but after spending what I did on this first stove I'm under the impression that a cheaper plate stove is going to be just as good or better.

I've been burning for 5 years with the current cast iron Vermont castings model and I was never overly impressed with the quality. I was never impressed with burn times or output and the "reburn" was garbage from day one. Due to some plate warpage from an unknown internal air leak from the beginning my current stove is not worth the cost of repairs and I deem no longer safe for use.

My current replacement choice is a vogelzang ponderosa. Fits the bill and the price is right. Has great reviews I'm just hesitant without input from other experienced burners.

Just curious what you guys would suggest. I'm open to anything.

I'm even toying with the idea of building my own stove. So that isn't out of the question either.

 

[rarefish383]

Just make sure you get what you want. We had a Russo insert for 25 years and loved it. It stuck out on the hearth enough to put a tea pot or pan of soup on it, if the power went out. Had to keep windows cracked to keep the temp down in the house. Fire box was deep enough to load 22" wood straight in, and had hot bed of coals at 12 hours, I only burn Oak, Cherry, and Locust. Our electric bill was 1/3 of our neighbors. 1500 square foot house. Last year my wife saw a Jotul at a friends house and just had to have a new stove. The Jotul is a nice stove, but does not do what the old Russo would. She wanted the new stove flush with the fireplace, now it's "why is always cold in here?" "Because there is no steel sticking out in the room!" "Why doesn't the fire last as long as it used too?" "Because the new stove can't be stacked solid, it has to be loaded side to side, and will roll down on the door as it burns, because none of the firebox is sticking out!" I'm lucky to get a 5-6 hour burn and 8-10 hours you can stick your hand in the ashes. To keep a nice hot fire you have to load it about every 4 hours. I just took a quick measurement and it's about 14" deep by 24" wide. If I cut my wood 13 inches I could stack it tight and get a lot more wood in it, and probably get decent burn times. If I load it side ways so I can use my 18" wood you have to stack it 4,3,2,1 or the pile will fall against the door. Don't go for looks over function. I guess if you have a free standing stove this is all moot, mostly pertains to inserts, Joe.

 

[Csailors]

Yes, free standing.

 

[Cody]

Have you looked into any Drolet models? Any Northern Tool or Menards near you?

 

[Streblerm]

Englander 30-NC. This time of year there aren't any sales on them but the can be had off season in the $6-700 range at Home Depot. I've been using one (hard) for five years with zero maintenance costs other than cleaning out the ashes. It provides 90% of the heat for my drafty, poorly insulated, 2300sf farm house. I burn about 5 cords a year give or take.

It is a simple re-burn but non cat.

I'm thinking about buying another one just in case I ever need a replacement.

 

[Csailors]

Closest northern tool is about 200 miles away. I have a menards 30 minutes away. We may stroll through there tomorrow and see what they have to offer. Buying one from a box store would sure make it simple.

We are on pace to sell the house anyway so cost is most important to me at this point. I'll just end up selling all my firewood or giving it away once my wife makes a decision on the house deal.

 

[Csailors]

I checked menards online. Special order item only but they list the one I'm looking for. That will be nice.

 

[Streblerm]

30-nc is available at Home Depot.

 

[Csailors]

I checked the 30nc and it seems a bit small for what I'm wanting. Bigger is always better to me with stoves.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Blaze King.

 

[CaseyForrest]

If I had to do it over again, Id go bigger. Dont let the sqft heating ratings set by the stove manufacturer fool you. You can adjust heat output based on fuel and air. What you cant control, after the fact, is how long the stove will run on a load of fuel. We replaced an older VC stove with one designed to heat roughly 1800 sqft. It does a decent job keeping 2600 sqft warm (70-74 when the temps drop to 10 or so outside) during all but the coldest, windiest days of winter at which time we fire up a Jotul insert to take up the slack.

 

[dave mclennan]

Just make sure you get what you want. We had a Russo insert for 25 years and loved it. It stuck out on the hearth enough to put a tea pot or pan of soup on it, if the power went out. Had to keep windows cracked to keep the temp down in the house. Fire box was deep enough to load 22" wood straight in, and had hot bed of coals at 12 hours, I only burn Oak, Cherry, and Locust. Our electric bill was 1/3 of our neighbors. 1500 square foot house. Last year my wife saw a Jotul at a friends house and just had to have a new stove. The Jotul is a nice stove, but does not do what the old Russo would. She wanted the new stove flush with the fireplace, now it's "why is always cold in here?" "Because there is no steel sticking out in the room!" "Why doesn't the fire last as long as it used too?" "Because the new stove can't be stacked solid, it has to be loaded side to side, and will roll down on the door as it burns, because none of the firebox is sticking out!" I'm lucky to get a 5-6 hour burn and 8-10 hours you can stick your hand in the ashes. To keep a nice hot fire you have to load it about every 4 hours. I just took a quick measurement and it's about 14" deep by 24" wide. If I cut my wood 13 inches I could stack it tight and get a lot more wood in it, and probably get decent burn times. If I load it side ways so I can use my 18" wood you have to stack it 4,3,2,1 or the pile will fall against the door. Don't go for looks over function. I guess if you have a free standing stove this is all moot, mostly pertains to inserts, Joe.

 

[dave mclennan]

I am finally in the market for a new stove. 2500+ sq ft home, stove is in dining room central located in house. Needs to handle 18-20" pieces. Prefer no reburn or catalyst style if I can get away from it.

Obviously price is a concern, but after spending what I did on this first stove I'm under the impression that a cheaper plate stove is going to be just as good or better.

I've been burning for 5 years with the current cast iron Vermont castings model and I was never overly impressed with the quality. I was never impressed with burn times or output and the "reburn" was garbage from day one. Due to some plate warpage from an unknown internal air leak from the beginning my current stove is not worth the cost of repairs and I deem no longer safe for use.

My current replacement choice is a vogelzang ponderosa. Fits the bill and the price is right. Has great reviews I'm just hesitant without input from other experienced burners.

Just curious what you guys would suggest. I'm open to anything.

I'm even toying with the idea of building my own stove. So that isn't out of the question ei

 

[dave mclennan]

WE BOUGHT A DROLET HT 2000 AFTER 11 YEARS WITH A DROLET AUSTRAL MODEL. THERE MADE IN QUEBEC CANADA AND THEY HAVE been building them for the last 90 years, the woodstove salesman did there best to sell us a fancy blaze king [which I owned once and hated it, no good when its 30 below in Canada,} drolet stoves are built well we get a 8 hr burn time so over nite is no sweat, and the price point is great, we have a big old farmhouse and need a big stove, and the drolet ht 2000 works great we paid about $1600 cdn for it not a fancy stove but a workhorse they have many models and sell wood furnaces to, I'm a professional welder, and I can say there put together well and priced well to, last year here in the mountains it got down to - 27 for a week or so and the drolet kept us nice and warm, we got ours delivered for a very fair price. my sister has a new QUADRA FIRE and which burns less wood than ours but she paid 2 1/2 times as much but the quadra fire is a very high tech stove, guess it depends on the budget but the DROLET GETS MY VOTE GOOD LUCK,

 

[milkman]

This would be my choice, mainly because of the side load door and the ash pan under a grate that doesn't require you to interrupt the burn to empty the ashes.

http://jotul.com/us/products/wood-stoves/jotul-f-500-oslo--50528

 

[Jhenderson]

This would be my choice, mainly because of the side load door and the ash pan under a grate that doesn't require you to interrupt the burn to empty the ashes.

http://jotul.com/us/products/wood-stoves/jotul-f-500-oslo--50528

We have that stove one size smaller. It's great. I just wish I hadn't let the salesman talk me into the smaller size.

 

[tomtom85]

Am thinking about getting the drolet escape 1800, the us stove 2000 sucks

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

WE BOUGHT A DROLET HT 2000 AFTER 11 YEARS WITH A DROLET AUSTRAL MODEL. THERE MADE IN QUEBEC CANADA AND THEY HAVE been building them for the last 90 years, the woodstove salesman did there best to sell us a fancy blaze king [which I owned once and hated it, no good when its 30 below in Canada,} drolet stoves are built well we get a 8 hr burn time so over nite is no sweat, and the price point is great, we have a big old farmhouse and need a big stove, and the drolet ht 2000 works great we paid about $1600 cdn for it not a fancy stove but a workhorse they have many models and sell wood furnaces to, I'm a professional welder, and I can say there put together well and priced well to, last year here in the mountains it got down to - 27 for a week or so and the drolet kept us nice and warm, we got ours delivered for a very fair price. my sister has a new QUADRA FIRE and which burns less wood than ours but she paid 2 1/2 times as much but the quadra fire is a very high tech stove, guess it depends on the budget but the DROLET GETS MY VOTE GOOD LUCK,

Not sure what was "no good" on your Blaze King, but they are by far the most poplar stove here in Alaska for a reason... they flat out work! They heat homes in areas that see -60*.

 

[dave mclennan]

Not sure what was "no good" on your Blaze King, but they are by far the most poplar stove here in Alaska for a reason... they flat out work! They heat homes in areas that see -60*.

we only get down to -30 35 at the most but we near froze with it I had a friend with a blaze king and asked him about his b king, he said his burns less wood but same thing when its really cold he uses his gas heat and the blaze king, you pay for the name with blaze king they just don't put out much heat great for low heat and saving on wood, ask around before you consider this brand

 

[dave mclennan]

Am thinking about getting the drolet escape 1800, the us stove 2000 sucks

no difference between cdn and us models very hard to believe our 2000 drolet ROCKS