Am I getting too much stove?

[Waulie]

Hello all. I place an order for the new Woodstock stove last week. Although very excited, I am starting to have some reservations that I am going to cook my family. My house has a footprint of roughly 1,100 square-feet. Almost 1,000 of that is basically a box and very open. There is an upstairs "loft" over two thirds of that space. The rest of the house is an addition, connected by a hallway with cathedral ceilings going up to 14 feet.

If I compare my home's volume to a typical home with 8-foot ceilings, it would represent more like 1,700 square-feet. I guess I would call my insulation "average", but I do know I lose quite a bit of heat out through the cathedral ceilings and there is no easy way to fix that. We do ahve ceilings fan to help move the heat around.

I live in the northern portion of the Michigan's lower pennisula. It does get cold, but we are basically surrounded on three sides by Lake Michigan. This creates a very long early winter shoulder season since the lake keeps us quite a bit warmer than the middle of state until the lake gets cold. We don't typically see single digits until well into January.

I am enamoured with cat stoves due to their versatility. However, I'm not sure this new stove will by quite a versatile. I spoke with Woodstock and asked about the secondary air. Specifically, is it controllable or is it always fully open? Frankly, I don't think the person I spoke with knew the answer as she basically said that yes, it was controllable and yes, it is always open at different points in the conversation. If the secondary air is always fully open, am I right to think that I won't get the versatility of a typical cat stove (i.e. will I really be able to turn it way down during shoulder seasons)?

When I run a rough estimate on BTU's needed, I come up with almost 50,000. Theorectically, that should be perfect for a stove rated from 10,000 to 80,000 BTU's. So, maybe I'm over-thinking this. I know most people say when in doubt, go bigger. Has anyone ever had too large of a stove?

Thanks for any input.

 

[fossil]

...maybe I'm over-thinking this.

That may well be.

...Has anyone ever had too large of a stove?

I imagine so, but I've never experienced that, nor do I remember anyone on these forums ever complaining about it in the 4 years that I've been hanging around here. Rick

 

[Todd]

I think you will be fine. When I talked to Woodstock they said the primary and secondary air are both controlled by 1 control and there isn't a seperate fixed secondary air hole. They also told me they were looking into a few different thermostat options for even more control. You can always put less wood in the box as well. I betting 1/2 to 3/4 full will burn nice and clean and put out less BTU's.

 

[Jags]

The secondary air tubes are NOT user controllable, so I guess you could consider them fully open. The incoming air is directly related to what is going on in the firebox and the final volume of air going up your stack. Primary air IS fully adjustable.

I doubt that you are going to experience the "too big" stove syndrome. Sounds to me like it is "right sized". Remember, windows still work in the winter. ;-)

EDIT: go with TODD on the air controls. It is possible that one control has effect on the burn tubes, but that is not typical for most stoves.

 

[Waulie]

Thanks guys. I wish I spoke with who Todd spoke with. That does make me feel better that the secondary is controlled with the primary. I believe the Alderlea T5 does something similiar and it seems to result in great burn times for a non-cat stove. The T5 was actually going to be my new stove because I thought the new Woodstock would be out of my price range. It turns out, they are about the same price with the introductory pricing. Local dealer quoted $2,500 for the T5, and that was the super-special, as low as we can go, price.

I need to stop second-guessing myself and devote my energy to cutting, splitting, and stacking!

 

[cptoneleg]

I worked two winters in Alpina which is south of you, I wouldn't think there was any such thing as too large a stove, 40 below was normal. :zip:

 

[Waulie]

I worked two winters in Alpina which is south of you, I wouldn’t think there was any such thing as too large a stove, 40 below was normal.

Alpena is on the other side of the state, almost due east of me. Alpena is on Lake Huron, but since the weather almost always comes from the northwest, the lake doesn't warm them up it Lake Michigan does us. Thankfully, we rarely go below zero.

 

[joefrompa]

A big stove just means you can make small, medium, or large fires depending on your needs. A medium stove cuts out one of those options. A small stove only leaves you with one option.

In other words - you are giving yourself more choice.

 

[shawneyboy]

Is there such a thing as "to much stove" ?

Shawn

 

[Waulie]

Is there such a thing as “to much stove†?

I doubt it. My question was actually about getting "too much stove". Any thoughts?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hello all. I place an order for the new Woodstock stove last week. Although very excited, I am starting to have some reservations that I am going to cook my family. My house has a footprint of roughly 1,100 square-feet. Almost 1,000 of that is basically a box and very open. There is an upstairs "loft" over two thirds of that space. The rest of the house is an addition, connected by a hallway with cathedral ceilings going up to 14 feet.

If I compare my home's volume to a typical home with 8-foot ceilings, it would represent more like 1,700 square-feet. I guess I would call my insulation "average", but I do know I lose quite a bit of heat out through the cathedral ceilings and there is no easy way to fix that. We do ahve ceilings fan to help move the heat around.

I live in the northern portion of the Michigan's lower pennisula. It does get cold, but we are basically surrounded on three sides by Lake Michigan. This creates a very long early winter shoulder season since the lake keeps us quite a bit warmer than the middle of state until the lake gets cold. We don't typically see single digits until well into January.

I am enamoured with cat stoves due to their versatility. However, I'm not sure this new stove will by quite a versatile. I spoke with Woodstock and asked about the secondary air. Specifically, is it controllable or is it always fully open? Frankly, I don't think the person I spoke with knew the answer as she basically said that yes, it was controllable and yes, it is always open at different points in the conversation. If the secondary air is always fully open, am I right to think that I won't get the versatility of a typical cat stove (i.e. will I really be able to turn it way down during shoulder seasons)?

When I run a rough estimate on BTU's needed, I come up with almost 50,000. Theorectically, that should be perfect for a stove rated from 10,000 to 80,000 BTU's. So, maybe I'm over-thinking this. I know most people say when in doubt, go bigger. Has anyone ever had too large of a stove?

Thanks for any input.

Waulie, it sounds like you are either in the Petoskey or Traverse City area. Yes, you have a prolonged fall because of the lake but that also affects you in the spring in that it does not warm as fast.

As for your reservations after ordering the new stove, that is a normal reaction whenever someone makes a big decision. If it were me, I'd got with your order and don't forget that Woodstock will give you a 6 month guarantee!

Stove too big? Build smaller fires. Like Rick stated, he's heard of nobody who complained of the stove being too big and neither have I.

Watch for a PM.

 

[eujamfh]

Agree with the trend...never can be too big in my opinion. Small fires will solve most of it...and an ope window will solve the rest. I know when we went to two stoves the first year, we made the house a sauna because we did not get a good handle on "small fire" but after some practice, and open windows...we settled in just fine. And having the extra "umph" when it does get cold will be flexibility a smaller stove can not give you...

Cheers and good luck,
Matt

 

[ddddddden]

Cathedral ceilings are notorious for sucking up the heat in a room. Worst case scenario: the stove is a fire-breathing monster. . .you turn the ceiling fan off and let the heat collect in the loft. Really worst case: you put the beast back in the box it came in and send it home. . .a PITA, but not nearly as bad as if you had to sell it for a loss. When they said in the blog that it will be too much stove for some folks, I doubt they meant folks in MI with cathedral ceilings. Relax.

 

[dafattkidd]

I don't know if this is helpful to you or not but I have a stove that is oversized for the area I heat. It works out great. I almost never have to fully load it. The only downfall I've found is during shoulder season the coals don't last as long as they did in my much smaller stove. Besides that it's a bonus having a larger stove. I have the firepower when I need it. I never have over coaling problems like I did with my smaller stove. I can feed it larger splits. I think with your stove being a cat stove it's going to work out even better than my situation. You can probably run that sucker on a lower setting and get longer burns than you would with a smaller stove. It's going to be great. You're gonna love it. And based on what other woodstock owners here say you're in good hands.

 

[Waulie]

Thanks everyone!

Your advice makes sense, and I love that everyone agrees. Now, I do too.

When they said in the blog that it will be too much stove for some folks, I doubt they meant folks in MI with cathedral ceilings.

When you put it that way, my fears seem unfounded. :shut:

 

[summit]

no such thing as too much stove... only not enough stove

 

[begreen]

Not quite. We get a some folks every year that choose to downsize. There are limits to a practical fit.

 

[Battenkiller]

no such thing as too much stove... only not enough stove

Correction:

no such thing as too much stove... only not enough space