Quality Wood Stoves that are less than 24" in depth & rear-vent?

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Mike592

Member
Jul 22, 2013
28
SW Ohio
Hi everyone, we have a somewhat unusual shaped hearth that I would like to set a free standing, non-cat, wood stove upon. By my measurements, I need something that is less than 24" deep (height and length aren't as big of a concern) and also rear vents, so the pipe can go out the back and then up our existing chimney.

We went to a local shop and he seemed to think our only bet is a HearthStone Heritage or Homestead. We prefer the former. Anyway, those are the only ones he had on his floor, and I'm wondering if maybe there are others that would fit you fine folks can point me towards.

Do you have other recommendations for a quality stove in about that size/capacity we should look at?

Thanks for the help!
 
Hi and welcome. Are you only looking at soapstone? If not, there should be some beautiful cast iron stoves that fit this requirement like the Jotul Castine (F400).

What are your size requirements as far as heating? What is constraining the depth requirement for the stove?
 
Thanks begreen!

No, in fact I think I prefer not to have Soapstone. I just am not sure which other models would fit in our space and was dreading going to every manufacturer's website I could think of and going through all their products.

I love the look of Soapstone and the fact it holds heat for a long time. However, one of the reasons I want to install a wood stove is our new house is all electric, so if the power goes out, it would be great to have the ability for very rudimentary cooking or at least water boiling.

I read somewhere that Soapstone is not good for that use.

Thanks and please keep the recommendations coming!
 
It's not ideal for cooking because the stone can stain, but it will work in a pinch just fine.

Tell us more about your installation. Why are you constrained to 24" depth? Is this from the stove glass or the ashlip? How large a stove do you actually need?
 
Well that's good to know about the emergency cooking. I doubt we'd ever use it very often (hopefully). I thought the fact the stone radiated a "softer heat" or something mattered.

As for how large of a stove we really need, I'm trying to research to figure that out.

We have a 2700 square foot sprawled out ranch house. The chimney room, where the wood stove will sit is in the center of the house, so that's good. But I know it will be difficult to move warm air down the small hallway off the chimney room towards the four bedrooms. The kitchen and dining room are off the other side of the chimney room. A third door from the chimney room leads to the TV/family room. We'll have a ceiling fan in there to distribute the heat.

But I also don't want the chimney room to be 300 degrees trying to heat the rest of the house, unless it's during the night where I'll load up the firebox.

Here are some quick pics of our hearth. The hearth itself sticks out above the carpet and is curved. The fireplace firebox sits inside a curved opening. You can see where I marked the 24" dimension on the 2nd picture. That's where I'd like the stove to sit.



 
If you look at that pic above, the stove shop said they'd fabricate an enclosed covering to replace those glass doors. And we'll build out 18" tile on the carpet (as per code regulations) to catch embers or anything in front of the stove door. So I need something 24" deep or less to sit on that hearth ledge.
 
How high is the fireplace opening in the center? I am wondering whether the rear-vent will fit in some of the available models.
 
I don't remember off the top of my head but can check my full dimensions when I get home. We know the Homestead Heritage and Homestead will fit though. The stove shop owner confirmed when I showed him my full measurements.
 
2700 sq.ft. rancher, central chimney, SW Ohio... what's your air flow like? Open or segmented floor plan? Assuming at least the bedrooms are segmented off, but how much open space is connected directly to that stove room?

The general rule you will here repeated often is that it's better to have a stove a little too big than a little to small. You can always build a small fire in a big stove, and still burn it hot enough to keep the secondary combustion system working. You can't build a big fire in a small stove.
 
Some remarks:

- Finding a wood stove that will heat 2700 sqft and fit on your hearth will be close to impossible. The Heritage with its 2.3 cu ft firebox may be as big as you can get.
- While you have 24" in the center, the legs of the stove should have less depth because your hearth is curved giving you essentially only something like 23" to work with. Check also if the depth of the Heritage was measured at the top or the legs which seem to spread outwards in the pictures I have seen.
- The Hampton H300 may also work but has a much smaller firebox. The Avalon Rainier has a 45 degree flue option which may not suit your need but I wanted to mention it anyway. Take also a look at the Lopi Leyden; the Lopi Cape Cod does not seem to allow rear-venting but I would ask to make sure.
 
OK, it looks like you only need a stove that is 24" deep from the back to the front legs taking into account the curve, plus say an inch or two for safety. The new hearth extension allows the ashlip to hang over the edge of the hearth. This is good, it opens you up to more possibilities like the Hearthstone Shelburne, Hampton H300, and others. Take a sheet of cardboard and mock up a template for the stoves you are considering. Mark where the legs fall in relation to the outer perimeter.

Are you opposed to using a fan or two, placed on the floor to improve heat circulation? If not, for more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the hallway, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the hallway temp after about 30 minutes running and a correlating drop in temp in the stove room.
 
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Hi everyone, we have a somewhat unusual shaped hearth that I would like to set a free standing, non-cat, wood stove upon. By my measurements, I need something that is less than 24" deep (height and length aren't as big of a concern) and also rear vents, so the pipe can go out the back and then up our existing chimney.

We went to a local shop and he seemed to think our only bet is a HearthStone Heritage or Homestead. We prefer the former. Anyway, those are the only ones he had on his floor, and I'm wondering if maybe there are others that would fit you fine folks can point me towards.

Do you have other recommendations for a quality stove in about that size/capacity we should look at?

Thanks for the help!

Thanks begreen!

No, in fact I think I prefer not to have Soapstone. I just am not sure which other models would fit in our space and was dreading going to every manufacturer's website I could think of and going through all their products.

I love the look of Soapstone and the fact it holds heat for a long time. However, one of the reasons I want to install a wood stove is our new house is all electric, so if the power goes out, it would be great to have the ability for very rudimentary cooking or at least water boiling.

I read somewhere that Soapstone is not good for that use.

Thanks and please keep the recommendations coming!

But I know it will be difficult to move warm air down the small hallway off the chimney room towards the four bedrooms. The kitchen and dining room are off the other side of the chimney room. A third door from the chimney room leads to the TV/family room. We'll have a ceiling fan in there to distribute the heat.

Welcome to the forum Mike.

First, on the soapstone, do not let anyone tell you that you can not cook on a soapstone stove. That just is not true. However, boiling water can be a bit difficult.

Second, on the cat stove. I know now why you have ruled out cats but we had felt the same way when we last shopped for stoves. We had heard some untrue things about them. We also looked at the Hearthstone line and the Heritage is what we would have got if we had went with that line. But we are really super happy that we did not and that we went with Woodstock and yes, our Woodstock Fireview is a cat stove. Even though we thought they would not be good we ended up with one and the benefits are fantastic!

Third, you can move a lot more warm air than most people think, so long as you do it the right way....and the right way sounds backwards but it works great.

The footprint on the Fireview is 18" deep at the legs; 20" at the deepest point on the top. Widest is 26" and height is 28". Height to the center of the flue (rear exit) is 22 3/4".

A larger stove yet from Woodstock is the Progress which is a hybrid stove. This stove also has a dedicated cook top so is really great for cooking.


When power goes out, our Fireview is not bothered at all nor is the warmth of the house because the radiant heat goes to the far ends of our home really great. We also do not go hungry because we can cook on it.

Good luck to you.
 
AFAIK, radiant heat travels in straight lines, not around corners. The heat that gets to the far corners of the house is convected not radiated.
 
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My home does not know this and we have no trouble keeping the far end of the house warm. Can you imagine the bathroom near the far end. If the heat did not get back there I wouldn't be showering until Spring. Yet, that bathroom stays nice and warm and we do not use a fan to get the heat there.
 
Your home convects well then, so does ours. Some do not. This is less the function of the stove, and more about how well the air circulates in the house and how well it holds the heat. That's why I mentioned that a fan can help move the cooler air toward the stove.
 
For sure it did not with the old Ashley stove but when we got the Fireview, wow! We used to even close off part of the house before but not now. We also had to use an electric heater before showering but thank God that is in the past.

Hope you have warmed back up out there. We could use some of your rain.
 
Thanks for all the great replies. Unfortunately I really prefer a non-cat and have decided on that.

I'm hoping to just get a list going of stoves that will fit my hearth, then I can move on to researching to make sure it will heat enough square footage, etc.

I know we'll burn it often, maybe even every day... but we aren't going to rely on it for our only heat source. This is first to supplement to help our huge electric heat bill, then for power outages, and then hopefully the wife will come around to wanting to stoke it now and then while Im at work. Im sure she'll come around and thats why I want to start with a quality stove rather than a cheap steel box. She's not crazy about the idea yet but is sold on emergency backup.
 
I just installed a woodstove on our hearth extension this past February in much the way you are intending to do. Our extension was only 17", but with the Jotul F600 we bought we were able to slide the stove a few inches into the fireplace opening so that it would sit safely on the hearth extension. You need to know the height of your fireplace opening along with the radius height and width to figure out what stoves would work for you. Here are a couple photos of our set up to give you some ideas.

IMG_0207.JPG IMG_0203.JPG

Our fireplace opening is 32" tall and the stove sticks inside the opening about six inches. The legs on the Jotul F600 are 16" wide where they sit on the hearth extension.
 
For sure it did not with the old Ashley stove but when we got the Fireview, wow! We used to even close off part of the house before but not now. We also had to use an electric heater before showering but thank God that is in the past.

Hope you have warmed back up out there. We could use some of your rain.

Hasn't rained since Memorial Day. And is unlikely to until Sept. I suspect this could be a serious drought year.
 
Our extension was only 17", but with the Jotul F600 we bought we were able to slide the stove a few inches into the fireplace opening so that it would sit safely on the hearth extension.


Good point. The maximum depth rarely coincides with the maximum height. It's possible the rear part of the stove may fit back inside your fireplace, even though the stove is listed as too tall. To make the most of this, you need to look at the drawings in the manuals, which can be a bit of work.

I just am not sure which other models would fit in our space and was dreading going to every manufacturer's website I could think of and going through all their products.
 
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