hello all, I am starting to look for a new wood stove and would like to see what the community has to say. I currently have an older Vermont Casting Deviant Encore cat stove and am experiencing some problems as of late. The stove was in the house when I bought it so I can't say for sure how old it is. First thing I did was replace the crumbled cat and the new one lasted about 4 years. Tired of replacing them at $300 each. Now, I'm getting somewhat regular overfiring despite replacing all of the door, flue and ash pan gaskets. It may go 3-4 fires and then I get an over fire, most times when I've had it going for 24 hours or more. Then I get normal operation for another week, etc. I fear I may have a crack that I've yet to find. In any case, I don't trust the stove to burn overnight any longer and I want it gone. So,... My primary heat source is an OWB and forced air furnace. The wood stove is just to help out the OWB wood load and as we all know, a wood fire inside is just nice to have. I Live in a log home with 24' ceilings in the great room and it's a bugger to heat sometimes. The wood stoves sure helps to keep that room nice when it's 5 degrees outside. I'm really leaning towards a non-cat stove just for the simplicity and not having the added cost of replacing the cats every few years or so. I don't mind the look of the new steel stoves, but really like the cast ones also. I wouldn't mind havng an 8-10 hour burn time with enough heat for around 1800sq ft. My budget is about $1500 - it's a nice to have, not a must have and my last name isn't Rockerfeller. . Would you mind giving me some opinions on what brand of non cat stove you like and why? Thanks guys!
Not a "non-cat" stove , but the IS fits the bill for your needs. The hybrid has tubes and stainless steel catalytic combustor.
The Woodstock IS cats are easy to get to and about half the cost of the one you mentioned. Fox9988 is guiding you well....
8 years ago we replaced a Vermont Casting with a Jotul 118CB & love it!. Bought a Jotul 602CB for our son's cabin last month. Wanted cast iron, quality and no cat... We found our brand of stove! The VC was nice the first few years but became a PITA as it got older.
We are thinking about moving the 118CB into the large shop here and putting a Jotul 3CB or 400 in the house, but in no hurry to do so. Need a better shop stove and would like a stove with a larger window in the house. Edit to add; The Jotul 118 is just under $2000.
Nice looking stove with deep firebox. How big is the firebox and what kind of burn times are you getting with it?
The Pacific Energy Super 27 (2.0 cu. ft.) or more likely the Summit (3.0 cu. ft.) would fit your needs but is probably a little above your price range. (?) These are notoriously long burning, non-cat stoves. FWIW, my PE T5 (same firebox as the Super 27) gives us solid 6-8 hour burns with good, dry hardwood (black birch 15-18% MC). However, we only have about 15-1600 sq. ft. modern ranch and we let the guest bedroom and laundry room (farthest from the stove) stay pretty cold. At 1800 sq. ft., I'd think Summit.
1.47 ft box, up to 24" wood. 5-6 hours of burn time, with good coals at 8-9 hours. It's really too much stove for our 1200 sq foot house, but Nice when temps are in the single digs.
The big regency 5000? needed an 8 inch flue so that kind of put it out for me also their customer service was not what I hoped for. First question what's your location and is chimney built? For around $700 I don't think a NC-30 by Englander can be beat bang for buck... might be a little over kill but isn't bigger better.. How recent did you form your opinion on cat converters? I got one in my stove guaranteed for 3 years prorated after.. cost is 150 for a replacement or 4.25a month I save that in splitter gas alone in reduced wood use alone. but that's me. I understand the vaulted ceiling cubic feet is what your heating..
And for sure with a high ceiling like that you need a ceiling fan and have the air blowing up and not down.
I'm in northern Illinois. The chimney is built (8") and still functions with my Defiant Encore currently. I guess my dislike for cat stoves came with more than $600 in 4 years to replace them(the one that was destroyed when I bought the house and another 4 years later). In another year or so, it will be another $300. So, for the price of the cats I've replaced, I could have bought an entire stove that more than a few are suggesting that I buy. From another thread, I've learned that placing the new 6" stack inside the 8" is what needs to happen. I'm still researching that portion of my decision to make sure that's a proper fix. I'm not 100% against a cat stove, but I'm certainly leaning toward non-cat just in terms of long term cost factor. I guess cutting and splitting a little more wood doesn't bother me - I'm cutting 15 cord a year for the OWB anyway. Another cord or two for inside isn't a concern. What would be your guess as to the increase in wood usage between a cat vs non cat stove? Thanks for your info.
my stove I can run with cat engaged or bypassed. I tried it once or twice just to see. burns with small similar size loads... burn to coal time with cat 4.5 hours to no cat 2 hours. moreover could really feel heat difference in shoulder season with cat the wife opened bedroom windows.. it was the next night we did without cat similar she wanted more fireplace feel.. windows stayed shut maybe 10 degree difference upstairs.. sorry not real scientific my gut feeling is on mine in my house, (which is notoriously hard to heat evenly) 40% less wood with more heat. that's why I asked... but hopefully others will chime in here to but I checked out Cat prices on mine and warranty before I went down that road...
Boy Boy, those PE stoves sure look nice. Looks like those are north south loaders, eh? I like the pedestal style stoves and the wife likes the enamel red...and they no longer make the enameled paint with the pedestal. Go figure
My T5 (same box as super 27 ) is about 18" N-S and 16" E-W. Close to square so you can load either way. It looks like the Summit is 18" N-S vs. 20" E-W. It looks like it comes in "Sunset Red" porcelain enamel finish. If you want to save money, definitely delete the ash pan if possible. On the coldest nights like tonight, I sometimes wish I had a Summit sized firebox instead of my T5.
Dang, you may be right! It looks like the "Summit" with the pedestal only comes in flat black; whereas the porcelain enamel finish only comes on the "classic" with the legs. That sucks. I would double-check with an actual PE dealer to make sure this is correct. That said, I would probe your wife as to whether the color or the pedestal is more important. In fact, I would drive her as far as it takes to look at actual stoves on the sales floor. In my case, I was absolutely dead set on a flat black stove, until I saw an antique white enamel T5 on the showroom floor. Once I saw it in person, I would settle for nothing less, and the wife agreed (WE NEVER AGREE ON ANYTHING!!!). Sometimes you just have to see the thing in "real life." FWIW, I'll bet your wife will LOVE a red enamel Summit Classic with legs. Keep us in touch. There are plenty of great stoves out there to choose from...
