Can one stove heat a three-story house?

I heat about 3000 sq ft (two story house with unfinished basement) to about 70 deg with no issues.

The concern is more about getting the heat from the room where your stove is into the rest of the house. In my case, I have a fan that pulls air past the fireplace and into the cold air return, then I just run the furnace fan. Also have a pretty open floor plan.

So yes, it is possible to do, but it can be fairly easy or more difficult, depending on your specific circumstances.

I think a BK is a better option for that type of house, you don't want the first floor 90, once you figure out how to move the heat where you want you can cruise the stove.

No matter how much of a stove expert someone is, they don't know how good your windows are, how much insulation you have, whether your have tracked down and sealed all the gaps and cracks houses have.... and how much heat you need depends on all these things.

How well the heat gets to the far reaches of the house depends on layout and air flow.

Based on what you've said, any stove will work for the first floor, no stove will work for the second floor unless you keep all the doors open, and can't tell about the third floor without more info.

I'd suggest the BK over the NC30 every time if you have the money. The ability to go very low and slow in warmer weather is really nice, and you don't have to worry about going too big with the stove since you can just turn it down any time during the burn.

stove on first floor trying heat 2 more above - not a good idea. just the cold air drafts down the stairs are going to make the first floor miserable. unless the are doors that can be closed off.

bucko158 said:

Sorry if this post is breaking the rules. I tried to find out this information on the board and wasn't able to. If it has already been discussed in another thread a simple link would help.

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No broken rules...
It is a common question, though, and the reason it's often asked is that no two situations are alike, so you get all kinds of answers. You are in the right place however.

Three stories will be tough. You have to get the warmer air from below to circulate up and around. Yes, warmer air rises because it's less dense, but you have to have the means for it to circulate around. Don't expect the upper floors to be as warm as the stove level, though. Do you have a floor plan that you can post?

It's often said that wood stoves are basically space heaters which is true, but there are ways to help depending on the house plan. Some try to use a forced-air furnace blower with varying degrees of success, but it's not usually a great solution.

There are past threads on the subject. Keep searching them for other ideas and keep asking questions on this one too.

bucko158 said:

Based on what I am reading I am not sure if it makes more sense to go with a BK or just an NC30? To try and heat all three floors will I need to just run it hot all time anyway?

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In my opinion i would not try to heat a 3 story house with an NC-30. I have 2 of them in other locations and while they are good stoves ,i dont think they are up to that particular challenge. Perhaps if they were a little bigger. On the BK the long burn times might not benefit you as that comes with a lower heat output per hour so may not work in a high demand situation.

I have a 3 story house and yes i can heat it with my Harman TL-300 in the 1st floor. I have to move a lot of air but it can be done. Its about 1000 Sq ft on each floor. I have to over heat the basement to get the temps up to accepable levels on the second and third floors but it can be done.
Average temps per floor in winter are Basement stove room 90+ Basement Rec room 80+, 2nd floor 75, 3rd floor 68-70 .I v never tried it without 2 big fans going but im sure it would not work near as well.

Just be aware that most of the stove's output will be going to the first floor and less to the second. You could easily overdo the size stove. Three cf is a lot of stove for that kind of square footage and will depend on other factors like the home's insulation and climate and your comfort zone.

bucko158 said:

Thanks for the insight. I am thinking of trying it with some fans to move the heat.

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I use those squirrel cage commercial fans like the ones they use to dry carpet. Blow the hot air up through floor registers in the 2nd floor floor. Heat goes up th stairway only to the 3rd floor.

Sprinter said:

Just be aware that most of the stove's output will be going to the first floor and less to the second. You could easily overdo the size stove. Three cf is a lot of stove for that kind of square footage and will depend on other factors like the home's insulation and climate.

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All true but if you are trying to heat 3 floors you will need 3CF plus. Even my NC-30 which is 3CF wont heat 3 floors, unless you have above average insulation IMO.

Seasoned Oak said:

I use those squirrel cage commercial fans like the ones they use to dry carpet. Blow the hot air up through floor registers in the 2nd floor floor. Heat goes up th stairway only to the 3rd floor.

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Does this work well for you? I've heard mixed reviews about using existing central duct. But I think most of the negative comments I've heard are when uninsulated duct under the house is used. It would seem that if all the duct is in the house, it would have a good chance of working.

Wood furnace's aren't for everyone, but in cases where you want even heat throughout the home, a woodfurnace would accomplish it. Do you have ductwork in place for each floor? Just something to consider.

bucko158 said:

Thanks for the idea but one of my main reasons for wanting a stove is to sit, read and watch and the fire.

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Check out the drolet tundra:

If I had to do it all over again, I would probably get a wood furnace and hook it up to the duct work. I have a blower on my fireplace now that blows into the cold air return and it doesn't do crap in terms of spreading the heat around. Running the furnace fan just pushes room temp air out of the registers. Mainly because the cold air return pulls air from too many other sources.

The only value I get from the blower is that it pulls all the cold air from other parts of the house into the living room, to keep the living room from getting too warm.

I do like looking at the fire, but it's not a very effective way to evenly heat my home.

bucko158 said:

It is a 2040 sq ft home with two about 800 sq ft on the first and second floor and another 500 on the third floor.

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First off, sq ft is a 2 dimensional measurement. Square feet may be how you buy and sell a house, but you heat a volume of air in a house, not a 2 dimensional floor space.

For example, sq ft is fine if all your rooms are build "to standard", but it breaks down as a measure if you have a cathedral ceiling, which would be quite a difference in air space to heat if you have a tall ceiling than if not. Also it says nothing about the insulation of the space you are heating.

To best guesstimate the size of a stove to heat volume, use a calculator that includes the height (i.e. volume) and a generic measure of insulation of the rooms you have to heat, like:

http://www.woodburners.com/faqs/stove-selector-tool.html

And as others already said, air is ridiculously slow as diffusion. Even a wall, and with the door open, can cause a temperature difference as much as 10°F/5°C in our house without forced air movement. You need to move the air around. See this page for ideas:

http://woodheat.org/move-heat-around.html