I'm not (totally) new to wood stoves, but new to the forum. And I'm definitely clueless regarding my questions. Seems like this is probably the best place to ask.
Our home is a 1973 ranch-style, 1200 sq. ft., over a full basement. Our basement is partially finished, a continuing process. An extended family member lives downstairs. We can't depend on her to tend a stove, so putting one downstairs isn't an option.
The house was the ultimate in tight and insulated when it was built. Now it would be "just above average" by today's standards. The living room/family room/kitchen is an open design, and makes up about half of the upstairs area.
We want to place a nice woodburner in our main upstairs area, a model that has big glass so you can see the fire, but puts out good heat to drop our propane bills. We already do a bit of zone heating, in that we close off heat vents in the guest room, which we don't use, and in our main bedroom because we like to sleep in a cold room. The third bedroom is an office with two computers that keep it fairly warm. The propane furnace is a new high-efficiency (84%) unit in the basement, with three outlets down there.
Here's my thought. With a wood-burning stove in the main room, is it workable to use the blower of the furnace to distribute heat to the rest of the house? Not to keep the whole house at a constant 75 degrees or such, but to keep the rest of the house and basement cool but livable?
I'm a bit confused by the size ratings on the new stoves, as they are generally listed for so many square feet. Would we want to get one for the 1200 square feet of the main floor? Or a smaller one because the main room is only half the house? Or one for 2400 square feet if we want to blow the air to the whole house? Or perhaps we should go by BTU output in comparison with our furnace's BTU output as a guide?
Finally, we live well out of town, and our electricity is not the most reliable in bad or cold weather. We would like the option to be able to cook on it if our power went off. Is it necessary to have a stove specifically adapted for cooking on top, or do all stoves make enough heat on top to cook on? We do have a generator to power the house, but it would be nice to be able to conserve its use for night-time or extreme conditions. Plus our convection range pulls pretty good current. Even when we have power, cooking on the wood stove might be an option we would pursue to save on electricity, too.
Sorry for the length of this post. Thanks for any guidance and insights.
Our home is a 1973 ranch-style, 1200 sq. ft., over a full basement. Our basement is partially finished, a continuing process. An extended family member lives downstairs. We can't depend on her to tend a stove, so putting one downstairs isn't an option.
The house was the ultimate in tight and insulated when it was built. Now it would be "just above average" by today's standards. The living room/family room/kitchen is an open design, and makes up about half of the upstairs area.
We want to place a nice woodburner in our main upstairs area, a model that has big glass so you can see the fire, but puts out good heat to drop our propane bills. We already do a bit of zone heating, in that we close off heat vents in the guest room, which we don't use, and in our main bedroom because we like to sleep in a cold room. The third bedroom is an office with two computers that keep it fairly warm. The propane furnace is a new high-efficiency (84%) unit in the basement, with three outlets down there.
Here's my thought. With a wood-burning stove in the main room, is it workable to use the blower of the furnace to distribute heat to the rest of the house? Not to keep the whole house at a constant 75 degrees or such, but to keep the rest of the house and basement cool but livable?
I'm a bit confused by the size ratings on the new stoves, as they are generally listed for so many square feet. Would we want to get one for the 1200 square feet of the main floor? Or a smaller one because the main room is only half the house? Or one for 2400 square feet if we want to blow the air to the whole house? Or perhaps we should go by BTU output in comparison with our furnace's BTU output as a guide?
Finally, we live well out of town, and our electricity is not the most reliable in bad or cold weather. We would like the option to be able to cook on it if our power went off. Is it necessary to have a stove specifically adapted for cooking on top, or do all stoves make enough heat on top to cook on? We do have a generator to power the house, but it would be nice to be able to conserve its use for night-time or extreme conditions. Plus our convection range pulls pretty good current. Even when we have power, cooking on the wood stove might be an option we would pursue to save on electricity, too.
Sorry for the length of this post. Thanks for any guidance and insights.