Finally Installed!!!

[enigmablaze]

Thanks. I think we are planning to use non-combustible cement board, no air gap, with stone veneer on top of it, and put it 7" off the stone face. If it is any tighter in the corner than that, it seems like it would be hard to service. So, in essence, the stone will be just for looks, and the cement board will be above code, but I don't have a problem with that.



After seeing the Morso 1440 (and 1410) in person, we have relocated this to a central location in the house, because it is just so pretty. Compared to the other steel plate stoves, it really stood out in a great way. As much as anything, the stone on the wall is going to serve to accent the stove, and to put it in the right setting.

It is going to be new construction, and quite well insulated. The heat should be able to disperse well through several rooms so that we can have the fire for ambiance and fun without ever being driven out of the room by the intensity of the heat. If we ever do need to use it for emergency heat, we will probably need to hang blankets over the doorways into the living room so that we can keep the heat in the room. Even with that, we will probably be camped on the floor in front of the stove.

I did that before in our first house with 2 fireplaces. There was an extended power outage in the depths of the winter (Maryland winter) and I stayed in the house and kept the fire going to keep the pipes from freezing. It managed that, but it didn't keep me comfy.



As far as wood goes, a friend was pointing out that if you cut it short enough, and split it small enough, wood will dry much faster than when it is in large pieces. I would also point out that wood will dry faster indoors than outdoors. You might be able to get some of your wood to dry a lot faster than you imagine if you cut it down enough, and stack it somewhere inside. To me, it would be worth it to get some real wood that I could burn on occasion.

For that matter, if you can harvest "leaning deadwood" some of that is very close to dry already. My experience with campfires suggests that aged wood that is just damp will dry out faster than green wood.

I am glad you love your stove. I can't wait for our stove to be ready, because it means the new house will also be ready.

Your installation sounds like a great idea, doesn't hurt to exceed code, plus I agree, any tighter and the stove would be ridiculously close to the wall, it would almost look uncomfortable I think.... The stove really does not get terribly hot, the sides stay to where you can easily touch them, I like that a lot with kids and pets. The top and front of course do but still it doesn't have that "blazing heat" feeling a radiant can.

The stove is beautiful, it is small but it's really a little piece of art, I love it. With your stone I'm sure it will be a beautiful focal point for your home.

I wouldn't necessarily expect the heat to be able to disperse much to other rooms...depending on how big your house is of course. Ours does begin to warm the adjacent kitchen after a while but really this is not a super heater, or perhaps the convection makes it such a gentle heat that it's a little hard to notice (I do appreciate that btw, I didn't want to be run out of the room either!) but we can sit right in front of it going full steam without being near too hot. Again, I might not be running mine just right, perhaps you can get more heat out of yours. But as far as ambiance and enjoyment etc. I think it's stellar, if you have dry wood it should be a joy to run. You are right, during power outages certainly make that space as small as possible to keep warm.

Haha wood has definitely been an issue for us! We're working on a few different sources, but getting it under 20% moisture is just harder than we thought, I would say definitely don't try to use damp wood in this stove, you can see when you burn it too low how dirty the glass gets, I'm sure damp wood would be even more so.

I should mention also, it's unclear to me if it's because of the eco-bricks or the stove but this does not appear to be the stove if you want to "set it and forget it"...it definitely takes more "finagling" I think to keep it going, keep the temps right etc. because the box is so small it doesn't seem to want to just cruise for hours. Sometimes we can get it to cruise for a few hours but not the "all day" that a lot of folks on here seem to be able to. We figured this would largely be the case before we bought ours (more re-lights, more fussing) and we were fine with that because this wasn't our main heat it was for fun etc. and fussing is totally part of the fun sometimes .

Lastly I don't know how big your room is but it might be worth making a cardboard "stove" of the same dimensions and make sure it looks appropriate in your room once its built, this little guy could pretty easily get "lost" in a big room and in that case perhaps the slightly larger boxed Morso's might please you more. They have beautiful models, I love their stoves!

 

[begreen]

It could be marginal draft from the shorter chimney is part of the issue or it could be that you both are just learning. No harm in that. Bring some of the split wood into the sunroom in big Rubbermaid totes with the lids off so that the wood has a chance to dry out. After a couple weeks, try some of that wood. And keep looking for some ash wood for sale. It dries out much faster than oak.

 

[redktmrider]

We can't ever turn it down all the way or even maybe most of the way without risking the brick going out.

My experience with the bricks are you need at least 3 or 4 of them on a good coal bed to get results comparable to cord wood.
Have tried them both in my cat and non-cat stove with similar results.

 

[begreen]

My experience with the bricks are you need at least 3 or 4 of them on a good coal bed to get results comparable to cord wood.
Have tried them both in my cat and non-cat stove with similar results.

Yes, for a small stove I think I would cut several down into two pieces with a chop saw. Then try burning 3 half-blocks with a decent starter like 1/4 of a SuperCedar.