HT-2000: 1 year (plus) Review

[Longknife]

When we bought this house (1800 sq/ft per floor high ranch) just over 10 years ago, we inherited the See-Fire 2100s (rated at 75k BTU) that was installed in the basement. The house has two flues in a very large masonry chimney going from basement to roof. The 2nd flue is for an open hearth fireplace on the main floor.

The stove served us well as the sole source of heat for 8 years. The house has an electric furnace and heat pump but we never use either. It had some warpage to the top baffle plate, but other than that, it could have probably soldiered on for a while yet. I had been enticed by the idea of new stove though and had been watching for a good deal. When the HT-2000 went on sale for $999 at TSC (now Peaveymart in Canada) in January of 2020, I decided to jump on it. I didn’t install it until the following fall. I went with single-walled pipe, with a 90deg elbow (2x45s) into my stainless flue liner (which has another 90 in the chimney). I burn about 5 -7 cord annually, and it still my sole source of heat used. Mostly hardwood (ash and elm) but it sees just about everything that’s on my property.

I sold the old stove to a friend for $300 (he offered after he saw it on marketplace) and it’s been serving him quite well since.

After a full season, plus several months into this one, I’ve noted the following:

Pros:

1. The stove is huge (it was the largest EPA stove that could be bought in Canada at the time). It seems to heat my house effortlessly, and I’m not too concerned about “falling behind” as I was with the old stove when the temps really drop. I can leave the house for a few days in -30C, and come back and get it up to temp without too much effort. New windows and a few other improvements likely contribute to this, but there no questioning the BTUs this stove is capable of.
2. My first chimney cleaning this fall produced a lot less soot and ash from the chimney. I can’t compare wood types/condition from previous years, but I’d guess it to be somewhat the same. It obviously burns cleaner and more efficiently.
3. From an efficiency standpoint, I have to assume it much better given the condition of the chimney. I’m having trouble comparing wood use given temperature variations from previous and the fact that I think I’m actually keeping the house warmer, more consistently.
4. Burn time seems good, but given the size, I have to be fairly careful about how I manage to stretch them out without filling the stove excessively. With decent hardwood, I can easily go 8-10 hours between loads, with coals to light the next one

Cons:

1. My biggest gripe with this stove is that it definitely seems more messy compared to my previous. It’s very difficult to open/reload the stove without smoke spilling out the door or through the primary air intake at the front of the stove. The top of the stove is invariably always covered in fine ash/dust and I can only imagine that means there’s plenty settling in the rest of the house. It’s very difficult to not end up with a smoke smell in the house during lighting/reloads. I don’t think this is a draft issue, as it seems to draft fine otherwise (except for that time I fired up the new 800cfm hood vent in the kitchen without cracking a window and reversed and back drafted the stove!) but a consequence of the primary air intake being located right on the front of the stove. I’ve tried different methods to lessen this, including cracking the door open and then shutting down the primary air during reloads, but it’s still a bit of a problem. Plus, the design of the door means that ash can collect on top of the seal, meaning when you open it, it can fall off. Didn’t have this issues with my previous stove.
2. I was pretty meticulous about curing the paint during the first fires, following the instructions in the manual. It is definitely showing a fair bit of wear after a year plus though, particularly where the walls aren’t shielded by firebrick. Some of this could maybe be attributed by a few overfires (it happens) but again, I didn’t have this with my previous stove (which had continuous firebrick). My father-in-law has bought an HT-2000 a few years before me, and he painted his part way through his first season.
3. The top hinge pin for the door seems to work it’s way out (though not completely). I first noticed it when I found the locking washer on the floor, which it had worked off. I pushed it back on several times, but have now lost it, having swept it up, not noticing it had fallen off again. I regularly tap down the pin flush, though I don’t know if it would ever come completely out.
4. While I don’t notice it now, I found the stove quite “loud” initially (as in the sound of the intake air), compared to what I was use to. I attribute this to the fairly direct, front/top mounted primary air intake. Not a big deal, but I would prefer it to be a little more silent when humming away on a secondary burn.
5. Not exactly a con, but if I were honest, I might say the stove is a little over-sized for me. I definitely wanted excess capacity to be safe, but I might have been able to go a little smaller. I find it quite difficult to not instinctively fill the firebox, even when the temperature doesn’t demand it. And it takes a LOT of wood to fill that firebox tight. The previous stove only need one sling load of wood during shoulder season to fill it. It’s two trips now. I’ve become a lot more deliberate about managing my shoulder season wood and now actively try to ensure I have a cord or two of less desirable wood so that I can attempt to maintain a constant fire without sweating us out of the house. It’s made me appreciate the abundance of Manitoba Maple, Quaking Ash, etc. that I have around.
6. I haven’t determined what factors are at play exactly, but it can sometimes seem difficult to get rolling into a good burn onto the secondaries. I don’t know if it’s ambient conditions, the wood, or what, but occasionally it doesn’t quite light and burn as quickly as expected. I can’t comment too much though, as it must be a factor outside the stove at play. I do know this has meant that while waiting for it to come up to temp on the last fire before bed, I’ve passed out waiting… leading to an overfire situation (and me waking up in a sweat to the sound of metal pinging).

While I’ve listed quite a few cons, in reality they are pretty minor in the grand scheme (although the messiness annoys me). I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this stove again given the value to BTUs. We’ll see how it holds up in the long run, including the secondary tubes and fibre baffle(s). My father-in-law got a crack on a weld inside his (forget the exact location) however Drolet paid the welding bill. I hope I can avoid that.

 

[Vg3200p]

That's an awesome looking setup you got

 

[ToastyRanch]

What techniques have served you in circulation of your heat both on this floor and upstairs? Sounds like you have ductwork? Are you using a furnace fan?

 

[Longknife]

What techniques have served you in circulation of your heat both on this floor and upstairs? Sounds like you have ductwork? Are you using a furnace fan?

I used to run my furnace fan for circulation but after stopping a few years ago, I don't notice much difference nor feel the need.

The more "remote" rooms of the house are usually a few degrees cooler, but rarely below 66-68 degrees. Other than the passive circulation up the central stairwell (fairly wide at 4ft wide per side) and the one 4"x10 " floor vent from the basement up to the kitchen put in by the previous owner, the only other circulation is the HRV which pulls from the main floor and dumps into the basement on a 15min an hour cycle (not tied into main HVAC ducting). I run that mostly for air quality more than anything. The entire basement is a finished ceiling (drywall and suspended ceiling). The house is well-insulated with triple pane windows.

I can't offer much advice really, as I don't do a lot to make it work. But the house is comfortable throughout.🤷‍♂️

 

[begreen]

It sounds like the draft may be marginal though sufficient to get a good burn going. Bathroom fan(s), windows open or leaking upstairs, clothes dryer, combustion appliances (gas hot water) could also be competing. This could be improved by changing the 90 elbow to two 45s with an offset. An outside air connection might also help, but that may be difficult in this situation.