Help!!! In the middle of a cold Vermont Winter...my woodstove has broken down (electric heat stinks).

Anyone here know if the Avalon Woodstoves are any good? I'm looking at the Olympic model (apropos given the Olympics or going on now), and I was wondering if anyone has one.

It will heat 1500 to 2500 square feet, 74,300 BTUs/Hour and has a Maximum Burn Time of 12 hours (that's good because we are away from home about 11 hours a day at work).

We had a Vermont Castings Dutchwest Stove which is unrepairable after only 8-9 years of use. So now we're getting one without the catalytic converter.

This has been a bad year, we bought a new clothes dryer, we need a new car, and now the stove is dead. What's next?


Mark

The Fire Place

Sierra Stoves

Quadrafire

These sites might also help you find something, Mark. I hope the job is going well and that 2002 turns out to be a less expensive year for you ;)

<font color="cyan">You use a wooden stove to heat your home?

Dude, you serious? What is wrong with good ol' central heating?</font>

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Lavindathar:
<font color="cyan">You use a wooden stove to heat your home?

Dude, you serious? What is wrong with good ol' central heating?</font><hr></blockquote>

I don't blame him for not wanting that if his power costs are as high as they are in the Pacific Northwest!

Skywalker ~ If your old woodstove is no good after 8-9 years, I don't think I'd get that particular make again. My woodstove is very old, and still very efficient. Sometimes you can get deals on them right out of the local paper.

<font color="cyan">Is it expensive out there for central heating? We used to have a big fire to heat the living and dining room, but now we just have central heating all over the house.

Do you use electric to heat your water?</font>

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Roxi:


I don't blame him for not wanting that if his power costs are as high as they are in the Pacific Northwest!

Skywalker ~ If your old woodstove is no good after 8-9 years, I don't think I'd get that particular make again. My woodstove is very old, and still very efficient. Sometimes you can get deals on them right out of the local paper.<hr></blockquote>

Roxi! No need to tell me twice about not buying the same stove again! The old ones seem to last the longest.

The house I own has electric heat and is built on a slab. It would cost way too much to install a central heating system and we really have no room for a furnace.

I guess the people we had cleaning out chimney and checking out our stove every year didn't do such a good job and I was not very vigilant on checking up on it either. It had a catalytic converter in it too, which I find is more costly to repair, especially if neglected. So I'm going to get one without the cat.


Mark

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Lavindathar:
<font color="cyan">Is it expensive out there for central heating? We used to have a big fire to heat the living and dining room, but now we just have central heating all over the house.

Do you use electric to heat your water?</font><hr></blockquote>

Well I guess you're asking Roxi, but I thought I'd chime in and say, "Yes I heat my water with electricity, along with running the stove and clothes dryer."

There is something nicer about heating with a woodstove, too! It feels cozier...if that makes any sense.

Mark

Lavindathar ~ Yes, it is terribly high! Especially for electric. Having the woodstove in our house has cut back the power bill by 2/3's. Honestly! And it heats most of the main rooms. We use a fan to blow it down the hall towards the other rooms, but only when it gets super cold.

Skywalker ~ I agree with the 'cozy feeling' you get with a woodstove. We like to sit near it in the evenings sometimes and read, or just talk. [img]smile.gif[/img] Anyway, I wish you good luck in finding your stove, and quick too!

<font color="cyan">I know what u mean about the cozier feel, cos our old log fire was really nice to sit by in the evenings...it was super warm and nice....but it jsut wudnt heat the whole house!</font>

Skywalker, now is definitely *not* the time for the stove to go! But what do you mean when you say it's 'broken down'? The blower or what? We have a King that is almost older than God and it runs great (heats the whole house--two stories, 3 + bedrooms). I personally love the Ashleys--reliable and plain. I would like to try one of those pellet stoves, tho.

Lavi, we heat with wood, too, and have for years. We do have a convectional electric heater in the bathroom as it's in the back of the house farthest away from the woodstove and electric backup space heaters for the coldest of cold days (so far none of those this year). There's something about wood heat--it's cheaper, never out because of a power outage (which was vital during the ice storm of two weeks ago when the elect. was out for quite a while!) and you aren't in constant debt to the gas/propane company. It's one of the warmest heats, though driest, and definitely heats you at least thrice over--once when you cut the wood, when you split it, and when you burn it [img]smile.gif[/img] .