Stove location. Living room or family room.

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muscamoot said:
BeGreen said:
We are cross-posting. With a straight up pipe, I don't think you would have a drafting issue with the stove at location #2. Yes, an outside pipe can work too, especially with the extra height it would require to clear the roof sufficiently. So #3 could work.

More process thinking here. I'm wondering if location 2 could be moved into the room more so that maybe the existing linen closet could be extended to include a pipe chase?

Your first suggested possible stove location would not be good because of the location of the kitchen table in the dinette area. The second position may line up with the linen closes above, but having half the back of the stove out in the open would not be pleasing (to me) and the chimney would still be about nine feet from the roofs peak, so I would still need about a nine foot tall chimney with braces up on the roof.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Yes, I thought about the back of the stove. My thought was to extend the current wall as a partial, 36" high, wing wall to make the hearth location look intentional. But if this interferes with an eating area, then probably not a good idea.
 
muscamoot said:
The other option I had ruled out because I read about outside chimney draft issues, is to put stove along right side wall of family room (#3) and have chimney go out wall with all outside chimney. Maybe I should consider this?

First . . . family room . . . definitely place it here. If this is where you spend the most time this is where you want the stove. You will get the benefit of the extra heat and the view . . . trust me on this . . . you want the stove where you spend the most time. A benefit is that you will always know when you need to load it without having to go to another room to check on it.

As for your concern about too much heat . . . a) you will learn how to regulate the heat level in the home with the fuel load (amount, type of wood, loading frequency) so you don't cook yourself out of the room and b) most folks soon get used to the warmer temps anyway.

So . . . definitely put it in the family room. I liked Option 3 (or the top right hand corner of the house) as this should help direct the heat to the rest of the home . . . add in a floor fan pointed towards the stove and you should have no problem heating the whole home. I have a 1,800 square foot cape with a somewhat similar floor plan (one big room instead of the two family and living rooms) and the stove pretty much heats the whole place . . . a fan helps move the heat . . . and the natural rise of the heated air will heat upstairs . . . rooms further away will be a bit cooler . . . but that's actually a good thing for sleeping.

In regards to outside chimney draft issues . . . I read the same stuff and was a bit concerned . . . but in the end I had to go with an "out and up" chimney due to the way the house was built . . . and I can tell you that other than a few times during the early and late burning season when the temps outside are close to the temps inside I have no problem with the draft (and in the early and late season I just open a nearby window a crack for a few minutes while lighting the fire) . . . I also have no problems with creosote (burning well seasoned wood and burning at the proper temps makes a big difference) . . . and my concern about losing heat from the chimney turned out to not be an issue (since I figure I'm really heating my house with my stove, not the chimney.)

As for the looks . . . I was a bit concerned about the huge run of Class A on the side of my house . . . but a) I've got used to the look, b) I could have built a chase around it or painted it black and c) I was fortunate in that the way my house sits on the property you really cannot see much of the chimney from the road.
 
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