ncmallard78 said:
first time to you site... god i love the internet. anywho, here is my question.
i love to burn wood. I live in nc, where we have mild winters. i have a 2400 sq foot house single story ranch. i have a central masonary fireplace and would like to put in a wood stove. couple of questions.
1-I was told that the way to go was with a jotul oslo. what is a fair price for one installed?
Jotuls are nice stoves, but they are FAR from your only option. You might want to look at other brands as well, and also think about what size of stove you want and so on. Since you have an existing masonry fireplace, you might want to consider getting an insert as opposed to a stove.
Do you want the stove to be a heat source, or do you just want "enjoy the flames" ambiance? If a heat source, how much of your house do you want to heat with it? What's the floor plan like - open or not? Would you burn 24/7, nights and weekends, or just ocasionally? What kind of wood would you be burning, where will you get it, and will you need to process it? These sorts of questions will impact the size and type of unit you'll want.
Note that if you just want to enjoy watching the fire, the existing fireplace might actually be your best bet - they suck heat, but an open fireplace will give you more of the sound and feel than any stove or insert...
2-can i control the heat? this is my tv room and i dont want it to be a sauna. will i end up stewing in my own juices if i sit a couple of feet awaw
You can control the heat to some degree, both by using the stove controls and by the size of fire you build, but there are limits. NFPA rules say anything combustible (you, pets, furniture, etc.) should be kept at least 3' away from the stove, I would guess most folks would generally want to stay at least 5 feet away for comfort, more if you get the stove cranking. One advantage of an insert is that it goes into your existing fireplace box, so it will require minimal additional loss of room space.
3- ive got a baby on the way? is there a way to keep kids away from em?
You can get kid gates for stoves just like you can to keep them away from almost anything else. Many parenting burners here use them, others have reported that their kids are reasonably fast learners, and are very good about figuring out staying away from the hot stove...
4- ive got a cedar roof. is that an issue? safety is a big deal, although i would want to burn wood if i did not get a wood stove
Probably not a major problem, but if paranoid it probably would be a good idea to make sure you had a good spark arrestor on the chimney. Down side is they have more of a tendency to clog up, so you may need to clean the cap more often, and you can't do that without actually going up on the roof.
5- my perception is that a wood stove would be safer than an open flame fire. is that true?
Only to a minor degree. Closing the door on an insert or woodstove very effectively seals the fire into a box. The odds of a fire starting because the box failed is negligible. However as long as you use appropriate screens or glass doors, a conventional fireplace is also pretty safe. For the most part safety with either depends more on the operator than on the appliance.
thanks for all your help...
No problem, welcome to the hearth!
Gooserider
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