Wanting to get serious with our wood stove.

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You all are making some powerful arguments. That Overstockstoves offer brings it closer.

But I noticed Englander in their manual strongly suggests a liner... I would have to call them to verify my flue/chimney setup is acceptable to them.

So if I spring for the 30, I suppose you all wouldn't mind coming over to help me maneuver this 475 lb. beast down the stairway that has a 180 degree bend in it. I think I would have to do some serious engineering to figure that one out, maybe build some kind of scaffolding or something to support it through the bend. Or maybe a come-along supported from a ceiling joist... I dunno.

It sure is a nice looking and nice sounding unit. That firebox is much larger than the VZ Performer.
 
Take the door off and the bricks out. That saves some weight. I was able to slide it off the pallet and onto my small trailer by myself. Could I move it down a flight of stairs alone? Probably not. I think two strong guys could do it, though.
 
Going down stairs is easy, going upstairs takes a bit more muscle. Ratchet strap the stove to a stout hand truck and it will be quite movable. Then take it slowly down the stairs, one step at a time with one person on top and two acting as brakes on the lower steps.
 
As mentioned before, I visited 2 more local places dealing in wood stoves: a hardware store and a fireplace store.

1) Hardware store: not a "big box" store but has several locations. They do installations and offer service and support... seemed quite experienced and reliable. They offer a Napoleon 1450 for $800 (2.25 cu. ft firebox, EPA). He offered to do a free in-home analysis of my setup and make a complete offer. He even said that if I buy another stove (e.g. the Englander 30), he could still be involved and support my installation. He encouraged me to speak to my insurance agent early (a good suggestion).

2) Fireplace store: they offer a lot of brands, kinda confusing for me. We talked about several things, but one thing that continues to confuse me is his strong recommendation to get a mid-sized unit instead of a larger (e.g. 3.5 cu. ft) stove. That way it would burn hotter and more efficiently. This confirms what the chimney sweep told me. When I told him about the 3.5 cu. ft stove, he scoffed at it saying it sounded like a "farm store stove"... I suppose he thought it was a big lightweight unit... I did not argue with him.

I am inclined to wait for the hardware store dealer's in-home analysis in the next week or so. Although I was strongly leaning towards the Englander, now I am thinking to wait for this analysis. I have to say that I am rather confused on the sizing issue... both sides make sense to me. BeGreen's statement that I lose 25-30% of my heat to the basement walls made sense. The other side's statement that a hotter burning stove is cleaner and more efficient made sense. And I'm not looking to heat a 2200 sq. ft house, just supplemental heat for a 1300 sq ft house from the basement. I'm only spending about $800 each season for natural gas heat so it's not like I'm going to save thousands of dollars each season.
 
rlah said:
2) Fireplace store: they offer a lot of brands, kinda confusing for me. We talked about several things, but one thing that continues to confuse me is his strong recommendation to get a mid-sized unit instead of a larger (e.g. 3.5 cu. ft) stove. That way it would burn hotter and more efficiently. This confirms what the chimney sweep told me. When I told him about the 3.5 cu. ft stove, he scoffed at it saying it sounded like a "farm store stove"... I suppose he thought it was a big lightweight unit... I did not argue with him.

I would run, not walk, away from that chimney guy.
 
Looks like you have lots to think about but you still have plenty of time. The Englander isn't really a 3.5 cu ft fire box, when I measured it, it was more like 2.7 ft. Napoleon makes a decent stove just as good as Englander. Both these brands are what we like to call "good bang for your buck" but they also require a proper chimney and dry wood to get good results, I don't think your current chimney will draft any stove to it's full potential, a liner will correct that. Sounds like this hardware store has some experience and good customer service, wait and see what they have to say and get back to us
 
Rlah -

It doesn't matter if it's 2.25 CF or 3.5 CF, it's the size of the fire you build that matters. A 1.5 cubic foot of wood fire can burn as hot and as efficiently as a 3.0 cubic-foot-of-wood fire. A big stove doesn't change that - all it does is allow YOU to determine HOW BIG you want your fire. 3.0 cubic foot of wood puts off alot more BTUs than 1.5 cubic foot of wood, at a given time (while similarly increasing consumption).

I have a 2.2 cubic foot extremely efficient and well built Lopi wood insert in my 2200 square foot house (that is well sealed, but the layout is poor for heat distribution). I will tell you, bar none, I wish I had gotten a bigger stove. I have NO OPTION to generate more heat, at my size, and I'm not including my basement in these figures. I would need to push this stove to the max to constantly heat 1500 square feet constantly. In other words - another cubic foot of stove size would allow me to have options.

Alot of people push medium sized stoves (2-2.5 cubic feet) because they are great for people wanting supplementary heat. They also consume less overall wood, tend to burn a bit cleaner overall, are more price concious overall, and are probably easier to sell. There is nothing wrong with these stoves.

But you've told us you want to seriously cut down on your heating bills. And you've told us the stove is going to be in an uninsulated block basement (I think) and then going upstairs to ~1200 square feet of living space. And this needs to help you save a bunch through retirement. And you've got a good amount of space for the stove (you aren't space limited) and you've got plenty of wood.

In this recipe, what you want is a ~3.0 cubic foot stove. It will make it possible to literally turn off your furnace/boiler, should you want. You can heat your entire house with it. You will get your 50%+ reduction in heating bills (presuming good and regular usage). It's not much more money. It'll look great. Etc.

...

Next, you want a liner. Your chimney is an exterior chimney, which means it gets cold soaked. A 6" stainless steel liner that is insulated will having the following very beneficial properties:

1. It will warm up faster and stay hot easier. This makes chimney gases rise faster, meaning less stick to the walls and form creosote.

2. Further, it creates a far better drafting environment. Draft is the suction effect of the house - i.e. is air being sucked out of your house from your chimney or being pushed down into the house. You want a draft that sucks air from your stove up out your chimney. Such a draft means that when you light a fire, it doesn't smolder and the smoke doesn't pour into the room, but instead the smoke gets sucked up the chimney and your fire gets air moving through it faster - and therefore starts easier. A poor draft is one of the absolute #1 complaints of people on this forum and one of the reasons people decrease their wood burning - because a poor draft is freaking frustrating. You want a nice liner, insulated to maintain draft. They are also rated to absorb a few chimney fires without risking your house. We're talking a $400 investment if you install it yourself.

- Installing a liner yourself in your chimney does not look hard. You go up top and shove a 6" round pipe down a 7" square hole until it hits bottom. You attach it to your stove pipe using easy-to-use joins. You attach is to the top chimney cap using easy-to-use joins. You secure your chimney cap to the top of your chimney. You light a small fire and see if smoke comes out anywhere except the top of the chimney. Done.

...

I am not a stove expert, or a chimney expert, or an installer. But I have followed the advice on this forum to great extent, and had nothing but positive experiences every single time I did. These are people who do stuff like visit stove manufacturers, weigh their wood to measure how much it's drying and how long it took, build different stacks of wood to see which one seasons fastest, and post on hearth.com 24/7. These are wood stove NUTS.

They are not trying to sell you something except a positive wood burning experience. Look for the ones who have been here longest and have the most posts to be the ones whose words are sacred writ :)

...

On a last note, your existing stove will serve a purpose and will pump out heat. The heat you get into your house in a function of 3 things:

1. The size of the fire you build
2. The amount of steel/metal the fire heats that than then radiates/convects into your home
3. The efficiency of the stove in terms of air it's sucking in from your home (conditioned/heated air) and then putting it up the chimney, as well as how many BTUs it extracts from a given pound of wood.

Your existing stove will function just as well in #1 and #2 as any modern stove, for the most part. #3 is the big difference.

A modern stove sucks less room air into the fire and converts more of the wood into heat than an old stove. In real terms, this means you keep more of your heat in your house and each load of wood you put in generates more BTUs (because it's combusting twice, as wood, and the smoke re-ignites in the secondary burn tubes).

....

The choice is obviously yours. You can save ~$1,200 by simply refurbishing your existing stove and re-using it. It won't heat nearly as well, will use more wood, won't draft as well, and will probably require more cleaning when you start burning alot of wood. And, in my opinion, you are more likely to tire of it and use it less.

Or you can outlay money at a time when money is tight. It'll heat better, draft better, use less wood, require less cleaning, and for a 3.0 cubic foot stove you can get 8-10 hour burn times out of a single load of seasoned hardwood. You'll almost certainly enjoy it more, but you'll pay upfront for it.

We're here to support you either way. Plenty of old stove burners on here, and plenty of guys who share their new stoves too.
 
rlah said:
As mentioned before, I visited 2 more local places dealing in wood stoves: a hardware store and a fireplace store.

1) Hardware store: not a "big box" store but has several locations. They do installations and offer service and support... seemed quite experienced and reliable. They offer a Napoleon 1450 for $800 (2.25 cu. ft firebox, EPA). He offered to do a free in-home analysis of my setup and make a complete offer. He even said that if I buy another stove (e.g. the Englander 30), he could still be involved and support my installation. He encouraged me to speak to my insurance agent early (a good suggestion).

2) Fireplace store: they offer a lot of brands, kinda confusing for me. We talked about several things, but one thing that continues to confuse me is his strong recommendation to get a mid-sized unit instead of a larger (e.g. 3.5 cu. ft) stove. That way it would burn hotter and more efficiently. This confirms what the chimney sweep told me. When I told him about the 3.5 cu. ft stove, he scoffed at it saying it sounded like a "farm store stove"... I suppose he thought it was a big lightweight unit... I did not argue with him.

I am inclined to wait for the hardware store dealer's in-home analysis in the next week or so. Although I was strongly leaning towards the Englander, now I am thinking to wait for this analysis. I have to say that I am rather confused on the sizing issue... both sides make sense to me. BeGreen's statement that I lose 25-30% of my heat to the basement walls made sense. The other side's statement that a hotter burning stove is cleaner and more efficient made sense. And I'm not looking to heat a 2200 sq. ft house, just supplemental heat for a 1300 sq ft house from the basement. I'm only spending about $800 each season for natural gas heat so it's not like I'm going to save thousands of dollars each season.

It sounds like local service and delivery is important to you. If that be the case, the Napoleon would be a good one for you to use. It was one of my initial recommendations. That is a good price and with 2 cu ft you won't be running downstairs every couple hours to refill it. If you choose that stove I think you will be a happy camper. We have several satisfied owners of this stove. Actually the only complaint I remember ended up being one that had a too short flue. Adding a couple feet of flue pipe completely improved the burn and heat output from the stove. I would go for the 6" stainless liner with this stove. If you have moderate mechanical skills the liner install can be done by yourself.

As for burning hotter, drop the notion of smaller burning is hotter. That is not so with a modern stove. And if pushed too hard the smaller stove may be overfired. As long as you bring the stove up to a level of good secondary combustion the stove is going to be burning cleanly; magnitudes cleaner than what you currently have. The fireboxes are well insulated on these stoves so that even with a partial load of wood, the fire reaches a high enough temperature for good complete combustion. These stoves are really nothing like your past experience. They burn hotter by nature unless the wood and draft are poor. FYI, your sweep doesn't know what he is talking about. The Englander 30NC is a remarkably clean burning stove @ 1.6gms/hr. and anything but a lightweight. That is catalytic range. In that stove you should be able to have a good clean fire while burning only 3-4 medium sized splits. This is typical in fall and spring. Come winter you would be filling it up for nice long burns and good heat. Just because it is a big stove it does not mean that the fire has to be on high, it means that you will get longer burn times when there is a full load of wood.
 
I take back everything I said earlier about getting a chimney sweep in to look at your setup and make recommendations.

Any sweep like the one you had round would go bust in no time over here.

All our sweeps have to be registered, and quite a few also install woodburners, which means they will install any woodburner and not just ones sold by their shop.

On the basis that you have your stove and chimney sorted, and you have dry wood, I have just one minor question.

Do you just leave the doors open to the basement to let the heat up into the living area of your house?

Just wondering, as whichever stove you end up buying, moving heat from one place to another is not always as straightforward as it sounds, even upwards from a basement to a living area.
 
BeGreen said:
... In that stove (Englander 30) you should be able to have a good clean fire while burning only 3-4 medium sized splits. This is typical in fall and spring. Come winter you would be filling it up for nice long burns and good heat. Just because it is a big stove it does not mean that the fire has to be on high, it means that you will get longer burn times when there is a full load of wood...
... Come winter you would be filling it up for nice long burns and good heat. Just because it is a big stove it does not mean that the fire has to be on high, it means that you will get longer burn times when there is a full load of wood.

This really addresses the sticky point of efficiency and cleanliness of burn of the larger 3.5 cu. ft stove. You're saying I can run it during fall/spring with smaller fires and still run cleanly. That helps to know. I wonder that there may be a little difference in efficiency, but only a small difference, not a significant difference. So this puts a stove like the Englander 30 back in my consideration. I'm glad to hear you consider the Napoleon 1450 a good option as well. I'm checking with the hardware store dealer to see what a Napoleon 1900 (3.0 cu. ft) would cost...

joefrompa said:
... A big stove doesn't change that - all it does is allow YOU to determine HOW BIG you want your fire. 3.0 cubic foot of wood puts off alot more BTUs than 1.5 cubic foot of wood, at a given time (while similarly increasing consumption).
I have a 2.2 cubic foot extremely efficient and well built Lopi wood insert in my 2200 square foot house (that is well sealed, but the layout is poor for heat distribution). I will tell you, bar none, I wish I had gotten a bigger stove. I have NO OPTION to generate more heat, at my size, and I'm not including my basement in these figures. I would need to push this stove to the max to constantly heat 1500 square feet constantly. In other words - another cubic foot of stove size would allow me to have options.
Alot of people push medium sized stoves (2-2.5 cubic feet) because they are great for people wanting supplementary heat. They also consume less overall wood, tend to burn a bit cleaner overall, are more price concious overall, and are probably easier to sell. There is nothing wrong with these stoves.
But you've told us you want to seriously cut down on your heating bills. And you've told us the stove is going to be in an uninsulated block basement (I think) and then going upstairs to ~1200 square feet of living space. And this needs to help you save a bunch through retirement. And you've got a good amount of space for the stove (you aren't space limited) and you've got plenty of wood.
In this recipe, what you want is a ~3.0 cubic foot stove. It will make it possible to literally turn off your furnace/boiler, should you want. You can heat your entire house with it. You will get your 50%+ reduction in heating bills (presuming good and regular usage). It's not much more money. It'll look great. Etc.

I'm listening.

joefrompa said:
... I am not a stove expert, or a chimney expert, or an installer. But I have followed the advice on this forum to great extent, and had nothing but positive experiences every single time I did. These are people who do stuff like visit stove manufacturers, weigh their wood to measure how much it’s drying and how long it took, build different stacks of wood to see which one seasons fastest, and post on hearth.com 24/7. These are wood stove NUTS.

They are not trying to sell you something except a positive wood burning experience. Look for the ones who have been here longest and have the most posts to be the ones whose words are sacred writ smile.

High praise for this forum. Actually I'm weighing some of my splits now to see how fast they dry... does that make me a "nut" ? :)

joefrompa said:
... Next, you want a liner. Your chimney is an exterior chimney, which means it gets cold soaked. A 6†stainless steel liner that is insulated will having the following very beneficial properties:

This liner issue has been raised several times before. I do have some mechanical skills. Menards has 25' of 6" SS liner for $335. But the fireplace dealer scared me when he said that it's not uncommon for a 6" pipe to not go down a 7" square clay tile lined chimney because of misalignment of the tile. Maybe he meant a solid pipe, not flex pipe... I don't know. I was pumping him for free advice. Another concern I have if I attempt this myself is making the 80 degree bend at the base of the chimney to the horizontal pipe (see the earlier posts for chimney and horizontal pipe pics). I don't know if flex tubing can make that sharp of a bend. If not, how can it be done? etc, etc.

Then there is the issue of liner insulation. I'm aware of a wrap that goes around the tube but I see others pouring some kind of loose material into the void areas (e.g. vermiculite). So it's the details that concern me. ... lot's of time on this forum to try to sort it all out. Or just have the dealer do it for me... if he's not too high cost.
 
A big stove may not burn quite as cleanly during fall and spring with small load of wood, but it will still be many times cleaner than the old peacock. Given that the stove is in the basement I suspect that even in fall and spring you would be burning a minimum of 5 split fires which should be plenty to get the stove up to a clean burning temperature.

As long as it is in good condition, it won't hurt to try the existing chimney to see how it drafts with a proper 6" connector. I like the idea of using the 45s to reduce the horiz. run length, that may be enough. It's worth a try.
 
rlah said:
BeGreen said:
... In that stove (Englander 30) you should be able to have a good clean fire while burning only 3-4 medium sized splits. This is typical in fall and spring. Come winter you would be filling it up for nice long burns and good heat. Just because it is a big stove it does not mean that the fire has to be on high, it means that you will get longer burn times when there is a full load of wood...
... Come winter you would be filling it up for nice long burns and good heat. Just because it is a big stove it does not mean that the fire has to be on high, it means that you will get longer burn times when there is a full load of wood.

This really addresses the sticky point of efficiency and cleanliness of burn of the larger 3.5 cu. ft stove. You're saying I can run it during fall/spring with smaller fires and still run cleanly. That helps to know. I wonder that there may be a little difference in efficiency, but only a small difference, not a significant difference. So this puts a stove like the Englander 30 back in my consideration. I'm glad to hear you consider the Napoleon 1450 a good option as well. I'm checking with the hardware store dealer to see what a Napoleon 1900 (3.0 cu. ft) would cost...

joefrompa said:
... A big stove doesn't change that - all it does is allow YOU to determine HOW BIG you want your fire. 3.0 cubic foot of wood puts off alot more BTUs than 1.5 cubic foot of wood, at a given time (while similarly increasing consumption).
I have a 2.2 cubic foot extremely efficient and well built Lopi wood insert in my 2200 square foot house (that is well sealed, but the layout is poor for heat distribution). I will tell you, bar none, I wish I had gotten a bigger stove. I have NO OPTION to generate more heat, at my size, and I'm not including my basement in these figures. I would need to push this stove to the max to constantly heat 1500 square feet constantly. In other words - another cubic foot of stove size would allow me to have options.
Alot of people push medium sized stoves (2-2.5 cubic feet) because they are great for people wanting supplementary heat. They also consume less overall wood, tend to burn a bit cleaner overall, are more price concious overall, and are probably easier to sell. There is nothing wrong with these stoves.
But you've told us you want to seriously cut down on your heating bills. And you've told us the stove is going to be in an uninsulated block basement (I think) and then going upstairs to ~1200 square feet of living space. And this needs to help you save a bunch through retirement. And you've got a good amount of space for the stove (you aren't space limited) and you've got plenty of wood.
In this recipe, what you want is a ~3.0 cubic foot stove. It will make it possible to literally turn off your furnace/boiler, should you want. You can heat your entire house with it. You will get your 50%+ reduction in heating bills (presuming good and regular usage). It's not much more money. It'll look great. Etc.

I'm listening.

joefrompa said:
... I am not a stove expert, or a chimney expert, or an installer. But I have followed the advice on this forum to great extent, and had nothing but positive experiences every single time I did. These are people who do stuff like visit stove manufacturers, weigh their wood to measure how much it’s drying and how long it took, build different stacks of wood to see which one seasons fastest, and post on hearth.com 24/7. These are wood stove NUTS.

They are not trying to sell you something except a positive wood burning experience. Look for the ones who have been here longest and have the most posts to be the ones whose words are sacred writ smile.

High praise for this forum. Actually I'm weighing some of my splits now to see how fast they dry... does that make me a "nut" ? :)

joefrompa said:
... Next, you want a liner. Your chimney is an exterior chimney, which means it gets cold soaked. A 6†stainless steel liner that is insulated will having the following very beneficial properties:

This liner issue has been raised several times before. I do have some mechanical skills. Menards has 25' of 6" SS liner for $335. But the fireplace dealer scared me when he said that it's not uncommon for a 6" pipe to not go down a 7" square clay tile lined chimney because of misalignment of the tile. Maybe he meant a solid pipe, not flex pipe... I don't know. I was pumping him for free advice. Another concern I have if I attempt this myself is making the 80 degree bend at the base of the chimney to the horizontal pipe (see the earlier posts for chimney and horizontal pipe pics). I don't know if flex tubing can make that sharp of a bend. If not, how can it be done? etc, etc.

Then there is the issue of liner insulation. I'm aware of a wrap that goes around the tube but I see others pouring some kind of loose material into the void areas (e.g. vermiculite). So it's the details that concern me. ... lot's of time on this forum to try to sort it all out. Or just have the dealer do it for me... if he's not too high cost.

You attach a Tee body (2 piece Tee) to the bottom of the liner with a cap on the bottom and pull the liner down and into a the removable snout strap for the Tee then tighten the strap to secure the snout to the Tee.. This will leave a 6" S/S piece sticking out of the chimney.. You attach the stove pipe to this piece..

Ray
 
6" flex od is about 6 3/8" so yes it can be a tight fit if there is any mortar or offset tiles sticking in the way. The tile can be busted out and removed from your cleanout if it doesn't fit then you would also have the room for an insulation wrap around your liner. Rigid liner should be closer to 6" od and drafts better, it may be the way to go.

You won't be making that 90 degree turn into your horizontal run. You need a tee to terminate at that horizontal run and connect another pipe to go through to the wall opening. The tee will have a cap on the bottom so you can remove it and sweep down into your cleanout. Hopefully your clean out is within reaching distance to make all those connections? Looks like that horizontal run is over 3' and would be hard to connect the horizontal snout to the tee.
 
I would try to get the connections to the chimney up to date and good and try to run it without a liner for a season and see if it needs it. I have the englander 30 and it runs great on my 18 feet of 8 inch steel chimney. I would really recommend the 30, I got mine off ebay for around 750 with free shipping, not sure if they are still doing this deal, the seller was am fm energy, they get the stoves refurbed from the factory and mine was basically brand new, the original buyer returned it for something like too much smoke or whatever, obviously using wet wood. The adjustment for the air can be a bit sticky but other than that, awesome stove, I don't see how it couldn't possibly heat the upstairs even with the basement, it will crank out some heat. Also, this is just my opinion, most of the guys here know way more than me. Thanks, James
 
The contractor for the lumber/hardware store came out this morning. Some points made were:

1) due to my wife's extreme sensitivity to smoke/creosote odor, he is likely going to recommend a draft inducer. He said he knew of different ways of doing this, some less expensive than others. He would not have recommended this except for this necessity. This is an important point... if I cannot practically eliminate odor, I'll have to sell my firewood that I just cut up and let the new wood stove sit idle.

2) I can greatly help distribution of heat from the basement room by opening a hole in the nearby cold air return plenum of my nearby furnace to draw in the warm air from the wood stove room and then run the furnace fan continually.

The contractor is going to get back to me in the next few days with a proposal. BTW, this contractor has been installing systems for 15 years. He would not comment on what size stove I should buy since his expertise was only in the systems to vent them.

My comment on (1):
This idea sounded good to me until I found this forum generally does not prefer these devices. I called Volko about their AD-1 and they said the unit does not need to run continuously... doesn't sound bad to me. If power goes out and I need it, I can easily run a power converter off a battery for the time needed to get a fire started and running well.

My comment on (2):
I really like this idea as I had been thinking of a way to do this before... cut a hole in the side of the "cold" air return, run an intake pipe to the room with the wood stove... turn on the furnace fan and I think this would distribute all that wood stove heat nicely through the house. Has anyone else on this forum done this?

Any feedback on these points while I await his formal proposal next week?
 
I'm so glad you are keeping so many people busy on the job in this economy :lol:

New stove. Not vozelgang. Re-configure set-up. Add liner. Be warm.
 
Don't count on the furnace fan and ducts helping out. By the time the warm stove air works it's way into the system it will be cooled down. I have not heard of many people here having success doing this, maybe a wood furnace would be better?
 
I am always impressed and thankful for the advice here. Riah no one dealer/installer knows everything, here is one place to come to with the most info i have found.

You want to burn, so your already hooked.

Take it from someone who does not have money to toss around or even spend frugally for that matter. I purchased a vogelzang, burned in it one year and sold it. Found a nice used one and only lost 50 on the deal.

Do things right once and never again. With a liner and newer stove i would put what little money i do have that your wife would not notice the smoke smell, compared to what you have. And short of moving the stoves, you can do this all by yourself, again saving costs, i did.

An old stove is a kin to an old car, will it get you there, sure sometimes. Hopefully safely without breaking down along the way. But for a few bucks, a new car is almost a no brainer.

Not saying youll never use your furnace again, theres a few here who pitched theirs in favor of a wood stove, but lets say you didnt have to spend 800 in NG, youll almost break even in a year. No hit to your back pocket.

Just have to trust monies tight everywhere, and someone said it best before, we arent trying to sell you anything, but safe and happy wood warmth. We would like you to be just and happy and as warm as we are.

Oh i dont think anyone has mentioned this just yet, but even if the stoves in the basement, a new stove with a glass front will keep you engaged in staring at the flames. You may even get your wife down there with you, no smoke smell watching the romantic dancing flames. Its better than tv, probably cheaper too. However i wouldnt know.
 
Note that code prohibits a warm air return grille from being less than 10ft from the stove. Often duct losses make this method of heat distribution a net energy loss. The prior mentioned system of blowing cooler upstairs air down the stairs often works and uses less electricity.

PS: I don't mean to rush you, but in about 2-3 weeks don't be surprised if you see prices starting to go up and stove inventory going down. The months of Sep.-Nov. are the busy season for stove sales.
 
Stump_Branch:
Thx for the wise advise. This forum holds a lot of weight in decisions. You hit the nail on the head in many ways.


BeGreen said:
... prior mentioned system of blowing cooler upstairs air down the stairs often works and uses less electricity.

I don't recall reading about this in this thread... is there another thread I can read about how to do this?


BeGreen said:
... in about 2-3 weeks don't be surprised if you see prices starting to go up and stove inventory going down. The months of Sep.-Nov. are the busy season for stove sales.

Thanks for the note on the fast approaching season. This may affect the Englander price but I would hope the lumber/hardware store's $800 price on the Napoleon would not change...


I noticed you did not comment on the draft inducer idea... I'm curious what you think about this idea to insure "no odor" (especially the Volko AD-1). My own thought was that this whole project only had a 50-50 chance because of my wife's sensitivity to the odor, but I feel it has a nearly 100% chance with an inducer.
 
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