Aight fellas...need some help. I've searched forums and realize allot of you are "full time" wood burners. I'm looking for a newer stove that's code compliant in New York State. Don't hate me for living there. Anyway, the stove is for a 24x28' cabin with a 12x12 loft. Cathedral ceiling with a 5/12 inside pitch (8/12 outside). roughly 720 sq/ft. Here's the caviat...it's a hunting and snowmobiling cabin, not occupied full time. Meaning, when I get there in January, inside temp matches the outside temp. 2x6 framing with r19 in the walls and r38 in the ceiling. It's pretty airtight as it's a new construction. I've read so many reviews on new stoves my head in spinning. Main concern is these new stoves have a small fire box and not sure how long it will take to heat that volume of air to a comfortable 70 / 80 degrees. Any recommendations are appreciated. Oh- and I'd really like to keep the cost in the $500-1,000 range. Thanks in advance for your input! Kevin
Not sure I said it before, so Welcome to FHC! Did the Fisher you asked about not work due to code? With new construction and in NY, I could see that. I’m not nearly as experienced with wood burning compared to many on here, but my simple answer would be to look at an NC-13 or NC-30. The 30 may be too big, but like you said, you’ll be starting really cold each time. How long will you be at the cabin once there and fire going? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The fisher would not pass code so I passed on it. I've looked at those 13s and 30s. Actually what I was leaning towards. Cabin visits are usually friday to sunday. An occassional longer stay but it's definately "part-time" at best. Any idea how long these new stoves take to warm up and start pumping heat? I know seasoned wood has allot to do with it, but assuming it's good and dry...best guess on warming this joint up?
Not to throw a monkey wrench in this debate early on, but have you considered a pellet stove (used, for that price range?)...? Heat up time would be drastically reduced. Either way you warm the place, you’ll need an OAK kit. Oh, and welcome aboard KevinB
A good used pellet stove would still cost more ( like double) of a NC-30 and of course you have to buy pellets and store in a dry place ( much more finicky than a cord of splits out back with a tarp over them) NC-30
As you no doubt already know, the worst thing about small stoves is that although they can throw some decent heat, the burn time will be much shorter and for sure will not hold for overnight burns. Many have been disappointed with the small Englander stoves because of this but the larger one seems to have good reviews. Of course you can burn small fires in a big stove but not big fires in a small stove. It would seem to me that you would want a decent sized stove simply because you want it to heat up quickly so a bit larger would suit you much better than a small stove. Not so sure about the price range you are looking for.
In your price range NC 30!! How long it's going to take to get it comfortable it's really going to depend on the outside air temperature. With a couple other factors, is your floor concrete? How thick? Make sure you got some dry pine split small to load on kindling burns hot and fast for warm ups! Real question will be next year, how do you keep downstairs 70 and loft below 95 Did this for years, leave Friday nite cause if you have kids will never get there before noon Sat..
The price range you're looking at right now might keep new stoves a little out of your expected price mark, and as the summer is ending I don't know what the market for used stoves would be. However, speaking just for myself, I went with the Survival Stove by Woodstock Soapstone for my smaller home. Conspicuously this stove doesn't have any soapstone- but do a little looking around with that one- its more modestly priced than other stoves and they do a good sale every so often. If not for the Woodstock I'd suggest perhaps the Jotul F118 because I think it looks so awesome, and I've also been looking at Lopi's stoves lately with a little bit of envy. So it sounds like you've got a smallish space with high ceilings- but you're not going to be in it full time, so maybe a little more crowding around the stove and messing with adding wood to the fire might just be the thing you and your hunting buddies want. As you might have gathered by now as well there's a near obsession level of a desire to have a good supply of dry wood- don't forget that.
Thanks for all the input! Appears a NC30 is what I’ll go with. As for how to keep the downstairs 70 and upstairs comparable...buddy of mine said to install a 100cfm fan and duct it to the first floor bathroom. Should cycle the air fairly decent. I’ll update afterward to see if it actually works! Kevin
I use an NC30 in my 1800 SF insulated shop. 14' tall ceilings and an insulated slab. Some days I get in there and the stove and room is at 40 degrees F. Within 20-30 minutes the stove is well over the too hot to touch range and the area near it is getting comfortable. It takes all day to heat the whole space to 70 since the thermal mass is high. I run the thing like a freight train. Keep it at the highest safe temperature which 750 or so. This means reloads every three hours while I'm trying to heat up the space. Then I can get much longer burns when I'm just cruising the thing along to maintain temperature. I assume the cabin has electricity? If so, I would be looking into an electric heater that is scheduled to start warming the place up before you arrive. Going from 50 to 70 is way easier than 10 to 70. Oh and get a torch. A hand held, trigger ignited, propane torch like you would use for soldering copper pipes. That thing makes starting fires in a cold stove much faster!
I did this routine for years as well. Remote log cabin with a generator that might start. Brrrrrrrr. It took a looooong time to get the cabin comfy (-28F upon arrival one trip). The old VC Defiant would be wide open for hours! Our vaulted ceiling with loft sleeping would get over 100F. No way you could sleep up there when getting the joint warmed up. I'd say it would be worth looking at the Drolet HT2000 model as well. Comparable to the NC30 in most circles. It's a great stove. Your financial limits are rather stringent. Putting in a good vent system will suck up much of what you plan on spending alone. Plan carefully when locating your pipe. Place it for a possible stove change in the future that may have larger clearance requirements etc. Lots to consider. Good luck!
The Timberwolf stove would get my old house that went from 45° at one time to 85 in about 30-45 mins. House was super small though. But once you do get the fire going, blow air from the colder parts of the house AT the wood stove. It’s amazing how well this does work. Also if you have any existing rooms other than the bathroom, shut those until you’re warm in the majority of the house and then open at your leisure. Helps if you’re heating for the night then levels it off later. The high ceilings will be a split between the cold and heat battle but the air circulation will be key. One thing to keep in check is to make sure you have a system set so when you head in your cabin, it helps if you pre-make the fire for next time (that is if you’ve let your stove cool down.) or get the kindling all set up in place so you’re not fumbling around with it so much as you’ll wanna light up soon as you walk in. It happens mostly with places you’re only in part time so helps to be prepared every time you step in it.
