Old Wood Stove Heating Question

[Yankeesouth]

I am planning on putting a wood stove in a cabin in place of the old stone fireplace.  I have been looking at older stoves, pre-EPA ratings.  The cabin is 2 br with loft, about 1000-1200+sqf, very open with exception of the bedrooms.  The stove will be pretty much in the center of the cabin, or at least on the center wall.   I will most likely use the cabin and stove 5-10 times TOPS, mostly 2-3 day weekends,  from October-April.   Here is my question(s).

1.    Would one of the old workhorse wood stoves for 200-300$ (Hearth Craft) (Naushua) heat up nice an fast and do the heating trick?

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/hsh/2189414316.html

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/clt/2201136850.html

2.   Only using it less than 10 times a season how often would I need to clean the chimney?

I guess the bottom line is I am not real worried about wood consumption.  I am looking for something to heat up fast and stay hot.  Many of the post I have read about the newer wood stoves is that they burn cleaner and use less wood......but do not put out the same heat as the old stoves.  The cabin is not very well insulated.  I plan on having a propane insert for some quick heat as well.

Or would I be better going with a newer stove?

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/for/2186166996.html

[Don_P]

Will it heat it, yes. If the flue is straight, properly sized and if you burn dry wood hot it'll never need cleaning. If you have several elbows, smolder, run cool, or burn green wood clean it at least annually.

[considerations]

Re: Cast iron woodstove by Hearth Craft.

I have an almost identical stove that is heating my 14 x 24.  It works if you remember that it is literally a cast iron fire place. 

I stuck it in because it was free and winter was coming.  I can defend its heating effectiveness. Lights quick, burns easy....with dry wood.  Its likely I burn more wood than some who have the EPA stoves....but.  The chimney sweep says he's built his career on air tight stoves as many over use the "long-burning" function, which he says does a great job of fouling the chimneys.   I cannot verify that, and I burn a chimney cleaner log once a month as I'm burning wood all the time, I'm home most of the time and have no other source of heat.

Small hot fires keep me out of trouble.  Mine will smoke me if I don't keep an eye on the flames.   I fabricated a pot crane and do a lot of cooking on the fire, plus right now it has 4 misc pots on top, which constitutes my hot water supply.    Cooking and heating water can be also achieved with airtight wood stoves in many instances.

For good or ill, I stuck a double walled stainless steel reducer right on top of the stove, bringing the entire stack down from 8" to 6".  I get good draft, likely better than if I'd stayed w/8".   Seems most EPA stoves have 6" stacks, and so if I ever change my mind about the "heart of the house", I won't be stuck dealing with replacing the entire chimney and how to downsize an 8" double wall chimney hole in the roof.

Additionally, the Hearth Craft is pretty likely an "older" stove.  There may now be "standards" about what an 8" or 6" diameter stove flue actually measures.  On mine this was not the case, so being "inventive" was how we got the Selkirk pipe to match the flue.  You may not have that issue, or may not want to deal with it.

Lots of words for a short question, but I hope it helps.

[Yankeesouth]

Thanks for the advice.  I guess basically I am looking for something to really throw the heat.  Not real worried about wood consumption and chimney gook.

[considerations]

A fireplace, like the Hearth Craft, really throws the heat quickly because the doors can be left open.  A good screen is a helpful accessory.