Heating a 1500 sqr ft rancher

[tlalis]

Hi There, My wife and I are having so much trouble deciding between cast iron, steel with cast iron jacket, and all steel stoves. We live in a 1500 sqr ft rancher with somewhat of an open layout. The wood stove will be located at one end of the house in our sunken in living room. We would like to heat up most of our house without cooking our selves out of the living room. We have looked at PE, Jotul, Osburn, Drolet, Renency, and VC. We can't decide between radiant heat or convection heat or both. What would be the best way to have the heat spread around our house?

Stoves we like: Alderlea T4, and Jotul F400

Which stoves have the best seal for airtight? Which ones are better at Maintaning?

 

[snowleopard]

I've lived with many different wood stoves, and been around many more. My adventures include a ancient wood cookstove (one of my favorites) and a couple of sheet-metal stove (no kidding--scary) as well as assorted cast and steel. The jacket system on the Morso has something going for it in terms of air circulation and making for more uniform heat, but the hands-down winner in this category is the one I live with now: soapstone.

I live in a two-story house, about 2K sf, and the stove is centrally located on the first floor (no basement). I've gone through extended periods where the temps outside are around -30, while I maintained a round-the-clock 2-4 degree differential between the hearth room and the upstairs--and upstairs thermostat is located in an out-of-the-way nook far from the stairs from which the warm air rises, so it really is consistent.

I think, given your benificent climate there in paradise, you're not going to need real cookers to heat the house, and given your house set-up, you'll have no problem with air flow and circulation--sounds like it's a house begging for a wood stove.

If you're dead-set on a metal stove, I'd at least give thought to building a hearth that is a significant heat sink--lots of stone or tile that will soak up the heat and release it more slowly, and even out your temps. I didn't realize when I built it how much of a factor that would be with my hearth--I just liked the look of granite--but I think having a lot of mass helps stabilize temperature swings.

Another thing that will help is trying to keep your temps fairly uniform--don't let the house cool way down and then overcook the place trying to warm back up. Plan for more even heating--easily doable even when you're away from the house for 10-12 hours at a time. The floor, ceiling, walls, furnishings all soak up the heat. If you can get another fire going before they release most of that and cool off, you'll need less of a fire to maintain temps, and you'll have a more comfortable house. There's almost a critical-mass point beyond which if the temps drop, this loss takes place, and I imagine that is different in each house. The result of this is that, for example, 68F on the way down is more comfortable than 68F when you're trying to warm it back up. Hope this makes sense--if it doesn't, ask for clarification. This takes time and living with it to get to the point where you have a good feel for it--at least it did me.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[lazeedan]

I second Soapstone

 

[begreen]

Mass rules. It can be achieved with soapstone, but it also can be achieved with a cast iron jacket. With the stove at one end of a ranch, the other end is going to be cooler. A fan blowing toward the stove room will help even out temps if the floorplan is fairly open. You'll be burning mostly softwood I suspect, and are in PE's neighborhood, so I would be looking very closely at an Alderlea T5.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum tlalis.


Right what BeGreen stated. A small fan, setting on the floor (not a pedestal type fan) blowing at the lowest setting and blowing into the stove room will move a lot of heat to the other end of the house.

1500 sq. ft. on Vancouver Island sounds like a perfect setting for a Woodstock soapstone stove. You can find these by going to www.woodstove.com and they sell only direct; no dealers and that is to your benefit.

 

[Bub381]

Yes we have 1 coming and have looked it over extensively.That Castine will be low end for an over nite fire.Look at a Rangeley for the convection and radiant heat along with the steel firebox and option of steel or cast sides spaced away from the 2.6 sq ft firebox.Not saying it's the best,just saying take a look at 1.Takes 18" wood straight in and 20" sideways,also has the firebrick that wont cost ya over $100 to replace also an optional blower.The clearances are wicked good with the included bottom heatshield.

 

[tlalis]

Thanks all! Really appreciate your comments. I think we are going with either the Alderlea T5 or the super 27 PE. Will decide soon