We are considering purchasing a new stove. Our old Seefire 1600, that came with the house we bought this summer, is falling apart, broken baffle won't support fire bricks... I'm not even sure if we can find parts for a repair. We've decided to invest in a new rig that should last decades and help make our new house a comfy home. The Seefire is a steel stove with a thin sheet metal jacket around the sides and back. I think it's roughly the same size as the T5.
We are considering the T5. Our main room is ~900 sq ft, with another ~450 sq ft of bedrooms over half of the main room, and a cathedral ceiling (~16' peak) with a ceiling fan over the other half of the main room. The bedrooms open on to a balcony looking over the main room. The stove is under the cathedral ceiling section, at one end. The stairs up run behind the stove, and the wall of the stairs is faced in bricks. The stove doors point lengthwise, parallel to the balcony edge (not towards the short ceiling part of the main room, where we lounge).
The Seefire heats the main room fairly well, while the upstairs gets a bit too toasty. We've been keeping the bedroom doors closed most of the night otherwise they overheat and the main room doesn't heat up as well. The ceiling fan is being run on slow, pushing up. While winter has yet to really set in, it won't get that much colder here, being the PNW. Days will cool off, but last night's -1 C (30 F) is about as cold as usually gets. We do have electric baseboard backup if needed, but would rather not pay the big crazy prices.
As I understand it, the T5 should be a little more radiant and a little less convective. Is this stove a good choice for this type of set up and layout? Will it help with a better balance between upstairs and downstairs (given that heat rises of course...) due to more radiant heat to the main room?
My other question is about curing the T5. The manual states 2-3 fires to cure the stove. What size fires are needed? Can I light a fire at 10 am, let it burn out, light another at 2 pm and hope to have most of the curing done by evening so I can fire up the stove for the evening and not stink up the house? My concern here is how do we replace the stove and use it for heat the first few days while curing it at the same time... if only I'd realized the poor condition of our original stove this summer... but while I've used wood stoves plenty, this is my first experience as an 'owner'...
We are considering the T5. Our main room is ~900 sq ft, with another ~450 sq ft of bedrooms over half of the main room, and a cathedral ceiling (~16' peak) with a ceiling fan over the other half of the main room. The bedrooms open on to a balcony looking over the main room. The stove is under the cathedral ceiling section, at one end. The stairs up run behind the stove, and the wall of the stairs is faced in bricks. The stove doors point lengthwise, parallel to the balcony edge (not towards the short ceiling part of the main room, where we lounge).
The Seefire heats the main room fairly well, while the upstairs gets a bit too toasty. We've been keeping the bedroom doors closed most of the night otherwise they overheat and the main room doesn't heat up as well. The ceiling fan is being run on slow, pushing up. While winter has yet to really set in, it won't get that much colder here, being the PNW. Days will cool off, but last night's -1 C (30 F) is about as cold as usually gets. We do have electric baseboard backup if needed, but would rather not pay the big crazy prices.
As I understand it, the T5 should be a little more radiant and a little less convective. Is this stove a good choice for this type of set up and layout? Will it help with a better balance between upstairs and downstairs (given that heat rises of course...) due to more radiant heat to the main room?
My other question is about curing the T5. The manual states 2-3 fires to cure the stove. What size fires are needed? Can I light a fire at 10 am, let it burn out, light another at 2 pm and hope to have most of the curing done by evening so I can fire up the stove for the evening and not stink up the house? My concern here is how do we replace the stove and use it for heat the first few days while curing it at the same time... if only I'd realized the poor condition of our original stove this summer... but while I've used wood stoves plenty, this is my first experience as an 'owner'...
