advice needed on stove selection.

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CTBurner

Member
Aug 4, 2008
227
SE CT
I need to heat a open building, 1 big room 40x40" cement floor , concrete block walls, 10 ft cieling well insulated cieling and windows. need a cheap to moderite priced stove. i have an existing 6' flue. thanks for any and all help
 
Englander...30 NC or go with the big boy...28-3500
 
Any stove will have a tough time heating that space...IMHO because of the concrete block and cement floor. That is like a really big basement with a high ceiling. In this case I would think the bigger the better. Just one man's thoughts.

Shawn
 
Are the block walls insulated?? What do you mean by "Heat"? As in heat a work shop to 60F or a class room to 68F?

The Englander NC30 is gonna be your biggest beast that will run on a 6" flue and have a low cost. Or as said above, you might find yourself in more of a "furnace" situation. At first blush, I would say to "go big, or go home".
 
Englander 30 or Drolet HT2000 for good-value free standing stoves with a 6" pipe
 
Jags said:
Are the block walls insulated?? What do you mean by "Heat"? As in heat a work shop to 60F or a class room to 68F?

The Englander NC30 is gonna be your biggest beast that will run on a 6" flue and have a low cost. Or as said above, you might find yourself in more of a "furnace" situation. At first blush, I would say to "go big, or go home".

blocks are not insulated, only need need to hest 6 hrs a day to 68. the rest of the time 40 is okay
 
CTBurner said:
only need need to hest 6 hrs a day to 68. the rest of the time 40 is okay

That will prove to be difficult, me thinks. You are dealing with a bunch of thermal mass. If allowed to drop to 40 at night it will take some serious BTU's to get it back up to 68 - AND your floor will stay cold without maintaining a temp (if that matters). I would bet that even with the heat belching a NC30 can do, at 40F you are looking at a couple of hours (at least) to get an air temp of 68F. Even then, your walls and floor will still be cold.

I heat a 24x24 shop with a stove. It has 4 ft cement walls on two sides with 2x construction and insulation above that. Cement floor. I typically expect a 30 degree gain in about 2+ hrs. I also have a salamander heater if I need more heat, quicker. It takes a LONG time to heat up the floor and the cement walls never do get warm.
 
blocks are not insulated, only need need to hest 6 hrs a day to 68. the rest of the time 40 is okay

I am skeptical that you will be able to achieve 68 for 6 hours a day without keeping it close to that 24/7. It will take forever to warm that place from 40 to 68 with one stove. You probably could get it there, but you once you do you'll want to keep it there.

Edit. Simultaneous post. What Jags said.
 
You just desribed my basement to a tee. Even the ceiling height is the same. And I heat the house above it 2 stories up. Can be done very easily with the Elm. Nothing goes bigger than the Elm. The 36" model is about twice the size of the NC30. I can get my basement to 80 degrees and thats with letting as much heat as possible out the top. If I were to close the basement door who knows, never tried it before but that would make it a walk in the park.
 
You just desribed my basement to a tee.

A basement is a challenge, but it is quite a bit different than a block structure completely exposed to winter air. Considering about half the basment walls will always be at about 50 degrees and most of them are surrounded by insulating soil.

Also, I'm not familiar with the Elm. But, I'd assume a stove that size uses an 8" flue.
 
My basement is a walkout (1 whole wall is plain exposed block) and the rest of the walls have 3 block exposed. That coupled with the fact that I'm not trapping the heat in that space but letting all that will go out I would say that space wouldn't would not be much of a challenge for the Elm. It has a 6" pipe outlet.
The Elm has been used to heat some pretty big spaces. The latest is a NY Inn and there is a lodge in Alaska using one now. The Inn pic is on the Vermont Elm face book page.
 
So I looked up the Elm. I have seen these before, and they are pretty cool. While I could argue that having 60% of the structure buried in the ground would make a huge difference in warming the place up, I concede it could be a good option.
 
Waulie said:
So I looked up the Elm. I have seen these before, and they are pretty cool. While I could argue that having 60% of the structure buried in the ground would make a huge difference in warming the place up, I concede it could be a good option.
I pointed out that since I let the heat in that space rise to the next level through the stairwell I'm letting a great amount of the heat out of that space. That should more than compensate for not having open block walls in comparing situations. Thats the key point here. And my ceiling isn't insulated.
 
But, you're letting the heat escape into an insulated space. Once your whole envelope is warm, I'm sure it works great. I'm not saying it won't work for the OP, but routinely trying to heat that place from a cold start to 68 is going to be very tough. That is my main concern. It is going to take a long time to heat up and it is going to cool down fast. I just want to make sure the OP has reasonable expectations.
 
Waulie said:
But, you're letting the heat escape into an insulated space. Once your whole envelope is warm, I'm sure it works great. I'm not saying it won't work for the OP, but routinely trying to heat that place from a cold start to 68 is going to be very tough. That is my main concern. It is going to take a long time to heat up and it is going to cool down fast. I just want to make sure the OP has reasonable expectations.
I guess its depends on from what to what. Since he is only expecting 68 I would say it will get there faster than you think. But totally agreed that once the source is removed it will drop quickly. I've often wondered just how much of a heat sink the rest of the house really is but we took the door off so I'm too lazy to put it on just for a quick test. Below 10degrees OAT that open wall can really feel cold up to 10 feet away. Plus there is a big window and french door on that same wall. So that basement is a pretty bad area to try and heat.
The guy I sold my Nashua to has it in a 150yr old barn that is easily 3 xs larger, no insulation anywhere, leaks and air gaps like you just can't imagine and I was very surprised at what he could accomplish but he was firing that thing for all it was worth. To the point the stove was almost red. Did that all last winter and it survived. Not in the shape where I would want it back in the house but useable for what he wants. hahaha and he knows how to weld.
 
I guess it boils down to what other stove is there out there that is large enough to take on the job and can be pushed to the limits continuosly without harm?
All for a very reasonable price.
I had mine running 750 stove top all morning and thats just an easy gallop for the Elm. No worries about it cracking, warping, or crumbling.
 
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