Intro and my first wood stove thread

[tmoneysju]

Hi everyone, my name is Kevin and I've been a lurker around here for a year or so. My wife and I are currently going through the process of buying our first wood stove so I figured it would be nice to finally join, introduce my self and thank everyone for all of the great info so far.

We moved into a 'new to us' house last year around this time and for a few different reasons, a wood stove is on our list of future purchases. Aside from all of the great info on here, I've made a few trips to different stove shops in my area and have begun to narrow the decision making down a bit. The stove shop that has been the most helpful and informative so far is a dealer of primarily Jotul and Hearthstone. I've done a lot of reading about different manufacturers, but to an extent I'm letting this shop help narrow down my choices due to the service I've had when I've been in there and the reviews I've found of their installs.

That being said, I've been doing my house measurements and have been making some cardboard cutouts so we get an idea of what they will look like in the family room and what our clearences willl have to be.

That's all for now, just saying Hi and sharing my process so far. I'm sure I'll have a few questions, but for now, hare are some pics of the proposed location:

Our family room is the room we spend the most time in, our main tv, existing fireplace and sliding doors to our deck. It's right off of our kitchen as well. The ceiling as you can see is a loft type space into the 4th 'bedroom' or our office. I'm hoping this will help draw heat to our 2nd floor where our bedrooms are.


IMG_1429 by Kevin Montalto, on Flickr

A little bit closer view of the cutouts that I'm using to place the stove. The two options we're looking at right now are the Jotul F400 castine and F500 Oslo.


IMG_1427 by Kevin Montalto, on Flickr


IMG_1428 by Kevin Montalto, on Flickr

 

[begreen]

Welcome Kevin. I'm a big fan of freestanders, but I wonder if you have you also considered an insert in the fireplace as an alternative?

 

[tmoneysju]

Yes I did, along with pellet stoves. There are 2 main drivers and a few minor ones pushing us to lean towards free standing. We haven't purchased yet so I'm not 100% committed.

1. My wife didn't like the idea of completely losing the ability to have a traditional fire in our existing fireplace and she didn't 'love' the insert look
2. Aesthetically, I prefer free standing stoves

3. I found mixed thoughts about installing an insert into a prefab fireplace opening. We don't have a full masonry chimney. The concerns were mainly about weight and the construction being able to support an insert
4. I received a good amount of opinions that free standing stoves are a little easier to load, maintain and operate, I would like to have a side loader if possible
5. I like the idea of being able to cook on top or heat water on top of the free standers

 

[begreen]

Fair enough and good reasons. For that corner I would consider a close-clearance convective stove. There are several cast-iron clad steel stoves that are good heaters and should do the job well. My main concern would be that 90% of the heat will go straight up to the loft and stratify there. Is there a ceiling fan above the area shown? Second concern is the proximity of the sofa with the stove pointing right at it. The front is the most radiant part of many stoves. The sofa will have to move.

 

[tmoneysju]

Thanks for the input, feel free to give me some examples of stoves that you have in mind.

I was hoping the loft would help get heat up to the 2nd floor, but I didn't consider that too MUCH heat would go up there. There is a ceiling fan both in the family room that the stove would be in as well as in the office directly above on the 2nd floor. We have a heat pump with forced air and I was also hoping that I could put that into fan mode to help circulate the heat.

 

[begreen]

Overheating at the peak of cathedral ceilings and in lofts is common. Hot air is going to rise. For sure you will not have an issue with heating that upper area. This is why I asked about the fireplace. If the ductwork is sealed and insulated very well it may work to circulate the air with the heatpump system, though it will add to the cost of operation. How much I can't say. It may be not too bad if this is a modern DC variable-speed air handler system that can run on low.

How large an area are you planning on heating with the stove?

 

[tmoneysju]

The 1st and 2nd floors are approximately 2200 square feet including hallways. We don't necessarily want our bedrooms to be as warm as the family room and kitchen though, however it would be nice if we could replace as much of the heat pump / electric heat as possible.

The heat pump and air handler are brand new, < 6 mos. old. The duct work wasn't replaced though at that time.

 

[begreen]

If the ductwork is not insulated, can it be? Otherwise the heat loss may negate gains. Sounds like you will need a decent sized convective stove. Are you open other locations for more even heating? If you can post a rough sketch of the floorplan we can make suggestions.

 

[newyorker]

Look at dutchwest I have a Xl heat my hole house with it and my father in law has the small one personally I think they are awesome

 

[tmoneysju]

the only ductwork that can reasonably be insulated is what's in the basement, everything else is in walls and ceilings. I'll put together a layout of the house. I'd be interested in where people think the optimal place may be, however for a few reasons I want to do everything possible to put it in the family room.

1. near the deck and back yard where wood is stacked, want to minimize dragging wood through the house
2. it's where we spend all of our time and I like the idea of being in the same room as the stove

I'll post the sketch when I have some time in the next day or two. Thanks again for all of the advice so far.

 

[Beer Belly]

Just some thoughts......The Slider to the deck.....I would check clearances and give a few extra inches to compensate for when the slider is open....the open door will be closer to the stove than the stationary side when you open it....next, what effect will the heat of the stove, and the cold outside, have on the glass ???

 

[tmoneysju]

Good questions beer belly, I'll look into both of them. I was factoring in clearance to the slider, but not with the door open which would reduce it. Thanks.

 

[Andy S.]

Welcome, tmoney. I have a similar room layout and went with an insert in my ZC fireplace due to space considerations. I'm sure whatever you choose will be perfect for you. I'll simply share two pieces of advice: 1) do not skimp on the installation (especially if you end up with an insert). 2) start accumulating firewood *yesterday*. This is my first season burning and although I was probably better prepared than many, my experience was not nearly as good as it could have been.

 

[logger]

Welcome,
If I had a fireplace I tend to think I'd leave it too and put a freestander somewhere else. We love our Oslo and if you're stuck between that and the Castine, my advice is to go a little too big than a little too small. You can always do smaller fires in the Oslo, but once you push the Castine to its limit, thats all you're going to get. Both are wonderful choices, as my brother has the 400 and I've run that plenty of times too. Best of luck with your future purchase and install.

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Good idea with the cut-outs to get a feel of the layout. I also used painters tape to mark out the minimal hearth pad size on the floor to get a feel for how it was going to fit in my room with furniture etc...

I do a lot of work in a condo complex and everyone of them has the stove located in a location similar to where you're looking at doing it, they all cook themselves out of the upstairs loft area which is good size area of two beds and a bath. Many find themselves either taking the stove out or moving their bedrooms to the bottom floor during the winter. Just thought I'd share that, as it's an expensive step you're about to take, it'd be nice to only take it once and enjoy it to it's fullest when it's done.

Good luck!

 

[logger]

Our masters in the loft, if it's too warm I crack a window, no rocket science there n better to be too warm than too cold.

 

[tmoneysju]

Thanks for all of comments so far everyone. Below are the floor plans, not to scale but the best I can do with visio. The room with the furniture is where we'd like to put the stove. I put the existing fireplace there as well. Remember, that directly above the stove is the loft area into the office.

Also, I'm really not sure how to decide whether all other considerations notwithstanding, can a stove go in proximity to sliding glass doors. Not from an access perspective, but from a cracking the glass perspective. How do I know what a safe distance is?

Anyway, here are the plans, ignore the square footage numbers on the stairs and the loft area, those are just a function of that visio shape.

First Floor:

floor_one_layout by Kevin Montalto, on Flickr

Second Floor:

floor_two_layout by Kevin Montalto, on Flickr

 

[begreen]

The fireplace is well located. If it could accommodate a nice insert like the Hearthstone Clydesdale you might be able to have the best of both worlds. It has a great fireview and is a serious heater. This might just be me, but a fireplace and a woodstove a few feet from each other just seems odd.

 

[Beer Belly]

If you could actually get a box that is close to the size of the stove, and place that where you are considering, it may be easier to visualize.

 

[tmoneysju]

So the two issues I'm wrestling with as a result of this thread are:

1. too much heat going up to the loft area

2. being too close to the sliding glass door.

Obviously an insert in my existing fireplace / prefab area would solve the glass issue, but would it solve the 'too much heat in the loft' issue?

Second, the stoves all have posted clearances to combustibles, do those same numbers apply to glass? If not, how do I know what the clearance to the sliding glass door should be if I stay with a free stander?

Thanks everyone,

Kevin

 

[tmoneysju]

after some more searching I found a thread that discusses proximity to glass:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/installation-of-wood-stove-next-to-sliding-glass-doors.79302/

 

[Woody Stover]

The fireplace is well located. If it could accommodate a nice insert like the Hearthstone Clydesdale you might be able to have the best of both worlds. It has a great fireview and is a serious heater. This might just be me, but a fireplace and a woodstove a few feet from each other just seems odd.

Good observations. With an insert though, is fan noise going to be a factor? Looks like they spend most of their time in the stove room. I'm not familiar with the noise level of the Hearthstone fans. How about a free-stander on the hearth? May require some re-working of the hearth. The Manchester looks like it would be fairly convective. Looks great, that's for sure, and can rear-vent if I'm not mistaken. Wife may well fall in love the look of a tube-stove fire.

 

[begreen]

A good quality insert is going to have a variable speed fan system. Most run then on low which is quiet. Freestanding on the hearth is also possible. The Manchester is new and appears to be having some issues with the side door. I would wait a year for them to work production bugs out with this model. The Lopi Cape Cod is also a new stove. Other possibles are the Quadrafire Isle Royale, Jotul F500 or F600, which are long established and well liked cast iron stoves. The Woodstock Progress Hybrid has been out for a year now. It also had some initial problems but the company has been responsive and made numerous improvements.

 

[rideau]

Progress Hybrid out for two years at this time...first stoves were put in service in December 2011.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the update. Seems like it was just yesterday.