Hi Everybody,
I've been lurking on this site doing research for weeks, but I've only posted a couple of times. This forum is an amazing resource, and I wanted to thank everybody that contributes.
The reason I have to research is because I just bought a house, with wood heat. It was owned by an older, retired gentleman who burned a stove in the house, and one in the barn, as his primary heat. He passed recently, and his son is selling the place.
The house stove was an old Fisher (Mama Bear?), used in 2,000 sq ft of open floor plan. Its mostly a large open first floor, with a lofted second floor with 2 bedrooms. The insulation isn't as good as I'd like, but that is a problem to be sorted out when the weather is better. The stove was routed through a external masonry chimney. I'm not sure exactly how tall, but I don't expect to have draft issues.
The barn stove was a barrel stove. Its a 6 car garage and workshop on the first floor, with a large pool room/ bar area above it.
There is NG baseboard heat in the house that he used as a backup when he went away, but the stoves were adequate for his primary heat. Anyway, I'm closing next week, and still have a few things that I need to get sorted. I was under the impression that the two stoves would be coming with the house, so I could use them while I sorted out what I wanted to do, but it turns out that the stoves are gone, so I have to figure out a plan sooner than I thought. I'll be using the gas until I can get some new stoves in there. When he passed, the previous owner did leave around 12 cords of good local hardwood c/s/s in the yard. His son said that he thinks that its three years worth, which seems reasonable to me for burning in the house 24/7 and the workshop during the day.
I'm actually excited that the stoves are gone, instead of the wood, which would have been much more of a hassle.
I'm thinking that the final solution will be one stove in the house, a large one in the downstairs of the garage, and a small one upstairs.
I would like to use wood heat as much as possible, but I'm not sure about the practicality of a wood stove in the house. I am out of the house for at least 10 hours a day for work, sometimes as much as 16 hours. There will be other people coming and going (girlfriend, roommate, etc.), but I do not want to have to rely on them to be able to effectively heat the place.
If I were to get a large stove in the house, I'm not sure that I'm comfortable leaving it for the day unattended. A cat stove might be able to get me the kind of burn times that I need, but if I'm not around to bypass the cat or reload, I'm going to ruin it. I don't expect to be able to burn long enough with a non-cat stove. I think I may have to end up with a pellet stove, which is not my first choice, but I just can't see it working with a wood stove. Its a shame to have to pay for pellets, especially because I have access to unlimited free firewood (I own some other land that I can cut), and 3 years of wood already seasoning. I will be able to burn it off eventually in the barn, but I think its going to take me ages. I may even end up selling off some to help pay for pellets.
Just wanted to see what all the wise folks here had to say about the situation, and what they would recommend. Am I right in thinking that those kind of burn times are impossible? Do people here even leave their stoves unattended? I know that the owners manual will say not to leave it unattended, but I'm just curious if that is what happens in practice.
Thanks.
I've been lurking on this site doing research for weeks, but I've only posted a couple of times. This forum is an amazing resource, and I wanted to thank everybody that contributes.
The reason I have to research is because I just bought a house, with wood heat. It was owned by an older, retired gentleman who burned a stove in the house, and one in the barn, as his primary heat. He passed recently, and his son is selling the place.
The house stove was an old Fisher (Mama Bear?), used in 2,000 sq ft of open floor plan. Its mostly a large open first floor, with a lofted second floor with 2 bedrooms. The insulation isn't as good as I'd like, but that is a problem to be sorted out when the weather is better. The stove was routed through a external masonry chimney. I'm not sure exactly how tall, but I don't expect to have draft issues.
The barn stove was a barrel stove. Its a 6 car garage and workshop on the first floor, with a large pool room/ bar area above it.
There is NG baseboard heat in the house that he used as a backup when he went away, but the stoves were adequate for his primary heat. Anyway, I'm closing next week, and still have a few things that I need to get sorted. I was under the impression that the two stoves would be coming with the house, so I could use them while I sorted out what I wanted to do, but it turns out that the stoves are gone, so I have to figure out a plan sooner than I thought. I'll be using the gas until I can get some new stoves in there. When he passed, the previous owner did leave around 12 cords of good local hardwood c/s/s in the yard. His son said that he thinks that its three years worth, which seems reasonable to me for burning in the house 24/7 and the workshop during the day.
I'm actually excited that the stoves are gone, instead of the wood, which would have been much more of a hassle.
I'm thinking that the final solution will be one stove in the house, a large one in the downstairs of the garage, and a small one upstairs.
I would like to use wood heat as much as possible, but I'm not sure about the practicality of a wood stove in the house. I am out of the house for at least 10 hours a day for work, sometimes as much as 16 hours. There will be other people coming and going (girlfriend, roommate, etc.), but I do not want to have to rely on them to be able to effectively heat the place.
If I were to get a large stove in the house, I'm not sure that I'm comfortable leaving it for the day unattended. A cat stove might be able to get me the kind of burn times that I need, but if I'm not around to bypass the cat or reload, I'm going to ruin it. I don't expect to be able to burn long enough with a non-cat stove. I think I may have to end up with a pellet stove, which is not my first choice, but I just can't see it working with a wood stove. Its a shame to have to pay for pellets, especially because I have access to unlimited free firewood (I own some other land that I can cut), and 3 years of wood already seasoning. I will be able to burn it off eventually in the barn, but I think its going to take me ages. I may even end up selling off some to help pay for pellets.
Just wanted to see what all the wise folks here had to say about the situation, and what they would recommend. Am I right in thinking that those kind of burn times are impossible? Do people here even leave their stoves unattended? I know that the owners manual will say not to leave it unattended, but I'm just curious if that is what happens in practice.
Thanks.