New guy here ready for a stove upgrade and more

Ashful said:

All reports I've seen actually indicate the Hybrid can NOT burn very low. With a firebox that size, it should do 35 hour burn times, if it could.

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It can burn low, just not as long. Its definitely no Blaze King on the low end. However, I have gone away for an entire weekend and came home to enough coals for an easy relight (oak firewood). Mine continues giving off a low heat long after the fire dies. It's usually enough to keep the basement warm. In other words, if I ran a full load and didn't fool with it at all for 24 hours I know it would still be giving off a small amount of heat with enough coals for a reload.

I agree that if you want 20-30 hour low burn times get a Blaze King. If you want 12-14 hour good solid burn times a Blaze King or the Hybrid would both fit the bill. I personally would gain nothing from the low burn of the Blaze King. In mild weather I use my heat pump for a lot less money and effort then scrounging/splitting/handling firewood.

begreen said:

One thing to keep in mind, Woodstock stoves are not convective. They are radiant stoves without a blower option. If moving the heat is important and you want a cat stove, a BK or Buck may be more effective. They are available with a blower option.

I'm not saying the Ideal Steel won't work, but one should know all options. Some of the cat advantages like longer burn time are diminished when heating from a basement and pushing the stove harder in order to have the next floor comfortable.

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I agree they call it a radiant stove, but it has a cat radiator with convection chambers and hollow legs on each side. Not to mention a rear heat shield option. Definitely not the soapstone models.

24vcummns98 said:

I priced out one today. About 2500 or so after shipping. Decisions decisions!

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If $2500 is more than you want to spend right now: The 30NC retails ~$900. You could run it for two or three years then sell it easily for $500+ and then get another stove that you prefer. The 30NC will by then have easily paid for itself in reduced heating cost.

P.S. The new large Englander smartstove is also showing up at retailers now: http://www.lowes.com/pd_669024-76845-50-SHSSW02___?productId=999918850&pl=1&Ntt=wood+stoves Its probably biggest advantage is that it only needs ember protection for a hearth. May not matter to you but maybe to the prospective buyer if you plan on selling it again.

24vcummns98 said:

I see pros in both stoves. The 30 offers that big firebox and moves heat but so does the hybrid. The hybrid is more efficient which does result in the use of less wood. Less wood means less time. Less time means less money. Less money is good.

My thought is I keep the small stove. Put it in the corner of basement. We are planning to build a new place within a year or 2. I bring the hybrid with us and slide the tn19 back in.

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I don't think you can go wrong here. Either one will do you well.

Grisu said:

If $2500 is more than you want to spend right now: The 30NC retails ~$900. You could run it for two or three years then sell it easily for $500+ and then get another stove that you prefer. The 30NC will by then have easily paid for itself in reduced heating cost.

P.S. The new large Englander smartstove is also showing up at retailers now: http://www.lowes.com/pd_669024-76845-50-SHSSW02___?productId=999918850&pl=1&Ntt=wood+stoves Its probably biggest advantage is that it only needs ember protection for a hearth. May not matter to you but maybe to the prospective buyer if you plan on selling it again.

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Does that summers heat stove have a timer on the start up control like Quadra-Fire?

You will NOT succeed in heating a masonry cave with a radiant stove. I have 40 cords of burned wood in the past 4 years, as proof of that point. If you're in a room with exposed masonry, convection is your only option.

I remember you're putting the stove in the basement, but don't know your wall/floor construction.

24vcummns98 said:

The only exposed wall is directly behind the stove. All other walls are insulated. Floor is standard slab basement flooring.

Help me understand the difference in the stoves. Radiant and convection. Recommendation on models?

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All stoves heat your home thru two mechanisms, radiation and convection. Stoves which have a single outer jacket generally do most of their heating via radiation, in which objects in the direct line-of-sight path of the stove are heated (radiated). Being the low-mass object in the room, the air just naturally assumes the temperature of the largest objects in the room, without the aid of a convective source.

We're all used to feeling directly radiant heat, when we move from shadow to bright sun on a cold day. You can feel hot, even tho it's cold out.

Convective stoves, on the other hand, are usually equipped with a double jacket or convection deck, thru which air flows and carries heat off the stove. This double jacket really cuts down on the radiant heat coming off the stove, so less of your BTU's go toward trying to heat objects, and more goes directly into the air.

In the case where the high-mass objects in the room are masonry walls directly heat sunk to the outside air or soil, all energy radiated into those walls is pretty much directly lost. In your case, you want to avoid any stove that radiates a lot of heat off the back wall, such as any downdraft or "Firedome" stove. I suspect the woodstock stoves also radiate a lot of heat off the back.

Convective stoves are generally easy to spot. They're almost invariably a steel box with a convection deck or cast iron panels hung on the outside. The BK Ashford is a convective stove, as I believe are most of the Pacific Energy T-series.

Check out the file I attached about basements. If your walls are insulated it is not as critical radiant vs convective.

Another thought is you might enjoy radiant heat more when you move and have the stove on the main level. I provided a random YouTube video I found with a simple explanation of radiant vs convective.

You can also make a radiant stove into a convective one by installing ventilated wall shields around it. Those won't reduce clearances (unless the manufacturer states so in the manual) but the radiant heat will hit the shield which will transfer the heat to the air that will flow upwards behind it. In a convective stove those heat shields are already built in.

I agree about the sale prices. It's going to cost about the same either way. I shouldn't tell you this , but when I ordered mine prior to production 1 1/2 years ago I only paid $2200 for the works package. It seems their prices have crept up slightly. The basic version is still a steal coming in at $1925. That's a lot of stove for under $2000.

Heating a uninsulated basement and the three rooms above it here. with a TN19.

Dry(er) soil immediately outside the concrete wall will insulate better than wet soil so every effort you make to get roof and rain water away from your house the less heat will get wicked away.
My previous home I put in dry wells to recharge the rain water 30 feet away and one side of the house downhill and I was able to stop running the dehumidifier and the basement stayed warmer all Winter. Losing the dehumidifier and running the electric heat in the one berdroom less knocked a good chunk off the electric bill.

24vcummns98 said:

How many square feet? Average temperature?

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room 1-15x16
room 2- 12x20
room 3- 14x20
there are three bedrooms, a hallway and a bathroom after room 3
The stove is directly under room 2
There are pocket doors between 1 and 2 and folding glass doors between 2 and 3 and wide glass french doors between room 3 and the balance of the house.

room 1and 2 are easily kept 72 - 75 by opening /closing the door at the end of room 3, room 3 usually about 5 degrees lower. When that door is closed the oil boiler takes over those zones.
When it gets real cold the door between 2 and 3 can be closed but it gets a bit warm in room 1 and 2. It will get closed at night with the boiler taking over that zone as a 2 cu ft wood stove isn't putting out a lot of heat any more at 7 AM if it was loaded at 10PM.

If the power were to go out we could close the door between room 1 and 2 and not heat it at all and try to keep the rest of the house warm.

Probably could upgrade to a larger wood stove if we wanted to use even less oil for heating. We figure we've cut the oil use in half and keeping that end of the house quite a bit warmer.