Finally out of the planning phase...

[NateH]

I'm going to put this out here for you guys and see what you think.

I have a 1600 square foot two story house and we're expanding the living room slightly, making our house approx 1750 square feet. I was going to purchase the Jotul F500 CF Oslo for a corner hearth installation in the new addition. We have a fairly wide open floor plan downstairs, and hope to heat the whole house with whatever wood burner we purchase. I have several questions:

1) I'm starting to wonder if the Jotul F 50 TL Rangeley would be a better fit?

2) The Oslo doesn't have a full firebrick firebox... does this matter? The more I researched stoves and wood heating I was surprised to find this and am wondering what people that have the Oslo think about this.

3) The addition isn't going in until spring and I won't be burning until next winter... I found what I believe to be a good deal on these stoves $2350 for the Oslo and I believe $2799 for the F50 Rangeley(not 100% sure on price as I was initially going to go with the Oslo clean face) plus I get the $300 tax credit and the Jotul $100 rebate on my purchase. Is this a deal I can't pass up, or will these stoves be cheaper come April or May?

Okay, that's it for now... hope some of you folks can set me straight.

-Nate

 

[Woody Stover]

Can you provide more details on the layout? A diagram would help. You say it's open downstairs...so there's just a couple bedrooms upstairs, for 1750, total? Will the stove be centrally located in the downstairs? What about in relation to the stairway? The Rangeley is a partially-jacketed stove with a blower so it should work better if you have to move heated air to rooms that are further from the stove. The Oslo is more a radiant design, heating things within line of site better. In practice both designs end up being blends of radiant and convective heat, though...

 

[NateH]

This is a rough sketch I threw together... and sorry with the addition it'll be about 1600 sq ft. Not tremendously open floor plan but the heat doesn't have to travel around too many walls on the first floor. 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. As planned right now the stove will be at the corner of the house.

 

[begreen]

That's going to be a long way for the heat to travel to get to the other end of the house. Looks like the dining room or living room would be a better location from a heating perspective. As designed maybe a small stove as an area heater would be better.

 

[Rearscreen]

In my opinion its always best to centralize the stove so the flue exits near the roof ridge and becomes the heart in the house.

 

[firefighterjake]

I think either stove may work well . . . it was a bit hard to see the dimensions of your home, but my two story Cape is 30 x 40 with the Oslo located on the far side of the house . . . almost in a corner. The living room with the stove is always quite warm (sometimes too warm) with the adjoining dining room, kitchen and hall being comfortable. The stairway located just outside a second entry into the living room (our house is not quite as open as your lay out) allows the heat to rise to the second floor which provides comfortable temps. The only truly cool rooms are the mudroom bathroom and the masterbedroom/bathroom located off the hall (due to the way the heat moves most of the heat seems to curl around and go up the stairs vs. entering the semi-closed off master bedroom/bath).

I've never had any issue with the Oslo's lack of full firebrick in the firebox -- as mentioned it is more of a radiant heater.

I doubt you will see much, if any cheaper prices in the Spring, unless it is on a floor model perhaps. Since most stove models don't tend to change a whole lot from year to year it seems as though there really isn't much of a big push to sell off the stoves in the Spring.

 

[NateH]

Thanks for the replies guys. I would love to locate the the stove in the central part of the house but that would put it in the dining room and we really want the stove and fireplace in the living room. I've been searching for solutions on my setup and not coming up with many other ideas.

I believe the Oslo is my choice. I also have ceiling fans that can help move air. FFjake, thanks for the response on the other questions. I believe The deal is about as good as it's going to get. I'll kick myself if I'm wrong but... should an unused floor model be cheaper than having the stove shop dealer ship out a new one?

 

[begreen]

Can it go in the existing living room instead? If not, skip the door to the new room and make the opening to the existing living room as large as possible.

 

[NateH]

BG, I'm sorry for not explaining myself. Yes the new living room addition will be very open almostbthat entire 19 feet opening will all be open... I should have just drew it that way. It will basically be one big living room almost 20x20

 

[begreen]

OK, that makes a major difference. With a convective stove and maybe another fan for assistance this could work, especially if the opening between the living room and dining room is large. It may take a fan in the kids area on the floor, blowing toward the stove room to even out the heat.