First time - Stove advice and how much will I burn?

[Trickle]

Hi all, I am in the process of purchasing a 862sq. ft. home with a Quadrafire 3100-F wood stove. Can anyone help me calculate how much I will burn? Any issues with a Quadrafire 3100-F installed in 1998 that I need to be aware of?

Located in Mid-Missouri, USA.

Thanks!
Greg

 

[Blazin]

Welcome to the forums!

Do you plan on heating 24/7?

That's a ton of stove for your sq/ft. You won't run short of heating power, that's for sure.

Any idea what the insulation is like in the house? When was it built? What condition are the windows and doors in?

 

[Trickle]

House was built in 1961, wall insulation is non-existent, and attic insulation is pretty pathetic too. Windows and doors are in poor shape. Actually gets colder in the house than outside at times. We plan to fix all these eventually, but it will be a slow process. There is no other heat source in the home, so yes, need to calculate it based on 24/7.

 

[begreen]

The stove should do ok. You may need to run partial loads of fuel in milder weather, but it will be appreciated when it's very cold. This is a good, efficient stove. Make sure the secondary tubes and the baffle are in good condition. It's going to be hard to predict how much wood you are going to burn. That will depend on how dry the wood is, how leaky the house is, how hot you want it and how you run the stove. I would guess 2-3 cords, but that is just a guess. I would assume sealing up leaks and getting some insulation in at least the attic will be a priority, that will help. Can you get dry wood?

 

[Trickle]

Previous owner left .5 or .25 of a cord, so there is some starter wood. One beautiful thing about this house (aside from my wife growing up in it) is it has a large detached exterior garage with a metal lean to for wood storage. Metal roof and sides, concrete floor. All I need to do is clean up the mess from the previous owner, clean it out, stack properly and come up with a plan to fill the lean to to have 2+ years worth. I just don't know how much that will be.

 

[begreen]

Fill it up. It's hard to get properly seasoned wood. Oak takes 3 years to dry out so if you are a season or two ahead, that is even better.

 

[Trickle]

Gotcha, so don't worry about the calculation, fill as much as i can either afford or split and move on. Roger that.
For the new stove, get a sweep out to inspect the chimney and clean it out, clean out the stove, anything else?

 

[Machria]

The exact calculation will be as follows:

Square footage to be heated X 3 years of wood + 10% to be sure. To find out the 3 years of wood variable to complete the equation, simply get as much wood as possible and realize, that will not be enough!

Hope that helps.

 

[rijim]

You should have at least 3 cord the first season. If you can get a 1/2-1 cord or so of softwood it may be your best bet when the mercury is above 40; it will burn hot and fast to heat the place then throw in a few hardwood splits to add some burn time without driving you out. You will have to experiment til you find the combination that works but having the soft wood will give you options.

 

[BobUrban]

There is a fine line among 24/7 burners between, "a little off" and "Totally OCD" - Most that make it to this forum have left both of those lines far behind and seek some next level of total wood gathering crazy! A common number you hear and will eventually discover is 3-4 full cord per year and it has played out for me so far as well. With that in mind, there will be nothing more frustrating than running out and needing to buy wood at the tail end of a burning season if this is your only source of heat so 5 cord would be a good target IMO. This is 4x4x8 true cord.

Once you get to 5 - go for 10 and beyond if you have the space to store it. As it is taught here and I have learned you cannot be to far ahead and the longer(years) it sets out in the wind and sun the better and safer it burns and heats your home. Do a little search on the wood shed forums for best tips on scrounging wood and safety while procuring it. Make the small investment in quality safety gear if you are going to be running saws and other wood gathering equipment. There is little forgiveness in any of them for even small mistakes.

Beyod that just clean the stove and flu and inspect both. Stoves are not rocket science and there is only a few pieces and parts. Baffles, fire bricks, 2ndary tubes all in order. Does the door gasket seal well? Take lots of pics and post here if you have questions. This place will help. Learn to clean your flu(it is simple) and get the tools to do so(not expensive) and use them.

As far as the home - pick away at the insulation issues when you can afford it and or have the time and seal the windows in the winter time with the inexpensive plastic stuff from the hardware store. It helps with old school drafty windows a ton.

Get obsessed and have fun. You will know that you are getting close when your wife rolls her eyes, you start to slow down when driving to look at all the downed trees and big oaks and your neighbors stop to ask if you are a preparing for doomsday.

 

[mizzou]

All good advice, especially safety gear. Get good chaps, steel toed footwear, safety glasses, and gloves if you are cutting your own.

 

[ddahlgren]

Personally I would attack the drafts first as even without insulation there is still an air gap but cold air blowing in cracks and leaky joints will get you cold much faster. I think a caulking gun and spray foam a first go around and cheap. Sort the low lying easy fruit and makes the biggest difference for me and my old house. Iterior plastic window film a real bang for the buck.

 

[FishKiller]

this was my first year burning full time and its been a serious learning curve. i had access to all the oak i could take this summer. it had been down 2 years, all small diameter white oak just sitting in a field out in the sun. cut it as much as i could (being it was 40 minutes from my house and all i have is a pickup). ran the splitter for a week straight 8 hours a day and ended up with about 6 cords. its not ideal, yet, but burns pretty good, i pick through it and have a pile of the larger splits that need another year. i thought it was at least 2 years worth just eyeballing it... well its half gone. moral of the story, you can never have too much. i'm getting a trailer and an early start this year. oh and invest in a good saw, my original home depot special, which i had for a few years, just couldn't handle the hard oak. the new farm boss 20" eats it up though.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

... and attic insulation is pretty pathetic too....

This is one of the easiest and more affordable places to insulate and will pay off tremendously. I'd plan on blowing in some insulation asap.

 

[Slow1]

This is one of the easiest and more affordable places to insulate and will pay off tremendously. I'd plan on blowing in some insulation asap.

Agreed with one modification. Before you blow any insulation up there, go through and seal every penetration of the ceiling with foam. I.e. where the plumbing vent pipes go through the ceiling foam around that, where walls meet up if there is a crack/gap, seal that. Do this before you add insulation in the attic (do it from the attic side) and it will be MUCH easier to do. The payoff from sealing this off is hard to really appreciate until after you have seen the difference. Naturally it depends on how many gaps there are and how detailed/anal you are when you get to sealing the gaps.

Note that if you have any recessed/can lights that there are some that can be sealed and others that cannot. Be sure you know what you are dealing with before working around them as you could create a fire hazard if you seal up the wrong ones. You may be better off replacing older non-sealable ones anyway (perhaps more efficient bulbs while you are at it) and again, this would be easier before you put 12+" of fluffy blown in insulation on top of everything - that stuff is a mess to work around once in place.

 

[Machria]

Get obsessed and have fun. You will know that you are getting close when your wife rolls her eyes, you start to slow down when driving to look at all the downed trees and big oaks and your neighbors stop to ask if you are a preparing for doomsday.

Ok, that just hit home WAAAAAAYY to much! You been watching me somehow? I spent the last two days bucking a few downed black locust trees and stacking the rounds. Interesting to note:
1. Although it was very hared work, I had "fun" doing it, and really enjoy it.
2. I live at the end of a road, and all the neighbors walk past my house (walking to the water at end of road), and almost ALL of them have been asking what I am preparing for! Giggling at my huge stocks of split and unsplit wood. Of course, I've been giggling back at them as I drive down the road and pass an oil delivery trucks or two stopped at their houses!
3. When I come in from scrounging OR when I say I'm going out to "get some wood", my wife rolls her eyes at me.
4. I have lived in my home for 15 years now, I have NEVER noticed 90% of the neighbors houses, yards or all the woods between all their houses and mine before. Over the last month (since getting my stove), I can now tell you how big each yard is, who has some wood stacked, who has downed tree's in the yard and what kind of tree's they are and lastly, what kind and where every downed tree in the woods around my house is.

 

[ddahlgren]

Agreed with one modification. Before you blow any insulation up there, go through and seal every penetration of the ceiling with foam. I.e. where the plumbing vent pipes go through the ceiling foam around that, where walls meet up if there is a crack/gap, seal that. Do this before you add insulation in the attic (do it from the attic side) and it will be MUCH easier to do. The payoff from sealing this off is hard to really appreciate until after you have seen the difference. Naturally it depends on how many gaps there are and how detailed/anal you are when you get to sealing the gaps.

Note that if you have any recessed/can lights that there are some that can be sealed and others that cannot. Be sure you know what you are dealing with before working around them as you could create a fire hazard if you seal up the wrong ones. You may be better off replacing older non-sealable ones anyway (perhaps more efficient bulbs while you are at it) and again, this would be easier before you put 12+" of fluffy blown in insulation on top of everything - that stuff is a mess to work around once in place.

Great idea! Might check the cellar as well too. They make a fire block foam too and might be a great place for it. Stop the draft and fire stop the opening at the same time.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Previous owner left .5 or .25 of a cord, so there is some starter wood. One beautiful thing about this house (aside from my wife growing up in it) is it has a large detached exterior garage with a metal lean to for wood storage. Metal roof and sides, concrete floor. All I need to do is clean up the mess from the previous owner, clean it out, stack properly and come up with a plan to fill the lean to to have 2+ years worth. I just don't know how much that will be.

Welcome to the forum Greg.

One little twist I'd put on Begreen's recommendation of filling that lean-to; don't fill it until you have dried the wood out in the wind. Sun will also help but wind is your friend. So if you fill the shed, how will you get air circulation to dry the wood?Being in your area means a little less extreme for winter and hotter summers. Good. It is in your favor.

One more thing I don't think has been mentioned. You need to do a through check on the chimney. If you can't do it, hire a sweep to come in to do all the checking. Then once you are ready to go, check that chimney monthly and clean as necessary.

Don't forget to visit the Wood Shed part of hearth.com. You'll find lots of great information on wood with many very knowledgeable people. One thing you will learn for sure is that having a 3 year supply of wood on hand at all times will knock out 99% of all wood stove burning problems. Also, if some year you can't get wood, you will still have a year's heating supply on hand.

If you buy wood, do it now! They will tell you it is seasoned. Don't believe them. Keep in mind that wood will not dry until it has been split and stacked out in the wind. Wood sellers will split just before delivery. Many will also cut just before delivery. Sorry, but wood will not dry under those conditions. If nothing else, get next year's wood on hand by spring. Good luck.