I hear nothing good about the Ember Hearth but this has been a great stove for our little house and, no matter how inefficient it may be, it's lasted 40 years and I'm used to it. It was installed in 1986 and has been used at least 35 of the last 40 years. The firebox walls started to bow a couple years ago and now I'm noticing cracks, so it's time. It was installed when I was a kid so I've never had to shop for or replace one. I'm not up on the cat stoves and unsure which direction I should go. Specs: My house is only about 1600 sqft - 800 in the partial basement and 800 upstairs. Stove is in the partial basement which also contains the living room and kitchen. I have a gas furnace and keep the recirc fan going on cold days to move the heat around. I live in central Indiana. Burn a lot of red oak, black locust, black walnut, and a little sassafras and poplar. Fireplace entrance is 30" high and 42" wide. I have an 8" double lined stove pipe in a 20' chimney. Yes, it's a chore to clean! This next stove should be the last one for me so I'd like to have something efficient with a large enough firebox to last overnight (the Ember Hearth could last 8-10 hours). And I'd REALLY like an ash pan but it's not a deal breaker. Am very used to shoveling out the Ember Hearth whether I like it or not. Should I stick with non-epa or move to cat? Are there models you guys would recommend for this size house? I would appreciate any help you can provide.
You can have an EPA stove that is a noncat. Pacific Energy are good ones. Any modern stove will save quite a bit of wood as compared to this one. But any modern stove likes to have their wood drier than this one could handle. If you have an 8" flue and it's 40 years old, you may want to replace it with an insulated 6" liner. Better performance, safety, and more stoves are specified for a 6" flue than an 8" flue.
Yeah not many 8" stoves left anymore...and the ones that are around, are huge...surely way too big for that house. To the OP, you basically have 4 options...go with a nice used old school stove (can be very hard to find) Go with a modern tube type secondary burn stove (most common, cheapest, simple) Go with a cat stove (some great ones out there) Go with a hybrid stove...a combo of tube and cat...some great ones there too. And I agree, line that chimney with a quality insulated 6" liner
I usually hear about Buck, Jotul, and Blaze King but know nothing of Pacific Energy stoves. Of the other brands, I don't know which ones are quality and which are junk.
Generally any stove made in USA, Europe, or Canada are decent...most of the ones to avoid are china built.
Not a popular opinion but I went from an old non epa stove to a modern tube stove and was very disappointed. Thankfully the old stove was still close to the thimble so it wasn’t difficult to switch back.
I had a tech at my place earlier this week to service my Jotul gas stove. We got to talking about wood stoves and I mentioned I had a fireplace insert that was installed in a zero clearance fireplace. He said that is no longer allowed, at least in WI.
A "insert" qualified for installation with zero clearance to combustibles. That's different from an insert that should be installed in a working fireplace where there is enough stone between fire and combustibles to be safe.
Yeah now theres zero clearance fireplaces which is what I have. Not sure of the differences I guess probably more insulation and heat shielding etc. Im in MI so it might be the national firecode or whatever its called.
I've had good experience with my Quadrafire which is now Forge and Flame or Hearth and Home iirc. Mines an 8" pipe fwiw. Quadrafire Expedition is their insert. Pacific Energy makes a great product too they might cost a bit more now though since theyre Canadian.
I’ve had my Pacific Energy Super 27 for over 20 yrs. Im heating 2000 sf ranch style single level home and it works great for me.
