Wood stove - new or old?

Alan Gage · February 07, 2011, 08:59:45 PM

Been seeing quite a few wood stove questions lately and ran across a thread I thought some might find interesting about whether to upgrade to a newer EPA stove:

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/70413/

Personally I've only ever used a newer stove so I can't make any comparisons. It's my only heat source and does a great job. And the glass is wonderful. I don't have a TV so it gives me something to watch in the winter.

Alan

MountainDon · February 07, 2011, 09:08:58 PM

Good thread.

What stove do you have Alan?

We had old Vigilant and now a new Aspen in a smaller place. In some ways I like the old one and others the new one.

I believe the present post 1990, EPA stoves give superior performance in fuel use and cleanliness. Maybe some of the older ones were capable of hotter fires, dunno for sure. But the newer one burns cleaner, less smoke except when starting up and a cleaner chimney. I've seen some folks argue differently.

February 07, 2011, 09:52:46 PM

I've got an Englander NC-13. Read about them when I first stumbled on hearth.com a few years ago. They're the darling stove for the "bang for the buck" crowd, which I classify myself in. No frills and nothing fancy. Just a basic stove that does what it's supposed to do and does it well, much better (so I'm told) than the other stoves in the same price range. Supposed to have great customer support as well, though I've never needed it.

I think it's going to be too much for the house I'll be building so I'll probably move down to the VL-17. If I decide to build with a basement the old one will go down there. Otherwise the garage.

Sounds like the EPA stoves are a lock pickier about wood. I read lots of stories of people who were used to burning semi-seasoned wood in their old stoves and then are disgusted with the new EPA stove because they can't get it to burn hot enough. Once they get dry wood they don't have a problem though.

I burned 3 cords of oak in mine the first season and when I went to clean the chimney out the next summer I was surprised to find nothing built up inside when I pulled off the cap.

The Aspen sure looks like a nice stove. I'd like something that loaded front to back instead of side to side.

Alan

MountainDon · February 07, 2011, 10:04:51 PM

Bang on about the wood needing to be seasoned!!

One thing I like about some of the other VC stoves is they have a top load ability as well as the front loading doors. Our old one had that. It was very well designed; it never spilled smoke into the room at all.

zion-diy · February 08, 2011, 07:59:34 AM

new stoves are more efficient, but... what happens when you mis-caculate your wood use? I thought I had more than enough wood this year, (stockpiled nearly twice what I burned last year), however, due to the extreme weather, (or maybe I'm just getting old and sissy-fied), I found myself short this winter. In between storms, I had to go cut some ice damaged tree's for a wood supply. A little greener than I'd prefer. I can't help but feel that a newer stove would not burn this wood very well. however, the old smokey chunk box I have, burns just fine and I'm still staying warm without having to resort to running the backup electric heat, or gas.

April 11, 2011, 08:32:51 AM

Don, I just picked up a Vigilant off craigslist for my cabin. Everything I've read says they're a great stove and if you can get one for the right price, great bang for the buck! The one I have is not a convertible model but a wood only. It needs a good cleaning and paint but I hope it will serve me well! Plus it was only $200!

Here's a pic

MountainDon · April 11, 2011, 09:03:37 AM

glenn kangiser · April 11, 2011, 09:36:55 AM

I would put our 1920 Round Oak up against or above many new stoves any day. I have used many newer wood stoves that don't even come close as far as fire regulation, under fire air, mid fire air, over fire air, coal use possibility, ease of ash cleanout..

Air tightness on it was maintained by quality castings and machining rather than rope seals that need to be replaced periodically. There were other old stoves that were inferior, granted.

As with modern stoves, there were different quality ranges.

What you won't get with the older stove is the little plate that represents hundreds of thousands of dollars of payoff to the good ol' boy system, so if you are required to get that according to codes then you will need a newer though possibly quite inferior - or maybe as good, stove.

I used to manufacture top quality stoves designed by a friend who paid off the system and got the certification.