Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is my third year using this stove to heat my entire house 1,400 sf. We use 5 cords each year. Never need gas even at 30 below 0
Pros: This has been a great stove. The fire box is very big and allows for a lot of wood to be packed in the box for an all night burn. I could not imagine using a stove with a smaller box than this one. Having two blowers on each side of the unit really pulls the air through the stove. You can watch TV with it on low but just a bit noisy on high. High is similar to a box fan on medium. But very quiet considering how much air is moving. Design of the stove box allows for the reburn effect which is fun to watch. No mechanical problems yet. Stove is built like a tank and will last.
Tips: Get some high temp calk and beed around the front window to seal any air leaks. It will make sure you have good control over the air intake and fire/heat output. Always make sure the special top ceramic pieces are scooted back. They are on either side of the top of the fire box. They are very light, check each time you fill the stove. Buy a stove top temp gauge. It will be very useful in keeping the box a constant temp. Also it will keep you from making the fire too hot. Put the temp gauge to the side of center of the exit shoot where the air exits the stove. The center is where 90% of the air exits and you do not want to impede the air flow. Take apart the fan cages on either side of stove and clean about 2 times each year for heavy use. Easy to do but you have to find the two machine screws behind the decorative grate.
Installing it yourself is not that difficult but takes some research. Get a high quality Stainless Steel pipe. I also got the 2 foot extension above the chimney top. I highly recommend doing this expecially if your chimney is short. . The longer it is the more draw you will get which helps the pull air into the firebox. I got my liner from chimneydepot.com because they had great service and were the only company to warenty the stove pipe for life even if you the homeowner installs the unit. I would never use this stove without a 6 inch pipe all the way to the top of the chimney. You can but dangerous. Get a 6 inch brush and the brush adapter rods (I got mine at menards) and clean it out about every 2 cords or so. It is easy and essential for proper flow not to mention prevent a chimney fire.
Install: When removing the damper it just lifts out if you get the right angle. Or at least mine did. I also had to buy a special oval piece to get through the damper area. Chimneydepot.com sent me a custom package that was easy to install.
Burning tips: It will take a while to get a handle on exactly how to use this stove most effectively. First thing is to consider the moisture of the wood. You can burn on low and save wood when the moisture content is very low. The higher the moisture content the more wood you have to burn to keep the fire going. I can keep one log burning if really dry but need two just to keep the fire going when wet.
Stack the logs from front to back and not the normal way they would fit in a fireplace. The intake air located front bottom center will circulate much better with the logs inserted ends front to back. This will keep good circulation of the air in the box.
The bigger you can have the logs the longer it will burn. Less surface area. Aslo split logs into square or rectangular logs. This makes it easier to load for all night burns. IF you have over sized logs they will fit from back corner left to front corner right. you can fit logs 2-4 inches longer than front to back if need be.
Be careful with the two ceramic top deviders mentioned above. I have dinged mine up pretty good and some day I will need to replace them. Avoid this by not jamming logs into the stove top.
The logs twards the back tend not to burn as well as what is located in front of the stove. It is a good thing becasue they will keep hot all night so you can easily restart the fire the next morning.You will get some big coals that need to be pulled forward before you restock the stove with wood. Keep the ashes away from the front air intake.
Starting tips: Use bellows to blow on the newspaper which is wadded up under the kendling . It works great. I wish I would have purchased one sooner. The extra airflow gets the fire hot much sooner. Sometimes if the house is cold 20 min. is worth the effort. I have used those fire starter logs and they worked but I have lots of paper and that works just as well.
Always save some cold coals from the last burn. They really get started fast and heat the bottom of the fire wiich helps when cold. In other words do not scoop all the coals when cleaning the ashes out. save all the big pieces. Another tip is when you want to clean out ashes when the fire is still burning move all the burn to one side of the box. Usually one log and associated hot coals. The other side will burn down to nothing and you can scoop all the ashes from that half of the box. Then move the hot log and big ambers to the empty side you just cleaned. Scoop the ashes from the other side and then load the box. This saves any down time. Be careful because the coals will be hot and you want to get them out of the house ASAP.
Takes a few months to get use to this stove.
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