Ready for a new stove

[novaman64]

So currently have a Country Striker S160. Been heating my house with it for about 10 years. I live up in the mountain in Northern California, house is about 1600 sf ft, single story on slab, has "ok" insulation, but 2x4 wall so runnign r13 insulation.

Temps in the middle of winter average daytime high's in the upper 40's to lower 50's, with night time lows in the high 20's to low 30's. During the day I normally have the stove half choked, running wide open in the early morning and night to keep the house around 70 degrees. Before bed I load up the stove with oak and choke it down all the way, typically the house will be about 66 when I wake up, and there will be a few embers so in the morning I can get it going pretty easily. Rinse and repeat the next day. Normally, unless I leave for the weekend the stove is going 24/7.

Occassionally we will get a couple weeks that get a bit colder (teens at night and hovering just above freezing during the day). During these time the stove is pretty much wide open and Im feeding wood as fast as I can, typically loading the firebox every 3-4 hours. At night whn the temps really drop I choke halfway, and wake up haldway through the night to load the box up again, typically in the morning the house will be in the lower 60's, takes a while to get it back up to temp...

Shoulder season typically is 70'ish during the day, upper 30's at night. During these days I have to fully choke the stove when the house is around 68 if I want to keep it going all day and not re-light a fire in the evening. Before bed throw 1-2 med size piece of oak in and choke all the way so I have embers in the morning. (this is the lazy method). The most effective method is let the house cool off to around 67, 1.5 hours before bed light a fire, get the stove warm, load it up with oak, choke it. These days the house is upper 60's when I wake up, normally throw a piece of wood in, open it up and let it burn itself out.

This has been fine for about the past 10 years, the house temps fluctuate a fair amount, but has never really bothered me. I now have a newborn at home, and we want to keep the house a more stable 70 degrees, and not have to pay as much attention to the wood stove.

I have been looking at a few options:
Option 1:
Upgrading to a bigger model of my current stove (Performer S210), familiarity would be the driver behind this, though not sure if they are still the same quality that my old Striker S160 (manufacturer date of 1997) is

Option 2:
Upgrade to another well recognized stove, bigger firebox, non-cat. Looking at a Lopi Evergreen... Bigger firebox, longer advertised burn times, more BTU...

Option 3:
Go against everything in my body telling me not to get a catalyst stove and get a catalyst stove. Looking at the BK Sirocco 30.2. Have been reading some threads on here about them, everyone seems to rave about them. Seems like a hige firebox (almost dbl what I currently have), so a little concerned I will cook myself out. From what I have gathered I would be able to keep a more stable temp, curious is this stove would be too much during my shoulder season and I would be letting it burn out and re-lighting, or if it could keep the temp stable enough when its turned down... Also need to do some research on hwo long the catalyst last and what a replacement timeline looks like. Im sure how long the catalyst lasts is different, I typically burn well seasoned wood (oak) and only softwoods I really burn is cedar just to get the oak going. Not sure if the lower temp longer burns would take its toll on the catalyst though...


Any thoughts or advice? Federal incentive (26%), and my local county also has a incentive of $500 so now seems like a good time to buy....

 

[jalmondale]

Cat stoves really thrive in a low, slow burn environment - I think a blaze king sounds like a really good fit for your situation. For BK stoves, their minimum BTU rate seems to be about the same regardless of firebox size, so the larger firebox just means a longer burn time rather than heating you out of the house.

I can't speak to the BK cat (I think someone mentioned a 10 year warranty, though?), but mine is rated for 12,000 - 14,000 hours (some other types are 10k - 12k hours), which works out to 4-5 years if you have 4 months of 24/7, and a month of 12/7 on either end.

I ran across a lot of cat stove fear mongering (not so much here, but elsewhere on the internet), and I'm so glad I ignored it and went with the stove I did. It's been easy to run, very adjustable to deal with the warm days we've been having lately, and has great overnight burns. Mine doesn't have the thermostat controls of a BK, though, which it sounds like you would really like.

 

[EbS-P]

I’m a big fan of the heatpump and tube stove(secondary combustion no catalytic converter). Look at Drolet for a value brand. Pacific Energy for more of premier brand. I’m not sure the tax credit is worth it unless you need to run a new venting system. If you do, I don’t know any bigger nion cat stoves that qualify.

A minisplit could carry the should season 70 degrees during the day it will really be a great performer. I run mine down to 45 degrees. Get the house warm during the day. Turn it off at night. If it’s cold a single load lit with a top down fire early in the morning. Heatpump is on by 1 pm. House warms up nice off by 9 pm.

Just some thoughts.

 

[stoveliker]

I agree with the above, both.

Either a minisplit (but.you may already have a heat pump and dont want to use it?).for shoulder seasons and a tube stove, or a BK (I.e. not any cat stove, but a cat stove with thermostat for even heat output also when running low).

The BK can go down to 10-11k BTU per hr. The first cat has a warranty of 10 years, but after that you're on your own. Usage time varies a lot, but most folks talk about 10-15k hrs.

Also, if you need cedar to get your oak going, it might not be dry enough for a modern stove. Get a moisture meter and measure on a freshly split surface.

 

[novaman64]

Have mini splits in each bedroom, but nothing in the general living space, could install one I suppose. We do get a fair amount of power outtage, so prefer wood (as its been my primary heat source). Beginning of this year I was without power for 13 days...

I can get my oak going without cedar (its dry), cedar just gets it going and the stove up to temp way faster. I also have a ton of it on my property, so use it when I dont want longer burns...

 

[EbS-P]

Have mini splits in each bedroom, but nothing in the general living space, could install one I suppose. We do get a fair amount of power outtage, so prefer wood (as its been my primary heat source). Beginning of this year I was without power for 13 days...

I can get my oak going without cedar (its dry), cedar just gets it going and the stove up to temp way faster. I also have a ton of it on my property, so use it when I dont want longer burns...

I would always want wood. It’s just when trying to size a tube stove you don’t have to worry about the low end if you have your mini split. The minimum burn rate on a non cat might just be more than you want. I decided this year to run my heat pump a bit more this year. Really anytime it was 45 or above. I bunrned a lot less wood. Maybe 30-40% less (December was warm though). And probably increased electric bill by 10-15%. Having both wood and heatpump is really a winning combination. The heatpump efficiency when it’s 45 or warmer out is really quite good. And when it’s warmer that that my unit is more efficient than it’s rating.

To me the first question is what do you want to spend? Decent stoves like Drolet and True North are probably less than half the cost of a Blaze king. (What I saved on my Drolet vs a BK I was looking at will pay for a MR cool minisplit). If cost isn’t that important and your your draft in is spec or you can get it there with a damper the BKs are amazing units. As are the PE T series.

And I really like the softwood/low btu wood in shoulder season. A load of tulip poplar burns clean and won’t over heat the house. Might seem silly to burn a whole load cedar but if that the amount of heat you need, do it. All this is get thrown out the window if you you have a Blaze king though. Stuff it as full as you can with oak get it going and set and forget it. I do wonder how it would draft on the days where it hits 70 but you needed a fire in the morning.

Do you have double or single wall now? Describe the whole venting system because that’s really important for a BK purchase.

 

[stoveliker]

^^ well said.

A BK is not really meant for "70 but needing a morning fire", they are meant to run long and constant. The "morning fire" approach is something the Op seems to want to avoid (temp fluctuations).

Finally, my oak gets going before I am done loading. I still suggest getting a moisture meter and measuring the moisture content.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

First of all, congratulations on the newborn!

Your winter weather sounds kind of like mine in south central Texas. When we were moving here, we weren’t sure whether we would even want wood heat, but we quickly found out that we did. We have periods of time when we let the stove go out for a day or a week, but then we have times when we’re running it 24/7, even pushing it hard with hot reloads on occasion.

I have an old thread on here when I was just beginning to research stoves, and it discusses Blaze Kings some starting around post 45. I’ll post it at the bottom in case you want to give it a glance. There’s a lot that wouldn’t be relevant to you as it’s weighing the merits of freestanding versus insert and the particular limitations of our prefab fireplace. We ended up going with an insert approved for our particular fireplace because we wanted the heat in that part of the house, but a BK Sirocco had been our choice when we were looking at freestanding options. Because we didn’t go that way, I can’t give you first-hand testimony about how it would work, but we were attracted to it because of its generous firebox size, low clearance requirements, and primarily the thermostat. I can understand how you’re drawn to it even though it has a catalyst. My understanding is that the catalyst is a wear item after about 12,000 to 15,000 hours of burning, though there’s a lot of discussion about that. We decided it would be worth it in our climate, though we ended up going with a non-cat because we went the insert route and we were very limited in what was approved for and fit into our fireplace.

Suggestions/Insights for heating with wood in South Texas

Our family moved this fall from Virginia to Texas. One thing that we knew we would miss was our fireplace insert since our new home has no masonry fireplace. We figured that we’d take our first winter here to build up our woodpile and consider whether we’d even want a stove. We think that the...

www.hearth.com

Our current stove insert is a 2.5 cubic foot non cat. I was really concerned about roasting ourselves out of our space with it, but it rarely happens. First of, he space where the stove is installed is very large in terms of both square footage and cubic footage, and it sits on an uninsulated slab, so it can easily absorb a lot of BTU’s. Secondly, if we’re having a warmer afternoon with sun, we know just to kindle a small morning fire and to let it burn out in the afternoon. We can still rake up coals for an evening relight once the sun goes down.

We burn lots of oak and cedar because that’s what is abundant on our property. We find they both work well and season quickly in our climate. Even our big cedar burns overnight and leaves good coals. The oak can leave too many coals at times because it’s so dense, but small cedar helps burn those down in quick daytime fires. I do agree with the recommendation to get a moisture meter if you don’t have one already just to get a really accurate assessment of the moisture content of your wood. A newer stove will be more finicky about dryness.

Again, congratulations on that little one.

 

[novaman64]

To me the first question is what do you want to spend? Decent stoves like Drolet and True North are probably less than half the cost of a Blaze king. (What I saved on my Drolet vs a BK I was looking at will pay for a MR cool minisplit). If cost isn’t that important and your your draft in is spec or you can get it there with a damper the BKs are amazing units. As are the PE T series.

And I really like the softwood/low btu wood in shoulder season. A load of tulip poplar burns clean and won’t over heat the house. Might seem silly to burn a whole load cedar but if that the amount of heat you need, do it. All this is get thrown out the window if you you have a Blaze king though. Stuff it as full as you can with oak get it going and set and forget it. I do wonder how it would draft on the days where it hits 70 but you needed a fire in the morning.

Do you have double or single wall now? Describe the whole venting system because that’s really important for a BK purchase.

Cost of the stove if it will last a long time to me is negligible (electric costs in CA are insane and going up faster than gas). My current stove is 25 years old, and still chugging along (will probably move it to the garage when I get a new stove). If I can get a stove to last 15+ years thats around $300/yr for a $5000 investment, that would be made up easily in one month of heating the house and not relying on electric.

My current setup is double wall, I have a pretty short run though, would most likely have to add pipe to get the 15' called for.

 

[novaman64]

First of all, congratulations on the newborn!

Your winter weather sounds kind of like mine in south central Texas. When we were moving here, we weren’t sure whether we would even want wood heat, but we quickly found out that we did. We have periods of time when we let the stove go out for a day or a week, but then we have times when we’re running it 24/7, even pushing it hard with hot reloads on occasion.

I have an old thread on here when I was just beginning to research stoves, and it discusses Blaze Kings some starting around post 45. I’ll post it at the bottom in case you want to give it a glance. There’s a lot that wouldn’t be relevant to you as it’s weighing the merits of freestanding versus insert and the particular limitations of our prefab fireplace. We ended up going with an insert approved for our particular fireplace because we wanted the heat in that part of the house, but a BK Sirocco had been our choice when we were looking at freestanding options. Because we didn’t go that way, I can’t give you first-hand testimony about how it would work, but we were attracted to it because of its generous firebox size, low clearance requirements, and primarily the thermostat. I can understand how you’re drawn to it even though it has a catalyst. My understanding is that the catalyst is a wear item after about 12,000 to 15,000 hours of burning, though there’s a lot of discussion about that. We decided it would be worth it in our climate, though we ended up going with a non-cat because we went the insert route and we were very limited in what was approved for and fit into our fireplace.

Suggestions/Insights for heating with wood in South Texas

Our family moved this fall from Virginia to Texas. One thing that we knew we would miss was our fireplace insert since our new home has no masonry fireplace. We figured that we’d take our first winter here to build up our woodpile and consider whether we’d even want a stove. We think that the...

www.hearth.com

Our current stove insert is a 2.5 cubic foot non cat. I was really concerned about roasting ourselves out of our space with it, but it rarely happens. First of, he space where the stove is installed is very large in terms of both square footage and cubic footage, and it sits on an uninsulated slab, so it can easily absorb a lot of BTU’s. Secondly, if we’re having a warmer afternoon with sun, we know just to kindle a small morning fire and to let it burn out in the afternoon. We can still rake up coals for an evening relight once the sun goes down.

We burn lots of oak and cedar because that’s what is abundant on our property. We find they both work well and season quickly in our climate. Even our big cedar burns overnight and leaves good coals. The oak can leave too many coals at times because it’s so dense, but small cedar helps burn those down in quick daytime fires. I do agree with the recommendation to get a moisture meter if you don’t have one already just to get a really accurate assessment of the moisture content of your wood. A newer stove will be more finicky about dryness.

Again, congratulations on that little one.

I am on a slab as well, I feel it every morning (broke my back racing motorcycles about 6 years ago) and my knees are shot as well, floor kiils me in the morning.. But yes, absolutely soaks up a ton of heat...

 

[begreen]

Cost of the stove if it will last a long time to me is negligible (electric costs in CA are insane and going up faster than gas). My current stove is 25 years old, and still chugging along (will probably move it to the garage when I get a new stove). If I can get a stove to last 15+ years thats around $300/yr for a $5000 investment, that would be made up easily in one month of heating the house and not relying on electric.

My current setup is double wall, I have a pretty short run though, would most likely have to add pipe to get the 15' called for.
View attachment 293222View attachment 293221

Take a look at the PE T5. We're now at year 14 with our stove, a T6. So far I have $60 in parts invested for gaskets over this time period. The stainless baffle design is simpler and more robust than many tube stoves. If you bang it with a split it's no big deal.

Getting some insulation covering the slab will make a big difference. My shop has insulated walls and ceiling but it is on slab. It was crazy trying to heat it with an electric space heater until I put down simple, interlocking foam pads in it. The difference is day and night. A basic electric heater now works fine there.