I posted a few years back about different kind of stoves. I’m finally get close to a purchase. I’m pretty serious about getting a pacific energy stove cuz they seem well made and simple to run. Just though I would get a few last opinions on this stove or something else that everyone might think would be better in the long run. I have about 2000 sq. ft. house. Thanks
2 levels, it won’t be in a basement. It will be an additional room on one end of the house. I know that isn’t the best but know it will probably just heat that end of the house with the stove. So I have an old basement which will s limestone. Two other levels just to clarify.
Consider adding your location. Its a rather important part of the mix when picking a stove make and model. What model PE are you looking at?
If you plan on using the stove 24/7 make sure the unit is capable of running comfortably as long as your going to be out of the home each day. No fun restarting.
2000 square feet above basement. Stove at end of home.. Heat movement will be a challenge.. Really depends on your type of winter and insulation in home..
My house is a small cape with lousy insulation. the heat goes right through the roof. In the mountains of Pa, thats pretty hard to deal with. My IS is just enough. If your house is well insulated (like the all-electric houses of the 70's) that will make all the difference!
A 2 cu ft stove should be a good match for 2000 sq ft if you're not too far north with extreme Winter temps and the stove is well placed in the home. An addition on the end of a long rambling ranch can be tough getting heat down the other end if that addition doesn't have much of an opening into the room(s) it was added onto. Some home designs/layouts lend themselves to a space heater and some don't. A 10x10 addition with a 28" door for entry that room would become an oven real quick with a 2 cu ft stove. Probably even a 1 cu ft stove. PE makes good stoves and the Super 27 has been around for quite some time. Even their low end True North stove is pretty nice.
Am a little over 2,000sq ft, partial basement, slab on other side, poor insulation, 2 story colonial. Stove Insert is in the center of the house. Drolet does a pretty good job heating most of the entire house including upstairs if I leave the doors open. On really cold cold days I notice it struggles a bit but I think that is more an insulation issue. With that said I say go big and get the longest burn time you can within your budget. My furnace will kick on around 4 -5 AM once or twice as the fire starts to dwindle. I usually wake to a bed of coals for easy restart but not always. Ideally I'd want a 10-12 burn time. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Have to ask, ideal steel stove? Is there a lot more maintenance with a cat stove and how black does the stove door get and is it easy to clean. I just know there is quite a few people that own these stoves so I thought I would ask about it before I pull the trigger on a stove. I’m bad at maintenance so I want an easy stove for the long haul.
Xtra maintenance.. 1) Every six weeks at when not burning hard. Pull out cat and vacuum it 5 minutes.. 2) once season bath cat in distilled vinegar.. Takes an hour but only working 15 minutes.. Stove door easy to clean cold.. If hot burn stove with more air cleans it self.. IME, this gives you 30% more heat with 20% less wood!! IF and only IF your wood is dry..
So if you can get your wood down to 15 to 20 percent moisture a person should be good? With that moisture the chimney shouldn’t really need anymore cleaning than usual? I have an owb so just want to ask a few questions that probably have all ready been answered before. I have a long burning season in Minnesota so would I get 3 years out of a cat? Thanks for the help.
Yes, a cat should last 3 years okay. Chimney cleaning? It depends upon wood and stove. We used to have to clean our chimney several times every year. When we installed our cat stove (Woodstock Fireview) we almost quit cleaning the chimney. Actually, I did quit but my wife insists almost every year on running a brush up and down it once to get almost nothing. Also, Canadian border VT stated 30% more heat with 20% less wood if the wood is dry. When we installed our Fireview, we cut our wood needs in half immediately while raising the house temperature a lot. We used to always be cold in January and February but now we keep the house around 80 degrees all winter long even at -20. Also I don't vacuum the cat but simply lift it out (using gloves because I don't wait for a cold stove), take it out on the deck and brush it. This takes usually from 2 to 3 minutes twice per winter.
Seems like the little extra for the cat stove might be worth it. I’m guessing the wood you save more than pays for the cost of a new cat when the stove needs one. What are the drawbacks of this stove compared to a pacific energy stove? Just wondering since the pacific energy was the one I was thinking about buying. Hoping to use this for a long time so I just want to get the purchase right. Thinking they both would do the job in the long run but if one of them would get 12 hour burn times better than the other that would be nice. Thanks for the replies.
Dosent Pallet Pete mike bayerl and OhioStihl have Pacific Energy stoves.. Maybe fireplace inserts.. My house 2200 square feet.. Half with 16 foot ceilings. 12 miles or so to border.. And 1.5 miles west (our dominant wind direction) in winter a frozen tundra!! In summer it a lake. My wood usage went from 12 cord using oil backup in cold to 4 to 5 cord house much warmer. But my wood is drier now.
I have no experience with the PE stoves, but we are happy with our Ideal Steel stove. We've not seen a dramatic drop in wood usage, but the house is warmer all winter, and I don't have to feed the stove in the middle of the night. Load it up between 8-10 PM, damper it down before heading to bed, and have plenty of coals in the morning for a restart.
I have a PE Alderlea T5 that heats a little over 1000 sq-ft in mid-Atlantic temps. On our coldest nights,+single digits, we can get a decent 8-9 hrs of heat. I'm sure your Ideal Steel with the cat is better at long and slow burns.
Generally, a catalyst allows you to burn at lower output cleanly as the catalyst is burning up the crap from burning so low. It might even let you burn a little more slowly than without it. In theory a hybrid stove gives you burn tubes that work well at higher BTU outputs when a catalyst might be overwhelmed and there are plenty of gasses to feed them and a catalyst when there aren't enough gasses to keep burn tubes lit and active. You end up with a stove that is burning cleanly across a broader range of outputs and you usually burn less wood when burning clean. I don't have a cat stove (yet) but supposedly burning well seasoned wood will minimize cat cleaning and maximize its life. Some stoves with a cat have an access panel with a gasket to keep an eye on along with a door gasket and an ash pan gasket. Is that "high maintenance' ? Most claim giving the cat an eyeball once a month is no big friggin deal. Just gotta remember to do it. Like cleaning the chimney. Gotta inspect it whether it needs cleaning or not. How often depends on - again - wood quality and who you talk to. Mr. Anal or Mr. Irresponsible.
