Whole House Wood Stove Recommendation

[virvis]

Typical installation in the unfinished basement, trying to get the heat into the rest of the house.

House is approx 2600 Sq ft. with unfinished basement. 4 years old, Cape Cod style with open great room to second floor loft with bedrooms off each side of the loft. I'm not real concerned about the 2nd floor because the heat rises up through the great room and keeps the bedrooms around 66 degrees. My problem is getting the heat from the basement to the first floor.

I've found a Baker Mini Furnace (with optional hot air bonnet, see below for description) that will enable a tie in to the duct system. My concern is this is a wood/coal stove and probably not as efficient as some of the new wood stove models. Has anyone found anything that enables a tie in to existing systems? I can use either forced hot air or radiant hot water system.

http://www.bakerstoves.com/stoves2.htm

Hot Air Bonnet (excerpt from their literature)
"Using the patented Baker air Flow Heat Exchanger, provides heat in your home through existing hot air duct systems. The hot air bonnet directs the flow of hot air produced by the Heat Exchanger into a 6" outlet connected to your ductwork. This provides a positive flow of heat to the rest of your home where a natural convection system may not.... " (it looks like a steel box that goes over the air outlets and has a six inch collar that can be connected to a duct and used as a hot air supply)

This sounds interesting....If anyone out there is using one of these bonnets, I'd love to hear how it works or if you have suggestions for an alternative, I'd love to hear them.

Planning on a new stove for next year.

thanks,
Jim

 

[JimWalshin845]

Try the boiler room forum, you will get a better response there, but also look here:
http://www.yukon-eagle.com/

Good Luck!

 

[swestall]

If there was a place in the great room for a nice stove it could become a centerpiece.. just a thought.

 

[webbie]

Think about it - one 6" pipe from your regular furnace ties into your entire house. So putting the output of one 6" vent into an entire house heating system is unlikely to really fill it up!

You don't mention what you currently have in the house - hot air or hot water?
Also, does the stove need style, or are you looking for heat only? Given the looks of that Baker, I would guess the second, which opens you up to considering a number of central heaters. Look at the thread here about the EPA caddy furnace - do a search on Caddy.