Correct stove size

[bcnu]

First time posting but I've looked at many of these posts for info. Great sight. I've read about big stove/small fire and little stove/big fire concerns, so here is my information and question: We will be putting a wood stove in a remodeled area with approx. 750 sq ft. (25x30) We took out a wall between living/dining area so all pretty open. 8 ft ceilings, 1 door, 1 french door, and about 40sq ft of window space. Two story house(unused attic) built in 60's and insulation in walls and ceiling is so so. Has an inside masonry chimney that should provide good draft. I'll put a liner in from top to bottom. I was looking at Jotul Castine but after reading lots of posts etc. I wonder if the Jotul FC 3B might not be a better solution for ease of use and for heating the space adequately. Should say it's close to Portland, Oregon so not a lot of cold days. Want to use stove as main heat source in the living area but have oil furnace for backup. Will burn mostly fir but hope to mix in some oak and other hardwoods in the next couple of years. Will the F 3 CB put out enough heat? Is it easier to use, especially for a newbie, than the Castine. As I said, I'm learning a lot from all the posts. Thanks.

 

[suematteva]

Welcome Aboard!

What is the house square footage?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

First time posting but I've looked at many of these posts for info. Great sight. I've read about big stove/small fire and little stove/big fire concerns, so here is my information and question: We will be putting a wood stove in a remodeled area with approx. 750 sq ft. (25x30) We took out a wall between living/dining area so all pretty open. 8 ft ceilings, 1 door, 1 french door, and about 40sq ft of window space. Two story house(unused attic) built in 60's and insulation in walls and ceiling is so so. Has an inside masonry chimney that should provide good draft. I'll put a liner in from top to bottom. I was looking at Jotul Castine but after reading lots of posts etc. I wonder if the Jotul FC 3B might not be a better solution for ease of use and for heating the space adequately. Should say it's close to Portland, Oregon so not a lot of cold days. Want to use stove as main heat source in the living area but have oil furnace for backup. Will burn mostly fir but hope to mix in some oak and other hardwoods in the next couple of years. Will the F 3 CB put out enough heat? Is it easier to use, especially for a newbie, than the Castine. As I said, I'm learning a lot from all the posts. Thanks.

I would say the 3 cb should be perfetct!

 

[BrotherBart]

If you want to keep that main living area warm all night you are going to be getting up around 2:30 a.m. to feed the F3. Maybe sooner burning Doug Fir. BeGreen will be your best source of info. He heated with the F3 last year and has a Castine now. I heat my 1,000 sq. foot basement office/inventory area with an F3 so it will heat the space alright. But it is dead as a stone long before I get up and go down there of a morning. Burning red and white oak.

 

[bcnu]

Welcome Aboard!

What is the house square footage?

Hope this is where I post a reply. House is 1300 sq ft but I'm mainly interested in heating the open living area. Don't expect much heat down hallway into bedrooms.

 

[heydan]

People always talk about stove size in terms of how much space you can heat. But if you want to heat around the clock then no matter what size space you're heating a bigger stove is almost always going to be better because the bigger fireboxes can hold more wood and go longer between reloadings. It takes a pretty large stove just to be able to burn through the night so you can sleep and not wake up to a cold stove. So I'd say try for a larger stove if you can, not for the additional BTUs it can put out, but for the longer burn times you'll get from a bigger firebox.

 

[bcnu]

Thanks for all the replies. Another question about stove size. The Jotul Castine is rated for "up to 7 hour" burn time and CB3 "up to 6 Hour" burn time. Most of your posts say to figure more like 3-4 hours for the Castime, so I figure about the same with the CB 3. So I'm looking at holding a fire for 4 hours. What is the downside to waking up to a bed of coals. A cooler, but hopefully not cold house? Am I damaging a stove if the fire varies from hot to cool every night? Assuming I keep that bed of coals to rekindle a new fire and the house hasn't lost all the heat - will it take a long time to get the space back up to a warmer temp? And all this time, I thought you guys just threw a log on the fire every now and then. This is a great sight for a novice stove student.

 

[begreen]

We've had both stoves in the Seattle area, heating a 2000 sq ft house. When they say 4 or 6 hrs, that is a relative statement. It depends on the wood and what is an acceptible final temp. Woodstoves, unless they are soapstone, tend to ramp up to temp in the first 1/2 hr. Then put out a lot of heat for x hrs, then taper down gradually. When we talk of feeding it every 3 or 4 hrs. that is so that it maintains peak heat of say 500-600 degrees. You want this kind of heat when it's really cold out. So you aren't that far off. The 3CB will take a couple logs every couple hours. However, when it's 40 outside, this could get uncomfortably warm after several hours. So in that case we usually start smaller fires or just an evening big fire and let it die down. No worry about letting the stove cool down every night. It can take it.

The 3CB is a great little heater and could keep our house warm down to about 35 degrees. It has a smallish firebox. Figure on feeding it every 2 hrs. with softwood, and 3 hrs with madrona or oak. You can get longer burns, maybe 6 hrs, but the stove will be putting out a lot less heat after 2-3 hrs. I agree with MSG that this is about the right sized heater for a 750 sq ft room. It is not an overnight burner. But it's easy to operate and well behaved.

The Castine has a bigger firebox and just got through heating our house at a low of 24 degrees. It has a medium sized firebox. The controls are smoother on this stove and it has a nice solid door latch. Though it is more draft sensitive than the 3CB, with good draft it can heat well. Figure on feeding it every 3hrs with softwood and 4 with madrona. I had it going 24/7 during this last cold spell. If it got a lot colder, we would have needed more BTUs then the stove is capable of, but it did well keeping the main living area at about 70. When burning non-stop a big coal bed developed and there were always enough glowing coals in the morning (7-8 hrs. later) to throw on a little scrap wood and a couple logs and be blazing again in about 15 minutes. However, the stove was only about 120 degrees by then.