We have the opportunity to purchase an Avalon olympic free standing stove for practically free. Our house is only 1700sq and the manufacture says it heats 1,500sq ft to 2,500sq ft. Will it be ok to burn smaller fires in it to reduce heat output? Or will we just be cooked out of our house?
will I be cooked out of my house?
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spencer186
New Member
Building smaller fires is fine. Limiting the fuel is how you control the heat output from essentially anthying that combusts. Just like the thermostat for your furnace. Now you are the thermostat. Too hot? less fuel. Too cold? More fuel. Your better off getting something biggerthan you need than smaller. You can always put less fuel, but if your stove is only so big, theres a limit to what you can feed it.
The stove is an area heater. It will probably be alright, unless this is going to be located in a closed off room. Can you describe the area that the stove will be placed in and a bit more about the house? How many floors? Open or closed floorplan?
spencer186 said:
Anything but a wood stove.
Airtight cordwood stoves are designed as air-limiting devices, not fuel-limiting. Fuel-limiting works in the shoulder seasons, but is a major PITA for a 24/7 burner. The whole idea is to size the stove for the heating requirements and then use it by filling it and forgetting it until time for reload. Heat output is somewhat adjustable by controlling the intake air, but a stove works best when charged with a load appropriate for the design. A stove that's a little bit too big is OK, one that's a lot too big is not.
But if you want to be a full-time thermostat, maybe it doesn't matter. ;-)
BrowningBAR
Minister of Fire
BrowningBAR said:
Well, why don't your replace both of your smaller VCs with Defiants? One size fits all. ;-)
BrowningBAR
Minister of Fire
Battenkiller said:
Three things:
1. If I could fit a Firview in the spot that the Intrepid occupies, a Fireview would be their right now. In fact when the Intrepid is replaced it will be with a Rockland, unless I can find a free standing stove in the 55k BTU range that will fit in it's spot.
2. When I replace the Vigilant it will be with something like the new Woodstock stove. Something in the 65-75k BTU range with long burn times.
3. If I liked the look of steel stoves and had the opportunity to get an Avalon Olympic for 'nearly free' it would replace the Vigilant or the Heritage in a heart beat.
That may work for you, but not for someone sticking one in a small living room. My point is, why do they make small stoves if big ones are always better choices?
After one season with the Vigilant in my basement, I'm pretty damn sure I would never put one in my living room. My living room is just about Jotul F100 size. And I wouldn't "upgrade" to a Defiant in my basement, even if it was free. 95% of the winter, we were at 72º throughout the house. The other 5% of the time we wore sweaters. Why would I want a bigger stove? This one's a perfect match for my situation.
I had a good friend who put a Defiant in his living room. He was a very experienced wood burner, but he said it was a big mistake. No matter how little wood he put in it, it always drove him out of the room except in the dead of winter. Once he got a coal bed established, even one split would get the room so hot he had to shut the air almost all the way. Then he had creosote problems. I used to work for the guy and I can honestly say I never once saw him fill it up and get it cranking. Most of the time it was in fireplace mode.
In my experience, a smaller fire in a big stove still puts out big stove heat... just not for very long. I can hit 650ºF stove top temps on my Vig with three small splits of cherry. Just how small can you go with a fire and get it to burn for more than an hour or two?
Yes, you can burn a tiny fire in a huge box, but it's hardly an elegant way to heat your space doing that all the time. I vote for careful planning, proper sizing, and air-limited burning of normal size loads (1/2 - 3/4 full).
After one season with the Vigilant in my basement, I'm pretty damn sure I would never put one in my living room. My living room is just about Jotul F100 size. And I wouldn't "upgrade" to a Defiant in my basement, even if it was free. 95% of the winter, we were at 72º throughout the house. The other 5% of the time we wore sweaters. Why would I want a bigger stove? This one's a perfect match for my situation.
I had a good friend who put a Defiant in his living room. He was a very experienced wood burner, but he said it was a big mistake. No matter how little wood he put in it, it always drove him out of the room except in the dead of winter. Once he got a coal bed established, even one split would get the room so hot he had to shut the air almost all the way. Then he had creosote problems. I used to work for the guy and I can honestly say I never once saw him fill it up and get it cranking. Most of the time it was in fireplace mode.
In my experience, a smaller fire in a big stove still puts out big stove heat... just not for very long. I can hit 650ºF stove top temps on my Vig with three small splits of cherry. Just how small can you go with a fire and get it to burn for more than an hour or two?
Yes, you can burn a tiny fire in a huge box, but it's hardly an elegant way to heat your space doing that all the time. I vote for careful planning, proper sizing, and air-limited burning of normal size loads (1/2 - 3/4 full).
BrowningBAR
Minister of Fire
Battenkiller said:
I am only dealing with less than 2,200 sq ft.
And just because you can get the stove to 650 with a few small splits doesn't mean you have to run it that hot. With good wood I run the Vigilant at 400 without the fan during shoulder season. Sure, I can get it up to 650 if I wanted to, but why do it? With a newer stove and a larger firebox I would burn less wood and get longer burn times.
battenkiller you said it just a little bigger, not a monsta. sounds like the avalon will be just right for ejevans22 house size. now the layout of the house and where the stove will be located is a different story.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
ejevans22 said:
EJ, welcome to the forum.
Being cooked out of the house is usually a last concern. Most of the time they only time it will cook you out is spring and fall. Those times you just build smaller fires. The key is burn smaller fires hot, that is, with most stoves. Some stoves, like the Fireview do not need to burn hot to work right. With the cat we can dial the stoves down a lot and still get clean burns. For example, this morning when I got up I realized we were in for a nice sunny day and the forecast says 55 this afternoon. So, I opened the stove door and put in 2 small splits. No more will be added until tonight.
I just got up to look and the stove top temperature is 420 degrees. No fans are running and it is comfortable in the house. The coals will still be there tonight to start a fire back up. It is nice.
But I would say with your place you more than likely won't be cooked out unless you have the stove in a small room and not good air circulation in the house. It also depends upon the windows and insulation, etc. For circulating the air, don't try to blow the warm air to other rooms. This is the time to do things backwards. Use a small fan set on low speed on the floor and blow the cool air into the warm stove room. That will get the warm air to the rear of the house rather nicely. It sounds backwards, but it works.
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
BrowningBAR said:
Bingo. And with good combustion control, you get very long burn times without ever cooking yourself out of the house.
thanks guys. helps allot.
to give you more of an idea of my lay out: the living room which is were i will be putting it ( in the corner of the room ) only has one big opening going into the dining room. than to the right....... ill just take a pic.
the one pic is from the corner were the stove will be looking into the dining room and kitchen. the other pic is looking from the dining room into the living room corner were the stove will be.
hope the pics show.
to give you more of an idea of my lay out: the living room which is were i will be putting it ( in the corner of the room ) only has one big opening going into the dining room. than to the right....... ill just take a pic.
the one pic is from the corner were the stove will be looking into the dining room and kitchen. the other pic is looking from the dining room into the living room corner were the stove will be.
hope the pics show.
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The living room doesn't look very large, maybe 16' x 14' or about 224 sq ft? If so, the big doorway will help, but the living room will get much warmer than the rest of the house. A fan blowing cool air from the rest of the house into the living room will help a lot. But I think I would pass on the Olympic for two reasons. Size and location. The stove will be quite close to the window trim. (Curtain will have to go). It looks like you will need a corner stove with very close corner clearances and/or a shallow design. IMO, it may be better to look at a jacketed steel stove in the 2 cu ft range to reduce visual size, heat output and improve clearances. Or perhaps look to installing the Olympic in a larger common area of the house?
FWIW, a Jotul Castine would look great in that area. But if budget is tight, maybe a mid-sized Napoleon?
FWIW, a Jotul Castine would look great in that area. But if budget is tight, maybe a mid-sized Napoleon?
ejevans22 said:
hey ejevans22
if that is the location next to the sofa where the torch lamp is, you are going to have clearance problems. you will need alot of space around the stove so that there is no house fire problems. does the avalon have any heat shield options?
Being a convection stove, the clearances for the Avalons are pretty good. According to their website, you only need 10" from the corner of the stove to the walls, and 17 1/4" from the pipe to the wall.
The Olympic is a physically large stove. It has a large footprint, especially for a small room. It's corner clearances are large as compared to 4" for a Napoleon 1400 and Quad 3100 or the PE T5 @ 3".
RIDGERUNNER30
Member
Hey ejevan welcome to the forum, I think you will be ok with the stove , heat rises and with the big door opening and the staircase close by alot the heat will be able to travel, like some one else said build smaller fires and you can control the output of your stove, If you can get the stove for almost free take it man, those brand of wood stoves are not cheap.
btuser
Minister of Fire
Right now you're probably comfortable in you home at a touch over 68 degrees. Right now in my house everyone is huddled up in the stove room with blankets and it must be 80 degrees. It only has to look cold outside and my wife is asking: "Where's the fire?".
I wouldn't worry about overheating. The fan is going to give you major control over how much heat you pull out of the firebox. A major difference during the 2nd season was dry wood was easier to control.
I wouldn't worry about overheating. The fan is going to give you major control over how much heat you pull out of the firebox. A major difference during the 2nd season was dry wood was easier to control.
thanks guys for taking the time to help me out. this is a great place.
when i first decided to get a wood stove i wanted to go with the napoleon 1100c. the only reason why its not in my living room right now is the firebox size and the heat out put (even though it says it give off up to 1,800 sq ft.) but other than that.... the clearence is perfect, looks great, and herd good things about it, and doesn't cost that much ( about $1,300)
when i first decided to get a wood stove i wanted to go with the napoleon 1100c. the only reason why its not in my living room right now is the firebox size and the heat out put (even though it says it give off up to 1,800 sq ft.) but other than that.... the clearence is perfect, looks great, and herd good things about it, and doesn't cost that much ( about $1,300)
What do y'all think of an Esse Ironheart or Margin Flameview woodburning cookstove in a no-partition 21' x 24' living area with a partial second floor?
The Ironheat firebox is 12" x 18" x 18" and the Margin 12" x 22" x 18". Too big?
The Ironheat firebox is 12" x 18" x 18" and the Margin 12" x 22" x 18". Too big?
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