Stove for new construction - small house

[Alan Gage]

I've been happily heating a poorly insulated and leaky house the past 3 years with an Englander 13 in northern Iowa. It does fine to about -10 F or very high winds with single digit temps. This spring however I'll be building a new house on the property. It will be about 750 sq ft with a full basement (shop). The basement will be very well insulated, as will the rest of the house.

Knowing how well it can do in the current house I'm a little concerned the Englander is going to cook me out of the place. What can those of you with newly constructed and well insulated homes tell me about heating them? Am I going to be better off with something smaller? I prefer the house to be in the mid-upper 60's. Over 70 I start to get uncomfortable, especially if I'm in the room with the stove

I've also never used a wood stove to heat a home with a basement. How much of the heat from the main level is going to get downstairs? If I want to work comfortably down there will I need another heat source?

Tentative floor plan:

measurements by Alan Gage, on Flickr

I tried to place the stove against an interior wall, more centrally located, but just couldn't come up with anything I was happy with. Where it is now I can watch the stove as well as everything going on outside. Thinking I have more stove than I need I wasn't too worried about losing some heat through the windows and wall.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Alan

 

[Todd]

I think one of the smaller Woodstocks would work great for you. The combination of the cat and soapstone is a winner for smaller homes. My Keystone easily heats my 1000 sq ft main floor into the 80's if I want and I can also turn her down to a low burn or burn half loads to keep the house temps down. Overnight burns are easy with this small 1.4 cu ft fire box. I don't get much heat in my finished basement burning the Keystone upstairs so I burn a Fireview in the basement and use the Keystone mostly to help out on colder days. You may be fine with an electric space heater in the basement to keep the chill off.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'd even vote for the Fireview for this size home.

As for heating the basement I doubt you'll be getting much heat down there. It is something about heat rising I think that stops this idea.

 

[weezer4117]

the buck model 21 is a nice stove for smaller rooms/homes.i played with one the other day at the local stove shop, they are built like a tank. only problem is your splits will have to be cut rather small.

 

[ruth140]

look into the hearthstone line....non cat stoves. soapstone and there are alot of sizes available.

 

[leeave96]

Woodstock Keystone would be my first vote and agree with Dennis that the Fireview would be a good choice too. With the Fireview, you smother it down more to keep from getting roasted out vs the Keystone, get a longer burn time.

The great thing about these cat stoves is that you can crank out the heat or turn them down for a low, slow, clean burn.

One thing about the Keystone vs the Fireview is that it can be set-up as either top or rear vent and the Keystone has a slickery ash pan - helps keep the dust down when emptying the ashes.

Good luck,
Bill

 

[afptl]

I have a 1300 sq ft home ranch on a basement. When we burn on the first floor, the basement is really cold. I think you will need another heat source down there if you are going to work down there. Get a new stove for the first floor and the old one you have for the basement. Just some thoughts!

 

[Alan Gage]

Wow, lots of Woodstock recommendations! I was unfamiliar with them up till now (haven't kept up much on stoves since buying mine). Sure are purty and I really like the idea of the side loading. Awful lot of $$$$ though, but nice things always are.

It will be nice to be able to take my time and wait for a good price on something since I won't need it until next winter, if I do decide to buy a new stove that is.

Thanks,

Alan

 

[krex1010]

I would try the stove you have for a season, you may find that your current stove works out just fine in the new house. You may have to adjust the way you burn, maybe use a bit less wood etc. If it works out then you just saved yourself some money. You can always get a new stove later.

 

[begreen]

Congratulations Alan, this has to be pretty exciting. Nice drawing, that helps, thanks.

What R-value will the walls and ceiling be insulated to? Have you had a heat load calculation done for the primary heating system? If yes, to you know what size system is being specced? Have you decided what type heating it will be?

So far I am leaning toward the Keystone crowd, but also wondering about the Buck 20 or PE Alderlea T4 if you want a non-cat. Play around more with the living room arrangement, maybe put the stove in the TV location now. And remember tvs can now hang on walls (like that loveseat wall) taking much less floor space.

 

[Alan Gage]

Going a season with the current stove is a good idea and is probably what I'll do. I can't help but think of getting something with smaller clearances though in the small house. If I get something different later (with closer clearances) I'd have to jog over to the existing pipe. I also like the idea of moving the old stove to the basement and putting the new one in the living room. What I don't like is the thought of so much class A pipe from that basement stove ($$$). The house will be insulated well enough (R-19 basement, at least R-19 in main level and R-60 roof) that it probably wouldn't cost much at all for a propane heater in the basement to warm that area when I want to work down there or keep the house from freezing if I leave for a while in the winter. It's certainly sounding like I'll need something down there. Part of me wants to just stick a larger stove in the basement to do the whole house.but I'd miss my evening entertainment of watching the flames.

The wood stove will be the main and hopefully only (unless I'm gone for a few days) heat source. As for putting the stove in the TV location...it already is! I don't have a TV, that little box in the corner of the living room is the Englander.

Yes, this is very exciting planning the build, it's certainly given me something to think about this winter. People are starting to think I'm crazy though because every time I go to someones house I break out the tape measure. I plan to do as much of the build as I can myself, which will be a new experience.

Thanks for the great advice.

Alan

 

[amellefson]

Alan

I pull the tape measure routine too. People just know that I am weird I guess. My aunt and uncle have a Quadrafire 3100i in an 1100 sq ft house. I know it is an insert but Quad makes quite a few freestanding models that are nice. Front or side load.

Tony

 

[begreen]

You might want to rethink using the 13 NC unless it's going in the basement. It has high clearances as mentioned and very high hearth insulation reqs. No sense putting in overkill if you will never need it again. Take a look at the clearance requirements for the Alderlea T4 for example, they are close and the hearth is just ember protection. But if you are going for 24/7 heat, I'm back with the cats.

Will the bank let you build without a full-time heating system? They won't out here, so a lot of folks put in minimal baseboard systems to satisfy them. Will there be AC? If yes, then I would put in a high-efficiency mini-split heat pump system instead to cover heat/cooling. It's important to have a contingency system to carry the house when you are away or get sick, etc. And I think you will find yourself using it a lot when the temps get over 50F.

 

[bertrn]

Dont make my mistake. I built a 2800sf(1800 downstairs) spray foam insulated home with a geothermal HVAC 3 years ago. I spoke with the energy efficiency guru Doug Rye as well and decided that since I was so well insulated I would not want a large stove due to it "burning me out of the house." I chose a non cat Vermont Castings Aspen with OAK setup and was very dissappointed. There was no "burning me out" down here in Mississippi. The stove did do much better the second year thanks to this forum's knowledge base on the importance of dry wood and a moisture meter but when temps got in the 20's it struggled and the wife overfired it and caused a small crack to form. It did finish the season however. I installed a Keystone in November and its wonderful. The cat has made for long burns and it looks great in the house. I am only concerned with heating the downstairs since upstairs is used infrequently. Oh, I too measured everyone's rooms and thouroughly enjoyed contracting the house myself. Good luck