Advice and Suggestions for a New Wood Stove (800sq ft)

[Dix]

Is the interior chimney used for another appliance?

Welcome to the forums, Anchor !

 

[anchorless]

Hello all.

I've been perusing this site for a while now, and decided it was finally time to register and solicit opinions and suggestions for my specific situation. I really appreciate it!

I live in Southern Idaho. Winter temps range from 5* to 35* at night, 20* to 40* during the day, generally from December to March. November and April and May are moderately chilly months, but not bad.

I have a small 2 bedroom house, just under 800 sq, in a typical arrangement. I would say that insulation is acceptable, but not great. Windows are pretty good. I've attached a floorplan below.

Right now I have electric furnace central air, which is killing me on my power bill. I would like a wood burning stove to be my primary source of heat - I'd supplement the rooms with a small heater if needed, or use my furnace if really needed.

So my burn times in the winter months would start around 6:00pm, and I leave for work around 8:00 am.

I have a chimney in the house already, centrally located in the living room and kitchen border, but it's in the walls (behind the sheetrock). I can reline it and tap into it with my stovepipe, and the location is where I want my stove. However, the corner the stove would sit in is small (2ft x 2.5ft). So this area could only accept a contemporary style stove, something like a Morso or Rika or Rais. I do like those styles, but I am concerned about burn time. I would prefer to have my stove here, but there are limitations, obviously.

Other options include each corner of the living room; the front corner would have a much shorter stovepipe; the central corner a much longer one. Both corners would accept a larger wood stove. There would be *some* difficulty with furniture arrangement in either of the corners. But a larger stove = longer burn times and better ability to heat.

I'd like to keep my total budget at around $3500, for stove, stovepipe, install, and reline (if necessary). But at the same time, I'm don't want to scrimp. I'd like good quality and efficiency.

If you would look at the attached image you can see what's going on.

My local dealers sell Morso, Rais, Rika, Blazeking, Avalon, Pacific Energy, Hearthstone, Quadrafire, and Scan. I really like the Rika Esprit and Morso 600 or 800 series for the contemporary stoves, or the Pacific Energy Fusion, Spectrum or Aldera, or the Moreso 7110.

If any of you have suggestions as to location and brands or models you really like, I would greatly appreciate it! Nice forum you have here.

 

[Renovation]

Hi Anchorless, and welcome!

You were so considerate in describing and drawing you situation, that I have to give you the benefit of whatever insight I can provide.

Let's start with the challenging part, locating your stove, then you can go on to the fun of deciding which one you want.

I'd like to start by trying to figure a way to use your existing flue, since it's there, interior and central--all good things.

Pretending that up is North, your little x is to the West of that flue, correct?

It's right near the doorway, so let's see if we can figure out a better arrangement.

I'll start with two ideas:

1. How about moving the doorway that's SW of your x farther W, so you have more room for your stove?

2. How about moving the stove to the N side of your chimney, and shortening the kitchen wall N of it, if needed?

Both of these require some wall work, but on the plus side you don't have to run a new flue, and will end up with a really nice location.

Questions, concerns, comments?

 

[begreen]

Given the cold climate, I'd be looking at a ~2 cu ft stove that works over a wide temp range. A cat soapstone like the Woodstock Keystone could work well. In non-cat, I think the PE Alderlea T5, Quadrafire Cumberland Gap, Hearthsone Heritage or Napoleon 1400 would do well here. The kitchen should heat nicely with the stove in the LR. The trick is going to be heating the other 2 rooms. That looks like it's going to take a properly located fan and perhaps a vent or two.

 

[anchorless]

Is the interior chimney used for another appliance?

Welcome to the forums, Anchor !

Hi!

No - it runs straight down into the crawl space. There is a circular opening in the chimney in the crawl space about 1 foot diameter - probably some sort of gas or oil furnace or something.

The house was built in 1950, so it's not terribly old.

Hi Anchorless, and welcome!

You were so considerate in describing and drawing you situation, that I have to give you the benefit of whatever insight I can provide.

Let's start with the challenging part, locating your stove, then you can go on to the fun of deciding which one you want.

I'd like to start by trying to figure a way to use your existing flue, since it's there, interior and central--all good things.

Pretending that up is North, your little x is to the West of that flue, correct?

It's right near the doorway, so let's see if we can figure out a better arrangement.

I'll start with two ideas:

1. How about moving the doorway that's SW of your x farther W, so you have more room for your stove?

2. How about moving the stove to the N side of your chimney, and shortening the kitchen wall N of it, if needed?

Both of these require some wall work, but on the plus side you don't have to run a new flue, and will end up with a really nice location.

Questions, concerns, comments?

Hi, and thanks for any advice.

For the purposes of the layout, up would be north; left would be west, etc. (house actually faces east).

If the picture isn't clear, the butt in directly north (up) of the central X is the front door - and there are no doors into the kitchen or the hallway. The kitchen opening is about 5 feet wide; the hall opening is about 3.

So the X is west of the flue.

We considered a few things - we talked about removing the sheet rock and exposing the chimney and perhaps building a mantle, and then putting in a fireplace on the north side of the flue in the kitchen. I'd prefer a stove to a fireplace I think, however...

Re: 1. This wouldn't work. My picture isn't drawn exactly to scale, but I have about 6" in the hall before the bedroom wall and door comes into play. I'm not sure that is enough to really make a difference.

Re: 2. Now that I think about it this might not work either because then the stove would pretty much block off the passage from the kitchen to the living room - unless again I got a more slender contemporary stove (which is what I was considering for that corner anyway). I kind of like the idea of the stove being in the kitchen because of space constraints in the living room, but not if its in the way (and I think it would be).

Another idea would be to get rid of the 2.5 feet of wall that makes up that corner by the flue dividing the living room from the hallway and putting the stove on the west side of the flue - the advantage to this is it would open up the hallway and allow for easier circulation of the radiant heat from the stove - ie, there isn't a wall separating the stove from the hallway and bedrooms - and we can still enjoy the stove from the living room too.

That might be the best option, actually.

 

[begreen]

I'm wondering about keeping the stove where the red x is next to the flue, but moving the bedroom hallway entrance to the left. Stove doesn't need to be too shallow, but should have close rear clearance.

 

[anchorless]

Here is a picture removing that wall.

The wall on the west side of the flue would be about 32". The new hall passage way would be about 60", or the same as the passage into the kitchen from the living room.

The chimney would have to be relined, of course. We looked down it and it runs straight into the crawlspace - no liner or anything in there now. There also isn't really any buildup in there, so lining should be fairly straight forward.

 

[anchorless]

I'm wondering about keeping the stove where the red x is next to the flue, but moving the bedroom hallway entrance to the left. Stove doesn't need to be too shallow, but should have close rear clearance.

Hi!

Yeah, unfortunately my first drawing was a bit inaccurate - I couldn't move the hall passageway any because it's pretty much to the bedroom wall already. See the picture I just posted (where I'm thinking about removing the corner wall to the SW of the flue.

 

[Renovation]

Here is a picture removing that wall.

The wall on the west side of the flue would be about 32". The new hall passage way would be about 60", or the same as the passage into the kitchen from the living room.

The chimney would have to be relined, of course. We looked down it and it runs straight into the crawlspace - no liner or anything in there now. There also isn't really any buildup in there, so lining should be fairly straight forward.

Looks promising. And you could move the stove a bit clockwise around the chimney so it is NW of the chimney and clear of both passages.

Generally, it looks good, and you could tweak stove position and which way the front faces to suit.

 

[Renovation]

I second BeGreens point--if you put a non-combustible finish on your chimney, you can back your stove up fairly close to it without combustion issues, though you want some clearance for convection.

 

[anchorless]

Given the cold climate, I'd be looking at a ~2 cu ft stove that works over a wide temp range. A cat soapstone like the Woodstock Keystone could work well. In non-cat, I think the PE Alderlea T5, Quadrafire Cumberland Gap, Hearthsone Heritage or Napoleon 1400 would do well here. The kitchen should heat nicely with the stove in the LR. The trick is going to be heating the other 2 rooms. That looks like it's going to take a properly located fan and perhaps a vent or two.

Those are good suggestions!

I like that Woodstock Keystone - soapstone seems to be preferred to steel, correct (in terms of storing and emitting heat more evenly - don't want to start any wars here)?

I also like the QF and the PE quite a bit. The HSH is beautiful but probably a bit out of my price range, considering the other options.

 

[begreen]

I'm wondering about keeping the stove where the red x is next to the flue, but moving the bedroom hallway entrance to the left. Stove doesn't need to be too shallow, but should have close rear clearance.

Hi!

Yeah, unfortunately my first drawing was a bit inaccurate - I couldn't move the hall passageway any because it's pretty much to the bedroom wall already. See the picture I just posted (where I'm thinking about removing the corner wall to the SW of the flue.

That's pretty much what I was saying. Looks like it would work out well. Just be sure there is a proper header there, That's a load bearing wall.