I've been getting a lot of good information from these forums while searching for our first stove, thanks everyone.
Now that I've made a purchase I have a few more application specific questions I am hoping someone can chisel away for me.
Some information: We just purchased our first home, a ~1400 sq ft 2 story "farm house" circa ~1900 with a stone wall basement, poured floor. The previous owners had a wood stove but took it with them. Upon sale of the house I had the chimney inspected for all appliances, it failed. There is an old oil furnace which is burning in the basement through the masonry chimney, it is unlined from the first floor down and was cause for the failure citing potential for carbon monoxide leaks. The chimney was approved for a stove to be attached at the existing connection point to the chimney which is lined from there up, I would guess nearly 25 feet.
The previous owners burned their wood stove and their furnace all on the same flue and with the unlined portion for over 5 years. I am not comfortable with this. My end goal is to remove the oil furnace and replace it with a gas fired one that can be vented through the basement wall, utilizing the chimney for only our wood stove. That will not happen until next year.
Here is where I am at now though, trying to plan how to best make it through the winter. I just purchased a Vermont Castings Intrepid II 1990. Although I know its output doesn't list to cover our square footage, I think it was the best option for our space. We needed a smaller stove due to the placement of the chimney. As for the heating output, it is directly next to out kitchen and below our bedroom which has a grate cut in the ceiling. The stove is also on the wall directly behind our stairwell with an air vent at the top that I am hoping I can cycle our fan and circulate all the air from their through each bedroom.
My first question is for any hearth suggestions. I have wood plank floors directly across the floor joists. I do not want to make anything terribly permanent into the floors as we may change our set up years down the road and I would downsize the hearth. I planned on just using cement board over the floor and laying a slate tile over this, possibly anchoring through the floor nearest the wall. Would this be sufficient for the floor protection?
My second questions is related to the chimney usage. When we got the inspection done they stated that if we closed off the access point for the furnace the chimney would be good for a stove. I plan to do this next year when we install the new furnace. For this winter though I am afraid to completely remove our furnace and have no reliable heat source while still learning the house. I know it is not ideal or to code for me to run the wood stove and furnace on the same flue, but am wondering if I only have it as a back up source what my risks are. I know the furnace is dated but I did have it inspected and was told by the technician they would run it this year since I have the abundance of oil. I have carbon monoxide monitors and once we are able to establish the furnace is burning clean enough / chimney is not leaking through the masonry I would like to know what the concerns would be to run the furnace. My thought is that on days that we are going to experience low temperatures and are not at the house for a prolonged time I would run the furnace to keep the house at a healthy temperature avoiding any possible damages. If the stove was completely dormant would running the furnace up the same flue, which would have an exposed point returning to the stove be a problem? Similarly, and more importantly perhaps, am I going to have any problem running the stove on the flue with the furnace connected a story lower before closing this off.
Sorry to be long winded on this, just trying to ensure that we are able to get by this winter with the safest most efficient set up possible before making our complete changes. Feel free to give me any other tips or raise questions I may not have addressed here.
Now that I've made a purchase I have a few more application specific questions I am hoping someone can chisel away for me.
Some information: We just purchased our first home, a ~1400 sq ft 2 story "farm house" circa ~1900 with a stone wall basement, poured floor. The previous owners had a wood stove but took it with them. Upon sale of the house I had the chimney inspected for all appliances, it failed. There is an old oil furnace which is burning in the basement through the masonry chimney, it is unlined from the first floor down and was cause for the failure citing potential for carbon monoxide leaks. The chimney was approved for a stove to be attached at the existing connection point to the chimney which is lined from there up, I would guess nearly 25 feet.
The previous owners burned their wood stove and their furnace all on the same flue and with the unlined portion for over 5 years. I am not comfortable with this. My end goal is to remove the oil furnace and replace it with a gas fired one that can be vented through the basement wall, utilizing the chimney for only our wood stove. That will not happen until next year.
Here is where I am at now though, trying to plan how to best make it through the winter. I just purchased a Vermont Castings Intrepid II 1990. Although I know its output doesn't list to cover our square footage, I think it was the best option for our space. We needed a smaller stove due to the placement of the chimney. As for the heating output, it is directly next to out kitchen and below our bedroom which has a grate cut in the ceiling. The stove is also on the wall directly behind our stairwell with an air vent at the top that I am hoping I can cycle our fan and circulate all the air from their through each bedroom.
My first question is for any hearth suggestions. I have wood plank floors directly across the floor joists. I do not want to make anything terribly permanent into the floors as we may change our set up years down the road and I would downsize the hearth. I planned on just using cement board over the floor and laying a slate tile over this, possibly anchoring through the floor nearest the wall. Would this be sufficient for the floor protection?
My second questions is related to the chimney usage. When we got the inspection done they stated that if we closed off the access point for the furnace the chimney would be good for a stove. I plan to do this next year when we install the new furnace. For this winter though I am afraid to completely remove our furnace and have no reliable heat source while still learning the house. I know it is not ideal or to code for me to run the wood stove and furnace on the same flue, but am wondering if I only have it as a back up source what my risks are. I know the furnace is dated but I did have it inspected and was told by the technician they would run it this year since I have the abundance of oil. I have carbon monoxide monitors and once we are able to establish the furnace is burning clean enough / chimney is not leaking through the masonry I would like to know what the concerns would be to run the furnace. My thought is that on days that we are going to experience low temperatures and are not at the house for a prolonged time I would run the furnace to keep the house at a healthy temperature avoiding any possible damages. If the stove was completely dormant would running the furnace up the same flue, which would have an exposed point returning to the stove be a problem? Similarly, and more importantly perhaps, am I going to have any problem running the stove on the flue with the furnace connected a story lower before closing this off.
Sorry to be long winded on this, just trying to ensure that we are able to get by this winter with the safest most efficient set up possible before making our complete changes. Feel free to give me any other tips or raise questions I may not have addressed here.
