I made a mistake

I was set on a pellet stove for our new home, but today I happened to run across Woodstock's website. That got me searching wood stoves, one thing lead to another, and well, here I am.

Spent teh day looking at different stove manufacturers, learning about the EPA stuff, and calling a couple lumber mills in the area.

Growing up we had wood stoves in home and camps. Papa Bears and Bakers were king, and you could load those things full of oak or coal (baker) and not worry about getting the stove too hot. They'd blow you out of the room though. Now I read about these new stoves and temp is important, but they are more efficient.

Cord wood split and delivered is cheaper than teh cheap pellets in my area, logs from the lumber mill are even cheaper. Some of teh best wood stoves are cheaper to buy than average pellet stoves.

So I gotta say, it's a tough decision at this point. A new woodstock Fireview is the same price as a used Enviro m55 steel off craigslist.

Wife wants pellet because she is pretty much scared of fire, but feels she can load pellets. Pretty sure a quality wood stove and a good pair of gloves, and some practice would get her loading logs.

Now it's finding the right wood stove, vs the right pellet stove. Still looking for both.

I gotta say though, after a week or more of really looking into burning units, it really feels like a light and dark side. Yes Vader, I will join the Dark Side for the right wood burner...

bholler said:

Wood is way cheaper pellets are way easier. Another factor to consider is what chimney do you have or will you be putting a prefab in? Liners for pellet stoves and pellet vent chimneys are allot cheaper than those made for wood stoves and pellet stoves can be direct vented wood stoves cannot. So that does even out the initial cost allot.

Click to expand...

Good points. Pellet or Wood would have to have a pipe vent. Whether through the wall or roof, doesn't matter. Provided it can be used down the road for another stove if needed.

Thank you all for teh replies!

I want my wife to be a part of the whole process. She went along with me to look at pellet stoves last weekend. We'll have some time to sit and talk about the woodstove this weekend, and maybe go look at a couple.

The house is an old farm house. Not sure on exact date built, but I would guess around teh Civil War. It's very similar to the house we used to live in that is just down the road. It was built in 1850. We have a stone foundation and gravel floor in the basement. The house was wrapped, sided, and replacement windows and doors about 5 years ago I believe. It is not a tight modern home, but it is not too bad either. We cooled the house nicely on some really hot days this summer with 3 5000btu window ac units. Two upstairs in bedrooms and one down stairs in living room. The house is 1600sq/ft. I'll try and doodle up a sketch. I think the house is setup perfect for a stove.

As for storage, we have a nice sized barn. There is a lean-to off of teh barn facing the house. Plenty of room to store pellets or cord wood under the roof on one side.

As for a stove, I am really liking Woodstock fireview and Hybrid, Jotul f400/500, Pacific Energy alderlea t5, and Quadra fire Isle Royale. I am sure that there are others out there to take a look at, and I would like to have some suggestions.

Looks are not as important as heat and efficiency to me, but the Wife likes "Pretty" stoves. So, i'll get working on the layout.

Here's a quick sketch. The Bath, Mudroom, Laundry is a newr addition built off of the back of the house. Insulated well and a pipe vent can go right up through the ceiling or wall.

Only 4 bedrooms upstairs, and they dont need to be real warm. We like a cool room for sleeping, and in fact we like to keep the house around 70* in the winter.

I figured placing the stove in that spot would work well. The main house is open with only 1 wall running down teh middle of the house, and several doorways through it. The heat could go up the stairs as well from that spot. Won't be able to see while watching TV or eating, but there is room to put a love seat in front of it.


Not to Scale!

The room is smaller, but not as small as I made it look. Also teh back door is closer to the Laundry room, and teh stove would be more infront of the large openings for the stairs and both larger rooms. I figured a fan or two would have the heat moving enough. I thought it would be a good place to get the heat upstairs, and into the two larger rooms.

We have a porch with a roof that wraps around the other 3 sides of the house. Not sure how the piping would work if we were to put it in the living room. OUr furniture is on the outside walls because the doorways make the inner wall unusable for a long couch.