Woodstove Recommendations?

[802climber]

We are looking to buy a woodstove to heat a 2 story farmhouse in south central Wisconsin. The house is about 1200 sq. ft. (give or take) and also has a small stone basement with a good oil furnace. We will keep the oil furnace on all winter at the minimum temperature possible for the plumbing (40-45?) but are hoping to use as little oil as possible. The woodstove will hopefully be installed on the main story in the middle of the house and the stovepipe run straight up through our upstairs bedroom and out the roof. An outdoor wood burner is not an option right now because of cost and because we want a woodstove in the house.

Looking for recommendations for size, type, and brand. Prefer regionally available stove. Also interested in finding a good knowledgeable stove shop in the general area.

 

[USMC0802]

Depends on what you want it to look like...do you like the cast iron stoves? Stoves with colored enamel finish? Soapstone?

Just about every stove maker has something that will easily heat that size space.

Find yourself a knowledgeable dealer and see what's available for the space you want to heat. I always hear the recommendation to get a stove that's quite a bit bigger than the space you want to heat. In other words, if you want to heat 1200 sq ft, don't get a stove that's maxed at 1200.

How much bigger than that you go will depend on how well insulated your house is and how drafty your doors and windows are.

My wife and I got a Hearthstone Mansfield this summer because the stove is a very visible structure on the first floor with a very open floor plan, so we (she) wanted something a little nicer to look at than a black cast iron or steel stove with some shiny trim bits.

Soapstone might be something you want to consider as these stoves (from what I've read, as mine is brand new) perform best when you light a fire in them in when it gets cold and you keep them running warm to hot until Spring.

http://woodheat.org/ is a good resource as is the ********** forum.

Here are a couple pictures from last night when I burned the first of 3 break-in fires.
http://arboristsite.com/showpost.php?p=2432655&postcount=9

The stove is actually more of a blue/gray look but the flash and lighting made it look more green than it really is.

 

[802climber]

Thanks for the info.
Yes I need to find a knowledgeable dealer in the area. We prefer the traditional cast iron type look. Have used several older style cast iron stoves in other places, now we are looking more at a highly efficient "airtight" type stove while still keeping the traditional look and feel.

 

[USMC0802]

Thanks for the info.
Yes I need to find a knowledgeable dealer in the area. We prefer the traditional cast iron type look. Have used several older style cast iron stoves in other places, now we are looking more at a highly efficient "airtight" type stove while still keeping the traditional look and feel.

The dealer we bought from showed us a couple different cast options:
Hearthstone Shelburne
http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood-stoves/stove-details?product_id=11

Hearthstone Bennington
http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood-stoves/stove-details?product_id=10

Vermont Castings Dutchwest:
http://www.vermontcastings.com/products.asp?model=dutchwest_cat

I think we looked at the Encore as well. It has a cooking surface.
http://www.vermontcastings.com/products.asp?model=encore

They also had BlazeKing and Enerzone.

I think as long as you get enough stove for your house to be the primary heat source, which I think is what I read you wanted to do, you'll be happy. There are "classic" looking cast stoves and there are models that look more industrial as well.

We went with a non-catalytic converter stove. You'll have to read about that because I don't know enough about the differences.

 

[superwd6]

If you want a retirement job, good looks and not much heat go with the Vermont Castings. I used to work for a dealer, Cast iron is for bulldozers not heat transfer. I still have my Dutchwest sitting empty and my sweet E-Classic 2300 in the yard

 

[USMC0802]

If you want a retirement job, good looks and not much heat go with the Vermont Castings. I used to work for a dealer, Cast iron is for bulldozers not heat transfer. I still have my Dutchwest sitting empty and my sweet E-Classic 2300 in the yard

We had a cast iron stove before, but it was leaky, cracked, couldn't keep a fire in it overnight even if we shut down everything. It burned really hot, but as quick as it got hot, it cooled off quickly then, too.

I'm hoping I don't have the same issue with this new stove.

What stove or type are you using?

 

[PA Plumber]

We have a Pacific Energy Summit.

Using it to heat approx. 2500 sq. ft. not including the basement where the stove is located.

We have gone through approx. 25 gallons of fuel oil per year for the two years we have used the stove.

 

[sunfish]

I'm heating 1200 feet with a mid-side Jotul, and love it.

 

[roundhouse]

Anything Lopi makes will put out good heat, we've used ours as a primary heat source for 10+ years, not as pretty as the vermont Castings though.

 

[highmark1]

2nd for Lopi. I have heated 1000sf with Lopi Endeavor with their blower for 10 years as primary heat. It is almost too much stove for my space. It has a classic stove look imo not the ornate frilly look of a vermont(not knocking it just dont like the looks). With good hardwood and the air cut down at night it should last all night. I make it to about 3:30-4:00 am with crappy dirty burning pine from about 10:00pm. Good luck

 

[USMC0802]

I like the look of the Jotul stoves, but I never saw or heard of them before we bought our stove. Never heard of Lopi before reading here, either.

 

[sunfish]

I like the look of the Jotul stoves, but I never saw or heard of them before we bought our stove. Never heard of Lopi before reading here, either.

I've known about Jotul for 30+ years, my in-laws bought one in the 1970s. Believe it's one of the oldest stove companies around. Never heard of Lopi?

I've had the Jotul for 3 years now, great stove! We had a Vermont Casting Acclaim for 10 years and was a good stove, just more difficult to opperate and a bit large for our house. Had a small Waterford before that, very good stove that is still going in my shop.

The soap stone stoves are very good also, never had one but know people that have and they like them.

I've been heating with cast iron stoves since 1979 with no regrets. A high quality air-tight cast iron stove will do ya good

 

[USMC0802]

I've known about Jotul for 30+ years, my in-laws bought one in the 1970s. Believe it's one of the oldest stove companies around. Never heard of Lopi?

I've had the Jotul for 3 years now, great stove! We had a Vermont Casting Acclaim for 10 years and was a good stove, just more difficult to opperate and a bit large for our house. Had a small Waterford before that, very good stove that is still going in my shop.

The soap stone stoves are very good also, never had one but know people that have and they like them.

I've been heating with cast iron stoves since 1979 with no regrets. A high quality air-tight cast iron stove will do ya good

My folks had one when we lived in Maryland, but I was too young to be involved in at all. When we lived in Minnesota, I remember going to the woods with my dad and "helping" as well as helping stack and carry wood in the house, but again, never got to play with the stove. I remember them both being cast iron, but not the make or model. Didn't have a wood stove from April 1994 until we bought our house in August 2009, but I didn't move in until December. The house had an old cast iron stove, but there was nothing on it to indicate the brand.

Coming up on 28 years old, I had never bought a stove before this summer and my shopping consisted of calling a few different dealers and looking at the manufacturers' websites based on what we saw in the dealers' showrooms. The three dealers I called all had some different stuff, but none of them had Jotul or Lopi.

 

[Richard_]

I love my Pacific Energy wood stove , and plan on buying another for my girlfriends house , if you like the Lopi look at Avalon , same company just not as fancy , the nice thing about Pacific Energy, bigger box and it comes with a fan , oh and its not nearly as expensive as Lopi

http://www.pacificenergy.net/

 

[roundhouse]

I like the look of the Jotul stoves, but I never saw or heard of them before we bought our stove. Never heard of Lopi before reading here, either.

We bought one because it was ONLY one that is rated to go in a prefab fireplace, and would physically fit in it.


Hopefully next summer I will be able to remodel and make the exterior chinmey chase a part of the inside of the house and install a larger free standing stove,

 

[goanin]

Here's our wood stove:

We bought it this summer. So we haven't used it yet. It's said to be the best one in our area. 'Harmony 3':

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burning_stoves/Harmony-3-Classic-stove.html

What do you think?

 

[savageactor7]

dieseldirt for some more excellent stove advice check out this place http://www.**********/econtent/index.php/forums/viewforum/2/

btw we have a Quada Fire 4300 but imo it's small for our ancient country house.

 

[Hugenpoet]

I'm heating 1200 feet with a mid-side Jotul, and love it.

We have two Jotul Oslo stoves in a large (6000 sq. ft) three story Victorian reproduction with two open stairways. Except for really cold periods, we only run one of the stoves. The stoves are very attactive IMHO and easily hold a fire overnight. Run the oil heat in the master bedroom zone as back-up mainly because my wife doesn't like anything below 70, although we have now cut a vent from the first floor over where one of the stoves is located to allow warm air directly into the bedroom and that should help get the heat to were it is useful. Last January the oil heat was out for over 36 hours and temp was between -5 and +10 F. and the entire house was still very comfortable. Jotuls are somewhat expensive, but well worth the money.

 

[sunfish]

We have two Jotul Oslo stoves in a large (6000 sq. ft) three story Victorian reproduction with two open stairways. Except for really cold periods, we only run one of the stoves. The stoves are very attactive IMHO and easily hold a fire overnight. Run the oil heat in the master bedroom zone as back-up mainly because my wife doesn't like anything below 70, although we have now cut a vent from the first floor over where one of the stoves is located to allow warm air directly into the bedroom and that should help get the heat to were it is useful. Last January the oil heat was out for over 36 hours and temp was between -5 and +10 F. and the entire house was still very comfortable. Jotuls are somewhat expensive, but well worth the money.

Yep, they are great stoves! We have the F118CB, the old original style they brought back and updated. Have to run it kind of low, or it'll run us out of the house Very easy on wood also...

 

[Upidstay]

I have a Regency 3100. Very happy with it. Burns efficiently, looks nice, easy to maintain. I bought the store floor model. Came with a blower (which I like alot) an ash drawer (which is AWESOME) and some fancy brass feet (whch I could not care less about). I also saved almost $1200 by buying the floor model (which I like the best). Good size firebox, will go almost all night when packed full. As with all things, a product is only as good as the dealer support you can expect from the outfit you buy from. I passed on another brand of stove because I had not heard anything good about that particular dealer. I had them deliver and install, tossed the kid a $20 and a cup of coffee for his troubles, and got double walled stainless steel pipe instead of the standard single wall. Apparently it's alot better, I'm no expert. If you have a Regency dealer around you, I highly recomend this stove.