We lost our Jotul c450 in a flood last April. Are finally back in the house and getting ready to replace it. Our LR is small and I was thinking about a flush mount insert. Even tho the 450 did not take up much space, we would prefer to have a flush if we can get one. When we moved here in Dec 5 yrs ago, we were freezing our toes off and quickly bought the first thing we thought would fit. We had no experience at all with wood stoves. It was a good little stove, blowers kind of noisy but did a fair job. We were counting on it to heat the entire 1st floor, and we did have pockets of really cold in the far reaches (downstairs about 900sf)
Due to installation and service issues, I would NOT return to the place where we purchased before.
The Jotul 350 seems a bit too small and the 550 might be overkill? I went yesterday and looked at a QF Voyageur which seemed very nice, tho perhaps small. Now for the questions:
• The Voyageur is 1.83cf. Jotul does not list that dimension on their lit. Does anyone know what the actual CF of the boxes are on these models?
• Was shown the "ceramic baffle" (I think) on the Voyageur above the reburners which the Jotul does not have. Is that an example of catalytic vs non-cat stove?? Can someone please explain that to me and give me opinions on which is better and why.
• Cast iron or steel? Differences?
• There is a Lopi dealer in the area as well. How do they compare pricewise? Was quoted $2968 for the Voyager, $2549 for the Jotul c350 and $3149 for the c550. Those are w/out install.
• We have the chimney cap and steel 6" liner from the old stove in place - all we did was move the stove out after the water receded. At the QF dealer they quoted me $535 for install including a chimney clean. The Jotul dealer went round and round with me about the need to see the place first and when I finally pressed him to ballpark it he said "About $1000, maybe more." Obviously this impacts the budget and may impact the stove we can afford if we go with the Jotul. Why would these prices be so different? (for example, if we decide we like the bigger Jotul, the price of the stove plus $1000 installation puts it out of the range we were hoping for)
• The old stove sat directly on the old brick fireplace floor with a nasty brick hearth that is flush with the floor. We've replaced the LR flooring and now can put some concrete board and stone tiles down before we install stove. Does anyone have any tips, hints or thoughts on that? Things we should look out for or make sure we do?
After reconstruction, the house has a subfloor, full insulation and a nice, tight floor - all of which were missing before so we're hopeful that the stove will not have to work as hard to heat the downstairs.
If there are other options I might not be thinking of, please enlighten me! Thanks all.
Due to installation and service issues, I would NOT return to the place where we purchased before.
The Jotul 350 seems a bit too small and the 550 might be overkill? I went yesterday and looked at a QF Voyageur which seemed very nice, tho perhaps small. Now for the questions:
• The Voyageur is 1.83cf. Jotul does not list that dimension on their lit. Does anyone know what the actual CF of the boxes are on these models?
• Was shown the "ceramic baffle" (I think) on the Voyageur above the reburners which the Jotul does not have. Is that an example of catalytic vs non-cat stove?? Can someone please explain that to me and give me opinions on which is better and why.
• Cast iron or steel? Differences?
• There is a Lopi dealer in the area as well. How do they compare pricewise? Was quoted $2968 for the Voyager, $2549 for the Jotul c350 and $3149 for the c550. Those are w/out install.
• We have the chimney cap and steel 6" liner from the old stove in place - all we did was move the stove out after the water receded. At the QF dealer they quoted me $535 for install including a chimney clean. The Jotul dealer went round and round with me about the need to see the place first and when I finally pressed him to ballpark it he said "About $1000, maybe more." Obviously this impacts the budget and may impact the stove we can afford if we go with the Jotul. Why would these prices be so different? (for example, if we decide we like the bigger Jotul, the price of the stove plus $1000 installation puts it out of the range we were hoping for)
• The old stove sat directly on the old brick fireplace floor with a nasty brick hearth that is flush with the floor. We've replaced the LR flooring and now can put some concrete board and stone tiles down before we install stove. Does anyone have any tips, hints or thoughts on that? Things we should look out for or make sure we do?
After reconstruction, the house has a subfloor, full insulation and a nice, tight floor - all of which were missing before so we're hopeful that the stove will not have to work as hard to heat the downstairs.
If there are other options I might not be thinking of, please enlighten me! Thanks all.