Advice in Choosing the right wood stove for open cathedral space

[Will44]

I have an open cathedral space with the footprint of 24 feet wide by 50 feet long. The walls are 12 feet tall with 12 more feet of open cathedral ceiling on top of that. It is a steep gable roof. Roughly 24 feet from the floor to the peak of the ceiling. There is an open loft in half of the space where there is an office. No walls. The structure is tightly built with an R-60 roof and R-20 in the walls. Concrete slab floor without hydronic tubing. Passive solar with south facing glazing. I am wanting to heat this structure with a wood stove and am seeking advice on if this is possible, and if so, what type of stove should I look for. I live in climate zone 4A, central NC. Our winters are not brutal, but we do get snow and cold spells. The building comprises 21,600 cubic feet of space.

Here is a rough picture of the space ( without the roof added in for viewing clarity )

 

[Shaun643]

I have an open cathedral space with the footprint of 24 feet wide by 50 feet long. The walls are 12 feet tall with 12 more feet of open cathedral ceiling on top of that. It is a steep gable roof. Roughly 24 feet from the floor to the peak of the ceiling. There is an open loft in half of the space where there is an office. No walls. The structure is tightly built with an R-60 roof and R-20 in the walls. Concrete slab floor without hydronic tubing. Passive solar with south facing glazing. I am wanting to heat this structure with a wood stove and am seeking advice on if this is possible, and if so, what type of stove should I look for. I live in climate zone 4A, central NC. Our winters are not brutal, but we do get snow and cold spells. The building comprises 21,600 cubic feet of space.

Here is a rough picture of the space ( without the roof added in for viewing clarity )


Do you have a fan up at the peak to help with circulation. What you have to think of is all the air volume your heating. Is the whole house 1200 sqft that your heating? A good idea would be to find a hearth dealer and have them come look at your home and see what size stove they recommend. Then search that stove and view the details then search all other stoves with those specs and choose which stove you like.

 

[Will44]

Good advice. I am definitely going to have someone come out. I just want to reach out to as many avenues as possible for advice.
Yes. There will be an industrial ceiling fan hanging down from the ridge beam to help with air circulation. The whole house is 1200 square feet that will need to be heated.

 

[cjgoode]

Not sure about the stove but ceiling fans will help a lot. We turn ours to circulate air up in the winter and it does a great job of circulating the warm air from our great room with a vaulted ceiling that stretches the length of our house, the great room on one end is sunk down 5 feet and the ceiling continues to the kitchen some 80 feet on the other side of the house . I think I am over 20 feet in the center to the ceiling. The fans really help move the air and heat makes it to the kitchen. I have a house in Western NC where it gets a little colder then you, but like you rarely real brutal. So it is a similar situation. Stoves have a max BTU they output and also have a minimum BTU you might want to pay attention to both so you can still use it when you just want to to take the nip out of the air and still run it within its range. Some had a greater max BTU and a lower minimum BTU then ones with a lower max BTU output.

 

[Shaun643]

Good advice. I am definitely going to have someone come out. I just want to reach out to as many avenues as possible for advice.
Yes. There will be an industrial ceiling fan hanging down from the ridge beam to help with air circulation. The whole house is 1200 square feet that will need to be heated.

How much of the house is cathedral ceiling? Iam guessing that part of the house is 25x24 if it is that's 600 sqft at 3times taller than a normal room that's 1800sqft of air your heating plus the 600sqft for the rest of the house that's 2400sqft since your room does not go straight up I would estimate it's safe to take off 300 sqft so a stove that's rated for 2100 sqft should do you good. Also make sure that big fan can go in reverse.

 

[SuperJ]

Yes, reversing the fans can be really helpful. In my kitchen area adjacent to my stove room, it pull up in the middle and forces the warm air that collects on the ceiling down my outer walls creating a nice air curtain effect to make the whole room feel warm, even if you're standing by a cold window or outside wall. This boosts the natural convection effect and really evens out the temperatures in the space.

 

[Will44]

How much of the house is cathedral ceiling? Iam guessing that part of the house is 25x24 if it is that's 600 sqft at 3times taller than a normal room that's 1800sqft of air your heating plus the 600sqft for the rest of the house that's 2400sqft since your room does not go straight up I would estimate it's safe to take off 300 sqft so a stove that's rated for 2100 sqft should do you good. Also make sure that big fan can go in reverse.

The entire structure is cathedral ceiling. One giant open space with a floor framed 12 feet up, halfway through the structure, that has no walls. It is a completely open loft with balusters and rail. The loft takes up half the structure, but the ceiling is vaulted throughout. There are no partition walls in this building.
I spoke with a local wood stove dealer this afternoon. He recommended a Lopi, Cape Cod wood stove to accommodate this space. Heats up to 2500 Sq Ft at 86,000 BTU's / Hr...convection with blower. Possibly this stove coupled with the drop down industrial ceiling fan could create enough heat and move it around adequately. I have had Jotul and Morso stoves for the past 12 years. He informed me that neither company had a wood stove that would heat this open space sufficiently. Does anyone have thoughts on the Lopi brand?

 

[sutphenj]

The entire structure is cathedral ceiling. One giant open space with a floor framed 12 feet up, halfway through the structure, that has no walls. It is a completely open loft with balusters and rail. The loft takes up half the structure, but the ceiling is vaulted throughout. There are no partition walls in this building.
I spoke with a local wood stove dealer this afternoon. He recommended a Lopi, Cape Cod wood stove to accommodate this space. Heats up to 2500 Sq Ft at 86,000 BTU's / Hr...convection with blower. Possibly this stove coupled with the drop down industrial ceiling fan could create enough heat and move it around adequately. I have had Jotul and Morso stoves for the past 12 years. He informed me that neither company had a wood stove that would heat this open space sufficiently. Does anyone have thoughts on the Lopi brand?

The jotul f55 is is rated at 2,500 square ft pushing out 83k btu's. I have one and also have a large cathedral room it sits in. It throws some massive heat if you need it to. It does an excellent job at my place and I don't run a blower. Not sure how the dealer doesn't think that is adequate. Anyhow just a heads up there is a jotul that would prolly work.

 

[Shaun643]

Sounds like the dealer just wants to sell their brand. In my first post I mentioned going online and looking up other stoves with those specs. As in btu out put and same square footage. Also better to go with one a little bigger then you think you need so you don't work the stove so hard in bad weather. Example heating a house that's 2100sqft with a stove that's good up to 2100sqft. In that case I would find one that could heat 2500sqft. Just a thought.