Choosing stove for New House.

[Curtis26]

Hello folks, first off I would like to say Hello. This is my first post on the forum, and I live in south eastern New Brunswick Canada. I grew up in a log home with a large basement furnace with one large grate forcing air into the main level. Nothing like nice wood heat on a snowy day.

Anywho.... My House I live in now is 100% baseboard heat, lived here 4 years and it isn't actually that bad cost wise, as it's a smaller house with new windows. But we now have two daughters and the nursery here is only 7'x8' and not enough for a bedroom once the baby gets bigger, plus we want more room.

So I am building a new house currently and plan to install a nice air tight woodstove. I don't have alot of knowledge on the newer wood stoves avaliable, and figured someone on this forum might have some helpfull information or tips.

It's a two story house and is going to have half of the basement finsished. Although it would be convinient to have the wood stove in the basement, I doubt it would heat the main level very well. I have Read to many posts of people having trouble with wood stoves in basements. Although some poeple have good luck with it!

THe main level is very open concept and 840 square feet. THe upstairs with the bonus room is 1100 square feet. So my current thinking is to place a large air tight stove on the main level, and hope I get good to moderate heat upstairs to the three bedrooms.
I am going to have baseboard heat as well. But hopefully only have to use it in the basement TV room, and probably the bonus room as it's over the garage. I would frame a chimney chase and run 2" celkirk up through the roof.

I've attached the floor plans of the house, with the woodstove location marked as a red square on the main level.

Would a epa stove rated for 2600square feet be to much? as the main level is only 840?
Is a 1000$ woodstove from KENT building supplies good enough? Or would paying the extra for a nicer stove be worth it?

Again any info, ideas is greatly appreciated.

THanks
Curtis

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

My wife is from Canada, so I'm familiar with Kents, the US's Home Depot or Lowes. I'm not sure what stoves Kents offers and what specs come with them. Two spaces that will need your baseboard heats' attention will be the bonus room and most definitely the basement. I think all that being known I would consider the stove as supplemental heat and help lowering your overall heating costs. Not that the electricity is that bad up that way.

 

[Curtis26]

Yes. I would most deffinently be relying on the electricity to heat the bonus room and basement. Hopefully the wood stove will do a nice job with the rest, but i'll leave the baseboards set to a low temp for days when nobody is home.

Here is an example of what KENT sells http://www.kent.ca/kbs/en/product.j...06&prdId=7160000&skuId=7160000&catalogId=1206

THe stove in the link is rated for 3600square feet. Probably overkill, maybe im better with a unit rated for 2000?

Thanks for the responce!

 

[mhrischuk]

The infamous Ultimate. That's a huge stove. We have not seen any reports on it yet.

One comment on your house design. Lots of people only use dining rooms for a show room. They end up being unused wasted space to display stuff or turned into other uses. I would consider a large eat-in kitchen with room for the table and make the dining room space part of the great room. As it is now you have to walk to another part of the house with the food to get to the kitchen and everytime you need something you'll be going back and forth.

 

[Curtis26]

The infamous Ultimate. That's a huge stove. We have not seen any reports on it yet.

One comment on your house design. Lots of people only use dining rooms for a show room. They end up being unused wasted space to display stuff or turned into other uses. I would consider a large eat-in kitchen with room for the table and make the dining room space part of the great room. As it is now you have to walk to another part of the house with the food to get to the kitchen and everytime you need something you'll be going back and forth.

THanks for the responce! Im with you on haveing a eat in kitchen, thats kind of what we were thinking. Don't really need a formal dining room. What's shown as the dining room will indeed be part of the great room, should be a good spot for the piano and guitars.
Hopeing the bunus room can be a good kid space, and keep some toys out of the main level. lol likely won't happen though....

What I am really interested to get a bit of feed back on is sizing, for instance the main level is 840 square feet. Maybe a 1000square foot rated unit would be perfect? Or do most people usually get over rated stoves? aside from wood consumption it sounds like a good idea to me where as I want heat upstairs too.

THanks Again
Curtis

 

[begreen]

You've go a nice open floor plan and similar sq ftg to our house. I would go for a 2.5- 3.0 cu ft, convective stove. There are a lot of choices including many made in Canada. Take a look at Enerzone, Osburn, Pacific Energy and Napoleon stoves for starters.

 

[Curtis26]

You've go a nice open floor plan and similar sq ftg to our house. I would go for a 2.5- 3.0 cu ft, convective stove. There are a lot of choices including many made in Canada. Take a look at Enerzone, Osburn, Pacific Energy and Napoleon stoves for starters.

THanks for the stove names, i'll do a bit of searching around and check them out!

 

[Swedishchef]

Welcome to the forums Curtis.

As a fellow NBer (now living in Gaspe, QC) I know what your winters are going to be like. What part of Southeastern NB do you live? Moncton? Cap pele? Bouctouche? Sackville???

For what my comment/opinion is worth: if I were to do it all over again I would have 2 stoves in my house. One in the basement and one on the main floor. You mentioned that your basement will have a TV room: heating a basement with electricity which costs about 11-12 cents/KWh can add up fast. Then there's always the question: do you keep the heat on down there while you're not in the basement? If you had a stove down there: you light the stove and 30 minutes later the basement is warming up fast.

If you plan on heating 840 sqft, I would buy a stove that is rated for 2000+. Do you plan on burning through the night? 24/7? Only on weekends?

+1 on BeGreen's comments. I would stick with a wood stove that has a bit of a reputation and hold off for now on a new stove (Ultimate) that has not yet been rated. The stove companies BeGreen suggested are good and they have quite a different gambit of options.


The biggest piece of advice I can give is as follows: start cutting/splitting wood if you want to use a stove efficiently/safely. Wet wood does not heat well at all in EPA stoves. Lots of older people I know who have been heating for 30 years HATE "those new stoves" because they "don't heat like my old one did". That is because they cut their wood and burn it 2 months later. EPA stoves require dry wood in order to get secondary combustion fired up. Hardwood (maple, yellow birch, etc) should be cut and split for AT LEAST 2 years. Oak even 3. Some people may disagree but it's my opinion. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I'm actually going on vacation to NB this weekend for a week to visit relatives/friends

Andrew

 

[Curtis26]

Welcome to the forums Curtis.

As a fellow NBer (now living in Gaspe, QC) I know what your winters are going to be like. What part of Southeastern NB do you live? Moncton? Cap pele? Bouctouche? Sackville???

For what my comment/opinion is worth: if I were to do it all over again I would have 2 stoves in my house. One in the basement and one on the main floor. You mentioned that your basement will have a TV room: heating a basement with electricity which costs about 11-12 cents/KWh can add up fast. Then there's always the question: do you keep the heat on down there while you're not in the basement? If you had a stove down there: you light the stove and 30 minutes later the basement is warming up fast.

If you plan on heating 840 sqft, I would buy a stove that is rated for 2000+. Do you plan on burning through the night? 24/7? Only on weekends?

+1 on BeGreen's comments. I would stick with a wood stove that has a bit of a reputation and hold off for now on a new stove (Ultimate) that has not yet been rated. The stove companies BeGreen suggested are good and they have quite a different gambit of options.


The biggest piece of advice I can give is as follows: start cutting/splitting wood if you want to use a stove efficiently/safely. Wet wood does not heat well at all in EPA stoves. Lots of older people I know who have been heating for 30 years HATE "those new stoves" because they "don't heat like my old one did". That is because they cut their wood and burn it 2 months later. EPA stoves require dry wood in order to get secondary combustion fired up. Hardwood (maple, yellow birch, etc) should be cut and split for AT LEAST 2 years. Oak even 3. Some people may disagree but it's my opinion. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I'm actually going on vacation to NB this weekend for a week to visit relatives/friends

Andrew

Gooday Andrew! I live about 25 minutes outside of moncton now in the petitcodiac area. The new house is being biult in upper coverdale, between salisbury and riverview.

I do plan to keep the wood stove burning 24/7 through the winter. Hopefully the the heat will make it's way up stairs, I also forgot to add that the main level has 9' ceilings and im going to have a ceiling fan on the main level as well as upstairs. Also going to try and keep the staircase as open as possible to increase air flow. Maybe even add a floor vent/grate in the upstairs hallway.

Great advice on the newer stoves working better with dry wood. My Earth stove in my garage burns anything! but it's warped and draws like a wind tunnel. lol not very efficient.....

Hope you have a good trip to NB this weekend, what part of the province are you visiting?

Cheers!

Curtis

 

[Swedishchef]

Hey Curtis.

I know exactly where that is. My sister lives in Riverview and I used to go to Moncton fairly often.

If you plan on burning 24/7, get a big stove. 3.0 cubic feet if possible. Small stoves = less wood = shorter burn times (normally). A large stove will give more time for long burns. You could also get a stove with a CAT and have long burn times. Blaze King and Woodstock make great stoves and those who own them LOVE them. However, like I said, you need DRY WOOD. No hissing! If you can get a moisture meter, the ideal % humidity is about 15-20%.

Ceiling fans will certainly help move air around. Before you start cutting holes into your floor, wait and see how things work.

I know you may not want to hear this but...the most efficient way to heat 2 level is simple: buy a furnace. Put the furnace in the basement and put a stove on the main floor if you want a stove for ambiance. Getting the heat to your second story could be tricky...heat won't want to go through a gyprock ceiling very well and to get the hot air moving will take some effort. You can search the forum for great tips on this: there are a TON of experts on this subject but I am not one of them. All I can say is that my stove is in my basement and to get the heat upstairs I gotta the get basement to 24-27+ degrees for an hour or two and THEN the heat goes up my stairs and to the rest of the house. My ceiling is not completed in my basement yet and the heat stays trapped between the floor joists.

I am heading down to Fredericton. My father lives there, I have a sister in law there and that's where I spent 15 years of my life.

Andrew

 

[TK-421]

Welcome neighbor,

My relatives are all from HopeWell Hill NB near Moncton.

I did what you're doing right now. I had an 1800 sq ft cape. Two bath, two beds, one office upstairs all living down in a great room.

I installed a wood/oil Yukon eagle furnace and attached it to hvac ductwork. Best decision I ever made. Worst decision I ever made was selling the house because of constant trespassing and bought a house with no basement.

We're not as cold as you but we would routinely need to open windows in the winter. Nice even heat on all floors in every room.

Furnace in the basement keeps, wood chips, dirt, and ash out of your house. I had my woodshed right behind the house next to the hatchway. Once a week I tossed a weeks load down the stairs the stacked it off the floor in a self made cradle.

Best of the best in wood heat.

There are many furnace manufacturers besides Yukon. Fire king is another I looked at.

Brings tears to my eyes thinking about never having that furnace again.

That is what I would do in a heartbeat.