Build or buy a stove?

I want a stove that will heat 1500+ sqft for around $1k new. Something that has a long burn time. We are gone 10 hours a day. Depending on the stove and if it was super awesome deal I'd travel a couple hours maybe.

 

You can get an ESW NC30 for under that (HD usually puts them on sale in late Feb. for $650), or a Drolet of similar size, maybe.
I'm finding that I need to mess with the new stove quite a bit less. I'm also using the blower to much better advantage to extend "burn time".
If I had it to do over, knowing what I do now, I'd have gotten a cat stove a long time ago. Since doing a few things to tighten up the house, I really think I could run a stove around 400 deg all day and be just fine.
Cat stoves excel at that.
Don't forget the cost of the flue system.

 

Get an englander nc30 well under that price at full cost. Pipe will be close to the stove price though if you dont have one. It should easily heat that space and keep it warm that amount of time.

A big Cat steel stove like mine or the buck 91 or blaze king king will either easily keep that size house warm all day. Set to high it will make the paint run down the walls!

 

I think the cheapest I've seen the 30 (full price) is locally, and that price here is $899, plus tax.

 

1. The ability for a stove to heat an area and provide heat (burn time) depends on your layout, insulation, and tightness of the home. The three stoves I run have a claimed heating capacity of nearly 6,000 sq ft. My home is 2,156 sq ft. So, I will ask again, What size stove do you need?

2. Why must the stove be new?

 

Not necessarily. We need to know more about the home, first.

 

True. I mean if it has all kinds of corridors and tiny door ways and strange hallways with the stove in a 150sqft room on one side. And not a lock of insulation and old single pain aluminum crank windows and the spiderwebs in corners wave with just the slightest breeze outside then Yea he will have trouble heating it. But if its within reason he should have no trouble.

 

What is your current chimney? How long do you season your wood? Both of these are critical when moving forward with an efficient stove heating a drafty house.

A stove like the Englander needs to be able to attain 1000 degree internal temperature to work satisfactory. Wet wood will be frustrating. An improper flue setup will also make an efficient stove sluggish and disappointing. I know this first hand. After addressing both issues all my problems went away. Do some research before you dive headfirst.

 

Yea. If you cut wood in april and wort yet september of the year you burn even one year ahead with oak you will get terrible results with a new high effecientcy stove. There is even a hilarious youtube vids that has been posted here before where a guy cusses the epa for their mandate" double wall stove design that keeps the heat in". Dont buy one if you want heat he says. You can clearly see he is burning g wet wood.

 

My house is 1150 sqft. I need some new windows and better insulation. That is all to come this summer. The stove will be on the far end of the house. Furthest from bedrooms closest to living room. So I don't know what size stove I "need". The stove doesn't need to be new. I was refering to new as in what a stove would cost new.

This will be a whole new setup. So a new chimney will be installed with the stove. Wood is not an issue. My wood for next burning season has been c/s/s since September.

 

I was looking at the Blaze King Princess online this morning. That's a nice looking stove but for what I've researched it's out of my price range. I was also looking at the Englander NC30, that's more my range. I'm going to make a trip to the couple chimney and stove shops this week and see what they have to offer as a package.

 

The Woodstock Ideal Steel starting price is around $1700 that might be a little closer to your budget and would offer a lot more bang for your buck then anything else for under $2000.

I realize you want to stay within budget, but for $700-800 more you could have the most efficient stove on the market.

 

For some people, $700-800 is a huge hurdle. That nearly doubles what he hopes to spend on a stove. That is not insignificant. That $700-800 would cover the cost of lining the chimney.

 

That is very true. I understand completely. I only mentioned it because he was looking at Blaze Kings and this would be a very comparable stove but much lower in price.

 

An englander nc30 is the best bang for his dollar, exactly what he wants. In his range new!

 

I guess the real question is what kind of "heat" do you want?

What sounds better, a stove that peaks and then the heat drops way off in 10 hours with just enough coals to reload. Or a stove that continues making heat all day with a very sufficient amount of the wood still in the box when you get home.

The Englander is a great stove and I have nothing against it, but it is only rated at 63% efficient. That means almost 40% of your heat is going out the chimney. Yes it is 100 times better than a smoke dragon, but there are a lot better stoves for a little more money.

 

I think you are putting far too much importance on the claimed efficiency numbers and are poorly using them as a direct comparison to performance. Efficiency claims are nearly as meaningless to the burn time as the BTU ratings are.

 

You might be right. I'm not an engineer but I also am away from the stove for over 10 hours so I understand the struggle. If you can keep the maximum heat in your house over the longest time why not choose a stove that has a higher efficiency rating? Just speaking from my experience and struggles. I mean no offense and the Englander is a great stove for under $1000.

 

Also, to put it in perspective, the VC Vigilant, which is a Pre-EPA "smoke dragon" had a claimed 63% efficiency.

I can tell you, without a doubt, the Vigilant was no where near the same efficiency as the 30.

Also, the Defiant model that I have had a claimed efficiency rating of 82.4%. Which is seriously inaccurate. I won't even go into the claimed emissions rating for the Defiant.

 

Is that manufacturer claims or Epa data? I am only referring to Epa data as that is a comparison on the same level.