*HELP* Bis Tradition CE woodstove vs Fmi Craftsman fireplace

[tortugabear]

Hi everyone a newbie here. Hoping to get some good advise. I am located in the bay area of Calif. and my house is a 630 sq. ft 1932 bungalow. My house originally had a real masonry fireplace that unfortunately came down in the 89' quake. It was replaced with a wood chase and a gas fireplace that served as the only heat source. It had ongoing problems which led me to install central heat. I am now wanting to do something with the space that houses the broken down gas unit. I wanted to rebuild a masonry fireplace but after the $13,000.00 bid I quickly looked into other alternatives, which has led me here to you good folks. I am somewhat limited by my current chase set up as far as clearances go. It looks as though an FMI fireplace would slide in without any modifications. But I also like the idea of a woodstove to heat the house and lower my winter gas bill. One of the smallest units I have found is the Bis tradition CE. It is rated to heat up to 1500 Sq feet. Would this be to much stove for a 630 sq ft house? am I better off with the fireplace? Also with the BIS, I would have to do some major re-construction of the chase to enlarge it for height clearances. This will run several thousand more and I would hate to go through all the work and $$$s to find out I have to open my windows and doors when I have a fire going. Any thoughts? Thanks, Echo

 

[DiscoInferno]

I think that might be a lot of stove (2 cf) for that house in that climate, unless you have little insulation. (How high can your gas bill be?) My BIS Ultima is about the same size and it can heat up to 2000 sq ft for me. Depends how you run it; small fires would be OK but wouldn't last as long. You'd probably be better off with the slower burn of a catalytic unit, but I don't know if such a fireplace exists in that size.

 

[begreen]

It's not going to take much fire to warm up the place. I would go for a small freestanding stove that has a good fire view and install it on a nice hearth.

 

[tortugabear]

Thanks guys, I am thinking a woodstove just might be to much for my little house. In past houses I had masonry fireplaces and so enjoyed their ambiance. I did look into a small freestanding Jotul, but I'd have to do a alcove install (don't have enough available floor space for it to stand out on it's own) The alcove at first sounded great, I could use the existing hole and chase of the broken down gas unit. But then I was told I would need to put in Durarock cement board for clearances to the wood framing and there would have to be a 1" air gap all around which would be visible, this seemed like it would look a little funky so I moved on to the fireplace or built in woodstove idea. Maybe they don't really make wood burning built-ins for such small sq ft houses. Hmmmm, well it might have to be the FMi firplace. Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Wall shields can be done up quite nicely. It doesn't have to be funky at all. I'm curious for what stove was this and what's the alcove width?

Another option might be to just replace the old gas FP with a new, high quality unit from Valor or Jotul?

 

[tortugabear]

It was for the Jotul F3-CB. I don't know how wide the opening was going to be I didn't ask the installers. I assume it is the min 35" code clearance, which is about all I have room for. I just know they said there would have to be cement board on the sides, top and back and it would have to be and inch off the ground, that's OK, It's the 1 inch gap all around the opening and seeing the edge of the cement board that seems funny to me. Neither the woodstove dealer or the installer could show me any pictures as to how it was going to look. I've found some alcove pics on the net, mostly called inglenooks, from the U.K., but none of them had an air gap, so I just can't visualise it. Oh I know the Jotul F-100 is a little smaller but I would still need all the cement board. Beside I really want to have an open door fire, which the dealer said you could do with the F3CB but not the F100. I'm thinking although the FMi pre-fab fireplace is not a woodstove, in my size house I can't imagine it not giving off some heat. I was looking into the one without the louvers, don't like the way they look, but I've read that if you have the louvers with a fan it can push some heat out into the room. Has anyone found this to be true? I know this would not be a good heating option if I lived in a real cold climate, though we do get down into the 30's at night and sometimes the teens quite a bit in winter. Also a wood stove that heats the house all night would be kind of a waste for me as I usually open the bedroom window a little when I go to sleep at night. I like a cool room with a thick down comforter for sleeping. Although I wish I had a woodstove right now, it's 62 and foggy out, I've had the central heat going all morning, lol. I guess, whether it's a woodstove or a fireplace, it'll get use in the bay area year round.

 

[begreen]

Visualize a properly trimmed wall shield as having the raw cement edge tiled over with a tile wide enough to cover the raw edge and frame the alcove opening. It only has to be open at the top and bottom.

 

[tortugabear]

Oh ok, That's better then a gap all around. I guess I'll revisit that idea. Thank you for your help. Echo

 

[begreen]

The side edge could also be capped with an L-shaped edge tile or if this is a more contemporary setting with a length of aluminum or stainless 1" angle metal. As long as it's not combustible, it's ok to get a little creative here.

 

[tortugabear]

I like the idea of the metal, maybe copper, thanks for all the advise, it's been greatly appreciated. Echo R.