Recommendations on Existing Wood Stove

I am a new member and am curious about recommendations on my existing wood stove that came with my house. It is a Country Hearth Model 2500.

We are using it (in Western Maryland) for basically for all our heating (not using the high cost heat pump).

I am just curious is there a reason to upgrade my stove? Are there more efficient stoves that might help reduce how much wood I use or some other thoughts about my current stove?

At my old house I saw quite a change when I replaced my old natural gas furnace with a newer more efficient one so wondering if there is something similar with wood stoves and if it might make economic sense.

One person that cleaned my flue call it a basic Tractor Supply stove. It does have an electric fan to get more heat out of the stove. I monitor the stack temperature to make sure it isn't too low.

I didn't notice a primer here anywhere on wood stoves. Any recommended places to read?

 

Not familiar with your model stove SteveWest

Some setup and house info would be great.

 

What information do you need?

I have a single story (no basement) approx. 3,000 square foot house. The house is fairly open except the bedrooms with the stove located in the family room.

The stove is actually made by United States Stove Company.

It is something like this:

I know the "2500" means that it is intended for a 2,500 sq. foot house but then again my climate is like being up in Maine and the stoves a pretty good job of heating.

Any other information that might help? Thanks

 

That is pretty much a standard plate steel stove.

Does it have secondary burn tubes?

We used a similar (smaller) stove for years. It kept us warm, but couldn't sustain an overnight burn. We purchased it used, & cheap.

We put in a Woodstock Ideal Steel last year and like it a lot.

Not much in the aspect of burning much less wood, but the house is warmer and it will easily sustain an overnight burn.

You'll get many opinion's on different stoves.

It really comes down to what you need, what features you want, or don't want, and price range.

Do you have trouble circulating the heat throughout the house?

 

That's a fairly recent and efficient design 2.5 cu ft EPA stove with reburn tubes.
It might be "plain Jane" stove but they do the trick.
You may or may not need the fan, sometimes a ceiling fan on low works just as well without the noise.

 

Here you go for the manual https://www.tractorsupply.com/static/sites/TSC/downloads/ProdContentPDFs/1015683_Man1.pdf
Make sure the baffle is in place in the stove and isn't broken; looking at the manual it is a two piece baffle similar to what is in my stove. The stove is built in China but if it is in good shape then continue to use it.

 

Go to the university (of youtube) and type in country hearth 2500 wood stove. There are a couple vids that will show. Also, a google word search (same topic) but maybe add "reviews" and you'll get even more results.

On the amazon site, the stove struggled to get a 3 star rating from customers reviewing it. The highest rating category was 1 star (30%) but you must allow for inexperience, wet fuel, etc when reading some reviews/opinions.

Looks like a generic entry level "beginner" stove that someone would move up very shortly after owning it for awhile. Could explain just why the stove was left behind?

I don't know if you burn 24/7 or more of an occasional burner. Depending on that answer would help decide your next move of replacing or not. With the blower mounted on the back of the stove, it would be easy to add heat shields to the sides of the stove (if needed) as you can mount them directly onto the rear heat shield.

Like wildwest says, if it is working for you, fine.

Also, like Chaz mentioned, more info on setup. Pics would be great but keep in mind, the setup would be critiqued until that horse is nothing but a bloody mass! Sometimes the safety police get a little over zealous here.....

 

If you read some of those one star reviews they speak of bad control boards and jammed augers.

statistically if you group 4 and 5 star together as a like group and one and two stars as a dislike group
the likes win at 47% and the dislikes lose at 43%
how shall we carve the pie of statistics today ?

 

Too many people on Amazon and Youtube getting paid and rewarded for reviews.
Far too often for chit products and/or dissing competitors.
Shills and snake oil salesmen richly rewarded for Fake reviews and Fake News. The world is full of it.

 

Color me curious, but I went and checked on those "reviews"..

3 of 11 1-star reviews were for the 5500M pellet stove and therefore have zero bearing on the advertised stove.
1 review is for the "Hotblast Furnace" and also has no relevance.

That's better than 25% as complete disregard already.

I guess people just decided they'd find any listing for a US Stove product so they could vent their holy disapproval.


The only reviews that truly seemed relevant and important were the ones that mentioned cracking around the door, and the recommendations to purchase the stove elsewhere at a much lower price.

For the same price range, I'd have installed an Englander NC30 and called it done.

 

I have no reason to replace the stove. As I said earlier it seems to be doing the job.

 

I am sure I will get many opinions. ;-)

Can explain how this Woodstock boiler kept your house warmer and sustain an overnight burn?

 

We burn 24/7 or maybe more like 16/7 with trying to put wood on at night when we get up.

I will check out the YouTube videos and try posting a picture of the stove.

 

Can you elaborate on the "baffle?" I am not seeing that shown or listed in the parts description.

 

SteveWest Woodstock is a premium wood stove manufacturer. Not a boiler

 

I meant wood stove. I have heard of outdoor wood boilers for a house but not an indoor one.

What made this better stove keep your house warmer and sustain an overnight burn? Does your stove have more mass than my "chevy" type stove that helps it produce heat longer say overnight?

 

Not a boiler. Standalone stove.

Here's a pic of the new stove, compared to the old stove.

My stove | Firewood Hoarders Club

Our house is normally around 80°F and the old stove generally kept it in the 73-75°F range.

Conditions of use..
My wife ( Chazsbetterhalf ) is retired, so the stove is run 24/7. Our house is small ~2000 sq ft, with the upstairs partially closed off. Cinder block walls with no insulation, and has single pane steel framed windows.

Concrete slab foundation, with subfloor only in living room.

Lots of improvements still to be done to the house obviously.

We go through 3 full cord per year with the stove.

The IS can be throttled down and easily sustain a 12 hour burn, with lots of coals for a reload. I'd have to feed the old stove around 3 AM in order to have coals in the morning.

If your stove works for you, no sense in replacing it.

Edit.. The IS has soapstine inside the firebox and on the side panels. This helps retain a lot of "soft" heat that lingers.

 

That is quite a contrast in stoves. From Chevy to Cadillac or something like that. ;-) My stove looks more like your Chevy.

Also nice that with your newer stove you can cook on top of it. I would say the throttle down on my stove leaves a lot to be desired. Something to consider down the road.

 

I have same stove.. a NC13 type used 8-12 cord .. Woodstock 4 to 5 cord more heat 12 hour burns easy 2o hours if high BTUs not needed..