Wood stove or insert for old farmhouse in MA

[brkriete]

My wife and I purchased and are rehabbing an old farmhouse in Eastern Mass.

The main part of the house is 2 stories, post and beam, 30x30, and completely uninsulated, built circa 1740.

Coming off this towards the back of the house is a two story addition, 15x20, mid 1800s, also uninsulated. Parlor downstairs, my office upstairs. This has an old-fashioned wood cookstove with a small firebox.

Stretching even further back is a large eat-in kitchen, about 30x20, built in 1971 and reasonably well insulated for the time.

Total area, with a few bumpouts etc, is ~3400 sq ft.

In the main part of the house the first floor layout is a full-length living room (~30x13) and two bedrooms separated by a hallway and staircase. My wife is using the two bedrooms as a home office and client meeting space (she's a photographer and works from home). The living room has a fireplace that is currently not in use. My plan is to add a woodstove or insert to the fireplace in the living room and use that to heat the main portion of the house as much as possible. The door to my wife's office is right next to it so she should get a good portion of the heat as well.

We have baseboard oil heat split into 4 zones (upstairs, kitchen, office suite, living room and parlor). That will be the main heat in the kitchen and supplemental in the rest of the house. I would like to heat the "main house" as much as possible with wood this winter. Given that the house is so old, drafty, and uninsulated, I think I'm going to want the biggest capacity stove I can jam in.

The fireplace is 28.5" H x 42" W x 15" D (so fairly short and shallow).

I think a woodstove is going to be the best bet for heat but an insert might be a better fit and look better. I don't want to install a blower (don't have a convenient outlet) but I'm not opposed to putting a fan somewhere in the room to move heat around.

Right now I'm considering one stove and a couple inserts:

Progress Hybrid - woodstove, rear vent, short leg version will work with clearance requirements. I like the idea of having a cooktop for emergencies and I like the soapstone. I may have to reinforce the hearth underneath to support it. This is the front-runner for now.

Kuma Sequoia Insert- big firebox, seems like a good rep, not a lot of dealers in New England.

Buck 91C - huge firebox, I like the extra "windows." Fireplace is technically 1/2" too shallow - don't know if that's a real concern, might not be a good fit protruding into the room.

Blaze King Princess Insert - I like the thermostat feature and long burn time. If there was a "King" insert I'd be very interested.

Should I be looking at any other units? The chimney is currently unlined masonry and I'll be putting a liner in, so not yet ruling out anything due to 8" vs 6" liner etc.

Apologies for the enormous post!

 

[Jags]

I like the way you are thinking. Big firebox. Inserts typically lend themselves to needing a fan to get the heat into the room. There are a couple that convect without a fan, but those are more the exception than the rule. If you have the room, or the way to make it happen, a nice big free standing stove in front of that fireplace (with appropriate block off plates) will be the way to go in my opinion.

If you haven't already secured your fuel, you need to. Time is short for getting wood properly seasoned for this years burning. It sounds like you have done a fair amount of homework already so you probably already know that you really can't trust most suppliers to provide "dry" firewood.

 

[jeff_t]

Heating 3400 sq ft of mostly uninsulated, drafty old space isn't going to be possible with a single stove. Insulating, if possible, and sealing up drafts, are going to give you the biggest payback.

You currently have an hydronic system? Have you considered a gasification boiler?

Have you started on a wood supply?

 

[HollowHill]

I have an old, drafty, 2 story farmhouse (2400 sq ft) in upstate NY which I heat with the Progress Hybrid. Did a great job heating the whole house (had a fan in one doorway), although windy days were more of a challenge. My layout is Federal with a large central hall and rooms off that on each side. The wood stove was in one of the rooms off the hallway. There are several other old house people here who hopefully will chime in. As Jags said, wood is key. I paid top dollar for some 18 mo css maple when I started out and it was well worth it. I burned around 5 cord last year to give you an idea of wood usage.

 

[Grisu]

With just 15" of depth in your fireplace you will have trouble finding a large insert that will fit in there. The Kuma for example has a depth of 23" and does not stick out that far. Most inserts do also not heat that well without a blower so it is usually not really an option of getting one without. Your best bet may be to get a large stove and put that in front of the fireplace. It will ultimately be cheaper and be a better heat source when the power goes out. Plus, you will also have a better selection. The brands you mentioned are good. In addition you could look at the Pacific Energy Summit, Jotul F600, the Regency F3100 or F5100 (4.4 cu ft firebox!), Hearthstone Equinox and probably a few others I don't remember right now. If you are short on cash right now I would suggest buying the Englander NC-30 for $900 (or less if it is on sale) from a big box store. It is a no-frills heater with a 3.2 cu ft. firebox. Use it for a few years, sell it for half and then go for a nicer stove. The only problem may be that the Englander uses a 6" flue while several of the large stoves use an 8" flue. In the meantime insulate the heck out of your place.

In addition, with such a big stove and house you will need a minimum of 4 to 5 cords of dry, seasoned wood which is usually very difficult to buy. Ask the seller for how long the wood has been split and stacked; it should be a minimum of a year for mixed hardwood. When it gets delivered be there, split a few pieces and measure the freshly exposed surface with a moisture meter. Ideally it should be below 20% but if you can get wood below 30% you may get by with it for this winter assuming you can dry it for a few additional months. Also, get your wood for the following winter now. Stack it in an open location with lots of sun and wind exposure, best in single rows and I like to cover the top.

 

[brkriete]

Heating 3400 sq ft of mostly uninsulated, drafty old space isn't going to be possible with a single stove. Insulating, if possible, and sealing up drafts, are going to give you the biggest payback.

You currently have an hydronic system? Have you considered a gasification boiler?

Have you started on a wood supply?

I'm not planning to heat the WHOLE house - it just won't work with the layout. My hope is to heat the largest oldest portion of it, especially the first floor living and office space, and reduce overall heating oil use.

I haven't considered a gasification boiler - I'm not familiar with them at all. I will look into it.

I've got 3 cords of mixed split hardwood coming (supposed to be seasoned but I'm sure not adequately). If it's good quality I'll get some more, if not I'll try another supplier.

 

[brkriete]

Thanks for the Jotul suggestion - that might work well. I like the look of the Equinox but I believe it (and the Regency stoves) are too tall to work in this fireplace installation.

I've got plenty of nice flat southern exposure land and I'll get a couple cords stacked up in the next week or two. Won't be optimal but it should do OK.

 

[begreen]

You are off to a good start with that list of stoves. The Progress Hybrid will fit in visually and Woodstock is a great company to work with. I will strongly emphasize the need to get dry wood. If you are purchasing wood, make that explicitly clear and test the wood off the truck before they dump it. Test by resplitting the wood and check for moisture on the inside freshly split face. Try to avoid oak this year unless it has been split and stacked for at least 2 years. If you find a great wood source consider buying next years wood too, right now.

The house sounds very interesting. If you get a chance please post some pictures, especially of the fireplace and the hearth. We need to check and make sure there are no gotchas like mantel clearances. With that age chimney, absolutely plan on installing an insulated liner connecting the stove or insert.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I'm not planning to heat the WHOLE house - it just won't work with the layout. My hope is to heat the largest oldest portion of it, especially the first floor living and office space, and reduce overall heating oil use.

I haven't considered a gasification boiler - I'm not familiar with them at all. I will look into it.

I've got 3 cords of mixed split hardwood coming (supposed to be seasoned but I'm sure not adequately). If it's good quality I'll get some more, if not I'll try another supplier.

Welcome to the forum brkriete.

All wood sellers will tell you the same thing. If you accept it, the first thing you need to do is stack it off the ground (landscape timbers will work fine as will some saplings out of the woods). Stack it rather loose and in the windiest spot you have. You want to stack it loose because air circulation through that wood pile is what you need. Depending upon the size of the splits, you might even consider splitting it smaller as this will help dry the wood faster.

For the stoves, if you put a couple Progress stoves in there you no doubt will surprise yourself on just how much heat you get and how much of that space you will heat. There are also some little tricks to help move the heat around a bit. Good luck.