New house....to use old stove or not

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Saltylady

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Jun 21, 2011
11
Eastern Shore of MD
The new house is really tight.....blown insulation in attic and crawl space. Hybrid heat system and it's like 2,000 sq. ft. Nothing like the house we are renting at the moment. Old farm house and drafty! So.....should we move our 1980 kodiak double door stove with top vent or get something different? Again, house is tight and we won't have the draftiness like this house. What stove would work best for us? Will have thru-wall pipe install by the way. Love to hear your thoughts!

P.s. Hoping to find a manual or installation spec for the old stove also.....without that we cannot use in new house.

Jaime O.
 
Definitely get something cleaner burning and sized appropriately for the house and heat load. What is the current hybrid heat system design and what is its heating capacity in btus?
 
Regardless of the new house: Maybe after 35 years it is time to retire the old stove and get a new one anyway?

For a well insulated house a catalytic stove would be best. It allows a better control of the heat output while giving you long burn times. BlazeKing and Woodstock make very good cat stoves. Since your new home seems airtight, consider adding an outside air kit (OAK) to the stove. That will help with draft and is more energy efficient.

For any new stove, make sure to have plenty of dry wood with an internal moisture content of less than 20% at hand.
 
My opinion would be leave the old stove alone. If I was to get a new stove it would be a bk stove.
 
Jaime, sell the old kodiak on CL this fall, someone will buy it to put in their garage or workshop.

As for the new house, we will need more info on what you are looking to do, are you wanting to burn 24/7? Are you looking for just occasional ambience and an emergency backup heating solution?
 
Thanks for the comments. Have a minute to reply (3 kids keep me busy). Its a 4 ton 15 SEER 2 speed Bryant heat pump condenser unit wth 100,000 btu gas backup. House design is of an old farmhouse....."L" shaped.

Husband has already cut wood for next year.....lots of it. Should be seasoned by the time we will burn. Would like to burn all the time if I stay home but right now working full time and gone all day (6:30,am to 6pm). Goal is to help reduce heat cost.
 
If you have the budget I would consider the Blaze King Ashford 30. It is a large catalytic stove with thermostatic control and a good heater. In non-cat I would consider the Jotul F500 or F600 (side loaders), or the cast-clad F50 or F55. In Hearthstone consider the Manchester.
 
How much are you willing to spend on a new stove?
 
Haven't really considered a budget. Talked to the husband last night and it seems that he is set on having the Kodiak installed. We shall see what happens. I am going to keep this thread handy for when, or if, we have to switch out stoves. I was on maternity leave for 9 weeks during the early part of this past winter and just enjoyed how steady the Kodiak burned. Takes like 20 some inch logs - like logs that were just odd shaped and what not. I really enjoy that old stove too and want to try to burn it and see what happens. I attached a pic of the first floor. Made some changes (no wall between kitchen and sunroom). Stove would be placed inbetween the two windows in the den/office.
 

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The problem with first installing the Kodiak and later another stove will be that you will invest in an 8" flue but most newer stoves use a 6" one. That's quite a few $ that will be wasted. Other advantages of a newer stove:

- higher efficiency, likely saving you 30% to 50% in wood consumption
- lower clearances
- longer burn times, especially for the catalytic stoves already mentioned
- UL-listed (which your stove may not be; is there a tag?) making your insurance company happy
- nice fireview
- lower emissions (to make your neighbors happy)
- many models outside air capable for better draft and slightly higher efficiency

The layout does not look too bad. A stove placed in the living room has a good chance of heating most of the 1st floor and some heat could travel up the stairs.
 
Grisu - your absolutely right on all those points. I feel that we need to upgrade wood stoves but my husband thinks otherwise. I will support him but in the end - if we don't get the information we need to install the Kodiak then we will need to go in another direction. Now if we do install the 8 inch pipe (which is more $$$).......would that be a bad thing if we had to change stoves and could we still use the 8 inch pipe on something that has a 6 inch flu? and nope.....no UL-listing. That is another item I have mentioned to my husband......insurance - will the insurance company actually insure the house with the Kodiak......will touch base with him on all aspects but in a tactful manor. You know - men have their heart set on something.....need to be supportive but somehow bring up all the facts they might be missing considering :)

We are also in the middle of our cow farm so no neighbors to bother.

Edited - we have a soon to be 8 month old, soon to be 3 year old and a 6 year old.....I really don't want the living room to have the woodstove since it will be a high traffic area. Den will be easier to gate off (and install a barrier around the woodstove too). Need a safe place for children to play while keeping an eye on them, say if I am in the kitchen cooking or cleaning up as it seems I am always doing one or the other when home.
 
Saltylady said:
Edited - we have a soon to be 8 month old, soon to be 3 year old and a 6 year old.....I really don't want the living room to have the woodstove since it will be a high traffic area. Den will be easier to gate off (and install a barrier around the woodstove too). Need a safe place for children to play while keeping an eye on them, say if I am in the kitchen cooking or cleaning up as it seems I am always doing one or the other when home.
Click to expand...
I honestly think to much is made of this. I grew up with a wood stove in the house and my kids are growing up around mine and my fathers. And none of us ever touched a stove at least as a kid. I have burnt myself on more than one stove as an adult working on and around them all day. I honestly have not heard of a kid touching one. They are hot enough that kids feel the heat long before they get close enough to touch it. I am not telling you you should not gat e it off if that is what makes you comfortable but i really don't think it is as much of an issue as many make it.
 
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Depends on the height of the chimney really, most 6" stoves will not burn properly on an 8" liner (draft issues).

If you go with the 8" you will still have some choices like the BK King and the Kuma Sequoia and the Buck 91, they are bigger stoves but can be run lower due to being catalytic.
 
The living room is a better location. We never did anything special for our kids. Simple warnings of "Owee, and hurt" at a young age sufficed. Maybe put it in the corner of the room to be out of traffic.
 
I put my stove in a our living room when my daughter was only 2-3 months old. She never had any intrest in touching it at all. You are opposite than my wife I want a new stove badly and I want either a princess insert to replace my current cape cod or an ashford as a second stove in our rec room downstairs, but she keeps saying that the one we have is good enough.
 
Saltylady said:
Grisu - your absolutely right on all those points. I feel that we need to upgrade wood stoves but my husband thinks otherwise. I will support him but in the end - if we don't get the information we need to install the Kodiak then we will need to go in another direction. Now if we do install the 8 inch pipe (which is more $$$).......would that be a bad thing if we had to change stoves and could we still use the 8 inch pipe on something that has a 6 inch flu? and nope.....no UL-listing. That is another item I have mentioned to my husband......insurance - will the insurance company actually insure the house with the Kodiak......will touch base with him on all aspects but in a tactful manor. You know - men have their heart set on something.....need to be supportive but somehow bring up all the facts they might be missing considering :)

We are also in the middle of our cow farm so no neighbors to bother.

Edited - we have a soon to be 8 month old, soon to be 3 year old and a 6 year old.....I really don't want the living room to have the woodstove since it will be a high traffic area. Den will be easier to gate off (and install a barrier around the woodstove too). Need a safe place for children to play while keeping an eye on them, say if I am in the kitchen cooking or cleaning up as it seems I am always doing one or the other when home.
Click to expand...

Running a 6" stove on an 8" flue will be tough. Your draft will be weak and you may waste heat up the flue.
Regarding the unlisted stove: You will probably find an insurance but you may have less of a choice and potentially pay higher premiums at the end.

Would your hubby be up to at least look at some stoves? Maybe seeing some nice new models with a fire in it and talking to a (hopefully) knowledgeable salesman will change his mind. And how much does he like splitting and stacking wood? Having to process one to two cords less each winter may be another incentive.

For your kids: In the long run, I am sure you will be much happier having the stove in the main living area. There are hearth gates available that you can use to wall off the stove for a few years until the kids are old enough. But I second the other posts here: My kids were always very respectful of the stove. A slightly raised hearth may already be enough of a deterrent.
 
Closest place to see a good amount of stoves in person here on the Eastern Shore with decent people to talk to is up in Dover at Bylers.

They will try and push you towards a non-catalytic stove, no stove shop I have been to around here has catalytic stoves on the floor, always been a dream of mine to open a stove shop here in Salisbury, maybe one day.
 
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Now would be a great time to upgrade; You'll be glad you did. 6" chimney is cheaper, and vastly increases your options in the size stove you need to heat your new place. You'll burn way less wood with much longer burns, will have virtually no smoke out the stack, and with a window you can tell at a glance what the stove is doing. For me, going back to my old, window-less stove would be like trying to drive my car while blind-folded. ;lol With a jacketed stove like the F-series Jotuls begreen mentioned, the Alderleas, Enviro etc, you'll get great looks and even heat output. A cat stove will give you 10-12 hr. burns in your climate, if you want to go that route. Even a value-oriented plate-steel tube stove like the Enerzone will be a vast improvement over the old smoke-bomber. I say go for it. ==c And keep stacking split wood in the wind. The drier, the better, no matter what stove you're using. Dense woods that are split now should be saved for future years, especially Oak; It's one of the slowest-drying species. Soft Maple, Cherry, and other lighter woods will dry quicker. Though they don't have quite the burn time, they'll yield better performance this coming winter.
 
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Well thank you guys for all of your thoughts!!!!! I have gotten my husband to put a stop to the woodstove project with the Kodiak. With the little bits of information I have been feeding him here and there.....he finally understood after thinking about it. We are going to get moved in....settled....see how the new heat system works out and make a plan for a newer stove later down in time. Byler's in Dover is a great place to get what we need.....used them before. Maybe the Den will be scratched off our list. We want to be able to enjoy the stove as well as feel the heat and if it's in that room - won't work out as well. Currently, the Kodiak is in the big ole farmhouse kitchen where we are at so enjoying the looks/heat has been nice. I even bought the fisher feet for it......sad she will be sitting in our hay barn under a cover of some sort until she has a new spot......maybe a new pole building will house her when we get the funds for one.
 
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Sounds like a good plan. The stove will be a focal point of the room. It's best to plan well. Make a mockup out of cardboard and try it out for a few days to see how you like it in various locations. In our house that ended up being a corner install in the living room. This required reversing the room layout from the way we had it for the first 11 yrs living in the house. Now it all seems quite natural and has worked out well.
 
We keep multiple stoves going 24/7, and have two kids, ages 5 and 2. They've never been an issue around the stoves, and one is right in their primary play area. Every situation and kid is different, so I'm just giving you my experience, not telling you what you should do. In our case, just telling the kids to stay away from it as soon as they were old enough to be mobile, was sufficient. They feel the searing heat coming off the thing when they get less than a few feet away, and instinctively back up pretty quick.
 
That would be awesome, bylers kinda blew me off as I wondered through the show room and asked some questions. Like they didn't have time for me. Easton just opened a little stove shop, regency dealer I do believe. I haven't had the opportunity to slip in there yet, and Cambridge McCreadys hearth and home.
mellow said:
Closest place to see a good amount of stoves in person here on the Eastern Shore with decent people to talk to is up in Dover at Bylers.

They will try and push you towards a non-catalytic stove, no stove shop I have been to around here has catalytic stoves on the floor, always been a dream of mine to open a stove shop here in Salisbury, maybe one day.
Click to expand...
 
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