Where to put the stove?

Wow the forum looks much different from the last time I was here!

I am getting a different house to live in so I am now in the market for a new stove. The house will be in North East Oklahoma which means the winters are rather unpredictable but generally not that bad.

The house is rated as Zone 3 for whatever that is worth.

The house will be sitting in a rather open area with not much wind break from any direction. The back porch in the top of the picture will be facing North. I am wondering if it would be a good idea to set a stove in the left hand living room against the center line wall or in the dining area, also against the center wall. The main differences in the two places is the proximity to the furnace on the left and to the right is where I suspect most of our time will be spent. With this layout I expect I will have to use the central heat as well as the stove.

I really have no idea how the stove will play with the central heat which makes me wonder where would be the best place to put the stove.

I am also open as to what type of stove to get (cast iron vs. soap stone vs. whatever else). I like the idea of soap stone, but I have noticed that there is quite a bit of discussion about the different kinds of heat put out by different stoves. I am also open to any ideas in that matter as well.

Any Ideas?

begreen said:

Long narrow homes like this are a bit of a challenge to heat or cool evenly. The far end of the house away from the stove will get the least amount of heat, especially if it is closed off by a door. The most heated area location for the stove would be in the living room. This is where the most open areas are and MBdrm + 2nd BR will also benefit. That will cover the right side 2/3ds of the house well. Circulation to the far left of the house will need to be assisted with a ducted system or by using the fan on the furnace.

If the choice is to put the stove in the family room, then a ducted air recirculation system with the return located at the far end of the house (in MBR) will be needed. 60-70 ft is a long duct run so it is important that the ducting be very well insulated and oversized to compensate for friction loss. The recirc system would pull cooler air from the MBR end of the house and blow it into the stove room.

Q: Is there a basement or a crawlspace under the house?

Note that the furnace return air vent needs to be at least 10ft away from the stove location to satisfy mechanical code.

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No basement, this is basically just a trailer house and as for a crawl space - the metal trailer frame will be about 2 1/2 cement blocks off the ground.

I was not aware of the 10 foot mechanical code so thanks for that bit of information! That rules out placing the stove to the left of the foyer area. This make me inclined to place the stove in the dining area against the center wall. I am thinking this will be better since my family would tend to spend more time in the kitchen/living room area. That location also does not have carpet on the floor making clean up and wood handling much easier.

As for the ducting, I am a bit confused. This house has an overhead duct system and it appears to have return (recirc) vents located in the ceilings of each major room. Each of the supposed return vents are a certain distance away from a supposed "dump" vent. There is a difference with the registers of these two vents. The ones I assume are dump vents have little tabs that allow you to adjust or close off air flow while the other vents have no apparent means of adjustment. According to the manufacturer ...

If you choose overhead ducts, we recommend and use R-8 ducting in conjunction with mixing boxes. It is important that your ducts are sealed with mastic and taped to eliminate leakage. With our minimum standard R-30 in the roof, a sealed top plate and radiant heat barrier roof decking, ...

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http://www.deervalleyhb.com/why-deer-valley.html

With this I am guessing that the R8 insulated ducts are burred under the R30? R8 does not seem like much. In any case I have no idea about how the airflow travels in this house. If anybody has any experience on that please chime in.

And now for my next question. I read bits and pieces about different types of heat emitted from different types of stoves. The local stove sales people around here are totally oblivious to the concept since most of them seem to be reformed used-car-lot people. It is almost an embarrassment to the trade. I am only certain that I don't want a barrel stove in a new house.

Is this a good application for a soap stone stove or will I be just as well off with a cast iron stove?

I like this proposed idea so far. I will have a better grasp on the matter after we get the house and ourselves moved in. As for the choice of stoves, there are many things I like about the PE T6, but I suspect my wife will be smitten by the Mansfield in brown enamel. Both stoves have a well proven track record. On the other hand this Woodstock Progress Hybrid has me very interested. I have never seen this one and it seems to combine the best features of the Mansfield and T6. While I used to shy away from Cat stoves this one is quite a different thing plus it is very attractive. I'm going to have to study it more. Thanks very much!