House Overheated???

[plumbertim]

I am new to this forum but i am very happy to have been pointed in your direction. I am deep in reaserch for a new wood stove insert for our fireplace. I have been looking at all sorts of Inserts and i've narrowed it down to 1. Timberwolf 2201 2. Vista Flame 1700 and a 3. Lenox CA210. Our house is 1800 square feet with a finished and insulated attic and a unfinished basement not included in the square footage.
Questions:
1. Does Efficiency percentage really matter? 86%, 84% and 76%
2. Can i really over heat my house?
3. The Firebox seems to be what really creates the BTU's so a larger firebox = a longer burn and more heat. Is this a proper assumption?
4. Why are Inserts $1000 more than a freestanding stove?

Thank you very much, you guys are awesome. I've learned so much already.

 

[Hass]

I am new to this forum but i am very happy to have been pointed in your direction. I am deep in reaserch for a new wood stove insert for our fireplace. I have been looking at all sorts of Inserts and i've narrowed it down to 1. Timberwolf 2201 2. Vista Flame 1700 and a 3. Lenox CA210. Our house is 1800 square feet with a finished and insulated attic and a unfinished basement not included in the square footage.
Questions:
1. Does Efficiency percentage really matter? 86%, 84% and 76%
2. Can i really over heat my house?
3. The Firebox seems to be what really creates the BTU's so a larger firebox = a longer burn and more heat. Is this a proper assumption?
4. Why are Inserts $1000 more than a freestanding stove?

Thank you very much, you guys are awesome. I've learned so much already.

1. Sure it does. Higher efficiency means you buy/cut/stack/move less wood, and reload less frequently. Although it depends if you're talking about combustion efficiency or heat transfer efficiency. Generally it's heat transfer that's printed... The higher the better, always. Somewhere around 80% is average. Anything higher is very good.

2. The question is more like... How hot of a house can you handle? You can't overheat it, but you can make it INCREDIBLY uncomfortable if you push an oversized stove constantly. But of course you can always open a window... Or not put any more wood in the stove.

3. Yes it is. The exception are Blaze King stoves. They have a thermostat on the stove that controls how hot the fire will burn. So if the stove is set on 1 (low), it will always produce the same amount of heat no matter what amount of fuel is loaded. The variable that changes then is the burn time. So if you load the firebox half full, you may get a burn time of 12 hours... If you fill it all the way up, you get a burn time of 24 hours... but the heat output will always remain the same.
But for every stove other than a Blaze King yes... Larger firebox = Longer burn time and more heat.

4. Good question.

 

[plumbertim]

So these 3 Fireplace Inserts that i am looking at. Does anyone have any advice on the brands? Or should the Efficiency % say everything needed regarding the quality?

 

[BrotherBart]

Most of the efficiency percentages are "default" numbers assigned by the EPA for the type of stove. Most manufactures do not spend the sizable amount of extra money to have individual stoves tested for actual heat transfer efficiency. It costs a whole bunch of money to do that.

They are all large metal boxes that get hot. How much heat they put into the living space depends on how big they are and how hot they get. Kinda simple really.

 

[BrowningBAR]

So these 3 Fireplace Inserts that i am looking at. Does anyone have any advice on the brands? Or should the Efficiency % say everything needed regarding the quality?

Are you going to use the insert as the main heating device? Or just supplemental?
How open is your floor plan?


Of the three, the Vista Flame is the largest with a 2.5 cu ft firebox. 1,800 sq ft is not a small home. I would go with a firebox that is the size of the Vista Flame. 2.5 Cu Ft should give you enough capacity for the colder night, but still give you a solid overnight burn.

 

[woodmiser]

I've heard stories of people overheating their house and ruining the wood flooring.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I've heard stories of people overheating their house and ruining the wood flooring.

I would think that is more of an issue with clearances than it would be with the temperature of their home. I've gotten the room with the Vigilant in it up to nearly 100 degrees and my wood flooring is fine. I was sweating like hell, but the wood flooring didn't seem to notice.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Or maybe if someone got some wood flooring that wasnt completely dried.

 

[jonwright]

You want something that's close to what you need. That square footage number is really just a rule of thumb and most specifications assume 8' ceilings. If you have anything other than 8' ceilings you may really need to look at VOLUME and not square space.

You can get a unit much too big, and also much too small. Yeah, you'd want something pretty close to your requirements but I wouldn't loose too much sleep about it. As long as you aren't drastically over or under sized you'll be ok. There's lots of info here to help you pick the size you need.

I had a unit that was way too big for my house. So I had to build small fires, which given how I was doing it, meant a lot of creosote. And when I'm looking to build a small fire in my large FPX it takes a long time to heat up and a little patience it seems to keep it up to temp to where it's working well. But doable.

I also have a unit that was nearly just too small for the space.

Just get close and you'll be fine - but I would err a bit on the larger side of things. It's easier to build a smaller fire in a bigger box than it is to squeeze out every BTU needed - or be lacking there on really cold days.

 

[begreen]

I've heard stories of people overheating their house and ruining the wood flooring.

Overheating the house also raises the differential between the house ambient and the dewpoint, resulting in very low relative humidity. In the dead of winter on a crispy zero degree day, the indoor humidity can drop to Saharan levels in a warm house. If the floor was even slightly damp it may shrink under those desert dry conditions. If you think that's rough on the woodwork, imagine how it is on your sinuses.

 

[begreen]

For this region I would get a good quality 2 to 3 cu ft stove depending how open the 1st floor is. If it is very open with a large stairwell opening then for sure a 3 cu ft stove, probably one that is more convective than radiant unless there are also cathedral ceilings here. If the 1st floor is more segmented by doorways, then I might lean toward a 2 or 2.5 cu ft stove as an area heater, trying to locate the stove in the largest and most central open area if possible.

FYI, we have a 3 cu ft stove in a 2000 sq ft farmhouse with an open flooplan. We are in a much milder climate than Illinois. If I wanted to, I could overheat the house, but we prefer it to be around 70-72F so we burn smaller, hot fires and let them go out if the room is warm enough. Or we just add a log or two at a time rather than filling the stove up. When it gets below 30F we start running full loads of wood, at a moderate clip. We also regulate the heat output by the wood we burn. Soft maple, alder, poplar work great for milder weather. When it gets colder we like to burn doug fir (PacNW here) or if we are lucky some hardwood like locust, cherry, etc..

 

[firefighterjake]

I am new to this forum but i am very happy to have been pointed in your direction. I am deep in reaserch for a new wood stove insert for our fireplace. I have been looking at all sorts of Inserts and i've narrowed it down to 1. Timberwolf 2201 2. Vista Flame 1700 and a 3. Lenox CA210. Our house is 1800 square feet with a finished and insulated attic and a unfinished basement not included in the square footage.
Questions:
1. Does Efficiency percentage really matter? 86%, 84% and 76% I would say . . . yes . . . to a point . . . with most numbers from the manufacturers you take what they say with a grain of salt. Personally, as long as it is an EPA insert that's really all I would focus on . . . the 8-10% difference to me would be a bit insignificant.

2. Can i really over heat my house? Yes . . . if you over-size the insert to the home and load the thing to the gills . . . my own recommendation is to figure out the sie of the home and see what insert meets those specs . . . and then go one size larger. You can always load less wood in a larger insert or stove vs. trying to load more wood into a smaller stove or insert that is already full.

3. The Firebox seems to be what really creates the BTU's so a larger firebox = a longer burn and more heat. Is this a proper assumption? True . . . to a point . . . I don't recall if there are any inserts that use cats . . . but with stoves things definitely change once you have a stove with a cat vs. a stove with a secondary burn . . . cat stoves are legendary for their long burn times . . . especially with long and low burn times . . . of course mentioning burn times . . . that's another term that is sort of subjective . . . what I might consider a burn time might differ from what you consider a burn time.

4. Why are Inserts $1000 more than a freestanding stove? Just a guess here . . . many have blowers which require moving parts and electronics to turn on the fan at set temps . . . whether those are $1,000 more in parts . . . I doubt it . . . I suspect that inserts may also have a strong appeal for folks who have fireplaces and want to retain more or less a traditional fireplace look and not have to fuss around with extending the hearth and any R value requirements.

Thank you very much, you guys are awesome. Yes . . . I am awesome. Humble? No so much.
I've learned so much already.

 

[firefighterjake]

Oh, I forgot . . . welcome to the forum.

 

[woodchip]

I've gotten the room with the Vigilant in it up to nearly 100 degrees and my wood flooring is fine. I was sweating like hell, but the wood flooring didn't seem to notice.

I thought we were doing well last Winter when it was 21f outside and we were roasting indoors at 88f....... ;-)

 

[Wood Duck]

I say the efficiency rating given for a stove doesn't matter. Those numbers are all similar, and all are for stoves under lab conditions. When you're actually using the stove your efficiency will depend on how well you use it far more than the lab efficiency rating. This is meant to apply to all stoves withiin the same category - for example, all stoves with non-cat secondary burn. I am not saying I don't think a good modern stove is better than a leaky old smoke dragon (although I think it is possible to burn reasonably cleanly in an old stove), but rather I am saying I think all modern stoves are similar enough in their rated efficiency that you shouldn't be too worried about the small differences.

 

[plumbertim]

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR GREAT INFORMATION. I've been doing allot of thinking today and some reasearch and i'm really thinking about getting the Pacific Energy Summit stove insert. Our house is 1800 square feet, but we have an unfinished basement which will be finished one day and a finished attic. So total footage is 3000. Our fireplace is located in the center of our house with a stairway going up behind it and a wall between the two. There 2 are vent grates on each side of our plaster walls around the fireplace. the entire fireplace is masonry with a steel liner on the inside. We also have a fireplace in the basement so the dimentions of our brick box with the fireplace inside is 7' by 3'. There are allot of bricks to heat up. our house is a 2 story and all brick. We only plan on using it in December and January or when the temp. drops below 32. We have a heat pump which will do fine until the temp. gets cold. Then our outside brick walls freeze and radiate into the house. Last winter when it got down to 10 degree's and colder our furnace would run at least half of the night. We are going to fix that next week with a new insert. Our 1st floor has 9 ft. cielings for your information. Will i be safe with a insert this big. I like the idea of it. I'd use it at night only. what do ya all think.
tim

PS on each side of our living room with the firebox we have large arched doorways 6' wide each. one goes into kitchen dinning area and one to the entry door area with stairway leading up.