First Time Stove Owner - Morso 7110

[kevinlp]

Hello All,
I am a first time stove owner who recently had my Morso 7110 installed in our raised ranch. I had been thinking about installing a woodstove since we first looked at the house. With the price of our propane heat for this upcoming winter it was a no brainer... The building inspector comes tomorrow to verify the installation done by our dealer (a quality company if I do say so myself). Once the stove is inspected, I am looking forward to burning a small fire of kindling to work on curing the paint on the stove.

Our installation is shown in the attached picture. Our our is a raised ranch. Approximately 1350 sq ft for the main living area upstairs. The stove is located in the living room / dining room. The kitchen also makes up the room as it is an open floor plan. Only an island separating the three space. Combined they are probably 500 sq ft ( a guess). The ceiling in this area is a catherdrial ceiling with a ceiling fan at the top. The stove is facing directly down the hallway towards the bedrooms. Above the hallway for the bedroom is the intake for a central ac / forced hot air system.

As proof of my desire / insanity to get a stove. I cut down several trees last year and had split 3-4 pallets worth of wood stacked 5 ft high with a wood grenade and sledge hammer I have continued splitting more over the spring and summer and now am up 6+ pallets full. I love the workout. It is a great feeling when you drop the sledgehammer and the wood blasts apart on the first hit.

We live on 1.5 acres with a number of dead trees still standing. I figure to leave them standing until needed so they don't rot. Our builder/neighbor owns the forest behind us and has given the ok to take down wood anytime I want.

As I am a newbie to the woodburners guild I have a number of questions...

-Does anyone have any experience with the Morso 7110? I was between that and a Jotul F400 Castine. I chose the Morso on price and the Morso listed an 8 hr burn time whereas the Jotul was listed as up to 8 hrs.

-Any comments on our layout/design?

-If I run the forced air system on fan only, will that help to spread the heat to the bedrooms?

-When loading the stove for the overnight, how full do you make it? Should the wood be piled all the way to the secondary air ducts?

Thanks for any answers. This site has been a great resource so far.

 

[Roospike]

Good lookn stove. watch that "wood clock" ? behind the pipe.

 

[DonCT]

I think your layout should work pretty well. If your home is well insulated, the heat should disperse itself down to the bedrooms. They won't be as warm as the other rooms closer to the stove (I'm the king of the obvious )

Very nice and clean install. But at Roo says, you may wanna move the clock. Better safe than sorry. Plus the stove pipe kinda distracts for the uniqueness.

 

[wg_bent]

Hello All,
I am a first time stove owner who recently had my Morso 7110 installed in our raised ranch. I had been thinking about installing a woodstove since we first looked at the house. With the price of our propane heat for this upcoming winter it was a no brainer... The building inspector comes tomorrow to verify the installation done by our dealer (a quality company if I do say so myself). Once the stove is inspected, I am looking forward to burning a small fire of kindling to work on curing the paint on the stove.

Our installation is shown in the attached picture. Our our is a raised ranch. Approximately 1350 sq ft for the main living area upstairs. The stove is located in the living room / dining room. The kitchen also makes up the room as it is an open floor plan. Only an island separating the three space. Combined they are probably 500 sq ft ( a guess). The ceiling in this area is a catherdrial ceiling with a ceiling fan at the top. The stove is facing directly down the hallway towards the bedrooms. Above the hallway for the bedroom is the intake for a central ac / forced hot air system.

As proof of my desire / insanity to get a stove. I cut down several trees last year and had split 3-4 pallets worth of wood stacked 5 ft high with a wood grenade and sledge hammer I have continued splitting more over the spring and summer and now am up 6+ pallets full. I love the workout. It is a great feeling when you drop the sledgehammer and the wood blasts apart on the first hit.

We live on 1.5 acres with a number of dead trees still standing. I figure to leave them standing until needed so they don't rot. Our builder/neighbor owns the forest behind us and has given the ok to take down wood anytime I want.

As I am a newbie to the woodburners guild I have a number of questions...

-Does anyone have any experience with the Morso 7110? I was between that and a Jotul F400 Castine. I chose the Morso on price and the Morso listed an 8 hr burn time whereas the Jotul was listed as up to 8 hrs.

-Any comments on our layout/design?

-If I run the forced air system on fan only, will that help to spread the heat to the bedrooms?

-When loading the stove for the overnight, how full do you make it? Should the wood be piled all the way to the secondary air ducts?

Thanks for any answers. This site has been a great resource so far.

I would cut the wood for the next year or two now. Get it stacked and covered. I've found that even dead trees are pretty wet inside and take a good 6-8 months to dry.

You can fill your stove till it's stuffed

Get a 6 lb maul.

 

[seaken]

Welcome Kevin. Was that Ashleigh's that you got your stove from? We think they do a good job and refer people to them all the time.

We love the Morso 7110. We burned it in our store for a year. I think you'll be very happy with that stove. Not sure I am confident about the 8 hour burn time. It depends on wood species and your burning technique. I usually say it's 6 to 7 hours. But I have had customers tell me their Morso 3440 gets near 8 hours. So, you may have similar results.

I think your layout if fine. I was in a house wth the same layout and a similarly sized stove. The back bedrooms stay cooler, which for me was desirable.

The fan will probably help. It may or may not be needed. Your ceiling fan may be suffcient. You'll have to do some trial and error tests.

I recommend splitting your wood to around fist size in diameter. This will allow you to fill the firebox with the most poundage. It is critical that it is well seasoned. Then make sure you get a good coal bed, about 2" of orange glowing coals, and fill er up. Yes, all the way up to the baffle with air holes. If your wood is good you will be able to turn down the air in about 15-20 miuntes for your longest burn time.

Good luck,
Sean

 

[kevinlp]

Yes seaken I got it from Ashleigh's. I was very impressed by them.

I usually go to bed around 11 and get up around 6, so as long as I have enough coals to start another piece of wood so it will last until my wife gets up (maybe 30-60 minutes later) , I will be satisfied.

Most of the wood I split was from dead trees. I split most of it last fall and placed it on pallets. The top and top portion of the sides were covered by a tarp until the dry weather pattern of the summer came. Should this stuff be ready? I will take a picture of my pile and post it. You can see a definate color change in the wood for the different times I have split it.

The wood I have split since this spring, I have done to fit our stove better as I did more looking and was closer to a decision to buy. I have split it to approximately fist sized pieces and the lengths have been under 17" as our stove lists 16.5 as the max. Internal measurements show the inside as about 17+. Unfortunately, when I split the stuff from last year I had no idea what size stove I would get so many pieces are probably 18 - 22 inches. Am I better off to cut them in half or just take off enough to make the 16 and use the rest as small pieces? Probably all of this wood needs to be split in half as the pieces are quite thick. I plan on doing this trimming as I bring the 1-2 week supply into the garage.

For kindling, I have a 4x4x4 pile of dead twigs and small diameter dead branches that has been sitting and growing for the past two years. Is this stuff a good choice? I recently obtain a pallet and poly chicken fencing to use to hold this stuff so it is off the ground. and more easily coverable.

A brief summary of my fire handling experience.... On the night we were moving into our first house, while my wife was relaxing and watching some TV, I was out gathering rocks and laying them out to build a campfire pit. I imagine building a smokeless fire in a campfire pit and a smokeless fire in a stove is quite similar... don't smother it and give it enough air..

 

[the_guad]

Kevin,

Regarding using your HVAC to distribute air by running the fan 24x7... If you turn the fan on and feel cool air blowing through the ducts (without the compressor running) then I would just shut it off and let the heat radiate through the house naturally. I tried the same thing and found that the A/C fan just cooled the house instead of distributing the warm air. Once I shut off the fan, my new fireplace insert heated the whole house.

As for packing it for overnight burns... someone posted a picture of a packed stove ready for an overnight and it looked like the only way they could get more wood into it was if they used toothpicks. GO FOR IT!

My wife and I bought our first stove in January and from now on we'll never live in a home without one.

Guad

 

[wg_bent]

Hey Kevin...I didn't notice your location....I'm in Hyde Park also Howdy neighbor!!

Edit...Want to go cut some wood? I know some good places to get it cheap or free!

 

[kevinlp]

Hey Kevin...I didn't notice your location....I'm in Hyde Park also Howdy neighbor!!

Edit...Want to go cut some wood? I know some good places to get it cheap or free!

Right back at ya Warren! That may be a great idea this fall/winter. I've been carting loads home in my Neon from places where I see the utility crews are trimming...

I am actually thinking of renting a pickup from Home depot to get some big loads. Next year, I need to get a beatup old truck for wood hauling. Using tarps in the trunk and backseat of the Neon, I can actually grab quite a bit

 

[wg_bent]

Hmmm.. I wonder If I passed you over on West Dorsey a week or two ago?

 

[kevinlp]

Hmmm.. I wonder If I passed you over on West Dorsey a week or two ago?

I haven't picked anything from there yet. I heard about lots of trimming on West Dorsey from someone's comment at the recent town board public hearing.

 

[wg_bent]

Looks like all that's left over there is some big sumacs. I burn sumac sometimes when I trim it from my yard, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get any.

 

[Sandor]

Kevin,

Regarding using your HVAC to distribute air by running the fan 24x7... If you turn the fan on and feel cool air blowing through the ducts (without the compressor running) then I would just shut it off and let the heat radiate through the house naturally. I tried the same thing and found that the A/C fan just cooled the house instead of distributing the warm air. Once I shut off the fan, my new fireplace insert heated the whole house.

As for packing it for overnight burns... someone posted a picture of a packed stove ready for an overnight and it looked like the only way they could get more wood into it was if they used toothpicks. GO FOR IT!

My wife and I bought our first stove in January and from now on we'll never live in a home without one.

Guad

You are so correct.

 

[seaken]

Yes seaken I got it from Ashleigh's. I was very impressed by them.

I usually go to bed around 11 and get up around 6, so as long as I have enough coals to start another piece of wood so it will last until my wife gets up (maybe 30-60 minutes later) , I will be satisfied.

Most of the wood I split was from dead trees. I split most of it last fall and placed it on pallets. The top and top portion of the sides were covered by a tarp until the dry weather pattern of the summer came. Should this stuff be ready? I will take a picture of my pile and post it. You can see a definate color change in the wood for the different times I have split it.

The wood I have split since this spring, I have done to fit our stove better as I did more looking and was closer to a decision to buy. I have split it to approximately fist sized pieces and the lengths have been under 17" as our stove lists 16.5 as the max. Internal measurements show the inside as about 17+. Unfortunately, when I split the stuff from last year I had no idea what size stove I would get so many pieces are probably 18 - 22 inches. Am I better off to cut them in half or just take off enough to make the 16 and use the rest as small pieces? Probably all of this wood needs to be split in half as the pieces are quite thick. I plan on doing this trimming as I bring the 1-2 week supply into the garage.

For kindling, I have a 4x4x4 pile of dead twigs and small diameter dead branches that has been sitting and growing for the past two years. Is this stuff a good choice? I recently obtain a pallet and poly chicken fencing to use to hold this stuff so it is off the ground. and more easily coverable.

A brief summary of my fire handling experience.... On the night we were moving into our first house, while my wife was relaxing and watching some TV, I was out gathering rocks and laying them out to build a campfire pit. I imagine building a smokeless fire in a campfire pit and a smokeless fire in a stove is quite similar... don't smother it and give it enough air..

Well, I suppose it will depend on the species of wood you are gathering. Oak and Maple, or similarly dense wood species will give you the best chance of an overnight burn. If the splits are Oak they may not be ready yet. It took me over a 18 months to season newly felled oak. I used Ash a lot when I needed to fill in while waiting for my oak to season. Splitting to the smaller fist size does help the seasoning time to reduce. Keeping the weather off the splits is critiical. And off the ground with full circulation. If you see some spider webbing on the ends it is probably ready.

I would cut off the ends and gather them into a recyle bin or something similar. I fit them in on the coal bed under the main splits to use them up. Cutting to 9" or 10" wood will waste more space. But thet would be fine for the times when you are around to tend to the stove. Your choice.

Twigs are not the best kindling, but if they are dried completely it works. You might want to stage the twigs into an indoor bin for a few days to make sure they dry out. Pine makes excellent kindling but you may not have any available. I used Ash split into small kindling peices, that worked very well. Fatwood is also good, but more costly. If you keep the stove going 24/7 you wont need as much kindling.

Well, a smokeless campfire is hard to achieve. Dry wood will be key. Same for your stove. But your stove has much less air flow and it is critical to start with dry kindling and seasoned wood. You can illustrate this yourself by trying to start a fire in your stove with a freshly felled and freshly split load of wood ("green wood") and then try the same excercise with dry kindling (pine or ash) and well seasoned (20-22% moisture) wood. A world of difference.

Enjoy your new Morso.
Sean