Wow! all this because I said another stove might be more suitable in a particular application. I guess objectivity doesn't count. We do things based primarily on emotional reasons and to imply that others like the Jotul stove based solely in a belief of superior efficiency, I think mistaken. That the jotul is a nice compact,well built little stove with a great deal of eye appeal is undeniable, which is why I will buy one if one comes my way. That does not mean I do not recognize its limitations, some of which you have pointed out.coalnewbie wrote:Moderators are only selected on the basis of knowledge (I imagine) and to be the PA moderator is the peak. Isn't it funny, all those really knowledgeable people who have a Gretel rave about this inefficient, featureless stove. No owner I know of has a bad word...... Let me give you a piece of advice on life.Don't let my Gretel hear you call her classic.....She's a Hottie!!!!!! 1ft square and a heat machine
Once you have accurately identified who the real experts on anything are (and that is the trick), follow them blindly, you mostly find out why they know what they know. I have a collection of GREAT anthracite stoves that help me deal with a nightmare heating problem. Everyone was selected on the basis of multiple REAL experts on this board raving about them and learning what to look out for. So the following moderators have all bought and loved gretels, PA, ME, MD etc. - hmmm, do you see a pattern here, I do. They all bought an outdated, featureless, hard to get parts for, non US stove. So what did they know that I did not???? I bought my gretel blindly following this formula and bingo, I now get it. This works for everything except Detroit cars....... we all have a blind spot....... HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHA.
Now if we see above, some idiot is selling a gretel for $100 and you are all asleep at the switch. If someone has not bought it by Monday I will buy it sight unseen and use it as a plant stand. Wake up, that is about 23 galls of HO and 50% of CT is stuck with HO. It's not hard to work this stuff out.
If you had more experience you would realize that a stove is a system composed of a means of burning the fuel, a way of clearing the ash, and heat exchange to get the heat produced into the room. How each of these separate things is handled can be very different from stove to stove and what may be a very superior combustion chamber in one stove that does not mean it can't be inferior in the other areas. Almost everything is a compromise between the practical and the ideal and often the makers have no idea of what that ideal is.
My personal opinion of the best stove design is along the lines of William's Glenwood no.9 but that does not mean I don't think it could be improved with the addition of a thermostat to control air intake.
