Small insert advice

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RielTime

Member
Oct 15, 2006
11
NorthWest, NJ
I live in a raised ranch and plan on installing an insert in my family room on the ground floor. The family room measurements are 19' X 12' with the fireplace on a 12' wall. On the other end on the room there is a 60" X 82" opening that leads to a hallway and stairwell going up. We plan on using our family room and am concerned about blowing it out with heat though I would like the heat to get upstairs and to do that, it needs to cross my 19' room first.

I have a couple of dealers near by and looked around and came up with these options.

Hampton HI200: The firebox seems very small and am concerned about the convenience of getting large logs into it. Also the surround does not quite make my fire place opening so an extension would be needed.

Jotul C350: Almost the same situation with the Hampton HI200 though I'm not sure how the heat output compares.

Jotul C450: This one looks like it would fit nicely and firebox looks adequate. My only concern is that it would be too much for the room. Is there a way to burn a cooler fire if desired. Perhaps turning off the fans would help.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...................... Tom
 
Small fires are the best way to avoid overheating the room.

Shutting off the blower will work too; you'll get some radiant heat but most of the heat will be escaping up the flue. In doing this you're using your fuel but not getting the full benefit. In my opinion that is no better than opening a window (which I have had to do on a few occasions when I misjudged the amount of heat I needed). Both waste wood.
 
Tom, Our c450 is in a basement rec room about the size of your family room. We have an open stairway that opens into the kitchen at the opposite end of the house. All in all we extremely happy with how this stove heats our house without running us out of the family room. The fan even on low seems to keep the air moving nicely. There have been a couple of times when it was not really cold that I have kind of over done it but you can generally keep the fires smaller to overcome this. When it is really cold out and you need the heat you can let her rip and she heats the house nicely.
 
Tom, there's a saying around here and it is "you can make a smaller fire in a larger box, but you can't make a larger fire in a smaller box". It's usually better to have alittle bit more power in your arsenal than less.

A house layout (rough is fine) would probably help here.

Welcome to the forums !!
 
Thanks all for your input and the welcome. I was kind of hoping that you would suggest the larger stove as it what I would really prefer. I guess I'll need to learn how to work it to my liking. If anyone knows a way to to provide a layout, please let me know.

With that being said and with you limited knowledge of my situation, would the Hampton HI300 be overkill?

As always, thanks................................................ Tom
 
Can you draw it out on paper and then scan? If not, paint works, I think.
 
Thanks, I'll see if I can arrange it tomorrow.

Couple of questions; in your opinion does the Hampton HI300 going to produce more heat than the Jotul C450 similarly loaded?

The wife likes the look of the HI300 and it costs a few bucks less.
 
This is not a time to worry about a couple of hundred bucks.

Avroc found a program, lemme page him :)
 
The HI300 has a bit larger firebox, so if pushed it may put out more heat. However, that does not mean the stove needs to be pushed. Both the Jotul C450 and HI300 are good heaters and well made. You would do well with either choice.

Where are you located, can you add that to your info?

With your setup, you may get quite good results by placing a fan on the floor at the foot of the stairway pointing - towards - the family room with the insert. This will have two benefits. It will assist natural convection returning cold air to the heat source and it will keep the temps in the stove room moderate.
 
Thanks again, I've included my location into my info. I'm in northwest NJ.

Are you saying that pointing a fan towards the insert from outside the room would actually benefit the upstairs heating? I was trying to think of a way to draw the heat from the insert room to feed the upstairs.
 
Yep. It will make a nice difference. The fan will assist the natural convective river of air coming down the stairs heading to the stove room to be warmed up and then travel back up the stair as heated air. It sounds counter-intuitive, but try it. Many of us have and it works well. It's a lot easier to assist nature than to work against it.
 
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