Post your Rants or Praises here... (No fear of a thread hijack. Post away!)
I assume it could be useful to see what people think of their stoves. This is not really intended to be a review of each stove (for which I understand there is already a site section), but a general post of things to avoid when choosing a stove. Sure, all problems have a workaround, but some folks might not like 'em.
Here are problems I see with my insert:
1) Room air intakes are on both sides of the ash pan, so ash spillage will get blown right back in your face when your fan is on. If my stove at least had a deeper ridge below the doors it would hold more ash/coals in the stove. My review: bad feature. (Workaround... shovel out the ashes... makes it harder to keep fire hot for longer though... Maybe more experienced folks know if this is a good or bad feature.)
2) Flat face exposes minimal firebox to the room... maybe a reason for a hearth stove instead of an insert, but my insert is as flat as they come and has minimal locations even for a magnetic thermometer.
3) Loud fan
Benfits, things I like:
A) Thick cast holds heat well and seems like very solid construction
B) thermostatic air control will basically assure I don't overfire and can run comfortably over 700 degrees (manual says 400-800 F is ideal). (I've got two of these 1981-82 stoves and neither show any signs of overfire.... maybe the thick cast (feature above) allows this.
C) tempted to say good looks... hey... you do have to look at this thing every day it's in your house... which leads to another benefit...
D) this thing is small enough to get in and out of the house on a hand truck by myself, so I can remove it for the summer, cleaning, etc.
E) has face screen so it can be used like an open fireplace if desired, or for getting the fire started.
Not impressed / Not disappointed:
i) maybe does half the heating for my 2000 square foot 3 story house (boiler runs mostly just 2 AM to 11 AM)
(I've heard great things about the heat from Quardafires, and I sure do like the looks of the hearthstone fireview.)
I assume it could be useful to see what people think of their stoves. This is not really intended to be a review of each stove (for which I understand there is already a site section), but a general post of things to avoid when choosing a stove. Sure, all problems have a workaround, but some folks might not like 'em.
Here are problems I see with my insert:
1) Room air intakes are on both sides of the ash pan, so ash spillage will get blown right back in your face when your fan is on. If my stove at least had a deeper ridge below the doors it would hold more ash/coals in the stove. My review: bad feature. (Workaround... shovel out the ashes... makes it harder to keep fire hot for longer though... Maybe more experienced folks know if this is a good or bad feature.)
2) Flat face exposes minimal firebox to the room... maybe a reason for a hearth stove instead of an insert, but my insert is as flat as they come and has minimal locations even for a magnetic thermometer.
3) Loud fan
Benfits, things I like:
A) Thick cast holds heat well and seems like very solid construction
B) thermostatic air control will basically assure I don't overfire and can run comfortably over 700 degrees (manual says 400-800 F is ideal). (I've got two of these 1981-82 stoves and neither show any signs of overfire.... maybe the thick cast (feature above) allows this.
C) tempted to say good looks... hey... you do have to look at this thing every day it's in your house... which leads to another benefit...
D) this thing is small enough to get in and out of the house on a hand truck by myself, so I can remove it for the summer, cleaning, etc.
E) has face screen so it can be used like an open fireplace if desired, or for getting the fire started.
Not impressed / Not disappointed:
i) maybe does half the heating for my 2000 square foot 3 story house (boiler runs mostly just 2 AM to 11 AM)
(I've heard great things about the heat from Quardafires, and I sure do like the looks of the hearthstone fireview.)