What is the very best wood stove. Price no consideration

[daddyoneleg]

I live in Northern BC and use a 5700 quadrafire.All my family burns wood.Blaze King,Regency,Homeade 8 cu ft 3/8 plate stove all have good and bad points.Bigger is better for us. A -45c all night burn,low btu firewood and stove placement along with house size and insulation all play a factor.There is a huge difference between a ''saturday night burner'' or a full time wood burning demand. New stoves are so efficient but in the spring and fall they burn too hot with the min. air hole used to keep the stove buning clean,unless you go Blaze King with the fact that the catalist is a comsumable.When it comes to real heat and 12hr burn times, Dads homemade plate stove puts out the best bar none.Dad calls the stoves that won't burn all night ''small bladder stoves'' hence build for people who get up to pee once or twice in the night and put wood in while they are up. My Quadrafire is great but the firebox cracked to the outside so Warranty is on the menu. My ideal wood stove wood be a 5.0 cubic foot non-catalyst,end feed 24'' wood, with a thermostat to cut back the air in the night when most secondary burn non-cats heat spike like none other. Right now I would settle for a Blaze King-King model and just accept the fact the catalyst is a consumable and 8'' chim is pricey. Just my 2 cents worth..........

 

[Arbonaut]

Harman Stoves from Pennsylvania. Royall from Wisconsin. Both make indoor boilers and both are unsurpassed in quality and can use coal as a backup. Always use water based with solid fuel, safer and more practical and can heat your domestic water. Dane Harman uses robotic welders and I think Royall uses skilled craftsmen. Thanks. Good topic!

 

[jimbo64]

I live in Northern BC and use a 5700 quadrafire.All my family burns wood.Blaze King,Regency,Homeade 8 cu ft 3/8 plate stove all have good and bad points.Bigger is better for us. A -45c all night burn,low btu firewood and stove placement along with house size and insulation all play a factor.There is a huge difference between a ''saturday night burner'' or a full time wood burning demand. New stoves are so efficient but in the spring and fall they burn too hot with the min. air hole used to keep the stove buning clean,unless you go Blaze King with the fact that the catalist is a comsumable.When it comes to real heat and 12hr burn times, Dads homemade plate stove puts out the best bar none.Dad calls the stoves that won't burn all night ''small bladder stoves'' hence build for people who get up to pee once or twice in the night and put wood in while they are up. My Quadrafire is great but the firebox cracked to the outside so Warranty is on the menu. My ideal wood stove wood be a 5.0 cubic foot non-catalyst,end feed 24'' wood, with a thermostat to cut back the air in the night when most secondary burn non-cats heat spike like none other. Right now I would settle for a Blaze King-King model and just accept the fact the catalyst is a consumable and 8'' chim is pricey. Just my 2 cents worth..........

wow first time i heard of a quadra fire cracking- we also had a 5700 when we lived in Pa- had a blower on it-great stove-chimney just didn't get dirty with this although we cleaned it out every spring:msp_confused:

 

[FlyLow]

No Stove could be this high, even the very best Boilers with Lambada controls just about reach this.

My expectation is that in reality the best you could expect is 60%.

Using ideal situations no doubt you could nudge it higher.

This is the Quadrafire brochure that I got the info from.

 

[planman]

best way to heat full time

How do you want it to look ? I installed a ZC Inglenook fireplace and have been heating a 2500 sq foot 2 story frame house all winter. Wife loves the heat, 75% eff 4g hr with good burn times on white oak and ash. Kid and insurance company friendly as its a ZC with a blower. The glass gets hot but you can touch the face without getting burned. Im in the investment biz and have clieints over the house and they loved my new "fireplace". I vented the unit to heat the upstairs as well. Just refinishing the facia as the wife has changed her mind 3 times about how she wants it to look. Plus I got a great deal, e-mail me if you want.

Tom

 

[planman]

ZC fireplace

Forgot to add that you can run my ZC fireplace from 11K BTU to 150K an hr. Yes, 150,000 BTU hr. You only get a 2hr burn time on high but you can really blow the doors off of most homes if needed.

Tom

 

[wndwlkr]

I've heard good things about Sedore stoves. :msp_thumbup:

 

[Eecho]

Fisher they arent epa friendly. They are plate steel stoves that havent been made since the 80's but I saw one on ebay going at 800 fully decorated emblems and all . I hate the new epa stoves personally but my fisher burns 12 hours long and makes it a pleasant 80 degrees inside 2200 sq ft all day long with wet or dry hardwood. It doesnt matter if its -5 or 50 degrees it turns the house 80 with ease. I burn six to eight cord a year from late october to late march. Its my primary source of heat so I dont shut it off once its lit in october just low an slow on the draft knobs. I have used this stove for ten years and I clean my chimney every other year . You cant buy one new or epa compliant but I have nothing bad to say about mine .

 

[Como]

EPA dropped their efficiency rating for OWB's, I am pretty sure they did the same for everything else.

EPA efficiency and real world efficiency have very little in common.

 

[EXCALIBER]

I live in Northern BC and use a 5700 quadrafire.All my family burns wood.Blaze King,Regency,Homeade 8 cu ft 3/8 plate stove all have good and bad points.Bigger is better for us. A -45c all night burn,low btu firewood and stove placement along with house size and insulation all play a factor.There is a huge difference between a ''saturday night burner'' or a full time wood burning demand. New stoves are so efficient but in the spring and fall they burn too hot with the min. air hole used to keep the stove buning clean,unless you go Blaze King with the fact that the catalist is a comsumable.When it comes to real heat and 12hr burn times, Dads homemade plate stove puts out the best bar none.Dad calls the stoves that won't burn all night ''small bladder stoves'' hence build for people who get up to pee once or twice in the night and put wood in while they are up. My Quadrafire is great but the firebox cracked to the outside so Warranty is on the menu. My ideal wood stove wood be a 5.0 cubic foot non-catalyst,end feed 24'' wood, with a thermostat to cut back the air in the night when most secondary burn non-cats heat spike like none other. Right now I would settle for a Blaze King-King model and just accept the fact the catalyst is a consumable and 8'' chim is pricey. Just my 2 cents worth..........

I would agree with most of this. First question I would ask is do you want the ability to heat your home if the power goes out? If yes then you can forget about a owb, or furnace unless you have a generator with lots of fuel in case the power is out for longer than expected. Only a stove will continue to heat without power, which is part of the reason I bought one. Do you need to cook on your stove in case of power being out ect? If so some models such as the pacific energy Alderlea T6 are designed to be cooked on. Some stoves are just better to cook on than others. Now you need to realize, like what was said above, that if you get a stove with a cat you will need to replace it someday. I am on my second year of heating full time with my blaze king king and have no need to replace it yet. Most say 4 to 8 years it will need replacing. Now a non cat stove has wear items as well (the dealers never mention this though). The secondary burn tubes will need replaced probably about as often as a cat will need replaced. Some stoves have fire blankets ect that will need replaced. Bottom line either way you go there is not a stove made that you can run 24-7 and never plan on replacing anything, all stoves have wear items that need replacing.

Now do your research and find the stove that is going to fit your lifestyle, needs, wants better than the rest. Stick with the well known quality products from reputable manufacturers. Forget price, the satisfaction from having a well made, high quality stove will last much longer, than the regret of buying a cheap, poor working stove because it was a great deal at the time. A quality stove will pay for itself in short order.

 

[Ronaldo]

I have been using a Pacific Energy Super 27 now for 13 years and could not be happier. Have not had to replace or do any maintenance,other than very inexpensive baffle gaskets. The secondary burn baffle is a fairly thick stainless steel box in the top of the firebox and it is still in great shape.The stove is made of plate steel and has a '' floating firebox '' so expansion and contraction can take place independently of the outside plates(this helps to keep the plates and welds from stress fractures) it must work well!!!! I am heating 2000 s.f. of fairly well insulated area.I easily get good overnight burns with plenty of coals for starting up again in the AM.Cost about 13 yrs. ago was 1100$. LOVE IT! Just my 2 cents.

Ron

 

[Preston]

After reading this entire thread I need some advice now. I live in an old log house. A 4 pen dogtrot. The pens are 18X20 so that gives me 4 rooms that size. It has an addition that is 46X14 across the back that is insulated. Even though it's old and redone, 1850's, the chinking is not the tightest. Although over all it's pretty tight. I'm planning on a heater in my fireplace in the kitchen. The square footage is 1800 but the upstairs is hardly used. What heat/stove would be recommended for this house? Remembering the main house only has the 6 inches of logs as insulation. :msp_smile:

 

[stihlavarna]

How do you want it to look ? I installed a ZC Inglenook fireplace and have been heating a 2500 sq foot 2 story frame house all winter. Wife loves the heat, 75% eff 4g hr with good burn times on white oak and ash. Kid and insurance company friendly as its a ZC with a blower. The glass gets hot but you can touch the face without getting burned. Im in the investment biz and have clieints over the house and they loved my new "fireplace". I vented the unit to heat the upstairs as well. Just refinishing the facia as the wife has changed her mind 3 times about how she wants it to look. Plus I got a great deal, e-mail me if you want.

Tom

Rep Sent, that is exactly what I'm looking for, I'm due to replace this old passive unit and I'm stuck in the ZC boat, good find!

 

[Cantrellc123]

I've got an OWB that I love, but what I've became curious about is a stove to install in my basement that has a 6" flue. I'd only use it if the power failed which seldom happens long term here.
I'd like to know of a quality stove brand to be looking for used such as on eBay or Craigslist. I think I read that Fisher was a good non cat stove made some years ago, what other brands should I keep in mind? It would help if it were an attractive unit to keep the Wife happy, but not a deal breaker if price and performance were a premium.

 

[flotek]

For a cat stove I'd say blaze king or you could choose a Woodstock soapstone these are top of the line and quality . Jotul is also worth mentioning as well as the quadrafire

 

[Vermonster]

Centrally located masonry heater. All 9 tons of it. One my wood turning friends has a Russian Furnace. 5 cords per year. Load it once a day. Burn it flat out wide open then shut it down. No maintenance involved. It's the cat's ass.

 

[bert the turtle]

This is like asking what is the best motor vehicle.

It all depends on what you want it to do.

 

[Cantrellc123]

This is like asking what is the best motor vehicle.

It all depends on what you want it to do.

I thought I was quite clear on what I wanted to do, but I'll type it again VERY slowly.... I'd like a wood stove for my basement that would only be used when the power was out more than 2-4 hours. I wouldn't want an integrated 120volt fan as it would be back up when power was non existent. I'd like it to be visually pleasing but that's not a deal breaker if performance and cost made up for looks. I've got a 6" flue into a chimney to work with.
If it were extremely efficient I might use it as primary heat at the beginning and end of the heating season, but that would be short term at best, if at all.

 

[olyman]

A friend of mine just bought a Cunningham heater by Suppertime stoves. He looked at the Blaze King as well as the Pacific Energy Summit. The Cunningham has an automatic damper as well as a very large firebox and btu output. He is took out a Regency stove that didnt hold enough wood for the long periods of time he is at work (13+ hours a day plowing snow). The Cunningham is also less than half the price of either the Blaze King or the Pacific Energy.
Cunningham Wood Burning Heater

thanks!!

 

[Richard_]

I have been using a Pacific Energy Super 27 now for 13 years and could not be happier. Have not had to replace or do any maintenance,other than very inexpensive baffle gaskets. The secondary burn baffle is a fairly thick stainless steel box in the top of the firebox and it is still in great shape.The stove is made of plate steel and has a '' floating firebox '' so expansion and contraction can take place independently of the outside plates(this helps to keep the plates and welds from stress fractures) it must work well!!!! I am heating 2000 s.f. of fairly well insulated area.I easily get good overnight burns with plenty of coals for starting up again in the AM.Cost about 13 yrs. ago was 1100$. LOVE IT! Just my 2 cents.

Ron

Can't go wrong with pacific energy , we've been extremely happy with our pacific insert