New to the Forum, wood stoves, but like to party

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Coolbreeze

Coolbreeze

New Member
Apr 11, 2015
8
Victoria, BC, Canada
Hello everyone, very nice forum you have here and great forum platform. I own my own golf forum built on the same Xenforo forum software and its great.

Anywho, I just bought a new home on a 1 acre property and it comes with a very nice wood stove which was a requirement for us and from what I'm told and from my lurking here its a very good wood stove but I will be around a lot looking for advice and just to talk.

So, the fireplace is a Pacific Spectrum as you can see in the photo below and its in the center of the home and I love it. I've also attached a photo of the wood shed, which while good, I feel like I can become a great wood hoarder in my future and will be looking to expand the wood shed. IMG_0194.JPG IMG_0189.JPG

Well I guess thats it for now, I'll be very interested going forward in maintenance of the fireplace and the chimney, how often I should clean it, is it worth investing in my own chimney cleaning brush or just pay someone to do it? Looking forward to talking to you all.
 
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Nice looking stove. I would be concerned about the proximity of combustibles. I see a basket of paper inches away, and its tough to see from the angle, but how close are those wooden beams, especially to the rear?

Nice wood shed. I might build something similar.
 
Welcome to the forum coolbreeze! Jay106n, I have a pacific energy as well, clearance to combustibles is 4 inches ie the wood,,, he probably moves the paper when the stoves lit.
 
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Amazing yes, but way too close for my comfort level.
 
Welcome. Nice stove! :) You'll find that biomass heating and golf have a lot in common; You can have success if your woods are good, and if you go out looking for trees to cut you might have a hole in one. ==c
 
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You don't need a wood stove in Victoria !! :) It's waaaay to warm there for that!

The key to a wood stove in your setup: dry wood. Try to have your wood cut/split/stacked for 2-3 years and down to 22-23% moisture content. If you get wood to that level of moisture content, your stove will cruise like a gem!

Welcome to the forums

Awesome setup!

Andrew
 
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Welcome to the forum Coolbreeze. How do you plan to use your woodstove? Will you be burning 24/7 or just as supplementary heat? Tell us about the chimney. How easy is the access to the top of you chimney for cleaning?

Your woodshed looks like it should hold about 4 cords of wood judging from you photo if I'm estimating its size correctly. It appears to be able to hold three rows deep of wood and is perhaps 16' long and 7'-8' tall. I have some similar size sheds and they hold around two cords in each of the 8' long bays. I burned around 4 cords of wood this past season in western NC and we heat exclusively with wood, so I keep 12 cords of wood under cover in sheds so I can be on a three year drying cycle with my wood.

Cleaning a chimney and stove can be a fairly simple job if you have easy and safe access to your roof and chimney. Some people clean their flues from the bottom up when it's hard for them to get up on the roof, but then you have an issue cleaning the chimney cap since it is often the dirtiest part of the system and hard to reach with a bottom up cleaning. I personally use a Sooteater system from the top down and can manage cleaning my flue just once a year. However, most people who are new to a stove set up need to be at least checking their flues every month or so until they learn how their stove is going to burn. If you have a screen in your cap you often tell when you need to clean it because smoke will start coming out your stove door on reloads from a clogged cap.

As you give more particulars about your set up you'll get more specific advice on things. Adding a photo of your roof and chimney would be helpful. Good luck.
 
Thank you everyone for the welcomes, as for the papers that photo was taken when I was looking at the house to buy but I agree they are really close to the stove in the photo but the wood beams are pretty far away.

Swedish Chef, it is pretty warm here in Victoria but we do need heat in the winter believe it or not :)

Nick Mystic, thank you for all the information. In the winter the stove will be our primary form of heat, there is in floor heat but that we will use just to supplement the stove and keep our feet nice and toasty. As for the chimney flu, the house was designed around the fireplace to heat the whole house and it runs through the house as you see in the photo below and then out through the skylight. I'm looking forward to learning a lot from everyone here, and I already have learned more than I thought I would. The three year drying cycle is a great idea and since I have an acre I'm sure I can convince my wife to let me build another wood storage or two so I can keep enough wood around. The wood fire heating season here is only about 3-4 months max and I only took possession of the house 2 days ago so I have no idea yet what my wood usage will be.

345603_1.jpg 345603_2.jpg
 
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Makes it easy to see if you're burning clean!

345603_2.jpg
 
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Now THAT Is a house design that is made to be heated with a wood stove.

But seriously, it doesn't get that cold in Victoria, I have friends there and have been twice...rarely, if ever, any snow! :D

Nice setup. Keep your wood 2-3 years ahead, don't smolder and you'll be fine. Now I just need to get transfered to Victoria......

Andrew
 
I love all the wood in your house, it looks beautiful!! I have family on the island and know that there are quite a few people who burn. The thing about the coastal areas is the high humidity. When I lived in the lower mainland (grew up there) and worked outside framing houses the winter weather was quite harsh at times. Its no fun working in high winds, 4 c, and 99% humidity!! Give me 20 below and sun any day! Just so you know the three year plan that these guys are talking about is meant for hardwoods for the most part. If youre burning soft hardwoods and softwood (coniferous) then you will be fine with one year if you put it up properly. Also look for the standing dead and snags that are off the ground as those ones will be the ones that will be good to go come fall. Living where you do with the moist air you will want to have lots of air flow to your stacks and pick the sunniest place you have. Storing it in rounds under a drippy cedar will just rot. A final note about the three year plan. One good reason I can think of for this for those of us burning softwoods is that if you do put up lots of wood and then have an injury or illness you will be able to heat your home while you mend. I like how your stack goes up through the house. You will get lots of heat from it as well before it heads outside. If you havent seen them yet check out a btu chart so you know what wood you want to go after. Heres the one I like https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm Get yourself a moisture meter and an IR. They will come in handy.
 
Welcome to the forum Coolbreeze :) Beautiful house! How many sq. foot?

There will be a learning curve on your new house and heating with wood... the Wood Shed and Hearth Room will likely be your go-to places to find good advice. If the manual for the stove didn't come with the house, get it from the website. Not sure if this is the exact one, but gives you the idea. http://www.pacificenergy.net/products/wood/traditional-stoves/spectrum/

Enjoy the burning!
 
Welcome to hearth.com. That's a great stove in a great house. Feed it well seasoned wood and you will be a happy camper for many years to come. Your house is beautiful too and innovative too. I don't think I have ever seen a chimney installed like that. Is the connector double-wall pipe? Are you burning doug fir mostly? If so, a year's worth of seasoning is fine.
 
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Swedishchef said:
Now THAT Is a house design that is made to be heated with a wood stove.

But seriously, it doesn't get that cold in Victoria, I have friends there and have been twice...rarely, if ever, any snow! :D

Nice setup. Keep your wood 2-3 years ahead, don't smolder and you'll be fine. Now I just need to get transfered to Victoria......

Andrew
Click to expand...
Andrew it really doesn't get cold here and we don't get snow, I can't remember the last time it snowed here but when its 4* wet and windy in the winter its cold. Not Quebec cold, but cold for us. I was in Montreal in January for a meeting and that temp and that snow is not ok. Went to a Habs game though and shut the city down so that was fun. Love Quebec and speak french fluently and put my son in french immersion just like I was.

Seanm said:
I love all the wood in your house, it looks beautiful!! I have family on the island and know that there are quite a few people who burn. The thing about the coastal areas is the high humidity. When I lived in the lower mainland (grew up there) and worked outside framing houses the winter weather was quite harsh at times. Its no fun working in high winds, 4 c, and 99% humidity!! Give me 20 below and sun any day! Just so you know the three year plan that these guys are talking about is meant for hardwoods for the most part. If youre burning soft hardwoods and softwood (coniferous) then you will be fine with one year if you put it up properly. Also look for the standing dead and snags that are off the ground as those ones will be the ones that will be good to go come fall. Living where you do with the moist air you will want to have lots of air flow to your stacks and pick the sunniest place you have. Storing it in rounds under a drippy cedar will just rot. A final note about the three year plan. One good reason I can think of for this for those of us burning softwoods is that if you do put up lots of wood and then have an injury or illness you will be able to heat your home while you mend. I like how your stack goes up through the house. You will get lots of heat from it as well before it heads outside. If you havent seen them yet check out a btu chart so you know what wood you want to go after. Heres the one I like https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm Get yourself a moisture meter and an IR. They will come in handy.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for all the information. I'm born and raised on the island so I'm used to our cold damp winters but I understand the people who prefer the dryer cold but with sun. That Btu chart is great, thank you. I'm going to get 2-3 cords of rounds right away to cut up and let dry.
Lake Girl said:
Welcome to the forum Coolbreeze :) Beautiful house! How many sq. foot?

There will be a learning curve on your new house and heating with wood... the Wood Shed and Hearth Room will likely be your go-to places to find good advice. If the manual for the stove didn't come with the house, get it from the website. Not sure if this is the exact one, but gives you the idea. http://www.pacificenergy.net/products/wood/traditional-stoves/spectrum/

Enjoy the burning!
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, we love the house and it was designed around the fireplace in the middle. Its a 2600 sq ft house and its an octagon and hard to describe. We bought it off the original owners and they gave us the manual for this stove which replaced the original and is still under warranty.
begreen said:
Welcome to hearth.com. That's a great stove in a great house. Feed it well seasoned wood and you will be a happy camper for many years to come. Your house is beautiful too and innovative too. I don't think I have ever seen a chimney installed like that. Is the connector double-wall pipe? Are you burning doug fir mostly? If so, a year's worth of seasoning is fine.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much, it is a double wall pipe and we will be burning mostly douglas fir and arbutus wood. Right now there is about 3 cords of fir and a cord of arbutus.
 
Coolbreeze said:
Thank you very much for all the information. I'm born and raised on the island so I'm used to our cold damp winters but I understand the people who prefer the dryer cold but with sun. That Btu chart is great, thank you. I'm going to get 2-3 cords of rounds right away to cut up and let dry.
Click to expand...
We love Victoria. You live in a beautiful small city on a beautiful HUGE island with a wonderful climate in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. I will be interested to hear how the Spectrum heats the house. Our neighbor has the same stove, but in a poorly insulated 1920 house of about 1600 sq ft.. It does well for this climate. If your house is much better insulated and sealed then the Spectrum should do the job. 3-4 cords per season sounds about right for our climate in this size house.
 
begreen said:
We love Victoria. You live in a beautiful small city on a beautiful HUGE island with a wonderful climate in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. I will be interested to hear how the Spectrum heats the house. Our neighbor has the same stove, but in a poorly insulated 1920 house of about 1600 sq ft.. It does well for this climate. If your house is much better insulated and sealed then the Spectrum should do the job. 3-4 cords per season sounds about right for our climate in this size house.
Click to expand...
Well thank you very much, I love our little city and the island (which I like to call "the independent republic of Vancouver Island"). The house is really well insulated and built (1993 build) but I won't know how great it heats the house until the winter comes again. You even know about the rain shadow here, we get half the rain that Seattle and Vancouver get. People also don't realize that we're actually closer to Seattle then we are to Vancouver. Where exactly are you in WA?
 
begreen said:
We love Victoria. You live in a beautiful small city on a beautiful HUGE island with a wonderful climate in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. I will be interested to hear how the Spectrum heats the house. Our neighbor has the same stove, but in a poorly insulated 1920 house of about 1600 sq ft.. It does well for this climate. If your house is much better insulated and sealed then the Spectrum should do the job. 3-4 cords per season sounds about right for our climate in this size house.
Click to expand...
3-4 cords? That's more than I use in Indiana in a 70's 2200 sq ft ranch! I'm surprised.
 
We're on a much smaller island in South Puget Sound. But also in a rain shadow. We also get half the rain that Seattle gets.
 
webby3650 said:
3-4 cords? That's more than I use in Indiana in a 70's 2200 sq ft ranch! I'm surprised.
Click to expand...
Just a guess, could end up much lower if the house is well insulated. We use 2.5 cords usually to heat an old 2000 sq ft farmhouse with way too many windows. Your wood consumption is low for your area, especially with multiple stoves. Sounds like you have a tight and well insulated house.
 
begreen said:
We're on a much smaller island in South Puget Sound. But also in a rain shadow. We also get half the rain that Seattle gets.
Click to expand...
Very nice, I love island living not that my island is really an island. Its the size of England lol. We boat a lot in that area so I'm sure I passed your island at some point in our travels.
 
begreen said:
Just a guess, could end up much lower if the house is well insulated. We use 2.5 cords usually to heat an old 2000 sq ft farmhouse with way too many windows. Your wood consumption is low for your area, especially with multiple stoves. Sounds like you have a tight and well insulated house.
Click to expand...
We've had 2 harsh winters in a row and I'm yet to use 3 cords. I have typical insulation for its age. I guess I'm doing better than I thought!
 
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