Can I shove a wood stove inside of this fireplace?

[kyguylal]

Hello all,

I bought a house this past Fall up in NH.

The house is a tri-level split with a main level with an open kitchen/living room with a double sided fireplace in the center.

The lower level is a family room and the upper level has the bedrooms. There is also an unfinished basement.

The house is approximately 2,500 SF of finished area and another 1,000 SF of unfinished basement.

We are looking to replace, or add another pellet stove to keep up with the cold, but I am toying with the idea of adding a wood stove instead. Currently, our pellet stove is undersized and is rated to heat 1,500 SF. It is a wind chill of -17 out right now and it is 62 in the main level and oil is burning to maintain 60 in te upper and lower levels.

The only place we would be able to place the stove would be inside of the existing double sided fireplace. Is there a free stander which would fit inside oft the opening?

The cut is 36" long, and 28" in height. If there is a stove which would fit, is there any likelihood of being able to heat the majority of our house with it?

 

[HomeinPA]

I've never seen a stove put inside a double sided firebox. Correctly. There are so many hurdles to jump over for code and appliance listings that it would be a challenge to say the least. Not to mention having to deal with the damper style that these fireplaces usually incorporate. I can think of a lot of ways to "make it work" but the aforementioned issues pretty much put a stop to them.

 

[weatherguy]

Sure you could as long as you get one that fits, I think my PH is about 28 inches with the short leg kit but theres a lot of others that will probably fit.

 

[EbS-P]

How deep is the fireplace and is the flue centered? We just installed a Jøtul F400 with the short leg kit. I think the height is about 26.5 “ with the short legs. My opening is 41w by 28.75. Now how much heat you can get is with it is a different question. Our main floor is 2000 sq ft. The fireplace is in the center of the house. A living room behind the fireplace wall and one in front, with a kitchen off the the right ( these 3 spaces are well connected but not open concept) 3 bedrooms off a hallway to the he left. I think with good wood and running it wide open 24/7 I could keep the living grooms and kitchen above 68 but not the back bedrooms if it stops above 20 F outside. ( we are in coastal N.C.). I think the pass through would help a lot in distributing the heat around the house. I would probably opt for a pellet insert and run both pellet stoves. We have a downstairs that has a second fireplace and I can’t imagine runnng two woodstoves but I think a pellet insert and a wood stove would be ok. Two pellet stove would be easier. A wood stove would look better.

So to answer your question you can find a stove that will fit your opening. If/ how connect it in that space still needs to be answered. I imagine you would get more heat out that I am getting but that might not be enough for the NH climate. Looks like the slightly bigger F500 would fit too. The short leg kits takes off 2”.

Hope that helps.

Evan
PS I think it woud look amazing. I’m kind of jealous ours wasn’t a pass through.

 

[HomeinPA]

PS I think it woud look amazing. I’m kind of jealous ours wasn’t a pass through.

It'll look amazing on one side. The other room will be looking at the back of the stove. That side, not so amazing.

You don't have a measurement for the depth of the firebox, from one opening to the other. Then you have to subtract 8 inches for the face of the brick on both sides or get the measurement from inside to inside at the top of the firebox. You have no raised hearth for the stove to sit outside the firebox on one side.....Yeah, you can likely find a stove to fit in the opening. Barely. Getting it lined properly is a completely different story but also probably not impossible. You can do just about anything if you want to throw enough money at it but you're going to have to radically change the throat of the fireplace and make other changes and in the end I don't think you'll like the look. There is always the option of closing in one side and rebuilding the firebox to be a single sided fireplace.