Just bought my first wood stove! Will it do the job?

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Nightskies

New Member
Dec 2, 2011
9
Littleton, MA
So we just bought a Jotul Oslo. (Yeah!) It's going to be a few weeks before they can install it though, so I thought I'd ask you guys if we've got the right stove.

Our goal is to heat at least 75% of our house with the wood stove. I'd be extatic if we could heat 100% of the house with a wood stove, and ditch the oil boiler completely, but I want to be realistic here. We live in MA, and have about 2,100 square feet of house to heat. (There's another 600 suare feet of unheated space on the second floor over the kitchen, but we'll worry about that another year when we can get it finished.) The house is old (1829) and has only old 70's era insulation if that. The windows are original but with the storms, surprisingly tight. (better than my mom's 100 year old windows at least). So this is a rather leaky old house. The stove will be installed in the fireplace which is centrally located in the interior of the living room with the bedrooms right on top. The kitchen is the furthest room, about 35 feet from the stove to the outside wall. And the layout is still origianl, so no open floor plan here. Oh, and the living room has 10' ceilings, as do the 3 adjacent rooms on the first floor. The kitchen and dining room have 8' ceilings.

Will the Oslo be able to (mostly) heat this house? This is a big investment for us and the last thing I want to do is buy a stove that is too small for the job!

PS The Firelight is too tall to fit in our fireplace, we had to get the lower legs on the Oslo
 
I don't think the Oslo will be able to heat the entire home . . . but I suspect it will do a half decent job . . . especially keeping the living room and surrounding rooms warm . . . I'm also betting it will warm up the bedrooms upstairs.

Welcome to the forum.

And welcome to the Order of the Oslo Oddfellows.
 
Well, you already bought the stove, so it looks like the Oslo will have to do for now. I would have gone for something bigger and extended your Hearth to accomodate a taller stove. I just did that so that I can fit the Progress instead of the Fireview - the Progress is 5" taller. Depending on your hearth setup its not that hard to extend. The Oslo is a great stove, but I think it might struggle in a cold New England winter in your house. If it has not been installed yet, I would seriously consider swapping to bigger - I'll bet the stove shop would be ok with it.
 
Those old houses with high ceilings and lots of smaller rooms had lots of fireplaces for a reason. I have a friend with a 150yr house that is like that. He heats it with a wood boiler in the cellar and each room has its own radiator. Keeps his place toasty. I'm thinking it will heat 50% or less.
 
I have a tight log cabin thats about 2000 sq ft with open floor plan and master bed is in the loft. Our Oslo heats the entire house all winter. I put the propane heat on just twice a year to make sure it still works. If you dont have an open floor plan and the house is a little leaky, you'll def lose heat, but I think you'll be impressed on how much heat the Oslo puts out there. Best of luck.
 
Going to be tough to heat that much area but it will help with the energy bill allot.
ceiling fans, move the air around best you can. you'll save quite a bit on energy bills.
Got your wood ready?, dry wood is going to give you more heat.
Next winter's wood should be stacked & seasoning as we post :)
Good luck, have fun.
 
Nightskies said:
So we just bought a Jotul Oslo. (Yeah!) It's going to be a few weeks before they can install it though, so I thought I'd ask you guys if we've got the right stove.

Our goal is to heat at least 75% of our house with the wood stove. I'd be extatic if we could heat 100% of the house with a wood stove, and ditch the oil boiler completely, but I want to be realistic here. We live in MA, and have about 2,100 square feet of house to heat. (There's another 600 suare feet of unheated space on the second floor over the kitchen, but we'll worry about that another year when we can get it finished.) The house is old (1829) and has only old 70's era insulation if that. The windows are original but with the storms, surprisingly tight. (better than my mom's 100 year old windows at least). So this is a rather leaky old house. The stove will be installed in the fireplace which is centrally located in the interior of the living room with the bedrooms right on top. The kitchen is the furthest room, about 35 feet from the stove to the outside wall. And the layout is still origianl, so no open floor plan here. Oh, and the living room has 10' ceilings, as do the 3 adjacent rooms on the first floor. The kitchen and dining room have 8' ceilings.

Will the Oslo be able to (mostly) heat this house? This is a big investment for us and the last thing I want to do is buy a stove that is too small for the job!

PS The Firelight is too tall to fit in our fireplace, we had to get the lower legs on the Oslo
Click to expand...


Welcome to the forum Nightskies!

You speak much about the stove and the home but what about the fuel? That is as important or perhaps more important than the stove. Heating with gas or oil, one can install a stove or furnace and then call to order the fuel. That is NOT the way to deal with wood heat. You must give thought immediately to your fuel supply and with this in mind I will also warn you that if you are buying wood, do not believe a seller when he tells you the wood is seasoned and ready to burn. There is much more to it than that! Wood needs time to dry and it won't dry until it has been split and stacked outdoors in the wind. You'll no doubt find that wood sellers split their wood just before delivering it and that just does not work well at all.

Be sure to look into the Wood Shed forum on hearth.com for more information on the wood supply. Good luck.
 
fire_man said:
Well, you already bought the stove, so it looks like the Oslo will have to do for now. I would have gone for something bigger and extended your Hearth to accomodate a taller stove. I just did that so that I can fit the Progress instead of the Fireview - the Progress is 5" taller. Depending on your hearth setup its not that hard to extend. The Oslo is a great stove, but I think it might struggle in a cold New England winter in your house. If it has not been installed yet, I would seriously consider swapping to bigger - I'll bet the stove shop would be ok with it.
Click to expand...

+1 Good stove but you need a bigger stove..

Ray
 
While you are waiting for your stove, get busy air-sealing your home.
Next, add insulation in the attic. A bunch of insulation.
70's era insulation is not nearly adequate. 12 inches or more of fiberglass is about the minimum.

Even if you swicth to a bigger stove, why waste wood by heating the outside of the house.
 
Dune said:
While you are waiting for your stove, get busy air-sealing your home.
Next, add insulation in the attic. A bunch of insulation.
70's era insulation is not nearly adequate. 12 inches or more of fiberglass is about the minimum.

Even if you swicth to a bigger stove, why waste wood by heating the outside of the house.
Click to expand...

+1
Pays you back every year after that too.
May even be some tax credits involved. :)
 
I would say move the stove out from inside the fireplace so the heat is heating air in the room and have a blockoff plate put in the fireplace above the stove so the heat does not go up the chimney and do not just have a blockoff plate at the top of chimney since you will be heating the whole chimney.
 
sandie said:
I would say move the stove out from inside the fireplace so the heat is heating air in the room and have a blockoff plate put in the fireplace above the stove so the heat does not go up the chimney and do not just have a blockoff plate at the top of chimney since you will be heating the whole chimney.
Click to expand...

The other good reason to put a block off plate at the top and bottom besides preventing lost heat: you form a dead space of air around the liner (no air movement) which acts like a decent insulator.

Other side of the story: leaving the top open allows a leaky liner to leak to the outside.
 
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