Which size gas stove?

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gr jetson

New Member
Oct 30, 2011
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Hello,

This is my first message. I am going to put a gas stove in a 1350 sq. ft. two-story house in Minnesota. The house has moderate insulation. It was built in the last century and I put all the insulation I could in the house. It presently has an all electric forced air furnace but this will be very expensive to run. I am thinking of two gas stoves:
Jøtul GF 400 DV Sebago, 16,000-32,000 btu, or
Jøtul GF 600 DV II Firelight, 20,300-40,000 btu

I will use a ceiling fan and rig my force air furnace to circulate the heat. Does anyone have any ideas about which size would be best?

Thank you!
 
That is going to depend on the area you are placing these stoves into. It's possible that you could overheat these rooms and leave the rest of the house cold depending upon the layout.

More information would help if you want a better answer, but in general, these things are space heaters; they only work as whole house heaters in the right circumstance.

pen
 
Pen, thanks for your thoughts.

I would put the stove on an outside wall in the living room about 10 feet from a ceiling fan (which would be run in reverse to pull the heat) and about 12 feet from the stairwell leading upstairs. The ceiling fan is near the stairwell.

I would reverse the present furnace vent so it would pull rather than supply heat. That vent would be about 12 feet from the stove but only a few feet from the ceiling fan. My idea is to rig my present forced air heater to circulate the heat without using the electric heating element, because that will be extremely expensive.

Are there any other details that would help?

Cordially,

Greg
 
Biggest problem you will find in trying to move heat w/ that forced air unit is that many people find it just doesn't work. Depending on where your ducts run through the house, there is generally a lot of heat lost to them.

Since you spend most of the time in the living room, if that is the warmest place I wouldn't have a problem with that. I just think you are going to be asking a bit much if you expect that you can keep the upstairs and down stairs evenly heated from a single point. If you don't mind those upstairs rooms cooler, it may work well.

I'd say the size of the room that this stove is going in would dictate which stove to get. If the room is not large enough, that smaller one could cook you out. If you are confident that you are going to be able to get heat to leave that room, then go for the bigger one. I'm not sure what the price difference is, but since the larger one isn't a whole ton more BTU's, I think I'd let the money help me w/ the decision also.

pen
 
Is there any kind of inline exhaust fan made to be placed in a vent pipe to pull heat from the room with the stove in it to the cold part of the house? Any ideas of where to look for information on heat transfer?

Thank you for any wisdom contributed!
 
If I may jump in, sounds like this ng fireplace is in your mind as the whole house heater, Since its not for 100% ambiance and Solly for economical purposes, then scrap the fireplace and invest in a NG furnace swap. Gas fireplaces are not at all comparable to furnaces for efficiency. This = less heat up the breaching and more into your home. Remember that your Fireplace will be running pretty much constant, even only at the low end at 20-25000. A 65,000 btu furnace will run in cycles useing less fuel at a percentage per BTU to get the same heat out. What is the input/output rating on your chosen fireplace? You can get a gas furnace that will have as high as for EG: 65,000 IN and 62,000 OUT. Your fireplace will have more than 3,000 btu difference on its little output scale. Your house will be more evenly heated as well in this case. With your original plan, that I know you have spent some thinking about, try and get the theory pushing your cold air down, not pushing your heat up. That ceiling fan will do a better job blowing down. A larger volume of cold air will be easier to
push downwards leaving NO PLACE for the HEAT but to go up. :)
 
I love gas space heaters, but that is just what they are (in most situations) space heaters. I put one in my own house that is super insulated (12" thick walls, R65 ceiling, and a crawl sapce that is foamed and stays 65 all winter) and it keeps the whole house warm but we have a pretty open floor plan and like cool bedrooms. If I had had a electric furnace and had the opportunity to either put in a gas space heater or a gas furnace, the furnace would win out everytime.

If you insist on a gas space heater, I would say go big. You can always turn them down or turn them off.
 
Okay, these comments have made me rethink my whole heating plan. I'm very glad to have found this site!

I was thinking of using a Jotul gas stove to heat my whole house, but now it seems this will not really provide enough distributed heat throughout all the rooms. What I hear from the last few messages is that a gas stove is great for ambiance, great for heating a single room, but barely adequate for heating a whole house, even if that house is insulated like a thermos bottle. Remembering that this house is in Minnesota, I really do not want to make a mistake here. I will have a cold reminder every winter. Why bother restoring the entire upstairs if it is too cold to comfortably use in the winter?

I am now thinking to go with a gas furnace as it would cost about the same amount as the Jotul gas stove and think about the gas stove later if I find I am running a bit low on the ambiance scale.

Does this sound like a wise--although a bit painful--decision? Thank you to all the experts.

Cordially,

Greg
 
I think the gas furnace North suggested would probably be your wisest option unless this floor plan is really open, which it doesn't sound like.

Additionally, how about shopping for a used unit? If you can find one reasonably priced, maybe you could have both?!?

pen
 
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