Picked out the stove! What questions should we be asking?

[Bonanza_living]

First I want to say thank you to everyone's contributions to this forum. It has a been a help to come here and look at opinions and information as we are getting started on this new path for heating our home.

Here is a little information on our situation. We live in a 2500 sq home built in 1989. It has a few drafty areas that we are slowly working on. We live in southwest washington and do not get bitter cold temperatures. Maybe 3 weeks a winter we are at or below freezing. I do not believe in the 4 years in this home we have seen below the teens. We have decided to go with the Hearthstone Mansfield freestanding wood stove in our already built alcove.

This week we are going to purchase but wondered if there is anything that newbies wouldn't know to ask about that they should be asking.

One item that was mentioned is that we would need to do something with outdoor air combustion. What I understand (which is not much at all) is that we will need to put hole through our alcove to the outside. Could anyone better explain what this is all about... how it would be accomplished?

Thanks for advising newbies, we are looking forward to heating with wood the remainder of the winter.

 

[JA600L]

The outside air kit is installed to supply the stove with outside unconditioned air for combustion. This way you are not feeding it conditioned air from inside your house. This tends to reduce air infiltration into the house coming in as make up air. Make sure on the outside you install a screen so critters can't get in it.

 

[Simonkenton]

I don't use an outside air kit and my stove works fine. Just depends on what you want to do.
Why don't you try without and see how well it works. Wood stoves don't use that much air, nothing compared to a fireplace.

 

[zig]

Outside air kits are used to keep conditioned from the stove. Whether you need one or not depends on if your having trouble with draft or negative pressure. Most times simply opening a window a crack will solve the problem. Why cut a hole in the house if you don't need to or spend the money you could be using for wood or a nice saw. What do you have for a chimney and is it suitable for a 6" stovepipe? Most run a class A chimney but you may have a clay lined flue in yours. If it's too big for the stove or your wood isn't seasoned enough you'll run into trouble with creosote down the road. Getting the right setup now will keep you from kicking yourself later and I've kicked myself enough for two.

 

[Bonanza_living]

Unfortunately, living in WA state we are required to have this installed.

 

[burnbabyburn139]

Also make sure to use an insulated aluminum flex tube and take precautions to limit the potential of condensation.

 

[begreen]

Unfortunately, living in WA state we are required to have this installed.

Not unfortunate, it will help reduce outdoor air infiltration through house leaks when you are burning. Normally in our climate the 4" line is not insulated. The Mansfield is a gorgeous stone stove. It should be well suited to your application. Just be sure to only feed it seasoned wood. If you are purchasing firewood, buy it now and stack it top covered in a well ventilated and sunny location.

https://chimneysweeponline.com/hooa.htm

 

[Bonanza_living]

Currently we have a pellet stove installed. When we had it put in the installers (whom we are more and more dissatisfied with) told us the set-up we have looks like a wood stove was once installed and that it had been converted to work for a pellet stove. All we had to do for the one we have currently was hook up and start burning. Until we get the pellet stove out I am guessing we won't really know for sure what piping we are looking at. Really hope that what we have will work. It has been a little cooler".... (30 degree weather at night and 40's in the day) and don't really want to pull the pellet stove and forgo heat.

Here is our current set-up:

Pellet Stove

• Bonanza_living
• Feb 1, 2016

Our Quadra Fire Classic Bay 1200

 

[begreen]

If there is a 6" stainless steel liner that is in good condition then you may be able to hook into it after the liner is cleaned and inspected. If this is an exterior wall chimney I would have installed (or self install) an insulated damper area sealing block off plate. That will keep heat in the room instead of up the chimney and outdoors. This will be an additional cost, but can be well worth the investment.

 

[Bonanza_living]

Not unfortunate, it will help reduce outdoor air infiltration through house leaks when you are burning. Normally in our climate the 4" line is not insulated. The Mansfield is a gorgeous stone stove. It should be well suited to your application. Just be sure to only feed it seasoned wood. If you are purchasing firewood, buy it now and stack it top covered in a well ventilated and sunny location.

https://chimneysweeponline.com/hooa.htm

This has been great info. I do think that we will benefit from having this done in our home. The unfortunate aspect is that here we do not have a choice like other areas do. While for us we likely would choose to do so, others might not want to for whatever reason... seams there are a good amount of people who do not.

Been slowly getting wood split and letting it season over the last few months. We had not planned to buy a stove until the fall. Being that we hit our savings goal for a wood stove plus some early, we are looking at getting some seasoned firewood this week.

What would be a good amount of firewood to aim for to get us from now into May? I think we are aiming to have 4 cords saved for each burning season and be at least 2 seasons ahead. Are we way off in our goal?

 

[Rearscreen]

I burned 2 cords a season with my Mansfield pictured in a 2300 sf house that I built. It was energy efficient and had radiant heat AND an outside air intake. I believe the stove likes and performs better as it seems to like that fresh cold air rather than the warm inside air. One day I hear the mouse in the metalflex, so I lit a piece of punk and sure enough out he came instantly, no hesitation. Then I added the mesh. Keep in mind if you have snow to keep the intake above it.
You will have to bust through something to get a 4 inch pipe through, unfortunately the pipe isn't pretty so most likely it will be directly behind the stove. But it's worth it, I moved here to VT last summer and went through all kinds of gyrations to get my air intake configured. But it was priority. It's fun to feel the ice cold metal when it's 2 degrees out knowing that at least it's not pulling in from somewhere else.

 

[zig]

Unfortunately, living in WA state we are required to have this installed.

Really? wow

 

[pvfjr]

Really? wow

They're required here in OR too, that is of course, if you want to receive their $1008 rebate for installing a new stove.

 

[Bonanza_living]

Be nice to get that kind of rebate.

 

[rustynut]

BL- don't be shy on the size of that stove if you are going to try to heat the whole house as they are under rated.........rn

 

[rustynut]

over rated........ go for that larger fire box if you can.......rn

 

[Bonanza_living]

over rated........ go for that larger fire box if you can.......rn

Looked into the equinox, but it wouldn't fit. I so wished it had. We are at our max with the Mansfield.

We will be keeping the pellet stove so if absolutely needed we can run it as well in another part of the house.

 

[begreen]

This has been great info. I do think that we will benefit from having this done in our home. The unfortunate aspect is that here we do not have a choice like other areas do. While for us we likely would choose to do so, others might not want to for whatever reason... seams there are a good amount of people who do not.

Been slowly getting wood split and letting it season over the last few months. We had not planned to buy a stove until the fall. Being that we hit our savings goal for a wood stove plus some early, we are looking at getting some seasoned firewood this week.

What would be a good amount of firewood to aim for to get us from now into May? I think we are aiming to have 4 cords saved for each burning season and be at least 2 seasons ahead. Are we way off in our goal?

I burn 2-3 cords per year to heat 2000 sq ft of old farmhouse depending on the severity of the winter. This is mostly doug fir.

I wouldn't wait until fall to buy. Prices usually drop or are negotiable in summer. Stop in on a hot August weekday and you may be the only client that week. Floor models often will sell for a bit less so call around for the best, in stock price.