Thoughts on wood burning stoves?

[Chaparral]

We are looking at two wood burning stoves for the house. Let us call price and installation and timeline equal as they are very, very close. In no order -

Pacific Energy metal/cast iron hybrid.

Prettiest, far and away nicer looking however it has porcelain on the cast iron which can be chipped and painted back
Has movable privets on top to keep the top metal surface temp down and also provide a cooking surface when moved
Appears to have slightly higher BTU rating and slightly better efficiency
Limited lifetime warranty
Made in Canada

Lopi Endeavor

Made in USA albeit Washington
Large cooking surfaces but very direct heat in front which would severely burn anyone touching it while hot
Machine formed and welded for fewer and more consistent weld, less to breakdown with heating cycles
60% fewer grams per hour emissions from similar size burn box which could mean less cleaning of the flue
Seems easier to setup and go
Seven year warranty
Bigger ash tray easier to remove and may make less mess

 

[Letfreedomring]

If a newer house you might consider if both accept a fresh air inlet, but that is about the limit of my wb stoves knowledge.

 

[Chaparral]

Can slightly open the pan and dragon fresh air from the bottom with both. I know so very little about these but know installing a full fireplace is out of the budget.

 

[Letfreedomring]

It's just that newer houses are sealed up so tight that if you have a bathroom exhaust fan going and try to open door to load wood you'll more than likely get a backdraft and get all your smoke alarms serenading. If you get the combustion air from outside then there's less of a chance of it happening. Wish the boss would let us get a wood stove for emergencies, but she doesn't like the smoke or ash dust. Good luck and hopefully someone will pop in to have better 411 on your choices.

 

[streak]

The older lopi’s sure are nice. But I imagine a Canadian company knows how to make a dang good fireplace as well as anyone. Tough choice. I would probably pick the nicer looking one and threaten anyone within an inch of their life about the porcelain. Even though it would likely be me that breaks it.

 

[rickm]

From past expereince with a porcelain kitchen sink and cabinets it was tough and i dont remember them ever chipping and mom cooked with alot of cast iron skillets and us kids wasnt to easy with the pots and pans and such when doing dishes, unless you hit real hard with something with a sharp edge dont see you chipping it but it may be different when it is heated like that.

 

[Tin Star Firearms]

I don't know the first company but we have used a Lopi woodstove for the past sixteen years and use it hard during the winter. One of my brother's and my parents also both use Lopi and are very happy. They have one of the smallest wall to firebox requirements around which allows them to be be placed next to a painted wall without issue. The maintenance is nill and the finish is tough. The large cooking surface is terrific if you ever need to heat water or keep a cast iron humidifier going during the winter.

Best of luck with either of your choices.

Andrew

 

[Chaparral]

Yes, house is sealed tight. Did not get into the backdraft question in our research so thank you! The Lopi has a manual damper which can be opened along with the pan. Wonder if this is what the salesguy was getting at? He really pushed harder on the Lopi when he pushed. Low key sale but he definitely seemed to prefer Lopi. Having been in sales and manufacturing to me this sometimes means they have a bigger margin but not really sure. We just laughed about drunk Canucks welding on Monday morning versus stoned Washington folks unloading from an assembly line after the machines were done.

 

[Chaparral]

We bought a used Koehler porcelain sink for the kitchen in our last house. We abused it for years. Looked as nice as a new one. Chef who bought our old home loved the fact we had the porcelain sink, he hated our old countertops, we did too!

 

[swampratt]

These look like just free standing wood burning stoves with NO blower.
I seen you mentioned cleaning the flue.
I had an old Ben Franklin.
Picture of the exact stove in this link it is the second pic the one with brass balls on top.
The Franklin Stove and history of Modern Wood Fireplace Inserts

Those were dandy hand warmers and you could put a very long piece of wood into it.
I burned everything in it including clothing and partial board.
Only thing that was not burned in it was tires and railroad ties.

My chimney was spotless when I removed it after a few years of burning everything to heat the house.

I used Metalbestos stainless pipe and it was shiny inside when I removed it.

Hot fires burn clean.
If you are planning on heating a home through the winter with this just know hardwoods will make a pile of ashes and you will be scooping out hot ashes on some days to keep up.

Some people go pellet but I know nothing about those.