Hey Everyone,
At the very least, I owe you guys some pictures with explanations. Yes, we did go ahead and use the stove over the fall and winter. Aside from the learning curve and getting ripped on firewood, we love it. The stove, a Drolet Legend is great. We found a great deal at The Lake Shop, $998 plus $250 shipping. I guess I should mention that we had a budget of $3,000, no more. It's a very nice inexpensive stove. Nice bypass damper, stove damper works well and for the money, we think it's attractive. One of the main reasons (aside from price) that we went with the Drolet, is that it has very low clearances. Another feature that we like, is that it loads over depth, not width, which enables us to crisscross logs on startup which gets it cruising fast. Okay, now for the heat. This is the part where I mention (and the pictures tell) that we have a very small home. Small like 650 sq. ft. small. So choosing a stove wasn't easy. After one winter's experience, I can now say, that ANY size metal box of fire will get our home hot. Real hot. It had to be small enough not to melt our eyeballs, but big enough to run almost all night. So I thought, a little bigger is better than too small. I think the firebox is considered a small-medium ( 1.7 cf ). I figure, the house has windows and I installed two ceiling fans, so how bad could it be? I had to move the attic scuttle hole for access, so while I was at it, I made a trap door from plywood, a pulley, and some chain. I covered the opening with old-school radiator screen, with a wood frame. The idea is any heat we don't want, goes into the attic and out the gable vents. It also keeps the chimney warm. It worked out well. The stove will run almost all night on a full load, same for the days. When we get home there's usually a bed of coals to get the fire going, but it's never colder than 70 degrees, so we're satisfied. When we're home, the house is usually in the low to mid 80's. I know that sounds hot, but it's such a groovy dry heat that we like it. We can always open a window and at night we keep the bedroom door closed. The suspended shelf and the partition screen you see in the pictures was a rabbit I pulled out of my hat. In its place used to be a partition wall with a closet and doorway. Once I took that down, we stepped back, looked at each other and said, "Yuck". We now had one rectangular room that we couldn't make sense of. So I was able to build the shelf as a break for different colors, in order to divide the space into a living room and office. I wanted an open ceiling to allow heat to run through the house, so it fit the bill there too. Now only the bedroom and bathroom have doors. The hearth, the reason for my original, "Rescue Me" post is perfect. You guys were right on the money, at 10 inches off the floor, it's very cool. My worries were a non-issue. I come home from working outside, and there's 2 dogs and 3 cats sprawled out around the stove. They stay there all winter if we don't kick them outside from time to time. Plus, as per my wife's request, it has a zero "Trip" factor. So check out the pics. The reason I offered so much information is because it was difficult to to put a stove in such a small house. So to anyone who is trying to do just that, if you do your home work and get creative, you can pull it off. Thanks again guys.
Steve and Barbara (Clothing Optional)
At the very least, I owe you guys some pictures with explanations. Yes, we did go ahead and use the stove over the fall and winter. Aside from the learning curve and getting ripped on firewood, we love it. The stove, a Drolet Legend is great. We found a great deal at The Lake Shop, $998 plus $250 shipping. I guess I should mention that we had a budget of $3,000, no more. It's a very nice inexpensive stove. Nice bypass damper, stove damper works well and for the money, we think it's attractive. One of the main reasons (aside from price) that we went with the Drolet, is that it has very low clearances. Another feature that we like, is that it loads over depth, not width, which enables us to crisscross logs on startup which gets it cruising fast. Okay, now for the heat. This is the part where I mention (and the pictures tell) that we have a very small home. Small like 650 sq. ft. small. So choosing a stove wasn't easy. After one winter's experience, I can now say, that ANY size metal box of fire will get our home hot. Real hot. It had to be small enough not to melt our eyeballs, but big enough to run almost all night. So I thought, a little bigger is better than too small. I think the firebox is considered a small-medium ( 1.7 cf ). I figure, the house has windows and I installed two ceiling fans, so how bad could it be? I had to move the attic scuttle hole for access, so while I was at it, I made a trap door from plywood, a pulley, and some chain. I covered the opening with old-school radiator screen, with a wood frame. The idea is any heat we don't want, goes into the attic and out the gable vents. It also keeps the chimney warm. It worked out well. The stove will run almost all night on a full load, same for the days. When we get home there's usually a bed of coals to get the fire going, but it's never colder than 70 degrees, so we're satisfied. When we're home, the house is usually in the low to mid 80's. I know that sounds hot, but it's such a groovy dry heat that we like it. We can always open a window and at night we keep the bedroom door closed. The suspended shelf and the partition screen you see in the pictures was a rabbit I pulled out of my hat. In its place used to be a partition wall with a closet and doorway. Once I took that down, we stepped back, looked at each other and said, "Yuck". We now had one rectangular room that we couldn't make sense of. So I was able to build the shelf as a break for different colors, in order to divide the space into a living room and office. I wanted an open ceiling to allow heat to run through the house, so it fit the bill there too. Now only the bedroom and bathroom have doors. The hearth, the reason for my original, "Rescue Me" post is perfect. You guys were right on the money, at 10 inches off the floor, it's very cool. My worries were a non-issue. I come home from working outside, and there's 2 dogs and 3 cats sprawled out around the stove. They stay there all winter if we don't kick them outside from time to time. Plus, as per my wife's request, it has a zero "Trip" factor. So check out the pics. The reason I offered so much information is because it was difficult to to put a stove in such a small house. So to anyone who is trying to do just that, if you do your home work and get creative, you can pull it off. Thanks again guys.
Steve and Barbara (Clothing Optional)
