Choice of new wood stove

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seafire43

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Nov 12, 2007
7
Massachusetts coast
Hey there -

I'm considering getting a wood stove, have done some research and narrowed options. Please let me know if you have any advice on choice of stove, etc.

Here are the specifics of the house/site:
=>House size: ~2500 sq ft
=>Layout: 2 floors plus attic and basement; divided into several rooms in 19th century style. Stove would be near entrance to the rear staircase, that links the basement to all floors of the house. Insulation is what you'd expect - minimal. Oil furnace in basement.
=>'Climate': Massachusetts coast - close to the water: Naturally very humid in summer and very dry in winter.
=>Flu size: 6"
=>Positioning: In front of existing 19th century fireplace - which has a wooden mantel (intent is to ensure conformance to all code/insurance guidelines). The stove would be in a room with 2 interior doors. One door is to the back staircase; Second door is to the front of the house. 2 small fans in the doorways could drive the heat into the rest of the house.
=>Other things: Horsehair plaster in the room with the stove (assume this is irrelevant, but just for murphy's law include here);
=>Not going to run this 24x7 since I don't work at home - but would run at night and on weekends.
=>Efficiency is very important both because of the need to heat a big house and because I'd like to use less wood.

Stoves I'm Considering:
=>Jotul F400 Castine
=>Quadrafire Yosemite
=>Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim 2490
=>Hampton H300 (but I've seen mixed reviews)

Thoughts?
 
The Yosemite is the smallest of the Quad cast stoves, I think from your info (2500sqft, and poorly insulated) you would want either the Cumberland Gap or the Isle Royale.
 
I agree, the stoveroom is big....look at larger stuff in the 3cuft range.
 
Are you looking to make a major dent in your heating costs or just to zone heat the area the stove is in for supplemental heat (and maybe just the fun of burning wood)? I have a feeling the Yosemite would only do the latter, as well as the other stoves if they are similarly sized.
 
You are in the IsleRoyale, VC Defiant, Jotul F500, PE Summit, Quad 5100 range. Don't bother with the smaller stoves or you'll be back again in a year asking more questions. But what do you want - an insert or a freestanding stove?
 
Morso 3610 is a stove to consider.

That house will be tough to heat due to the layout you have described. There are things that can be done to help that.
Door transom openings may be a big plus in your home, see below
http://www.woodheat.org/planning/heatdist.htm

By the way, all new members should have posts as descriptive as yours. Nice post!
Too many times there are:
How big should my stove be..........................
Is my stove big enough...............................

EDIT
Web, the first post here should be stickied as an example of what a first post should look like when in the market for a stove.
 
Pyro Extraordinaire -

Great link! -

The current heating system in the house is forced warm air, with vents in virtually every room (including the front and back staircases and attic). There is also a duct in the stoveroom near the ceiling, and also near the fireplace/stove.

So my thought after reading the article is to look into possibility of converting that ceiling vent in the stoveroom into an intake vent - allowing warm air in the stoveroom to be simply drawn into the furnace fan, which I could have running on a timer to reduce electricity costs. This setup would distribute warm air throughout the house. Of course this idea assumes that there are no restrictions (code or otherwise) or impractical obstacles.

Thanks again.
 
HI Seafire,

Yes, you probably need a Quadrafire Isle Royale (see my signature). And I suggest an AOK too. The latter has made a world of difference.

You cannot use that vent for an intake. It is not allowed and secondly, it will not work. Do a search and you will see that circulating hot stove air through the heating system will not work. Many tried, no one succeeded.

A few fans well placed in the house will do wonders. And if you can walk around the house and get back to where you started from without backtracking, you are good.

Also. The best return on investment is always with insulation. Especially the attic and walls. I had insulation added to the attic and more blown in the walls and it make a large difference for a relatively small investment ($1500).

Thanks

Carpniels
 
Carpniels -

Thanks for the clarification on the intake. I must have misread the article (woodheat.org url above) on heat distribution. Oh well. It was a thought. Fans seem best option for circulation.

You're point on insulation is a good one - I've been thinking of adding.

Isle Royale is my top candidate at this point.
 
HI Seafire,

I have the IR and it is great. Take a little while to heat up, but it coasts a long time on a full load with the air dampered down (in my case 500-600). However, I would strongly suggest getting an OAK. The outdoor air kit has made a world of difference in my house. I had the IR running all winter without the OAK and the cold outside air was infiltrating through all the cracks and window sils and door sills, etc. Especially the far away bedrooms were very cold (55-57) even though most of the house was 70-72. Now, with the OAK, the house is mostly still 70-72, but the bedroom are 62-64. The only difference is the OAK, which makes the stove get its burn air from the outside, instead of the inside air. Thus the heat and hot air produced by the stove, stays in the house and actually pushes air out of the house through the cracks (because hot air expands). Thus the far bedrooms dont have any old outside air infiltrating in and therefore the temps are much higher. That make the wife very happy.

Thanks

Carpniels

PS. It took me 5 years of burning, switching stoves, changing fans, cutting and stacking firewood, to get the optimal setup for stove, fan, wood and operation. I hope that all the tips we can give you, will shorten that time significantly. Nothing better than a perfectly operated wood stove.
 
seafire43 said:
Hey there -

I'm considering getting a wood stove, have done some research and narrowed options. Please let me know if you have any advice on choice of stove, etc.

Here are the specifics of the house/site:
=>House size: ~2500 sq ft
=>Layout: 2 floors plus attic and basement; divided into several rooms in 19th century style. Stove would be near entrance to the rear staircase, that links the basement to all floors of the house. Insulation is what you'd expect - minimal. Oil furnace in basement.
=>'Climate': Massachusetts coast - close to the water: Naturally very humid in summer and very dry in winter.
=>Flu size: 6"
=>Positioning: In front of existing 19th century fireplace - which has a wooden mantel (intent is to ensure conformance to all code/insurance guidelines). The stove would be in a room with 2 interior doors. One door is to the back staircase; Second door is to the front of the house. 2 small fans in the doorways could drive the heat into the rest of the house.
=>Other things: Horsehair plaster in the room with the stove (assume this is irrelevant, but just for murphy's law include here);
=>Not going to run this 24x7 since I don't work at home - but would run at night and on weekends.
=>Efficiency is very important both because of the need to heat a big house and because I'd like to use less wood.

Stoves I'm Considering:
=>Jotul F400 Castine
=>Quadrafire Yosemite
=>Vermont Castings Resolute Acclaim 2490
=>Hampton H300 (but I've seen mixed reviews)

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You may also want to conside a HARMAN EXCEPTION wood stove I have a 2100 sq ft 4 bedroom house and this stove will cook us out of there! And I didn't buy the fan attachment!! Last night it was windy and about 31 degrees here, not very cold, and even with a small fire the whole house was at 78 degrees. We slept with the windows open. This morning when i got up, at 6:30, it was still 74 degrees in the house and still enough coals to restart the fire. Last winter, although mild, on the coldest day heated the entire house to a comfortable 74 degrees. I have yet to burn this stove full out!
 
What has been said is great. All I have to add is not the Vermont Castings.
 
Why not VC? I think the Defiant Cat would do the job justice. Did you mean to qualify that with a particular design or model, like the everburns? Their cat stoves are amongst the best in the industry.
 
Yes, you are totally correct about that I mean the Everburn stoves (at this moment). Hopefully, developments will enable the technology to provide the good service that a (their) CAT stove gives. Sorry for the lack of clarity.
 
http://www.englanderstoves.com/30-nc.html

might look at this as well, providing the fireplace will accept it, i'll look back at your post and see if measurements are posted


didnt see fireplace dimentions, would be helpful to know the footprint the unit will need to fit into.
 
carpniels said:
You cannot use that vent for an intake. It is not allowed and secondly, it will not work. Do a search and you will see that circulating hot stove air through the heating system will not work. Many tried, no one succeeded.

Carpniels
Click to expand...

There are at least a couple of us on this forum that have stated that we circulate hot air from the room the stove is in into our forced air heating system and it does work! Perhaps you should have stated that it does not always, or usually work in every situation. That would be a better reflection of reality. There are ways to take the warmer air from near the ceiling area and introduce it into the homes duct work. I will let others better versed in codes explain all the angles on this issue.
 
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