I am looking at buying a wood stove for my 1400 sqft cape cod home. This is going to (most likely) go into the basement which will eventually become the family room. This room is about 400 sqft and the stove would be directly across from the steps leading to the first floor. There are two stoves I like the PE alderlea T5 and the jotul oslo. Will either of these stoves cook us out of the room? I am hoping to heat the basement and first floor and any heat that might make it to the 2nd floor would be a bonus. The 1st floor is an open floorplan so I think the heat should circulate pretty well there. Thanks for any comments or suggestions.
Stove questions
- Thread starter Murph015
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Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Just a word of warning that some folks have a difficult time with the stove in the basement. If the basement is open to the outdoors there seems to be less of a problem. Draft is one issue and also you have to insulate the walls and floor else most of the heat will just be soaked up in the cement and/or blocks.
1800 sq. ft. should not be too hard to heat but I'm not familiar with those stoves so will let others chip in on that. Have you considered a Woodstock Fireview?
1800 sq. ft. should not be too hard to heat but I'm not familiar with those stoves so will let others chip in on that. Have you considered a Woodstock Fireview?
The basement walls are insulated and soon there will be padding and carpet on the floor. There is a door to the outiside in our basement as well. I figure I am giong to try the basement and see how it goes and then if I seem to be only heating the basement then I will move it to the first floor.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Murph, something else to consider is the filling of the stove, bringing in wood and taking out ashes. Especially the running of the stove. I understand wanting it in a family room as that would certainly be nice. But make sure you are willing to go up and down that stairway to tend the stove. It might not seem bad at first because of the novelty of it but it can get tedious. Also, it means that the stove will be left unattended for long periods which means you can not keep track of what it is doing quite so well. But, wood heat is great! Good luck.
No problem with the stairs and there is an outside door and also a hallway to the garage to bring in wood and take out ashes.
The T5 would be my first choice, it's more convective, closer clearances and more comfortable in a smaller space. Whether it drives you out of the room or not is up to the person running the stove. Also look at the Quadrafire Cumberland Gap. It's another steel/cast iron hybrid, but a side loader like the Oslo.
djlarson77
Member
Hey Murph. Just had the T5 installed in the family room on the lowest level of my 1700 s.f. 3-level split. It's been great so far, heating the entire house. Had to get a little creative with air movement (thru-wall fan and re-working some HVAC ducting) but couldn't be happier with the gentle yet potent heat. My tiny family room is probably no larger than about 240 s.f. but an adjacent crawl space works perfectly to pump some cooler air in when needed.
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Well I ordered the T5 so now I just have to wait for it to come in and start getting everything else ready. I have a bunch of wood that has been just asking to be used for the past two years. I am happy all that cutting and splitting will be used for something other than our fireplace where all the heat goes up the chimney.
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