Opinions please. Jotul F400 Vs F500 for my house

[jjmac1235]

Looking at either of these stoves. Would like to save as much money as possible and am looking used. Here is my current setup. House is a 3,000 ft colonial. This room is set off the side of the house between the colonial and the garage. Technically an interior fireplace (although 13 feet of it is above the roof line). 11 ft ceiling in this room. 21' wide looking at stove (side to side). 16' deep (front to back looking at stove). When all the furniture is put into place the room is pretty small. It does open to the kitchen as you can see in the pics below. I am leaning towards the F400 just because of the small room size and I can tuck that unit into the fireplace a little more as seen in the pics. The F500 would stand out more but give more heat the house. I don't think I will be able to use the side door because of hearth clearance. I would need to set the unit back a little to fit on the 18" hearth.

So in summary. Leaning to the F400 because it would be less obtrusive in this smaller room. Leaning toward the F500 to get more heat to the remainder of house but not sure if the heat would ever make it over there...

Current set up:



Open to kitchen:



Mocked F400 Install pics. Exterior of blue tape is the size of F400 :



Mocked F500 install pics:



Any recommendations?

 

[ratsrepus]

I think your looking for an insert arent you?

 

[ratsrepus]

I dont thing a free standing stove will work there

 

[vwmike]

I dont thing a free standing stove will work there

I think what he is thinking of is a hearth mount rear venting it up the chimney, hopefully with a liner! That would work, obviously need to add some floor protection out front and check the clearance to that mantle closely. With 3000 ft I would highly encourage you to pursue the F500 for more heatoutput and overnight burns.

 

[ratsrepus]

I thought that might be the case, but not sure if the hearth is deep enough, might be close

 

[jjmac1235]

Yes. Hearth mount up the chimney with new SS insulated liner. Looking at a jotul rear/top mount. Not rear “t” mount.

The clearance on the hearth is doable with a removable extension. (Tile on board). The clearancee to mantel should be fine with a mantel heat shield. Should end up at 22” with heat shield. Jotul says at least 25” is required.

 

[jjmac1235]

I think your looking for an insert arent you?

I was looking at one but they are at least a $1,000 more and require power to use (blower).

 

[weatherguy]

I have a rear vent free stander in my fireplace, I'd go for the 500, you'll be able to move air around to other parts of the house with a little experimenting.

 

[jotul8e2]

I love my Oslo but I doubt I would even like it if I had to load from the front. They are well known for their tendency to dump ashes out the front door on to the floor. I also think you will find it a terribly tight fit in that space. You are not going to heat 3,000 sq. ft. in New York state with either stove anyway.

But maybe you can get it in there. And there is a small universe of people who do load their Oslo from the front.

 

[begreen]

I think your looking for an insert arent you?

Yes, here is the insert thread
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...uirements-upstate-ny-install-questions.172009

 

[jotul8e2]

By the way... You want to make that room more comfortable? Put an insulated curtain or horizontal cellular shade over the patio door. I went the cheap rout with an insulated curtain for mine and the difference in comfort is almost beyond description. It is not just a matter of temperature - it is the also the air circulation pattern that forms between the cold glass and the warmer interior space.

 

[begreen]

There are other freestanding, rear-vented options. What are the fireplace opening dimensions?

For the hearth extension, a simple black board or a sheet of black painted sheet metal or copper would suffice and could be permanent. Our old hearth extension was made of chemistry lab countertop material like Solicor.

FYI for the Oslo the mantel clearance spec in the manual is:
Stove to Mantel - Maximum mantel depth 12" requires 30" clearance.

As an area heater for this room the Castine would do the job well. The question is are you just trying to heat this room?

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

If you end up going the stove route, the Castine will be the best front loading option. Ours was very clean to load that way. I have not heard good things about loading the Oslo from the front. Definitely steer clear of the F600. I load mine 0% of the time from the front. It would be a mess, a hassle, and I would not feel safe about always opening and latching the double doors fully with all the particles that accumulate around it.

 

[jjmac1235]

Thank you all.

Current Fireplace dimensions are:

42" Wide
29" High
23" Deep

 

[firefighterjake]

As much as I love my Jotul . . . I would also recommend going with Choice C. These stoves are not great stoves for loading through the front door as they tend to have a lot of ash spillage, although some folks have supposedly fabricated fixes that they say improved things.

 

[EG GREV NED MIN ELD]

This is my setup. I'm probably partial to the 500.
I would go with the biggest stove you can fit. The only reason I didnt get the 600 is because I couldn't get it to fit.
My setup has the short leg kit and bottom heat shield installed.
I built the tile surround around the hearth. Easy peasy
Good luck and more importantly enjoy it

 

[EG GREV NED MIN ELD]

Also, I dont see why you cant load in the side door if you do some tile around the brick

 

[ratsrepus]

Take it from a past Oslo owner, you dont want to open the front door, BIG FKN mess. really sucks.

 

[ratsrepus]

I was looking at one but they are at least a $1,000 more and require power to use (blower).

Getting 120 volts for a blower is no big deal. get what ever will work the best for you in terms of heating your house. You can go cheap, and as you know the F500 is not a cheap stove, if an insert fits your hearth better, go that route

 

[ratsrepus]

I guess the hearth can be extended out also, but I'm sure you didn't need me to tell you that