[family first]

Been looking for a small to medium size wood stove and have considered many other brands and have no info on VC's. Looking for a non cat wood burner to heat about 1700' of living space. Is this a good brand to consider and if so, what model? Thanks.

[68vette]

Do not even consider a Vermont Castings stove. If you go to any of the stove forums you will read nothing but horror stories. It's no longer a Vermont company and hasn't been one for several years now. I'm not sure how true the stories are, but the company has been bankrupt several times and as recent as 2010. I own an old cat consolidated duthchwest that was purchased from the foundry through a friend back in 1996. This is an excellent stove. The foundry was located close to where I lived in Randolph. The showroom was in Bethel near the 89 exit. I believe they were sold to a Canadian company and then to a company in the south. The problem, even if you purcase an old reliable stove, you may have a nightmare with parts. I know first hand their costomer service is horrible. I tried getting parts about 2 years ago, but lucky for me a local dealer had some NOS that never sold. The recommended stove now is the Jotul.

[Logs and Dogs]

One word.......Jotul.

[family first]

Like the looks of Jotul. If my house is 2000' but the living areas might be 1500', would the castine model work? The store I was in is trying to push the oslo model. I don't want to heat out the living rooms to try and heat the back bedrooms....thoughts?

[Logs and Dogs]

Our cabin is 1200 square feet with cathedral ceiling and loft, we have the F3CB and that will heat the whole house without breaking a sweat (no pun intended), I believe the Castine is the one above mine, so for 1500ft I would say that would be a great choice, I think if you were to run the Oslo at 400-500 degrees (the sweet spot for ours) you might be a touch over done and the last thing you want is to have to retard the fire all the time and burn inefficiently.

Go tot he forums on Hearth.com for a wealth of information

[Cambium]

Have to ask yourself do you want looks or something that gets the job done or both.

Steel or Cast Iron?
Legs or no legs?
Window or no window?
Free Standing or insert?

I didn't use a drop of oil last year for heat (or electric either) My Pleasant Hearth Steel frame wood stove did the trick even when we were in the teens with wind. It warmed up 1600sq ft needed.

Here's my stove lit yesterday and wood stacks.

[family first]

Leaning towards cast....just like the look. I want the stove to feel like a piece of furniture as well as be a tool (heating the house). Will be with legs, free standing and definitely want glass for viewing. I hear that cast stoves have are bolted together and have to be rebuilt down the road??????? Are they not welded seems like the steel stoves???? Is that true and is that a problem?

[FrugalYankee]

Cast iron is generally not welded.
Cast iron stoves usually consist of panels that are bolted together with gasket material in between. Eventually those gasket may leak and unless you enjoy that smoky smell wherever you have your stove, that means it's time to take it apart and put in new gaskets.

I don't think you'll enjoy the glass for viewing for very long. The glass tends to get covered with soot and becomes rather unsightly.

[Logs and Dogs]

Glass covered in soot is primarily due to not burning the stove at a hot enough temperature.

The only time our glass gets cloudy with soot is a result of low and slow overnight burns with the stove temps dropping from prime burning temps of 400-550 degrees to the 200-300 degree range. Once I get the stove back up to 400+ degrees that glass clears right up in about 30mins or less. The only time I clean it off is when I clean the stove for the season, other than that we have perfectly clear fire watching all day.

I am amazed at how many people run stoves in strange ways, I'm blown away by how much smoke some people cerate in the mornings etc. Looks like a house fire on the mountain sides some mornings.

[FrugalYankee]

We do burn it low and slow a lot, that is true.