Wood Stove Choice for split level house

Ah, the ventilation.........I live in a similar home. WE chose to put the wood stove on the main floor (middle) and utilize the blower in our forced hot air furnace system for balancing out the heat. It doesn't do a TERRIFIC job, but it does help. We manage to see temps in the basement that stay around 65ºF doing things that way, and we supplement with a space heater in each of the below grade rooms, as needed (some of those fake fireplaces that are sold, look really "real" and do a great job, for not too much money). Fans strategically placed, as well as using ceiling fans, make the circulation issue more workable as well. Obviously, good flow is important.
One additional note about the heat generated from the stove.......open windows and doors if things get too hot; as opposed to trying to "turn down the heat of the stove." works better. (Yes, you should keep an even/balanced heat in your stove, and try not to run your stove like a NASA Rocket engine. Let it balance out).

Putting the stove in the basement is fine, and I suppose would be optimum, since "heat rises," of course. The logistics of that are important, on some level. Naturally, you would keep at least a day or two of wood splits near the stove in a ring or whatever, so you have to make room for that. Then there are the stairs. If I come in from my back yard, I would obviously have to go DOWN the stairs to get to my wood stove. This is only an issue from the point of view of .........how much "up and down the stairs" do you want to do to tend the fire, or lug wood. The optimum would be to reduce the distance you have to travel, since you'll be tending the fire daily (presumably).

Not having any experience with the particular type of stove you are thinking of, I can't comment, except to say that a proper stove (good size box) for a dwelling such as ours, is obviously important. You want it large enough so that you are tending it less. These new EPA stoves like I own, work very well, and after you've had a few burns under your belt, you get used to, as we did, how it burns, and how much you have to tinker with it (or not), to keep a good fire.

Don't forget the wood part of this. Quality wood from a good supplier, at a fair price, and enough wood to last you. Estimate realistically how often you will use the stove. (24/7? Just a few hours in the late afternoon and into the evening? Just during the day?)
Make sure you order a realistic amount of wood ("more" left over is ok, but not having enough and running out is an unnecessary hassle if you have planned logically).

Finally, take a look at the Avalon series or the Lopi stoves........the House Of Fire in Oregon, makes really nice stoves. I also would take a look at some of the Vermont Casting stoves, or Soapstone Stoves. Expose yourself to a wide variety of stoves before you buy, and WHEN you buy..........even if YOU know what YOUR doing........seriously consider having it "Professionally" installed. Not only will they do a good job (if they are reputable, of course) but your Insurance company and your town Inspector will be a lot more congenial when they know it has been signed off by "Professionals."

-Soupy1957

Also be aware that open registers between floors is a big no-no code violation. For smoke and fire reasons.

What kind of heating system is in the house now, hot air, baseboard... Is there a place to locate stove on first floor. What temp do you want up stairs.

My house is a split level and I maintain 78* downstairs and 68* upstairs when temp outside is 32. Medium size stove ,Castine. Don't even think about cutting vents into cieling s & floors, as mentioned before FIRE CODE issues. I have placed a small fan on the stairwell and pointed the fan towards the stove. The fan helps circulate cool and warm air up & down.

jeff_t said:

Also be aware that open registers between floors is a big no-no code violation. For smoke and fire reasons.

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This comes up quite often here and have yet to see someone post the code that states this. Could be local code or an insurance thing? Oh, and there are also fireproof damper grills out there.

Todd said:

jeff_t said:

Also be aware that open registers between floors is a big no-no code violation. For smoke and fire reasons.

Click to expand...

This comes up quite often here and have yet to see someone post the code that states this. Could be local code or an insurance thing? Oh, and there are also fireproof damper grills out there.

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Regardless of code, folks should be aware that without a fireproof vent it is a risk/benefit issue. Benefit: heat transfer. Risk: fire hazard.

I have to force myself into safe choices, regardless of code, since I tend to be unrealistically and carelessly optimistic. Or is it just lazy? (Note to self: get new tires next week.) As Homer says, "the smoke will wake us up." Maybe, maybe not.

If your interested in the englander nc30, I bought one this week for $670 plus $55 shipping and added the blower for $150. Dont think you'll find a better deal. On a previous thred someone posted a link to ebay. I looked at it a few hours after it sold for 1 bid at $725 free shipping. So I called the seller, Andy, he said they come from the factory, refinished with full warranty. Then I called Englander and they basically said it would be foolish not to buy one cause they are the same as new. I'll be picking mine up Monday at the loading dock 20 min. from my house for a grand total of $875 with blower, not to mention the 30% credit. As you can tell I'm pumped.

Hello There,
As adrpga498 pointed out, and my results are the same, there's about a 10* difference between the basement and upstairs. When using a woodstove in our finished basement, we'd have to get it to around 80 for upstairs to be high 60's. I liked the warm floors, though. We don't go down much any more (nor do we use the basement stove) since we installed a stove in the place we really live. Decide where you spend your time and install the stove there, if possible.

S

I have a very similar house. I put in a Lennox Montecito last year and it worked great last winter. The fireplace is in the basement. This unit has additional heat taps on the top of the unit to run multiple heat runs. For the basement I use the normal convection on the fireplace and for the upstairs I ran another heat run off of the top of the fireplace through the chaise and back into the house via a heat register to distribute heat to the upstairs. When the fan kicks in it will obviously blow heat out of the normal convection downstairs as well as the heat run upstairs. To control the heat distribution from the upstairs to the downstairs I installed an adjustable baffle on the heat run upstairs to divert the heat more one way or the other to have even heat throughout. It works very well.

I use a Lopi Endeavor to heat our split level home. We have celling fans in every room up stairs which helps draw hot air up.

How is a vent in the floor more dangerous than an open stairwell?

Bill

Here is a link to the guy I just purchased my Englander 30 from.
http://stores.ebay.com/AM-FM-STOVES-LLC?_rdc=1
He did have one listed but it must have been sold. I just called him and he went to the manufacturer next day and shipped one to me. $725 best price I could find. I will be getting mine tomorrow.