Advice on type of wood stove and placement in structure with open layout

[Will44]

I am currently building a 24'x50' structure with a slab on grade. I am wanting to heat the structure with wood and am wondering what kind of stove would be best, along with possibly the best place to put it for circulation purposes. The structure has a loft on one end, and open cathedral ceiling on the other. The loft, and space underneath the loft, are completely open to the surrounding air. It is basically one giant room with cathedral ceiling split up by an open loft, 1200 sq/ft total. There will be dense pack cellulose insulation in the walls along with the roof ( R-60 ). A pretty tight building. Would a convection wood stove be best? Also was going to put a large ceiling fan coming down from the central point of the cathedral ceiling to move air around. I want the entire space to be warm. I have the wood stove positioned to one side of the room, in the center so heat can rise to the lofted area. I also want heat to circulate around the first floor underneath the loft. There is an attached file with the layout of the structure ( minus the roof ). The roof is a gable, 12/12 pitch, 24 feet to the ceiling from the top of the slab. Any advice?

 

[bholler]

You are going to need a massive stove i would be looking at furnaces. You say it is 1200 sqare feet but you are ommiting the second floor. And regardless cibic feet iis what really matters and with 20 foot ceilings your cubic feet are massive.

 

[Will44]

I believe in total its around 21,600 cubic feet

 

[bholler]

I believe in total its around 21,600 cubic feet

Yeah that is what i came up with. That is a huge space

 

[RobbieB]

With ceiling fans it shouldn't be too bad. Lots of insulation helps and the weather is not too cold there either.

 

[bholler]

Oh i dodnt notice where this was nc is a pretty mild climate.

 

[Will44]

I am in central NC. We have mild winters.

 

[RobbieB]

I think you would have a great solution with a convection stove. You could run w/o blower when the weather was warm and full tilt blower on when cold. I have a small insert and the "box within a box" blower driven space design really makes it a little "wood furnace"

Is this your only source of heat or are you planning a secondary?

 

[Will44]

This will be my only source of heat. The structure will have 180 sq/ft of glazing facing due south. Unobstructed. It sits on top of a knoll and will have excellent solar gain during the winter along with the slab as a thermal mass, and above and beyond with dense pack cellulose. I do want an active heat source for those nights when it gets below freezing and into the teens.

 

[RobbieB]

What are you cooking with?

 

[Will44]

Cooking will not take place in this structure

 

[Stubblefire]

I would incorporate in floor heat into the slab with the stove as the heat source and a small pump on a timer to circulate every 30 minutes, this way once stove is in later stages of burn the floor has built enough heat up to give a continuous warmth especially in the further area of the space. There are some neat products out there that just fit to side of stove by magnets and also run the pumps by thermal conductvity.

 

[xman23]

That's about the same layout and square footage as my cabin. The difference is we have a full basement. We have a cathedral the length of the whole house. My insulation is 38 ceiling and 19 walls. The stove is in the corner on the end wall. The stove is at the other end of the house one level below our loft bedroom. The loft has half walls. The heat has never been on in the loft up. You can cook the loft. On the stove level the two back bedrooms are about 5 degrees colder. Our Jotul Oslo easily heats the whole place when it's -10. It's all about the construction and insulation.

One issue is your slab. I think it will suck up a lot of heat. Look into the best ways to insulate below the slab.