outdoorsman0490
ArboristSite Operative
I have decided to replace my hotblast 1300 with a larger unit for our new home; we went from 1150 square feet to 2450. My hotblast worked great at the old house, and works pretty good in the new house down to about 30F so far. Unlike most of what I have read about them, by running the hotblast the old fashion way (without utilizing that auto damper in the door), keeping the ash door damper closed, and foil taping off the underside of the main door damper, and using a piece of angle iron as the damper for the top side of the main door damper; I have been able to get 8+ hour burn times of steady heat, and only a handful or two of dry creosote flakes at the end of the year. I only had smoke at time of re-fueling, and averaged about 1 cord of oak a month over the cold winter months.
The two models I am between choosing is the us stove model 30 and the shelter model SF2631. I am looking for some feedback on these two models in particular because searching in the archives and google search has not yielded much. Both are about priced the same, firebox size is a little larger on shelter. Both have draft fan, which I have never used and don't know if is necessary. The shelter has 3 speed blower, all of which are more cfm than us stove 30. Shelter weighs 130lbs more than us stove 30, so I wonder if the shelter is a more heavy duty unit.
Thanks for your feedback.
The two models I am between choosing is the us stove model 30 and the shelter model SF2631. I am looking for some feedback on these two models in particular because searching in the archives and google search has not yielded much. Both are about priced the same, firebox size is a little larger on shelter. Both have draft fan, which I have never used and don't know if is necessary. The shelter has 3 speed blower, all of which are more cfm than us stove 30. Shelter weighs 130lbs more than us stove 30, so I wonder if the shelter is a more heavy duty unit.
Thanks for your feedback.