Will I be disappointed replacing an old Vermont Castings with a new stove?

[weatherguy]

So overall a happy customer and a recommendation for the Ideal Steel for anyone in a similar situation. No regrets at all. And yet again, thanks to all on here for helpful, solid and friendly advice.

Woodstocks seem very forgiving on burning wood that's not really dry, mine runs about the same on wood 24-25% as wood 18-20%.

 

[XmasTreefarmer]

We should start a club! My wife and I recently moved into a house in Downeast Maine that came with a 1975 Defiant with a cracked Fireback. We went with a Morso 2B Classic and have no regrets. I plan on restoring the Defiant and using it for heating our planned shop. We are using 30-50% less wood and getting more heat. The cracked Fireback obviously caused a lot of issues with how well it heated, but it would have been way too big for our small house anyway.

Enjoy your new stove to both of you who replaced your defiant!

The old VC Defiant sure didn't owe me anything - bought it in 1979, moved it 6 times in the coming years as we moved around the country, and then burned it in this house for almost 30 years. I think it's cool that you'll be rebuilding it. I didn't have a use for it or I would have done the same thing.

We're all sure enjoying your adventures with the new Morso. So glad that it is working out so well for you.

 

[SpaceBus]

The old VC Defiant sure didn't owe me anything - bought it in 1979, moved it 6 times in the coming years as we moved around the country, and then burned it in this house for almost 30 years. I think it's cool that you'll be rebuilding it. I didn't have a use for it or I would have done the same thing.

We're all sure enjoying your adventures with the new Morso. So glad that it is working out so well for you.

I have no hard feelings towards the Defiant, it's a fine stove. The Castings are of high quality and with the two piece Fireback it seems much more robust. I wish ours hadn't been broken, but it would have been less than ideal anyway. The squirrel stove is perfect for our small house.

I can't imagine moving one from house to house. It was hard enough moving it into the corner!

 

[georgepds]

Re" In my particular house (18th century masonry), radiant stoves just flat out will not work, the masonry soaks up all of that radiant energy. There many be another type of construction in which a convective stove won’t work (although I can’t imagine what that would be). "

That would be Marshy's basement, the guy who did not like his BK

 

[georgepds]

Re" Starting a fire is easy enough, especially with a small propane or MAPP torch. "

Amen... Amen. I say Amen to that

 

[georgepds]

Re " This is why some of the Woodstock fanboys are no longer on this site. Great stoves..."

I wondered why I was feeling so lonely...

Why is it I'm always the last to get a clue

 

[georgepds]

Re " I was sincere in asking for output temps durning a 35hr burn and if they have already been posted i will look for them. "

I think the numbers you might want to look for are

1) min and max btu/hr
2) firebox size

I know you can find them on the Woodstock site for the progress hybrid... You can probably also find them for the BK

 

[Woody Stover]

Re " I was sincere in asking for output temps durning a 35hr burn and if they have already been posted i will look for them. "I know you can find them on the Woodstock site for the progress hybrid... You can probably also find them for the BK

The numbers on mfgr. websites seem to be all over the map. Not sure how they are coming up with some of those..

Then right under the 2000 sqft it may say burn times of 30 hours. Now i know common sense comes into play here but since many manufactures play this game "advertising" ...I was sincere in asking for output temps durning a 35hr burn

Another way to look at it is that in one pound of wood there is X amount of heat, so if a stove is burning less wood per hour, it's putting out proportionally less heat. There will be some difference among different stoves as to how much of the heat ends up in the room, but not a whole lot in most cases, I don't believe.
These "output/hr." numbers correspond to what I've seen in the stoves I've run, and when some other members report their experience with other stoves, they are what I would expect based on the numbers. I'm not saying all of these numbers are gospel by any means, but some have panned out.
(broken link removed to https://www.epa.gov/compliance/list-epa-certified-wood-stoves)