Soapstone vs Cast Iron/Steel in 100 yr old home

[Makemecozee]

WELCOME TO THE HEARTH You'll love it here !!

We really like our Hearthstone. Our house is roughly 180 years old. Built of brick (even the interior walls) and
a barnstone foundation. 3 stories. It's a bugger to heat in the winter We have our burner out on the porch which
is NOT my first choice. But we make it work. It is not and was never intended to be our only source of heat--but it
has reduced our gas cost by half. We have the old 'hot water radiators' which are pretty efficient to begin with...unfortunately
the farther the water travels, the cooler it gets; so the rooms farthest away from the boiler are lukewarm at best.
[I love to quilt and knit/crochet so we have LOTS of blankets! LOL]
I learned thru this site about circulating the heat we get from the woodburner; a few open interior windows and well-placed
fans have helped a lot.
*which was something I'd never thought of...I thought a woodburner gave off heat and there was no controlling that
heat--I was wrong.
Read through the site...it's a treasure trove! (p.s.--I also agree with @Woodsplitter67 --as you get more comfortable
with your woodburner, the more you'll use it. I see an addiction to wood heat in your future! LOL)

Thank you I've followed this site for a bit and so happy to join it!! There is always so much good information. I really respect everyone here for their constructive comments and genuine help for one another.

I, too, have read *just a little* about the importance of circulating heat and having a good flu and dampers and blowers and fans, etc etc etc. I'm soooo thankful for all of that info! I'm going to use it for sure.

I see an addiction on the horizon as well ...it's my nature
Ps. I love that you spin wool!

 

[Makemecozee]

You may as well consider purchasing a stove (that can) burn 24/7 easily in case you decide to pursue fulltime burning. Tough to make a part time stove fulltime! Betting you will burn around the clock in a jiffy after getting used to the nice heat.

When we started using a wood stove I spent many nights on my couch nervously watching the stove. After reassuring myself of the setups safety many times ( climbing into the attic to check my class A chimney external temps etc.) I finally got comfy burning overnight.

I also had been beating a path back and forth feeding/tending that stove. It was not a long burn model. A couple years of that nonsense was all it took. I bought a Cat equipped BK and it has exceeded our expectations and needs. Research is your most important tool here. Plenty of valuable info to be learned. Have fun!

"
You may as well consider purchasing a stove (that can) burn 24/7 easily in case you decide to pursue fulltime burning. Tough to make a part time stove fulltime! Betting you will burn around the clock in a jiffy after getting used to the nice heat."

Good point!! Another vote for BK

 

[Highbeam]

Don’t pick just any cat stove if you’re doing it for the long burn times. There are lots of new for 2020 models that added a catalyst just to make them clean enough for the new regs. You want a stove built around that catalyst intentionally and with a reputation/history of dependable performance. Only a few brands do that with a catalyst.

Long burn times are very very nice in a home.

 

[Makemecozee]

Don’t pick just any cat stove if you’re doing it for the long burn times. There are lots of new for 2020 models that added a catalyst just to make them clean enough for the new regs. You want a stove built around that catalyst intentionally and with a reputation/history of dependable performance. Only a few brands do that with a catalyst.

Long burn times are very very nice in a home.

Thank you for the advice! I'm getting excited the more confident you guys are making me! Can you recommend a few brands? I don't know if they are the ones I've been looking at besides BK

 

[Highbeam]

Thank you for the advice! I'm getting excited the more confident you guys are making me! Can you recommend a few brands? I don't know if they are the ones I've been looking at besides BK

For decades there have only been two good cat stove brands that have provided sufficient control of burn rate to allow long burn times. Bk and Woodstock. The third possibility is kuma but not as many folks own those to establish a reputation.

It’s easy to burn fast and hot. If that’s your choice then I would skip cat stoves.

 

[Makemecozee]

An Osburn 2400 just came up for sale tonight. It's nearby (vs waiting 6-8 weeks and we're heading into winter). I haven't done much research on this stove. Knowing the info above, what do you think? It's not a cat, which I'd like and it seems like it would be too big for my closed floor plan but my husband apparently wants a beast to run .....
Making the call tomorrow morning for a stove so if it isn't this one we're going with, it'll be the IS with no soapstone or possibly Drolet I guess

 

[begreen]

The Osburn 2400 is a good stove. Osburn is Drolet's brother in a suit. Just a little fancier than the more basic Drolets but often with the same firebox.

 

[Makemecozee]

The Osburn 2400 is a good stove. Osburn is Drolet's brother in a suit. Just a little fancier than the more basic Drolets but often with the same firebox.

That one ended up selling before we could get to it but I found another Osburn (the 2000) this morning for $800 OBO. Only used a few times. Can't really beat that. BUT....I'm so heartbroken over not getting a cat stove to be honest. I just really liked the sound of that...

 

[Highbeam]

That one ended up selling before we could get to it but I found another Osburn (the 2000) this morning for $800 OBO. Only used a few times. Can't really beat that. BUT....I'm so heartbroken over not getting a cat stove to be honest. I just really liked the sound of that...

A lot of us cat stoves users started out with a noncat. You can always upgrade later if you want. Like I said earlier, your desired usage is a good match for a plate steel noncat anyway. Most stove operators are using noncats and they stay warm just fine.

 

[begreen]

One thing for sure during the heating season - when a good buy shows up be ready to act or it will become a good bye. Snooze ya lose until about March. Then some bargains hang around a bit longer.

 

[Newburnerwisconsin]

That one ended up selling before we could get to it but I found another Osburn (the 2000) this morning for $800 OBO. Only used a few times. Can't really beat that. BUT....I'm so heartbroken over not getting a cat stove to be honest. I just really liked the sound of that...

I know the new Osburns are difficult to get right now. I ordered mine in July and I waited until the first week of September to get it. There is a waiting list for some models.

 

[Makemecozee]

Update:
We went to pick up the Osburn and after seeing it just didn't feel good about it. Looked too much like a fixer upper. Much more than they made it sound. So.....we decided to go ahead and go full steam ahead and ordered the Ideal Steel from WS. Can't wait!

 

[Highbeam]

Update:
We went to pick up the Osburn and after seeing it just didn't feel good about it. Looked too much like a fixer upper. Much more than they made it sound. So.....we decided to go ahead and go full steam ahead and ordered the Ideal Steel from WS. Can't wait!

That would be my first choice if BK went bankrupt. It’s reasonably large but has a reasonably wide range of outputs so you can control how much heat it makes with the lever.

 

[barnaclebob]

No Progress Hybrid owners have chimed in so I will.

My PH takes about 30 min to get it to shutdown temps and about an hour to start making a cold room feel warmer. Our house is 2000 sq ft, half on the first floor, half the second. Most of the time the upstairs bedrooms have the doors closed but the stove sends a ton of heat up the nearby stairs. If I do an overnight burn I'll open my bedroom door to a very warm house, and a warm stove with just a couple coals left. I burn doug fir at best, random other northwest woods too. No oak unfortunately.

The stove produces heat well after I could do a reload without having to relight the wood. Check the links in my signature for more details but I'm very happy with the stove.

 

[Makemecozee]

No Progress Hybrid owners have chimed in so I will.

My PH takes about 30 min to get it to shutdown temps and about an hour to start making a cold room feel warmer. Our house is 2000 sq ft, half on the first floor, half the second. Most of the time the upstairs bedrooms have the doors closed but the stove sends a ton of heat up the nearby stairs. If I do an overnight burn I'll open my bedroom door to a very warm house, and a warm stove with just a couple coals left. I burn doug fir at best, random other northwest woods too. No oak unfortunately.

The stove produces heat well after I could do a reload without having to relight the wood. Check the links in my signature for more details but I'm very happy with the stove.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Sounds like we have a similar layout (stairs nearby with rooms upstairs) and sq ft. Thank you for mentioning the wood type too, very cool. I'm excited!!

 

[KJamesJR]

I live in a really old colonial cape style house. I opted for a cast iron stove. Go larger than you think you need. It’s completely replaced our forced hot air furnace and is a lot cheaper to operate. We burn 24/7. It’s done a really good job heating most of our house. Because of our tall ceiling in the stove room, we have about 10’ of stove pipe that’s helping out as well with a ceiling fan high up in that room.

It doesn’t take too long to heat up but yes it really only has three temp settings. Cold, hot and raging inferno lol!