New guy...would love input.

[begreen]

With those high ceilings I don't think a 3 cu ft stove will be overkill. The Lopi Liberty or Country Canyon are both good stoves.

 

[Hogwildz]

With those high ceilings I don't think a 3 cu ft stove will be overkill. The Lopi Liberty or Country Canyon are both good stoves.

X2, you def want 3cf minimal to heat that place. And hope you have a ceiling fan in that room, cause that heat is going to hang up high if not.

 

[Creekheat]

I could put it in the entryway which is just to the left of the stairs. I was hoping the heat would heat the whole downstairs and upstairs. I thought the high ceilings would help heat get upstairs better but still need downstairs warm. Blower maybe? Floor fan under stairs to push into kitchen?

 

[Ashful]

...but have heard cat stoves don't last as long and are more expensive to maintain....

Someone forgot to tell my two 20-year old Jotul cat stoves! Perhaps you can check back in another 20 years, when they're 40, and tell them it's time to retire?

The catalytic element in a cat stove is a consumable component. It is typically replaced after 5 - 6 years of full-time burning. Aside from that, a well-designed and built cat stove may actually last much longer than a non-cat, as they're not running nearly the same internal temperatures.

 

[Creekheat]

Wow

Someone forgot to tell my two 20-year old Jotul cat stoves! Perhaps you can check back in another 20 years, when they're 40, and tell them it's time to retire?

The catalytic element in a cat stove is a consumable component. It is typically replaced after 5 - 6 years of full-time burning. Aside from that, a well-designed and built cat stove may actually last much longer than a non-cat, as they're not running nearly the same internal temperatures.

Wow thats pretty good! So you just replace a componet of the stove every 5yrs or so? And i assume it makes it burn cleaner? Cool...no pun intended.

 

[Creekheat]

How much is the cat componet? So i assume other than maintenence cat stoves are better?

 

[Rickb]

How much is the cat componet? So i assume other than maintenence cat stoves are better?

Blaze king cats are 10 year warrantied. Then its like $250 for a new one.

 

[Ashful]

The cat for my stoves are $165 and warranted for 5 years, so amortized over 5 years, that's $33 per year. I'm not losing sleep over that, particularly when I read so many threads on this forum about very expensive broken baffles and burn tubes in non-cat stoves.

There are going to be maintenance costs either way, but I suspect they're very similar between the two technologies, and both waaayyyy cheaper than heating with oil or electric!

 

[WiscWoody]

Waaayyyy cheaper than propane too!

 

[begreen]

The cat for my stoves are $165 and warranted for 5 years, so amortized over 5 years, that's $33 per year. I'm not losing sleep over that, particularly when I read so many threads on this forum about very expensive broken baffles and burn tubes in non-cat stoves.

There are going to be maintenance costs either way, but I suspect they're very similar between the two technologies, and both waaayyyy cheaper than heating with oil or electric!

There is no baffle board or burn tubes in our stove.

 

[fossil]

Baffle in my Century is steel and firebrick. No tubes. Baffle in my Lopi is firebricks. Original secondary tubes are just fine after 5 years of service so far. Rick

 

[Kosmik]

This. Your stove/furnace will likely be with you for 20+ years and you won't remember whether you paid $800 or $1200 or whatever. But if you go into your first winter with wet wood you will remember that: no heat, massive wood consumption, creosote build up, chimney fire, etc.

Also, look hard at wood furnaces. I don't know anything about them but if I had a house with ducting I'd probably have one.

Or cleaning the damn chimney every week or two
At least the lesson is firmly implanted now, since my wood pile has teased me with a dry piece here and there...
Sometimes have to run my stove more like a fireplace than an EPA stove.
For all the reading I do, I should have done a little more this Fall.

And it seems lots of people here don't have HVAC, so that may skew their opinions. Same time wood furnaces seem to have more moving parts (things that can go wrong) than a simple stove.

Ofcourse if I move into another subpar chimney situation, I might just get/make an outdoor boiler to move with me.

 

[Ashful]

There is no baffle board or burn tubes in our stove.

Good for you! But this doesn't make what I wrote untrue. My point is that there are repair and maintenance expenses for both technologies, and the marketing by non-cat manufacturers, about cat stoves requiring more maintenance cost, is BS. Convincing arguments have been made by others, that the much higher and less consistent temperatures at which non-cats run, will generally result in shorter life for a non-cat. I suspect the arguments on both sides of this fence are exaggerated, which was the message behind my original statement.

 

[WiscWoody]

Isn't it self evident? A $600 stove from a national big box hardware store?

Also, I'm not saying they can't or won't heat. I'm saying he/she's got to look at and live with the thing every friggin' day for decades so why shop at the bottom of the market?

I have a Drolet Eastwood 1800 and it's a great stove and I got it for $599 which worked for me on my unemployed budget. The whole install with 22' of Double wall SP and class a SS was only $1200. If my only option was to buy a stove at twice the price I would have been priced out of the market. I live with it everyday and there is no shame. I've never had anyone say it looks like any worse than other stoves but I know some do look nicer.

I got into this wood thing to save money. Thanks to Drolet and Menards I got a good start on doing so and I'd buy a SBI stove again!

 

[begreen]

Hold your head high, Drolet makes decent affordable stoves. There are good stoves and crap sold at the big box stores. Generalizing does not help anyone much. It's just blowing smoke and confusing people.

 

[WiscWoody]

Hold your head high, Drolet makes decent affordable stoves. There are good stoves and crap sold at the big box stores. Generalizing does not help anyone much. It's just blowing smoke and confusing people.

I just had to have a little release....

 

[Creekheat]

Looks like my wife and I have made a decision. We are going to tear down the stone chimney chase (see previous pics) and re-use the stone to build a hearth. Then run black pipe up to the ceiling (18') then SS class a through the attic and out. Stove still to be determined we are looking. Going to start this weekend. Wish me luck, as the boss will e watching...lol

 

[Creekheat]

Hey creekheat, I am in western ky. If you have what I have a living room downstairs with high cathedral ceilings going to a open upstairs, that is hard to heat. All the heat downstairs generated by the stove wants to rise to the upper floor, 90 upstairs 65 downstairs or some fashion. Must have ceiling fans up at the very top trying to push the hot air down. I would get a wood stove before an insert if your floor plan would let you. Wood furnace is great for the real cold weather we have been having but like the previous two winters we have had here in ky they would be way overheating your house much of the time.

I would be using our fan on pur central unit to pull heat and distribute it yo the house as well. The returns are on the wall adjacent to the stove. And maybe a small fan to push into kit/din

 

[Creekheat]

KY has an average residential electric rate of $.0974 KW/h, Pretty good. How old is your heat pump? If saving money is your primary motivation it may make more sense to upgrade your existing system rather than add another. By the time I was "done" my install I'd spent 5k (chainsaw, welder's gloves, everything from wheelbarrow to chimney sticks) and I still have to feed it if I want it to work.

Do you want a wood stove? Pellets are an option. Just sayin' Lots of people enjoy the work of heating with wood, but they're usually the sick, twisted kind of folks. No? Then welcome to the club and don't say I didn't warn you.

I agree with the comments about wood gathering being the priority. The first years is always the hardest, usually due to less than perfectly seasoned wood. I would suggest gathering/purchasing pine/softwoods the first year (and every year!) as well as pallets and other kiln-dried wood to augment your burning. Our first year was a struggle due to unseasoned hardwood. Now I'm 3 years ahead and the wood is no longer an issue.

My insert is only supplemental heat. Lopi Freedom 3cf. All steel and I'm very happy with the stove. t's a space heater on one end of a very long house. I can technically heat the house with it but that's major tending, fans blowing and seasoned hardwood every 4-6hrs. Right now we set the house to 62f and use the wood stove to bump it up whenever I get around to it, which is 2-3 loads a day. It's 65 in the bedrooms, 70 in the kitchen and 75 in the family room with the stove. If I forget or whatever the temp drops and the boiler picks up the slack. Oh well, I'm ok with that. After 6 years I don't set my alarm for a 2am reload.

I harvest about 50% of my own wood from my own land. If I get behind my collection schedule (3yrs supply on hand, about 12 cord) rather than deal with less than seasoned wood I will pay someone. Going rate around here is $200 for a good cord. If I'm buying wood it changes the numbers, but the #1 expense is the time it takes to get a cord of wood from the wood lot to the wood stove. People like to forget about that. It takes A LOT of work to kill a tree, dismember it, drag it out of the woods, chop it up, stack it, wait two years and then burn it in your stove.

The positive effect of having a wood stove in the house is that the TV is no longer the focal point of the home. It's been a most rewarding hobby.

Great info! Im a hard working blue collar kinda guy and i love the outdoors so dealing with the wood is not an issue. I will be trying to get ahead and keep a three year supply as well as kindling. I have truck, trailer, saws and such. No splitter yet. Maybe down the road. Will be buying some and getting downed wood off my property for first year. Total outlay for me, stove pipe etc should be around $2500 or less. Well see.