I was deep cleaning my morso stove on Saturday and noticed part of my firebox is warped. The "intermediate frame" is warped after three years of use. This is the surface the wood and coals sit. I was reading through the owners manual and this part is considered a consumable part. I called morso and the part is $230 dollars. I noticed the two fire bricks need replaced and they cost $70 apiece. The baffle is probably next on the list of items to go bad. I am asking a lot of a 1.1 cubic foot stove that only weighs 275lb heating 1100 square feet. The stove looks nice but it is showing wear and tear from full time use. I cannot imagine replacing these items every three years in perpetuity.
I think you'd be happy with a stove that's about 50% bigger...still a small stove and can often be bought pretty reasonably.
Ouch after only 3 years and to run into so much in consumable/replacement/maintenance I think I would be looking at another stove also. That just stinks. That is too bad I was looking at the Morso because it appears they have the 2B that scored really well on the EPA 2020 testing. I think I am pretty much settled that I am going to go with the Woodstock Survival stove, but my square footage that I will be heating will only be like 800sf so I think I can get away with a smaller stove. How well insulated is your home? Do you have to run the Morso hard in order to keep the home warm?
My home is 1080 square ft story and a half. it is a log cabin on block, on slab, with old windows and 4 sliding glass doors. I tore out all of the insulation in the attic and air sealed and reinsulated the attic 2 years ago. I do lose a lot of heat just from the way the home is built, while I could make improvements, like get new windows etc. When the temp is above 30 the stove does well. When the temp is below 20 it has to be run at the upper limits. When the temp is below 10 it cannot keep the stove/living room above 72 after the sun goes down running at its very upper limits. That is reloading every couple hours. I think if we were part time burners or our home were more thermally efficient the morso would work just fine. I have been looking at the woodstock fireview pretty hard. It claims 20% more btu output and weighs 40% more than the morso. I also just like how it looks.
It sounds like a bigger stove is certainly going to be a big help to you then. The fact that the stove is choosing to nickle and dime you with the fact it isn't keeping up during the coldest parts of the year certainly would put it high on my priority list. That Woodstock is a beautiful stove for sure!
