first year stove owners- how happy are you?

[Osagebndr]

Bought a reg buck and had it installed in feb. love it cut my electric bill by 2/3 for the month . Still trying to get better burn times and may go ahead and get an EPA stove just for that purpose. Couldn't be happier tho

 

[Gaucho]

Just finished and passed inspection on my new Jotul 100. Happy and cozy.

 

[veemaxx]

We have had a Vogelzang Ponderosa for a few months now. It has done well considering the weather we have had and the size of our home. Using a cord of wood a month we have saved $300 a month on our electric bill more of less. All the wood so far has been standing dead wood from elms, don't know what the moisture content is but we get a good secondary burn within minutes of loading the stove. Being lazy by nature I have been feeding it a lot of 20 inch long 6 to 8 inch rounds, maybe even a little bigger and that works for all night burns. Without a key damper I don't know how we could keep it from over firing. My wife told me it was the best thing we have bought for our new home. I like how having a nice big window to the fire has made a new favorite place for us to hang out or nap. Glad I bought what I got, sometimes wish it was a little bigger when it is below zero with howling winds

 

[dyerkutn]

Ecstatic!! Had a PE Alderlea T5 installed in May. I feel like it is a member of the family!! Love the cozy lingering heat it produces, learning how to use it most efficiently (dry wood--what a miracle), going out to my covered porch with my bag and lugging in the wood, and the whole process of starting or restarting. I cannot heat exclusively with wood because I have two bedrooms that are too many turns from the stove room to get enough heat when it is really cold. I have the thermostat set for it to go on for a few minutes in the morning and evening just in those rooms and don't use them much during the day. All the air vents in the main part of the house are closed off and I told the oil company not to refill till I call them. In the past, because of the open floor plan, vaulted ceiling and not enough vents the main part of the house was always freezing unless I cranked the oil heat way up. Now the whole area is toasty--have to wear my summer clothes. I am so warm that I don't even mind cooling off in the bedroom when I go to sleep. I won't know till the end of the heating season how the finances work out since I had been doing the year round payment plan. Since I had to order kiln dried this year it may end up being more than usual but who cares--I am VERY HAPPY and once I build up my wood pile I know it will be much less.

 

[Woody Stover]

Yesterday made us seriously question our choice of stove.
Came home to a house FULL of smoke

Was that the first time it happened? Could have been a back-puff. If this is the only time it happened, maybe it was a fluke...chimney down-draft caused by the wind, etc.

It takes forever to warmup my 900 sq ft house from 55 degrees to 65, and even though the insert is rated for twice the sq ft, since my house is not insulated, or tight, it barely keeps up. Another thing I learned was carrying firewood in is a real pain in the ass. It is not uncommon for me to work 36 straight hours, and my wife to be gone until 9 pm, so when we both get home 2 hours after dark, and have to carry firewood in, it really sucks.

My stove wasn't keeping this place quite warm enough, especially this year with that cold wind, until I sealed a few air leaks. It was easy to do, and cheap. Shoulda done it long ago! Now I can hold 70 in here pretty easily in most weather.
As far as the wood, get one of the canvas log tote if you haven't already; A lot easier to carry, and contains the mess.

 

[ClintonH]

We are loving the stove: we saved ~7-800 per month on oil by my estimation: we haven't filled ALL WINTER. We've run through 4-5 cord, but it's been a long and hard winter.

 

[Lundrunner]

We put the BK Princess in around the middle of November and have burned 24/7 since then....best decision we have made since buying this house 28 years ago

 

[Xikar]

Installed my PE Summit insert over the summer and been burning 24/7 since November. Haven't turned my heat on once this winter so I will say I am EXTREMELY happy with the stove! It cut my oil bill by two thirds. Instead of $3k+ I only went through $1k in oil to make hot water. One more season and this stove will have paid for itself. My wood I get for free and it only cost me my labor to process it and I am already two seasons ahead split and stacked. I am actually contemplating a second insert for my other fireplace but not sure the cost will be justified as even on the coldest days during that "polar vortex" I was able to maintain temps in the mid to high 60's throughout the house with the Summit. We'll see though, I hate having the other fireplace not being utilized now so I'll probably pull the trigger on something.

 

[Rebelduckman]

It's been enjoyable so far. I love everything about wood burning with a stove. The only thing I regret is not finding this site before I bought my stove. Don't get me wrong it's a great stove and throws really good heat, it's just undersized for my leaky house. Hopefully I'll be able to get a decent price for it to put towards a bigger one.

Anybody want to trade a 13nc for a 17vl?

 

[David.Ervin]

We've had our share of problems with the Northstar unit, but it's done wonders for the heating costs. I wish I had known earlier that it likes to burn hot, and that I should run it with a full load and not try to heat "just a little bit" with a couple small splits - that just wastes wood. Once I figured out how to burn in it, it's been a solid heater.

 

[dafattkidd]

It's been enjoyable so far. I love everything about wood burning with a stove. The only thing I regret is not finding this site before I bought my stove. Don't get me wrong it's a great stove and throws really good heat, it's just undersized for my leaky house. Hopefully I'll be able to get a decent price for it to put towards a bigger one.

Anybody want to trade a 13nc for a 17vl?

Very common. I had the same issue. After one year I sold the 1.7 cf Napoleon and replaced it with a 3.2 cf Osburn. That worked out awesome. That said, I really enjoyed burning that Napoleon. It kept us way warmer than just the oil burner alone.

*You can find Englanders for under $1,000. If you sell your 17vl for a few hundred bucks you can be the proud new owner of a larger wood stove. Just make sure you have the clearances on your hearth to cover the larger unit.

 

[Rebelduckman]

Very common. I had the same issue. After one year I sold the 1.7 cf Napoleon and replaced it with a 3.2 cf Osburn. That worked out awesome. That said, I really enjoyed burning that Napoleon. It kept us way warmer than just the oil burner alone.

*You can find Englanders for under $1,000. If you sell your 17vl for a few hundred bucks you can be the proud new owner of a larger wood stove. Just make sure you have the clearances on your hearth to cover the larger unit.

The 13nc is 649 at home depot. Hopefully I'll get a few hundred for mine since it's only 3 months old. I went ahead and allowed extra room when I installed it for a bigger stove. Should have 2 inches to spare with the 13

 

[begreen]

Make sure the hearth is up to the 13NC specs. It needs an R=2.0 hearth.

 

[Rebelduckman]

Make sure the hearth is up to the 13NC specs. It needs an R=2.0 hearth.

Gotcha

 

[Mellery]

Have to say I'm envious of all who will see such a quick return on their stove investment! We won't see that for 4-5 years but I'm not complaining.. I love the heat no matter how long the furnace ran, it never truly warmed our home
.
That said and with our 2nd winter just finishing, our first winter was a comedy of errors. Dealer nor installer told us how to use new EPA stove and husband kept opening the door in the middle of the burn to stoke the fire. I'd open windows and doors to breathe and he'd, tsk tsk me for letting cold air in LOL

Also put ginormous loads in, not at all necessary with our set up- rock wall creates huge thermal mass. that combined with radiant and convective heat cooked us out of the stove room/kitchen. finally found this site and changed everything! small loads create tremendous heat

so last winter we burned 3 cords and this winter about 1.5 cords. live and learn I suppose. I could go on and on about what I've learned here but as I listen to the hail and freezing rain hit the skylight over me, I'm happy even after a very long learning curve and a lot of changes to our home's layout to get the most out of our stove.

 

[Elle]

Very happy! I definitely learned a lot...some of which is I have to insulate the house a bit more I cooked on a stove top with my cast iron dutch oven so that was great fun. Enjoyed the whole labor of it all...hauling the wood in, sitting by the fire at night. Of course I might not feel the same when I am 70 years old but for now it was lots of fun. I did have a few cold nights so I think I have to adjust some things for next year, but as a new burner, I am really happy. I saved a ton of money this year not using oil so I think it was well worth it.

 

[Mainewoodchucker]

First year with an EPA stove (Sierra 2100) and pretty content with it atm . This year was brutally cold and I would have gone through 700 gallons of K1 easily, but am still on my first 300 gallons . At over $4.00 a gallon , that's is an easy $1600 . The stove cost me $350 and I bought 4 cord of seasoned wood a few years back for $400 , so total of $750 not including hearth and stack . Figure at minimum I broke even this year . So now it will be free heat going forward since I am cutting my own wood .

Even though I am happy with this year , I am now looking at upgrading to the BK Princess for longer burn times .