I’m in the market for a small wood stove for a vacation home in Atlantic Canada. Eventually, my wife and I will be there from early May through October so a heating source other than the electric baseboards will be a factor for at least a few months of the year. Still, I suspect the wood stove will be used more for ambiance than heat. The house is a 1880-vintage salt box so I’m looking for something in a traditional style. I’ve looked at the smaller stoves made by Vermont Castings, Jotul, and Waterford. Do any of you out there have experience with any of these stoves? Are there any other similar stoves that you would recommend?
Oh, one final question. Last summer, I installed a 7″single-wall stainless steel chimney liner within the existing unlined masonry chimney. It looks like most of these smaller stoves call for a 6″ flue. Is there any problem using an adapter to connect to the 7″ liner?
Replies
I have owned two Jotul stoves in the past, and had no problems with either one. I know there are some attractive traditional stoves that are quite efficient. My father in law has purchased a Vermont Castings (based on appearance), but it is going into new construction and he has not used it yet.
As far as the pipe, I'm no expert, but I do not see a problem going 6" to 7". I would not feel as comfortable going the other way, especially a reduction greater than 1".
I have a Lopi, and very happy with.
We've been heating 24 years with a jotel #4 - - very good quality - - I like insulated SS chimney - I clean each year, but have yet to clear any signifigant deposit - pipe heats up quickly and stays that way - with a catalytic unit, maybe not too signifigant...
I've used several Vermont Casting stoves - in MA, AK and WA. Work fine. Like any stove, it will shine when installed properly and be cursed if not.
I really like any stove with a catalytic element in it. You don't smoke up your own yard, nor the neighbors; you burn (buy, stack, split and haul) 40% less wood and deposit a lot less creosote thereby saving on chimney cleanings. Few hundred bucks more by the payback is somewhere between 0.7 and 1.5 years. Or about 3 months if you value your time and olfactory experience at all.
My Vermont Castings is gas, but I love it. I would check with the stove manufacturer on the flue sizing. When you increase the diameter, you decrease the velocity, which will result in slightly more cooling of the gasses, and possibly less draft. The manufacturer can tell you if the size difference is anything to worry about.
Catalytic Combustors are good devices. Be careful, though, that the catalyst can be poisoned if you burn certain materials, such as painted wood or certain colored paper. By "poisoned" I mean that the catalyst is damaged so it doesn't function, like putting leaded gasoline in your car. So, heed the directions that come with the unit.
Those are all good units. Ilike my vermont castings one.
A good feature to look for is an ash drawer.
Excellence is its own reward!
I have had a Jotul Firelight for about six winters now as the pimary source of heat for a 1500+ sq-ft well insulated house. I don't know what sort of insulation a 1880 salt box has, if any, or what the night time temps are in Atlantic, Canada are but at zero outside temps, with the stove at minimum burn rate we are quite comfortable. A full load of good wood, oak or hickory, will last a minimun of 12 heating hours and will still have a good supply of coals to restart the fire after 24 hours.
One of the reasons we bought this model was it's top loading door which is operated with a foot pedal. Just wonderfull when you have an armfull of wood, step on the pedal and load it up to the top. No mess or concern with embers falling out the front doors onto the carpet. The new models of this stove have done away with the catalytic (sp?) converter, added tubes accross the top of the fire box, sealed the top loading door, and added a side loading door. Knowing what I do about my model of this stove I would not buy the new model. They have removed the best features, the catalytic converter, without whose flow resistance this heater would burn to fast, and the top loading door, just a fantastic feature. Look for an older used firelight, you will not regret it.
A friend has a Vermont Castings stove, he loves it. The front door glass in his stove is always clear and clean, mine is almost always smoked up unless I have it cranked up. He lets his burn out every day and cleans it out. I clean mine out each spring. Oh well, anal is as anal does, to paraphrase a somewhat dated movie character.
Lastly, I must state that my wife is a Swede/Norwegian mix from North Dakota and any purchase which will benifit one of her homelands is very high on her priority list. As with everything, there are many factors which influence our purchases.
Hope this post was somewhat informative, if not, at least humorous. Enjoy your life, don't just work it away.
congratulations--great choice of stove,perfect choice of wife!
Many thanks to all of you for the excellent information contained in the replies to my question. Several of you favored catalytic stoves but it apears that most of the smaller units made by Vermont Castings, Jotul and Waterford are non-catalytic. Also, it's likely I'll be burning soft woods. Birch is the only hard wood available locally and there isn't a whole lot of that. I'll keep your replies in mind as I look around for a wood stove this winter. I was hoping to find a used one here in Michigan to take to our summer home in Canada next year. Does it make sense to purchase a used one? What sort of defects should I be looking for if I purchase a used unit? Will those defects be obvious? Thanks again for your replies.
Re: Catalytic stoves
When I started buying a stove for my ski house a couple of years ago, I started looking for catalytic stoves, and found they were pretty rare. I did a little bit of research, and found out that most stoves these days use air injection into the combustion chamber to get good performance.
Here's a decent reference comparing the two. My guess is that for your use, you could go either way.
http://www.customfireplaceandmore.com/catalytic_vs__non-catalytic.htm
Thanks for that reference. Yes, it provides a good explanation of the differences between catalytic and non-catalytic stoves. It sounds like the main advantage of catalytic stoves is the longer burn time and hence the more efficient use of wood. The stoves I've been looking at are mostly non-catalytic. However, since the stove will be used only from May to October to augment heat at our summer home and just provide ambiance, the longer burn time may not be all that critical. Thanks again.
Chip
I would stay away from a cat stove, my last one had it and it is a pain it the butt. A VC defiant/encore. Never again a cat stove, lots of maintenance, time and money! I just bought a Jotul Oslo and so far like it! No problem going with the adaptor from 7" to 6"
TRY HEARTHNET .COM THEY GOT A WOODSTOVE GURU THERE AND A BUNCH OF FAQs. ALSO A HEAT COST CALCULATER,WOOD VS COAL VS NAT GAS. THEY ALSO HAVE RATINGS OF STOVES THAT PEOPLE HAVE BOUGHT. BEST SITE IVE SEEN FOR WOOD STOVES ON THE NET. GOOD LUCK
Thanks for the information about Hearthnet.com. It's a great site: the ratings by individuals on particular stoves was especially helpful.
Chip
No problem just trying to do my part.Personaly I'm going with a Quadrafire or Regency insert for my new home ,very heavey gage and,they seemed to have a good reputation $$$ but good.One other thing I did notice is that,people who had a newer Vermont castings stove and had problems with it reported that V/C customer service was terrible,apparently V/C got bought out several times in the past 10 years the older ones are fine Take Care Greg
My parents have a Quadrafire in their camp and a Timberline in their house. They are very happy with both. The Timberline is from the late 70s and the Quadrafire is from the early 90s. I don't know if either is still around or not or what they offer in terms of traditional styling. Regarding the flue size, I think as long as the diameter increases along the direction of airflow (which it sounds like it does), you're OK with changing diameters but you might consider checking with the manufacturer of the stove.
Some 25 years ago my sister got a Jotul Acorn for a wedding present. It is still going strong. I rented a house in Fredericton for two years. It had a Vermont Casting Intrepid in the Kitchen. I ran that from October to April, with it going out perhaps half a dozen times. We went through 3-4 cord of wood each winter. The stove worked very well. I'd load it up at 10-11 at night and have enough coals to be able to just add more wood most mornings.
As Piffin suggested it had an ash drawer, which I would insist on, a great convenience. The style was conducive to the 1830's house as well.
I have the Vermont Castings and can't say enough good things about it.
In my first house 20 years ago I ripped out this old heat system that was a joke where the heat just rose up from the furnace through an ugly grill in the living room floor....I installed the VC and heated the entire (small) house with it for three years.
It had a hopper you could insert ( in two seconds)to burn coal which is what I did most of the coldest parts of the winter because it burned longer than wood. With the wood, I had to get up at 3:30 AM to shake the stove so it didn't go out...The coal lasted till after 6:30 AM and the ashes.....when I had to empty the ash pan, weren't as fine as the wood which would have a tendancy to get a bit loose from the pan and into the air.
But....I'll tell ya....when I painted that room and washed the walls down first, you wouldn't believe what came off the walls.....
Wood stove are cool/hot but I can't imagine theyre too good for yer lungs no matter how tight they are....kinda romantic though.specially with the glass door option
Be warm
andy
We're being trained through our incarnations-trained to seek love, trained to seek light,trained to see the grace in suffering
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
A bit of a diversion. I visited a relative of my wife's in central New Brunswick. Their front parlour was heated with what I would call a Quebec Heater. On the walls was hand painted wall paper with the pattern of a hunting scene from the British Raj. The wall paper dated from the late 1800's. When I asked how they kept it so clean with the wood/coal stove in the room I was told that the front parlour was not used/heated that often and the practice was to wipe it with a kerosine soaked cloth at the end of each heating season.
Has any one else heard of this?An ex-boat builder treading water!
Take a look at http://www.thelinco.com model T-4000 for a classic old time look with modern burn technology. Also link is on Hearthnet.
.................Iron Helix