stove for uninsulated cottage in mid-coastal Maine

Hello, first post here.

I'm looking for advice for a stove for an uninsulated but well-built house/cottage on Mount Desert Island in Maine. The cottage is around 1200 square feet, on two levels, with a basement. The basement is walk-in height (8 ft?), dirt and gravel floored, and has a huge cement block in the middle (maybe 6x5) running from floor to ceiling, whose original use I've never figured out, and which takes up a lot of space. The main floor has living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bath. Upstairs, above the kitchen and bedroom, are two small bedrooms and a bath. The living room has a high, sloped, "cathedral" ceiling. The layout on the main level is quite open; the stairway is also open with no door at either end.

The place was built in 1970 on the foundations of the original farmhouse. It was designed by my father (an architect) for my grandparents as a summer home. That's why there's no insulation (though it seems, to my untrained senses, to be quite "tight" for what it is). As far as I know, it has only ever been used from around June-September/Oct.

There is an old Franklin #2 stove in the living room. The stove pipe runs straight up, for probably 20-25 feet, through the ceiling to the chimney pipe. Although there is good passive solar energy from southerly windows, the stove is the only active source of heat. There's an electric hot water heater in the basement.

Currently it is rented during the summer. For the past few years, I've gone with my kids for a few weeks at the end of the season. But every time I go, I love the house and the place more and more. So the thought has been entering my mind that at some point in the next stretch of years (3, 5, 10?), I might want to try living there longer. I imagine this could range from simply spending the whole summer, to stretching out into Feb/March/April or Oct/Nov, to at the extreme spending most of the year. So in that light, here are some of my concerns:


1. The old Franklin is what I've seen well-described here as a "smoke dragon." I really noticed it this year: every time we lit a fire, the interior of the house smoked up, and the stove wasn't even really heating the place well, unless really cranked up and roaring away. So the Franklin is inadequate right now. It's also dangerous--sparks do fly out of the front doors. It makes me nervous if renters are inattentive.

2. The main question: how reasonably comfortable for how long in the year do you think I could expect to be with a modern stove? In that part of Maine, the average low temperatures are Feb: 14, March: 22, Oct: 38, Nov: 29. Lowest lows in Feb/March: -10, -15. Does trying to stretch the livable period into the colder months even make sense in an uninsulated place in those conditions?

3. There is a pretty big range of uses to which the stoves would be put. For renters and during the summer, the occasional fire to take off the chill and for viewing pleasure. In the earlier spring or later fall, as suggested above, the demands would be considerably higher. Are there stoves that can accommodate such a wide range of applications? Can bigger stoves make satisfying smaller fires, without being overpowering?

4. I think wood heat is the only option: the stove is central to the character of the place, and I wouldn't want to change that. I grew up in a wood-heated house (stove and furnace): it's something I'd be happy to return to. Given that, it's important to me that the stove be good looking (subjective as that is). And given that if I ever did decide to live there for the colder months it would be necessary for life and comfort, it's important that it be robustly reliable, long-lived, etc.

5. My strong preference is for a stove that could last the night on one burn. If I ever decided to live there, I'd want to be able to live more or less normally, with a regular sleeping and working schedule, etc. Long burn time seems crucial.

6. To give you an idea of my current thinking: from reading around on the forums as much as I could, I like the sounds of the Woodstock stoves, also maybe also the Jotuls. But how big on either of these (or any others)?

7. Does anyone know if the tax credit would apply to a house that's currently mainly used as a rental? Sounds unlikely.


Thanks in advance for any help! The decision is not imminent (though I do find the Woodstock sale tempting)--I'm asking partly because it's all in my mind since we recently returned. And in part for medium-term planning, to begin to figure out if any of these fantasies are even possible.

Thanks for those quick responses.

No, there's no insulation, no sheetrock: it's beautiful but bare-boned (the bare bones are part of the beauty): all pine 4x4's and tongue-and-groove pine cladding.

But on the other hand, it's not drafty, at least not that I've noticed on cool summer nights.

I have wondered if there's a type of removable insulation that could be placed into the spaces between studs and joists. I remember a family I knew as a child who would place insulating panels over certain walls and windows in cold weather. At this point, unless I became much more dedicated to this idea, it seems too much (financially, aesthetically, time-wise) to install permanent insulation everywhere. But who knows?

I guess I naturally gravitate to those responses that hold out hope! I am thinking well into the future here, so it would probably make sense in any case to try a few smaller steps before trying to survive -10 degrees with one overtaxed stove. Maybe just getting a new stove in there, since I need that anyway, and seeing how it functions into more challenging conditions will tell me what can or can't work next. One of the reasons for liking the Woodstocks: when you're uncertain as I am as to actual needs, the trial period is very attractive.

Right now, I'm assuming a new stove would go in the old one's place: in the main living room. Basement would be tough to arrange--though I do wonder if that old cement block down there was some kind of furnace?

BSavage: I have thought about wood a bit, mostly because of your and others' advice in other threads. When I was a kid, we'd just go out into the woods, pull out a log that the loggers had left, cut it up, split it, and more or less toss it in the fire. I guess times have changed! I think in this location, I'd have to buy wood. We do that already for the summer, but I'd want to pay much closer attention to quality, drying times, etc. There's a wood-shed my grandfather built, so space enough to store what we'd need.

So maybe March-Oct/Nov is a realistic limit to think about. Not a terrible prospect.

I'm not fixed on any brand, though I admit I do like the guarantee, reputation, and long-burn of the Woodstocks. People have mentioned the Fireview--is that the general size most would assume as correct for this space and conditions?

Sorry, I don't have any pictures on me!

Thanks for that, BeGreen. When you say the Fireview would "have reserves to heat the house if the weather gets really cold," how cold are you thinking? Is this with no insulation in mind? I'm not trying to be definitive this far in advance; just collecting different data-points as to the feasibility.

You know, you're probably right about the cement block--its current use is in supporting the steel I-beam my father put across the whole floor at the insistence of my grandmother, who was especially scared of hurricanes. So if you're right, it's still serving basically the same purpose.

I'll go look around some more, but is there a best thread or place that talks about cat-stoves needing better seasoned wood? Thanks.

That was going to be my next question: about the pipes freezing.

Rex: you're right that there's actually a fairly natural way to lay the insulation in existing recesses between studs/joists and then cover it with pine boards. I can imagine that working pretty well.

In terms of pipes in general---I've looked a bit at heat tape, etc., including versions on thermostats that come on when it gets cold. Is heat tape generally thought to work reasonably well? There aren't many pipes in the place, and most are run centrally; so if something like heat tape could work, that would largely solve the problem.

So there do seem to be two separate questions: if the interior can be heated sufficiently in winter; if the pipes can be protected from freezing. Insulation would help with both. But, just for information purposes, what do you think the limit of cold might be, for both questions, if there was no insulation? How deep into cold could a decent stove get me for the interior? How deep into cold could heat tape or similar get the pipes?

Thanks for all the help.

Thanks for all those answers--lots of great info.

Sounds as though the consensus is pretty clear: insulate to be there in winter; otherwise, Novemberish into Dec is probably the fall limit, and then April or so in the spring.

Yes, smaller first steps, like trying things out in the fall first, will be necessary to show me how well my wish to be there survives the cold. And will indicate what further steps then need to be taken.

I'm glad to hear that heat tape can work well--even if I'm never there all year round, it's good to know there's a fix for the pipes if needed.

And I'm now dedicated to properly dried wood when the time comes. I haven't thought about living with wood since I was 15; it's amazing to come to grips with some of those same questions my parents must have had when they were my age now.

Dennis' story about milking reminds me of one spring I spend with a Mennonite friend on his family's dairy farm in Kansas--those were some cold mornings in the barn!

Really feel like this has been a quick and thorough education in the possibilities and the problems. Lots of folks who know a lot more than I do. Much appreciated.

@Bub381: this whole question has made me more curious about how they used to heat their houses in these cold spots. I guess "horse hair plaster" is one answer. Mud, brick, stone, and snow might be others. And I guess smaller houses, lots of fires, and higher tolerance for discomfort are part of it too.