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[VTsmoke]

I own a Shaver 165 - ran one heating season.  I attempted to heat 5k sq. ft. - was not successful!  Shaver is prone to overstating capabilities of its stoves.  I live in northern VT and can attest that, per their website, the 165 cannot heat 5k sq. ft. in northern states.  My two cents on Shaver:

1.  Heavy gauge firebox = Good
2.  Workmanship sloppy = Bad
3.  Customer service, poor = Bad
4.  Dealer support, poor = Bad - many dealers dropped this brand over the last couple years
5.  Bang for buck, decent = Good
6.  Door opening too small = Bad

I have owned one other boiler - a Woodmaster - firebox rotted through in two winters and dropped contents of water jacket into firebox - Woodmaster finally replaced (charged me a fee) and admitted they got some bad metal.

Bottom line - You can do better, you can do worse. 

[Rob 165]

Shaver---Good idea--terrible execution.  If you like to work and tweak stoves, then this one has potential, but I'll just build my own next time.

[Russ Brumit]

The Shaver website only claims 4,000 sq ft for a 165 model. I think you needed a larger stove. Hows the instalation done ? Are you losing heat in the ground ? dry, seasoned ,hard wood ?

[willieG]

The Shaver website only claims 4,000 sq ft for a 165 model. I think you needed a larger stove. Hows the instalation done ? Are you losing heat in the ground ? dry, seasoned ,hard wood ?

i would like to know if by "couldn't heat" means the stove could not provide the heat as in had to load too often or if stove could not deliver enough water?
if the stove reached the set temps and shut off the air supply then i would guess the lines or the pump are too small to deliver teh needed amount of BTU per hour to theat the home

If the boiler never reaches the shut off temps then yes the stove is too small and can't keep up
Most stoves that do not keep the house warm in the coldest times of the year are not getting enough GPM to deliver the required BTU's
A stove that is too small (most times) can deliver the required BTU's but has to be fueled too often (every three or 4 hours)

[Russ Brumit]

He's trying to heat 1,000 sq ft more than the stove is capable of .

[willieG]

He's trying to heat 1,000 sq ft more than the stove is capable of .

i willa gree russ he is using a stove smaller than they recomend but he has that stove now and is looking for some  help or advice. is ee on the web site that they say on one spot 3000 sq feet and another site "over 4000"  and then i seen a site that claimed  over 140,000 BTU per hour (that is very close to what may be needed in a cold house that size) i am thinking this stove could heat the home at least on most nights although it will require frequnet fills if the following things are made sure of. the stove is full of wood and that the pump and lines in the ground can (are doing this) delivering 15 GPM (15 gpm at 170 degrees is very close to 150,000 btu per hour from a one inch pex line)

if he was to insure this amount of water was being delivered to the home and can keep the fire box with enough fuel to maintain a good supply he may get buy.

i am not saying this stove can or should do the job but if it was mine i would be trying my best to make sure i am getting all i can from it. there are a lot of guys selling these stoves that really know nothing of how hot water works and sell too small of pumps with the stove and too small of lines for the distance the stove is away from the home

[Russ Brumit]

He's trying to heat 1,000 sq ft more than the stove is capable of .

i willa gree russ he is using a stove smaller than they recomend but he has that stove now and is looking for some  help or advice. is ee on the web site that they say on one spot 3000 sq feet and another site "over 4000"  and then i seen a site that claimed  over 140,000 BTU per hour (that is very close to what may be needed in a cold house that size) i am thinking this stove could heat the home at least on most nights although it will require frequnet fills if the following things are made sure of. the stove is full of wood and that the pump and lines in the ground can (are doing this) delivering 15 GPM (15 gpm at 170 degrees is very close to 150,000 btu per hour from a one inch pex line)

if he was to insure this amount of water was being delivered to the home and can keep the fire box with enough fuel to maintain a good supply he may get buy.

i am not saying this stove can or should do the job but if it was mine i would be trying my best to make sure i am getting all i can from it. there are a lot of guys selling these stoves that really know nothing of how hot water works and sell too small of pumps with the stove and too small of lines for the distance the stove is away from the home

Well I'm not trying to sound harsh and would like to help him any way i can . I just know that his post is saying something different than what the company has listed. I have found that going a little bigger than you need will allow for some varables. I have 5500 sq between the two buildings and i went with the 290 model (heats up to 7,000 sq) . Works very well and i have some play room. He said it doesn't do the job but left out the details. I know when i bought my stove they recomened larger pumps and i went with them . I  recently became a dealer for shaver and only know what my install has taught me . Some of the people i have showed the stove to have instantly became experts and tell me they will change all sorts of stuff. I wonder if thats why so many have trouble making the temps they need. 

[willieG]

i don't think you were being harsh russ, just stating the facts is what you were doing

I am just trying to point out that perhaps if he can not change stoves that he does have an option or two to try and "tweak" his stove to meet his demands.
 in order to size a pump for one of thses stoves you need to know how to truly figure the length of your pipe. it is not just the distance from the stove to the house. you have to add some length of pipe for each tee and elbow and things like plate exchangers and size of pipe and the actual head loss. then you can calculate the true head loss and then compare that with the GPM you need to achieve...then you can calculate the pump you need. that is why i am saying that a lot of stove sellers (many i have seen) are local boys that bought a stove and seen a way to make money selling them and jumped in with little knowledge or training on what really needs to be done before installing the underground pipe. In fact most installs use 1 inch pex. because of price or availability i am not sure but in a high number of these installs 1 inch pex is not big enough. i am not an installer but if i was i would  not recomend 1 inch pipe in any length over 100 feet (one way) in most cases this will cause too much head loss and a very large pump would be required

lets say the man above is getting 10 gpm from his stove and his stove is in fact reaching the shut off point. that indicates that he could squeeze a little more heat from it. so on average he is getting from that 10 gpm about 100,000 btu per hour (not enough for his large house) he can try and go to the next  pump that (by looking at the flow chart) can deliver 12 to 15 GPM with the head he has. he may now be getting 120,000 btu and may meet his heating load (as long as this bigger pump does not cause cavitation  it may work. is it worth a try..ii don't know (if it were me i would try it) I do agree with you that he has a too small of stove for his square footage but it may be worth a try ?

[Russ Brumit]

I'm one of those local boys. LOL .  I make sure i tell everybody who calls or comes out to look at mine that i know very little about these and they all have been fine with that so far.The factory just wants to give a customer a chance to see one in operation.Saves them alot of time on the phone i'm sure. As far as the 1" pex goes ,The run to my house is 187' , to my shop is 225' and 100' to my pool.I was originally heating the house with water temp set  @ 130. the heat was ok but it was close to what my water heater was set for so i bumped it up to 150.Thats where it has been all year and all was good. I use taco 11 pumps. So far for me the one inch pex has worked. 

 I didn't want a reader see his post and not know that he was under sized and not buy a shaver for that reason. I hope it will work for him .You seem to have loads of knowlege about these so hopefully with your help he can make this work.   

[willieG]

[. So far for me the one inch pex has worked. 

 Russ ? pex or pex ala pex (air barrier built in pipe)

[Russ Brumit]

Its regular Pex --non barrier

[Scott7m]

stoves can often be over-rated.  always go slightly bigger than you need. 

its best to spend the money up front for the best line and parts to get the most effiicency for the unit.   I went and looked at several shavers, new and used.  It was always a mixed bag of commments.  They either loved them or hated them, and that comes down to quality control.