Newbie lookin' for some guidance

[drof99]

Afternoon all. Who knew....a woodstove forum! Glad I found my way here. Name's Ryan. I live in the out in the countryside of rural Iowa. We have a fairly large old farmhouse. Just over 2200 sq feet. It is an older home but we love it. We have made many improvements and continue to do so. Beings its an older home and large the heating can be quite expensive. We have a normal propane fired heater in the basement. Several years ago we added a corn/pellet stove to help. It actually does quite well all on its own. On the coldest days it will keep the house 60 degrees on its own. Remember....large old farmhouse with old windows.

That leads into my need for guidance. We wish to install a wood stove in our living room to help heat this room up to a nice cozy temperature when the snow and wind are bearing down. The corn stove is not in this room. We have our mind set on an "older" traditional style of stove. I do not want to have to rely on an electric blower. I would prefer no blowers of any kind actually. The room where the stove will be installed is drywalled. Has 10 foot ceilings, as does the rest of the house. Flooring is the original hardwood flooring. The vent will need to go through the east wall of the house and then up above the roofline. The home is a two story house and I'm guessing there will need to be approx 30 foot of pipe once I get to the outside of the home.

The plans right now are to run pipe about six foot up inside before running a 90 to run through the wall. I plan on putting tile down UNDER the stove in the corner of the room. I am unsure of what I can put behind the stove at this point. The stove I have in mind states the clearance needs to be 36". I would love to put something up on the walls so I can reduce that amount of space. I would love to here some suggestions on how to do that and then what clearances I would need to maintain. I do not know what type of pipe must be used for the inside and the outside chimney. I had planned on using a kit from Northern Tool to run through the wall of the home. This includes a T, wall thimbles, and one section of triple wall pipe to run through the wall. In additions there is a rain cap for the pipe outside and several supports brackets. I'm open to suggestions and would greatly appreciate your experience with help solving the venting issues and clearance issues. Below is a link to the stove we would like to install. We are fairly set on the style as it will fit right in with our home.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_346054_346054

 

[begreen]

Welcome to the forums. What ever you do, don't get the cheapest Chinese cast stove on the market. The castings are poor and it is very hard to control. I would never put this in a home. If you want to put in a stove at least get a basic welded steel model that is EPA certified and safe to run year after year.

 

[oldspark]

What part of Iowa?

 

[begreen]

2200 sq ft is going to need some serious heat. If the floor plan is relatively open to where the stove would be located I would look at 3 cu ft stoves like this:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200394622_200394622
or this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Englander-2-200-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Stove-30-NCH/100291302#

 

[drof99]

Thanks for the welcome. I live in the SW part of the state. Price will be a factor for my family. But I also want to choose something that will provide years of service. Is there another brand of stove that has the same looks as the one I posted that also has good quality? Remeber that this stove will not be relied upon to heat my entire house. We will continue to use the corn stove for the primary source of heat. I'm only looking for a stove to warm up the family room. As price will be a factor willnI need to run the full chimney in dual or triple wall pipe? Can I just get away with using triple wall through the wall then single wall for the remainder of the stack? Will that work to pull a good draft and
keep my home safe? Let me know if you know of any quality stoves similiar to the one posted please.

 

[Jags]

Yep - big firepower. You will need to take into consideration "air movement". Many old farmhouses were broken up pretty bad. Are you gonna be able to move that heat?

You will also want to get your stove selection paired down to just a few. Some stoves require R rated hearth protection, so you don't want to be slapping down tile without knowing the requirements.

If just heating a family room, the big stoves might be too much unless you can dump that heat to other rooms. There are more than a few from Drolet, Englander, etc. that make a simple utilitarian style stove that will work for many years.

With a 30 ft stack - I would not go any other direction than double wall, insulated.

What is the size of the family room you are trying to heat?

 

[drof99]

The family room is 15' by 40'. We kind of have is split in half. No walls or anything but just how it is set up. The area where I would prefer the stove to sit is the "living room". Couches chairs, tv, and stuff. The remainder of the family room consists of a gun safe and a bench setup for my leather work. I can't seem to make holsters fast enough these days. Again, ten foot ceilings in this room. The corn stove sits in the dining room that is off this room. That dining room would be what I call the central room of the house. From that room there is an open stairwell going to the four bedrooms upstairs. My house is one big square, two stories. The propane heater rarely runs except when we turn the heat up pretty high. The corn stove is the primary heat source. Our house stays pretty cool by most people's standards but with the price of propane there ain't much we can do about it. We are a simple family and not rich by any stretch of the imagination. We stay comfortable but being able to heat that family room up more would make the six kids and especially the wife happier. I'm very thankful so far for the help and looking forward to being able to get a woodstove to make things more comfortable.

 

[Jags]

Will you have the ability to easily move heat from the family room to other rooms, or is it a fairly isolated room? The reason for asking is...If you can use and move the heat, I might still recommend a big stove. If you can't, a big stove is gonna cook the living room at 600 sqft.

 

[blades]

I know pricing is a factor, I wouldn't bother with the volz unit Those tend to be creosote creating monsters. Englander nc13 would be nice or similar unit just for added comfort for the great room. NC30 or similar if you want to supplement the corn unit. Double wall insulated for outside flue at minimum, triple would be better. But if you use the double and a little later build a chase around it you will be good. Key here is to keep the flue gases as hot as possible for as long as possible to keep from building creosote. Also I would suggest 45degree bends instead of a 90 makes a flue work so much better. Unlike your corn stove there is no forced air exhaust only natural draft and you have to get the flue warmed up properly to get a good draft. An out side system such as you are thinking can be a bit of a chore to get warmed up from a cold start. As to clearances the stoves I listed can be used in slightly less space clearance wise. A false wall open at top and bottom with a 1" clearance will allow for a closer rear/side fits. You should be able to find some info on this rather than me spelling it all out.

 

[tcassavaugh]

welcome to the forum. I truly understand the need to be "thrifty". when times were tight in the past, I've used a barrel stove kit, a home made box stove and other non UL listed heating devices to stay warm. I've always liked the stove you posted but have always had a little hesitation about buying one. I might get one for the garage as I need a heater for it. Jotul has a box stove http://jotul.com/us/products/stoves/jotul-f-118-cb-black-bear that has had some good reviews however, its a bit on the upscale side. I have a 602 small box stove I no longer use but can't part with because it was such a good little stove. I have the f3cb and love it. do what you need to do. If I had to cut back on cost, it would be on the stove. I'd make sure that my chimney and hearth area are in good shape and planned for the possibility of a larger/different stove in the future. jmho

 

[drof99]

There are two vents in the family room ceiling that go up into bedrooms upstairs. There are two ceiling fans in the living room as well as one in the dining room if it matters. I'm sure the heat would move around some but don't plan on doing anything special to move it around. The door between the dining room and family room is open. That dining room room is where the open stairwell is going upstairs. I definately open to suggestions for a more safety/quality built stove. And suggestions for building a hearth and heat shield if needed. Do most of the stoves that have blowers require the blower to be on. I don't believe I would care for the extra noise. I wouldn't also want to rely on electric power to make a stove work. Is the stove linked below a better alternative?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200307955_200307955

 

[begreen]

The Durango is more similar to the box stove in burning style and more efficient clean burner than the Mountaineer.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200339109_200339109

Be careful with cheap stoves. You get what you pay for. If you want something that you can get parts for and rely on years down the road I'd go for the Englander. Or take a look around in your local craigslist for a used stove of quality like this one:
http://quadcities.craigslist.org/for/4244495698.html

 

[tcassavaugh]

The Durango is more similar to the box stove in burning style and more efficient clean burner than the Mountaineer.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200339109_200339109

Be careful with cheap stoves. You get what you pay for. If you want something that you can get parts for and rely on years down the road I'd go for the Englander. Or take a look around in your local craigslist for a used stove of quality like this one:
http://quadcities.craigslist.org/for/4244495698.html

that stove looks like the predecessor to the bear jotul http://jotul.com/us/products/stoves/jotul-f-118-cb-black-bear if its close, i'd go look at it.

 

[begreen]

That's correct. It is a very respectable box heater in a way the Vogelzang will never be.