Pacific Energy Super 27 vs the Summit Wood stove?

I have been burning a Super 27 for the last probably 28 years or so. I have a local dealer who carries the Pacific Energy stoves. My old stove needed a new baffle replacement at the least, last year but I ran it another year. And I guess I could keep running it but I have decided to buy a new stove. Currently I have chosen another Super 27, but I am torn between getting it or moving up to the slightly larger Summit.

The Super 27 does a pretty good job of heating our house which is 2 story with about 1125 sq feet on each floor, but we do most of our living on the bottom floor. The 27 is rated for up to 2000 sq ft. The Summit is rated for up to 3000 sq ft. I can run us out of the living room with the 27 if build a big fire. But I find myself often hammering in another stick or two at bedtime, where I could easily add those other sticks without crowding it with the Summit. But the Summit is more stove then I need for a lot of time, and weather temps.

I measured the two stoves and the fire box of the Summit is about 5 inches wider but is the same height and depth as the Super 27. Which does add up to almost another sq foot of fire box, but the Summit is not that much bigger over all.
It did cross my mind that I could lay a couple of fire bricks on the sides at the bottom to reduce the size of the fire box slightly, but I don't know if that a good idea or not. My thinking being that I could keep the size of the fire a little narrower so as to stack the wood for height without going so wide, if I found the burn not to be what I wanted, with a slightly smaller fire then the larger Summit would handle.

Opinion's, experiences, please. Would it be a mistake to get the bigger Summit? Of course I guess by also choosing wood species, I could also regulate the heat output somewhat, and I have choices there, for different weather. But in reality the Summit only holds another couple of sticks of wood.

 

Your home is 2250 sf and the super box is only rated for 2000. Of course, those SF ratings aren’t super helpful.

The new super and summit are different than the old ones. Things had to change in 2020 but I still think they’re very good stoves.

In your shoes I would definitely get the summit. Small fire boxes are a pain and you can always build a smaller fire in a bigger box.

 

That's true, but technically, I am mostly heating a few hundred sq feet less, being two story and I also typically shut off a couple of rooms up stairs, which cuts the sq footage down to well under 2000 sq ft. But like you said, I could always build a smaller fire.

 

Go bigger. Easier overnight burns.

 

In my experience, closing off rooms in the house to make the area you're heating smaller is counterproductive unless your interior partition walls are fully insulated.

 

You may have a point.
However, I just remembered, when I built my house, I did insulate all interior walls, with the idea of reducing sound, but your point is noted.

 

Yep, that's the main advantage, probably the only reason to go bigger for me.

 

Unless you feel like the stove you have is sorely lacking, I'd go with the same again...we have a wood furnace that is a tad large for our house and I spend most of the winter with the firebox "shrunk" just as you mentioned, by putting in extra firebrick so the I can build a tall narrow fire, but not put in too many lbs of wood...it works fine, but for the way our winters are anymore (mostly mild) I think I'd almost rather have the smaller model (I did have one at one point, but sold it because it only took 16" wood, and I have over 20 cords sitting here cut to 20"...after spending a whole winter cutting each split down, I was over it!) But if not for that issue, I think I'd rather the smaller model and then just supplement the wood with oil on the 5 days of "real winter" we get anymore...

 

Ssssshhhhh. Don't tempt the Old Man We are soooo overdue for sh_tkicker of a winter in the midwest.

Lastmohecken As mentioned the new stove incorporates tech that is different from your original. If you find yourself trying to stuff your current model for overnight comfort I'd be tempted to try the Summit this go round.

 

Are you saying that the new version of the super might not make as much heat as the old one?

 

I remember being told last year, that the Pacific Energy stoves, at least the Super 27, already met the new regulations, but they did have a sale, just to move older stoves with earlier manufacturing dates. But the stoves didn't change.

 

I went back and got the Summit, after reflection on the past 28 years or so of using the 27. I actually damaged or shortened the life of my baffle in my old stove, because I would often hammer the last stick of wood in at night, if it was close fit, to get that last piece of wood in. I decided I wanted the bigger firebox, to hopefully avoid that in the future. My reasoning is if I still load it with the same amount of wood as I often used in the 27, surly, it's going to put out about the same amount of heat.

I think I was over thinking it a little bit, because there have been many occasions when I had wished for a slightly bigger fire box.

 

Not at all. Just replying to his stated need to "hammer in another stick or two at bedtime". Seems reasonable that if he has a tad bit extra firebox room he won't need to sweat the "hammer in another stick or two at bedtime".
The difference in stove tech is the EBT setup. I have zero experience with it. Yet.

 

Right, the super got changed to a somewhat funky barometric secondary air control like the summit for 2020. In the past, the super had a pretty clever linkage to mechanically throttle secondary air when you closed the primary air control. It’s the reason that the old super was able to get such good burn times for a noncat.

Surely the change was for lower emissions which may or may not be good for the user. The summit had no obvious or significant changes for 2020.

 

A bigger firebox may not help you if you can't regulate it down low enough. Or you end up burning more wood for no gain.
I'd be comparing BTU output ranges between the two stoves. I'd say three stoves but the output range on the old Super may not be available nor relevant.

 

Yep, I guess I am taking a chance, either way. My old 27 may be different from the new 27 and the Summit is unknown. I know the output is higher on the Summit, but surely, it can be regulated down enough, I would think. It is rated at 99,000 btu's where the 27 is rated at 72,000 btu's. But I don't think the old 27 was that much different then the new 27 as both were rated for up to 2000 sq ft, but the Summit is rated at 3000 sq ft.

I am not worried about burning more wood, that's not really a concern for me. I could see how, if I left it throttled down too much, I might collect more creosote in the stove pipe, but it's never been a problem before. However, I think I can keep that from happening.

I guess I will run the Summit for a winter and just see. I suppose I am not married to it, and will sell it and buy the smaller 27 later if I find out, that I made a bad mistake.

I am also thinking that I will just have to learn the new Stove, like I had to learn the old 27.

 

Be careful of paying too much attention to those bogus “peak” btu marketing claims. They are irrelevant and at best represent what the stove could possibly do at the peak minute of the burn cycle if you ran it wide open.

What’s more important is the available output range per load and that’s what the new epa testing gives. You now can see and compare the tested range of output available from each stove which actually represents what the operator can expect the stove to do in their homes when burning fuel for heat.

Funny thing is that those peak output numbers in the brochures do not represent reality and egg is on the face of many manufacturers when test results came in.

 

Where do I get that information?

 

These are actual numbers from the PE EPA 2020 testing...they had to test under 3 (4?) different categories...low medium and high basically...some companies have the actual raw stove test data linked on their websites (not many though) but you have to be a real lab rat to be able to decipher it all...
Woodstove Database | Burnwise | US EPA (go to "advanced search" and find PE under the manufacturers, that will bring up all their models)

 

Did somebody say Summit? (inside joke for some here) LOL