Cool but its gotta go!

[MercerRec]

Time to upgrade. This 32" diameter fireplace is on the 1st floor in a ranch style cabin near Lake Superior and is supplemental heat to a nat gas forced air furnace. It produces great heat, vents just fine, warms the room from 50 to 78 degrees very quickly, when outdoor air is below 0ºF, but goes through a ton of wood as you can imagine,. Looking to upgrade to a more efficient freestanding stove. Little about the cabin/space being heated: appx 16'x28' ish room w/8' ceiling. Cabin has full basement and furnace is in the basement. I burn a mix of seasoned hardwood including maple, ash, oak. I would like a stove that warms fairly quickly, has decent burn times (8 hours or so would be fine) presents a nice view of the fire for entertaining, and has a large firebox to accept 20" wood length or so. Looking for some suggestion on models, would like to do this for under $1000 stove cost but will consider going above budget if it will be the last one I have to buy.

Honorable Mention: This fireplace was purchased from Sears around mid 1970's. It included a swing out grill/grate that clamped to a leg that you could position over the coals, as well as a rotisserie kit! Plans include relocating the stove to an outdoor location under a detached garage overhang to use as a social area.

 

[claydogg84]

Is this a vacation home?

 

[MercerRec]

Yes, total size sq footage 1300ft with 1300sq basement.

 

[claydogg84]

I was going to recommend buying a used pre EPA stove to avoid having to deal with the need for "perfectly seasoned" wood. But, they usually don't have large viewing windows, which is something important to you. There are a bunch of guys on this forum with more experience dealing with stoves in this price range - I'm sure they will be here to help shortly. Good Luck!

 

[jeff_t]

Is it heated at all when your not there? If you need to heat it from sub-freezing temps, I'd be looking at a big one. Englander 30 NC, maybe.

If you don't mind using the furnace to warm it up, you could get by with a smaller one. PE's True North TN19 can be had for under $1k. Our place in northern Michigan is similar in size. It would take days to get comfortable with just the stove, but once the furnace helps to get the place warmed up, it rarely runs.

Don't forget you'll most likely need a new chimney, and possibly a hearth pad depending on the stove you choose.

 

[Hunker Down]

I have an englander. It is awesome, With seasoned wood. Not having seasoned wood sometimes it takes 2 hours to get going attending to it every 10-15 minutes. Unseasoned wood really stinks.​

 

[MercerRec]

Yes, I keep it heated at 50 degrees when we are not there. However, being able to get heat from the stove quickly to help warm the place up is very important, as we usually get there late at night and then spend 2-3 days there on a long weekend. My 92% eff furnace is a tad undersized and struggles to keep the place above 62-64 when the temps are below zero, which they usually seem to be when we are there. The HE furnace has a low temp rise, so it can take some time to warm from 50-65. Once I install better windows and tighten up some heat loss areas it should be fine though. We were just up there over the Holidays (10 days) and would like to be able to load the stove and enjoy longer heat cycles.

I have no problem purchasing a used, older stove, or a new one. The learning curve on each option is what I need to shorten.

How long from ice cold to good heat output is the Englander? HD has them for 899 but not sure what they go for on sale or clearance.

The chimney is double wall pipe. Think I will be able to reuse it? I have no idea what brand/type it is.

 

[Hunker Down]

With the englander, if the wood is truly seasoned. No time at all. The stove cranks. I substitute my poorly seasoned wood with pallets. It really struggles if the wood is not seasoned. It doesn't even like 22% with 15' straight chimney. For the price and with seasoned wood it is worth it's weight in gold.

 

[mopar440_6]

Yes, I keep it heated at 50 degrees when we are not there. However, being able to get heat from the stove quickly to help warm the place up is very important, as we usually get there late at night and then spend 2-3 days there on a long weekend. My 92% eff furnace is a tad undersized and struggles to keep the place above 62-64 when the temps are below zero, which they usually seem to be when we are there. The HE furnace has a low temp rise, so it can take some time to warm from 50-65. Once I install better windows and tighten up some heat loss areas it should be fine though. We were just up there over the Holidays (10 days) and would like to be able to load the stove and enjoy longer heat cycles.

I have no problem purchasing a used, older stove, or a new one. The learning curve on each option is what I need to shorten.

How long from ice cold to good heat output is the Englander? HD has them for 899 but not sure what they go for on sale or clearance.

The chimney is double wall pipe. Think I will be able to reuse it? I have no idea what brand/type it is.

I'm currently planning on purchasing an Englander NC-30 from HD (had planned to get it tonight but that didn't happen). I got a 10% off total purchase coupon when we moved so that should bring it down to about $850 out the door after tax (not including all new stove pipe). I have read of other members here catching sales and coupons in the spring and getting the NC-30 for south of the $750 mark. Since I don't have it yet I can't really answer your question as far as time from cold to usable heat.

What is the inside diameter of the chimney? Nearly all of the modern stoves will be a 6" flue. If the ID of the current double wall is 8" or greater you may be able to sleeve it with an insulated flex liner rather than installing a whole new Class A chimney.

 

[MercerRec]

Inside diameter of the pipe is 6". The outside diameter of the pipe is around 10" but I haven't confirmed the exact size.