I hate to start a thread that I am looking for a new stove, and need advice, but I am really stuck on a few stoves and would love some input because no one I know has any knowledge of stoves. Currently I run an old VC Resolute III with double doors. It has been pretty good for the last 5 years we have owned the house. I am just tired of loading it every 3-5 hours.
My house: Old 1935 Cape Cod, in Lansing MI. We get fairly cold winters, my house is poorly insulated in the walls, and I am constantly working on the attic spaces (which is interesting in a cape) and windows. My entire house is 2115 sf, but we don't use the upstairs much so I am heating more around 1800 sf. Heat travels well now with a ceiling fan and floor fan pushing air to the rest of the house. The back bedrooms are a bit cooler, but we get by. No problems heating the family room, kitchen, dining room, and front living room.
I am looking at stoves in a $1500-$2000 range, and can't really go any past that. I have been doing a lot of research on here and various other places. I am looking mostly at convection style stoves by Napoleon (1400 or 1900) Osburn (2300 or 2400) and PE (super 27 series or summit) The middle size from each of these manufacturers is 2000 sf with around a 2 cu f box, with the large versions being rating more towards 3000 sf with over 3 cu f box. I am worried to go with the 2 cu ft box because I want to burn 24/7 which I cannot currently do. I have plenty of wood, and constantly work on stacking more. The large units make me nervous that i will bake out of my house. I want to be able to burn all night, reload in the am, go to work and come back and have enough coals to get it cranking again.
Any thoughts about brands, size and other recommendations would be very appreciated. I plan on buying the new stove in the next 2 months and installing over the summer. If there is another stove in that range I should be looking at, I would be interested in that info as well. Thanks a lot everyone
My house: Old 1935 Cape Cod, in Lansing MI. We get fairly cold winters, my house is poorly insulated in the walls, and I am constantly working on the attic spaces (which is interesting in a cape) and windows. My entire house is 2115 sf, but we don't use the upstairs much so I am heating more around 1800 sf. Heat travels well now with a ceiling fan and floor fan pushing air to the rest of the house. The back bedrooms are a bit cooler, but we get by. No problems heating the family room, kitchen, dining room, and front living room.
I am looking at stoves in a $1500-$2000 range, and can't really go any past that. I have been doing a lot of research on here and various other places. I am looking mostly at convection style stoves by Napoleon (1400 or 1900) Osburn (2300 or 2400) and PE (super 27 series or summit) The middle size from each of these manufacturers is 2000 sf with around a 2 cu f box, with the large versions being rating more towards 3000 sf with over 3 cu f box. I am worried to go with the 2 cu ft box because I want to burn 24/7 which I cannot currently do. I have plenty of wood, and constantly work on stacking more. The large units make me nervous that i will bake out of my house. I want to be able to burn all night, reload in the am, go to work and come back and have enough coals to get it cranking again.
Any thoughts about brands, size and other recommendations would be very appreciated. I plan on buying the new stove in the next 2 months and installing over the summer. If there is another stove in that range I should be looking at, I would be interested in that info as well. Thanks a lot everyone