Need Help Sizing Stove

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woodburn

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Oct 26, 2007
221
Long Island, New York
Hi everybody. I need some help choosing the right stove for my home. I have a 1200 sq. ft. area downstairs where the stove will be. 600 sq. ft. of that has an average of 10.5 ft. ceilings, the other 600 has 7.5ft. I have two 200 cfm room to room fans installed up high on the wall to force the heat into the upstairs area, which is about another 600 sq. ft. with 9ft. ceilings.

I have been to several dealers and am getting mixed advice about the size of the stove I need. I really like the Lopi Leyden, but have been told by one dealer that the 2,000 sq. ft. heating capacity will be way too much. They reccomend no more than a 1600 sq. ft. capacity stove. ie: the VC Resolute.

The main living area is downstairs in the room where the stove will be. I don't want to create a sweatbox, yet I don't want to short myself either. I attached a picture taken from against the wall at the exact spot where the stove will be. You can see how the 600 sq. ft. room is very open to the other 600 sq. ft. area downstairs (separated by plastic right now). You can also see the fans which will kick the air upstairs.

I have done lots of planning for this, and I don't want to screw up now! Please help!
 
Welcome woodburn, the attachments aren't working yet. Size it smaller, try about 600 pixels wide. If you still have issues, PM me with the image and I will resize for you.

What is the sq ftg upstairs? Is there any major opening like a staircase to the upstairs?
 
if too, too big one has to damper the fire down so much that it will not burn clean. i supose you could regulate with a window but thats just silly al that spliting just tow warm it up outside. however too big you wont be cold, too small???
 
I'd rather not be fussing with the stove 90% of the time, trying to keep it from overheating the space until it gets to ten below. My preference would be to have the stove work great 90% of the time and maybe have to turn on the furnace when it gets too cold .
 
Think in terms of a parabolic curve you want to get a STOVE that you can operate at the top of the curve. The top of the curve being efficiency ease of usage and produced heat.
A stove too small has to be constantly loaded and pushed to get in the top area. A stove too large is like running you auto with a restrictor plate.
Never can load it all the way up for fear of blasting you out so frequent smaller fills choking it down, again never operating at the top of the curve
Manufactures claims in areas and BTU reduce 1/4 to 1/3 and that size stove should work My guess is a stove in the 40,000 to 55,000 BTU range a medium range stove
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I Just PM the picture to Moderator, but I don't think it worked.

The upstairs area is about 600 Sq. ft., and besides the fans, there is an open stairwell leading up there. I certainly don't want to have to choke down the stove so much that I get creasote, and of course I would like to be able to load the thing up.

Pyro, is what your saying is that if a manufacturer claims the stove output is say, 70,000 BTUs, I should expect only 1/4 to 1/3 of that? I used the BTU calculator on this site, and it calculated I need 29,156 BTUs JUST FOR THE 600 sq. ft. rm the stove is in. Also, I calculated that room is 6300 cubic ft. With two 200 cfm fans, that means I am moving 400 cubic feet per minute. According to that, it can exchange the air in that room every 16 minutes. I am not sure how much this really affects the size stove I can have, but I'm putting it out there for you guys. What do you think?
 
I don't think the Lopi Leyden would be too much stove for 1800 sq ft. It might not be enough? Don't go by the manufactures sq ftor btu numbers. There is no way those numbers can be exact, too many variables like weather, insulation, and floor plan. Most people here are in agreement that bigger is better. You can always build a smaller fire in a large stove. If you want overnight burns and plan on burning 24/7 you need a stove with a firebox over 2 cu ft.

Watch out for those fans. 400cfm is alot of air movement and could create negative pressure in your basement and cause back puffing of the stove. May be better to turn the fans the other way and blow the cold air down towards the stove. You will have to experiment both ways.
 
It is hard to advise on stove size. I run a monster upstairs but that has more to do with the fact that I won't have a small firebox than it does with heating requirements. I like some room to work inside the firebox. Max BTU output advertised by most stove builders is the max they were able to crank out of it packed full of cord wood and running the crap out of it. Running it harder than you ever will or will ever want to. Reducing output by a third is a safe guess to make. Of course that means that you know how many BTUs it takes to heat your house. After the house is warmed up the required stove output to maintain it is a lot less than you would be led to believe.

If I were shopping for a stove for a 1,200 sq. ft. house I would look for one with a two cubic foot firebox and the looks I liked and a price I could afford. There are a bunch of really fine stoves out there in that category. None of them the best.

I would advise looking around at reputable dealers in your area and find a stove in that size that you like the looks of and things like which way the door opens, most stove engineers appear to be left handed, and overall appearance. Then come back and ask if we know of anything wrong with that particular stove or maker.

We probably won't. Most are good stoves.
 
Thanks for the advice- very helpful. My main concern is that the room the stove is in doesn't get uncomfortably hot. The stove dealer said you should always load the stove up and run it hot to prevent creasote problems, hence suggesting the smaller stove. But I guess that when using a large stove, all you would have to do is use less wood, leave the air intake open a bit more to keep the fire itself hot (preventing creasote), but because it's a small fire, the stove won't get too hot.

But then, what's the point of the bigger firebox if you won't be able to load that baby up? Say I did get the two stoves to produce a similar amount of heat, I would use way less wood in the smaller stove choked down, than the bigger stove running with the intake more open.

This all sounds good on paper, but I am not an experienced stove user. Am I over thinking this, or are these all valid points to consider when buying a stove?
 
I'd tend to agree with Elk and Brother Bart, that a medium size stove would probably work well for you. I'm in NH with about the same footprint as you and about the same upstairs as you though my house is open concept. We're pretty well insulate though no insanely so, lots of windows, and I'm running a mid size soapstone stove rated at 45000 btu. Have not taken this particular stove through a full winter yet but I' quite confident it will dot the job. It's possible we'll have to turn the furnace on a few time to help but I think we won't. We're a couple of zones north of you if that helps.
 
Here's the setup. Personally I would have just put windows in the upper section for a passive installation. No need for fans there. Heat will accumulate higher up. You will want a ceiling fan in this room with the high ceiling.

My opinion is that you will be fine with a medium sized stove in this setup. You can always just add less wood when the temps are moderate. Have you looked at the Woodstock stoves?
 

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I would go bigger due to firebox capacity and your location. i just recently bought an oslo and with three splits of oak, my stove is running at 400 degrees with air control all the way open. with six splits, stove is running at 600-700 degrees, which is great. im in a 2400 sq ft house, and the stove is in a central location. my biggest concern was the heat overpowering the room i was in. that has really not been an issue at all. i would tell you to go bigger, and control the heat output with the amt of wood you put in it.
 
70,000 btu and rated to heat 2000 sq feet. at 400 degrees im getting a great secondary burn and my house is quite comfortable. i can also slam it full of wood, and get long burn times. when i bought mine, i just kind of guessed. i have been thrilled with the results.
 
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