I am doing my research and planning for a woodstove. I am trying to simulate how the stove might look and work. So I mocked up a 3D rendering below showing the first floor of my house with the woodstove installed using an existing fireplace in the living room.
I have researched various stoves, talked with dealers, and scoured these forums. Now I seek the advice of you knowledgeable forum members on the age-old question: "What stove?" Key considerations for this question:
a. The size of my house. The first floor of the house is ~1680sf. The 2nd floor adds another ~1400sf in 5 bedrooms. For a total of ~3100sf. The insulation in the house is typical 1940’s construction. We do most of our “living” on the first floor. So I want a stove that will at least handle heating the first floor. If any “extra” heat wafted upstairs to supplement the separately-zoned oil heat in the bedrooms, great, but I don’t realistically expect to heat all 3100sf of my house with a single woodstove. That being said, I do expect the woodstove to “take the edge off” my oil bill.
b. Frequency of fires. For a variety of reasons (mostly because it scares me) I am not going to be a 24/7 burner like many of you. I will build fires nearly every weekday night, but will let them burn out by the time I have to leave for work in the morning. So, that means a lot of cold starts. I’ll burn pretty much 24/7 on the weekends (Friday night through Sunday night).
c. Material. I am really attracted to soapstone stoves. Am I ill-advised to be leaning towards soapstone given the likely frequency of cold starts?
d. Model: if a soapstone stove is OK for my application, then what make&model I really like what I hear about the Woodstock Fireview. However, at ~1,680sf my first floor alone is on the outer edge of what the FV is rated to handle. The local Hearthstone dealer is pushing hard for me to get an Equinox. The Equinox would sure crank out a lot of heat, maybe even enough to do the whole house, upstairs included, but it is 2X the cost ($4,200 vs. $2,100 for the FV), takes up 2X the floor space (6.4sf footprint vs. 3.6sf for the FV), and takes up 2X the room volume (16.5cf vs 8.4cf for the FV). Given the layout of my house and the likely frequency of burns, can I justify an Equinox or am I actually better off with the smaller Fireview?
e. Aesthetics. This stove has to look good. That is my wife’s nonnegotiable demand.
I have researched various stoves, talked with dealers, and scoured these forums. Now I seek the advice of you knowledgeable forum members on the age-old question: "What stove?" Key considerations for this question:
a. The size of my house. The first floor of the house is ~1680sf. The 2nd floor adds another ~1400sf in 5 bedrooms. For a total of ~3100sf. The insulation in the house is typical 1940’s construction. We do most of our “living” on the first floor. So I want a stove that will at least handle heating the first floor. If any “extra” heat wafted upstairs to supplement the separately-zoned oil heat in the bedrooms, great, but I don’t realistically expect to heat all 3100sf of my house with a single woodstove. That being said, I do expect the woodstove to “take the edge off” my oil bill.
b. Frequency of fires. For a variety of reasons (mostly because it scares me) I am not going to be a 24/7 burner like many of you. I will build fires nearly every weekday night, but will let them burn out by the time I have to leave for work in the morning. So, that means a lot of cold starts. I’ll burn pretty much 24/7 on the weekends (Friday night through Sunday night).
c. Material. I am really attracted to soapstone stoves. Am I ill-advised to be leaning towards soapstone given the likely frequency of cold starts?
d. Model: if a soapstone stove is OK for my application, then what make&model I really like what I hear about the Woodstock Fireview. However, at ~1,680sf my first floor alone is on the outer edge of what the FV is rated to handle. The local Hearthstone dealer is pushing hard for me to get an Equinox. The Equinox would sure crank out a lot of heat, maybe even enough to do the whole house, upstairs included, but it is 2X the cost ($4,200 vs. $2,100 for the FV), takes up 2X the floor space (6.4sf footprint vs. 3.6sf for the FV), and takes up 2X the room volume (16.5cf vs 8.4cf for the FV). Given the layout of my house and the likely frequency of burns, can I justify an Equinox or am I actually better off with the smaller Fireview?
e. Aesthetics. This stove has to look good. That is my wife’s nonnegotiable demand.