1830 Home Needs Stove Advice

[dpgoalie]

Hello,

I purchased a home built in 1830 this past December. I am located in New Hampshire and temps. can get to below zero and even -30 with the wind chill. The basement is unfinished and is stone and drafty. All of the windows are single pane and drafty. The doors are also drafty and there is not much insulation in the home. As you can see by the floor plan I included there is no way for the heat from a wood stove to get to one end of the house. The den , reading room, and bathroom remain cold. The floors are all wood. The home is 1900 square feet and all of the bedrooms are located up stairs.

This past winter I used a 1975 Vermont Castings Defiant that has gaps in it. I can see the flames around the top when the lights are out at night. I was burning fairly green oak and it was a pain. I was not able to keep the den and reading room warm, but the heat did travel up the stairs and keep the entire upstairs warm.

By the end of the summer I will have finished insulating the attic. And maybe, just maybe finish reglazing all of the windows and the storms. I also will put a door way and a door near the staircase that will create an opening between the livingroom and the den. There is a fan in the chimeny encasing that faces the stove which I will fix and I will place a fan above the staircase to push heat down and help circulate it.

I have already purchased my wood which is 8 cords. The logs are 22" long.

I have spoken to 3 different dealers and I have received much different opinions from each of them.

I was thinking about getting the Hearthstone Equinox due to the drafty nature of my home. But what I am looking for the most, is long burn times and heat times.

Any information or advice on how to set up the home or which stove will be greatly appreciated. I have spent lots of time reading posts on this stove, but I figured ever situation was home specific so I figured I would ask and inlcude a floor plan.

Thanks

 

[Dix]

Hello,

I purchased a home built in 1830 this past December. I am located in New Hampshire and temps. can get to below zero and even -30 with the wind chill. The basement is unfinished and is stone and drafty. All of the windows are single pane and drafty. The doors are also drafty and there is not much insulation in the home. As you can see by the floor plan I included there is no way for the heat from a wood stove to get to one end of the house. The den , reading room, and bathroom remain cold. The floors are all wood. The home is 1900 square feet and all of the bedrooms are located up stairs.

This past winter I used a 1975 Vermont Castings Defiant that has gaps in it. I can see the flames around the top when the lights are out at night. I was burning fairly green oak and it was a pain. I was not able to keep the den and reading room warm, but the heat did travel up the stairs and keep the entire upstairs warm.

By the end of the summer I will have finished insulating the attic. And maybe, just maybe finish reglazing all of the windows and the storms. I also will put a door way and a door near the staircase that will create an opening between the livingroom and the den. There is a fan in the chimeny encasing that faces the stove which I will fix and I will place a fan above the staircase to push heat down and help circulate it.

I have already purchased my wood which is 8 cords. The logs are 22" long.

I have spoken to 3 different dealers and I have received much different opinions from each of them.

I was thinking about getting the Hearthstone Equinox due to the drafty nature of my home. But what I am looking for the most, is long burn times and heat times.

Any information or advice on how to set up the home or which stove will be greatly appreciated. I have spent lots of time reading posts on this stove, but I figured ever situation was home specific so I figured I would ask and inlcude a floor plan.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure the wiazards & witches can come up with something

My first thought is more insulation/caulk/whatever... the sill around the basement, entry doors, electrical outlets, that kinda stuff.

My second thought is prefaced with a question and a guess. I assume that to access the stairs you are not where the stove is? (sorry couldn't come up with a quick way to phrase it) If so, I would open a doorway at the bottom of the stairs (top of pic in layout) and that hallway. You'll get "natural" air movement into the den, bath, reading room & hallway. The heat will still go upstairs, and you won't be doing all that walking from the living room to get to the den ;-) Or a door way from the den into the living room. I'd go with the stairway route, myself Maybe with a small floor fan (more on that later.)

I'm sure the stove experts will be along shortly.

Is there a FP in this house? Just a thought.

 

[joshlaugh]

I have an old drafty 1895 house with almost no insulation in the walls but plenty in the attic. I tried to heat my house with just 1 stove centrally located but it simply didn't work for me(The room with the stove was pretty warm but not really the rest of the house). I have a Hearthstone Heritage which I really like but isn't enough to heat all the rooms. I am adding a 2nd stove in the front of my house to heat there plus send heat up the stairs. I plan to use the heritage to heat the back of the house and send heat up the back stairs as well. I am sure others here will give you advice but I think those of us with older houses have additional problems heating our homes since they are no where near as insulated or air tight as newer homes.

Good luck

 

[Jags]

My opinion:

First your gonna need to tighten up that house. If it is drafty, it will always have warm and cold spots. And consume TONS of heat and wood.

Second, I would open a doorway from the living room to the Den. If you plan on heating the reading room with stove heat, I would also open a doorway from the den to the reading room. This will give you a path that you can now start to circulate the heat. Heat in the living room will pass to the den, to the reading room, to the hall, to the kitchen and return the cold air from the kitchen back into the living room.

I would replace your stove with a fairly large EPA stove, say 3+ cu ft firebox. Sounds like your gonna need some serious BTU's.

Oh, and EPA stoves HATE unseasoned wood.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I have an old drafty 1895 house with almost no insulation in the walls but plenty in the attic. I tried to heat my house with just 1 stove centrally located but it simply didn't work for me(The room with the stove was pretty warm but not really the rest of the house). I have a Hearthstone Heritage which I really like but isn't enough to heat all the rooms. I am adding a 2nd stove in the front of my house to heat there plus send heat up the stairs. I plan to use the heritage to heat the back of the house and send heat up the back stairs as well. I am sure others here will give you advice but I think those of us with older houses have additional problems heating our homes since they are no where near as insulated or air tight as newer homes.

Good luck

I completely agree. I have an old, drafty 1741 stone farmhouse and it is impossible to heat with one stove. The layout just doesn't allow for it. I just got a second stove, and a third will be bought down the road (and I am only dealing with 2200 square feet).

 

[BrowningBAR]

I have an old drafty 1895 house with almost no insulation in the walls but plenty in the attic. I tried to heat my house with just 1 stove centrally located but it simply didn't work for me(The room with the stove was pretty warm but not really the rest of the house). I have a Hearthstone Heritage which I really like but isn't enough to heat all the rooms. I am adding a 2nd stove in the front of my house to heat there plus send heat up the stairs. I plan to use the heritage to heat the back of the house and send heat up the back stairs as well. I am sure others here will give you advice but I think those of us with older houses have additional problems heating our homes since they are no where near as insulated or air tight as newer homes.

Good luck

I completely agree. I have an old, drafty 1741 stone farmhouse and it is impossible to heat with one stove. The layout just doesn't allow for it. I just got a second stove, and a third will be bought down the road (and I am only dealing with 2200 square feet).

we hung a giant tarp on an old farmhouse [wood] with pulleys etc. & it made a big diff. stone presents some challenges. please post pic of your house so i can dream about possible solution via unrestrained dreamatizations....thanx

Will do. I have posted floorplans previously. But I will create a new thread later with floor plans and pics and set it up so people can post suggestions on how and what they would do.