hey elk (bedroom heat)

[fbelec]

i'm going to have to put on a second floor addition to my house. 3 bedrooms and bath. what is the code here in mass on wood stoves in and around bedrooms. i thought i heard a wood stove can't be installed in a bedroom. if i can't how about the hallway? i'm in the planing stage now and need to know how i can do this if i can. if a wood stove is not allowed in bedrooms does that go for coal and pellet.

thanks
frank

 

[babalu87]

I dont know about code but I do know I wouldnt want a woodstove anywhere near my bedrooms
TOO HOT

 

[elkimmeg]

Double edge sord here: A wood stove can be installed in a bedroom if it has been tested and listed for the bedroom location.
Problem being, I have never read or know of a listed wood stove for bedroom locations. Find one listed and it can be installed.
Many gas fireplaces are listed and can be used. There is another way to produce Bedroom heat, But this is a family forum.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

We have a two-story house, and it gets pretty chilly upstairs.
It seems that the upstair is always 10 degrees or more behind
the downstairs temp. (our house is only 5yrs old). So, I installed
a small woodstove in our bedroom to add some heat to the upstairs
area. Installed myself per mfr. specs. w/ chimney for under $1000.
I can post a picture of it if you are interested. If you choose to go
that way, make sure you go small, because I can imagine a bigger
stove chasing you right out of a small bedroom (ours is a rather
large bedroom). We have no regrets having one in our bedroom
(2nd season using it), and it actually outperforms our large cast-iron
stove located in our basement (cleaner burning).

 

[fbelec]

Double edge sord here: A wood stove can be installed in a bedroom if it has been tested and listed for the bedroom location.
Problem being, I have never read or know of a listed wood stove for bedroom locations. Find one listed and it can be installed.
Many gas fireplaces are listed and can be used. There is another way to produce Bedroom heat, But this is a family forum.

elk i got 1 year old twins

is it the same thing as far as the listing go's for coal or pellets
i was thinking more of a big type hallway between rooms and running the stove out there so that the heat would be equal to all the bedrooms and i wound not fry in my bed.

 

[fbelec]

hey rob

questions on your setup
how big is your bedroom?
how big is your stove?
does it get hot in your bedroom? (from the stove that is)

post a pic.

 

[elkimmeg]

Pellet stoves might be listed for bedrooms: One they can be direct vented. and two most require outside air feeds, almost a closed system. Check that out,there could be some. So far I have not had to research that location when doing inspections. It could be on a page I did not need to read in the manuals

 

[fbelec]

thanks elk

the pellets would be a little easier on slipped L4-L5 disc in the back but wood is cheaper.
on my end anyway.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

We have a good sized bedroom - about 250 sq. ft (not including walk-in closet).
Our stove is small - a CFM/Century 244SE (smallest model).
We burn typically small fires - limb-sized wood.
We also have a ceiling fan & wall vents into adjacent rooms to distribute heat.
Does it get hot? If you let it get out of control it can get hot (especially if it is not
cold outside). Otherwise, my wife says it is nice & comfortable.
I will try to post a pic soon (I posted it about a year ago).

Rob

 

[begreen]

As much as I like them, I don't think I'd want a pellet stove in the bedroom. It puts out too much light and noise and would probably wake me up. Perhaps it would be better to create a nice seating area in the the hallway with a small stove as a focal point. Note that we have 3 bedrooms on the second floor (2000 sq.ft. house) and no stove upstairs. The bedroom temps are just right from the heat that convects upstairs, so you may not need any stove upstairs.

 

[Rhone]

There was a poster saying the brightness & noise from down the hall from his pellet stove was keeping his wife and family up and wondering what to do. They have an auger that spins, there's the blowers, and there's the pellets dropping in now and then as I understand it. I go with Begreen.

Do you have anything now? If you want to heat other rooms of your house and spread the heat around on the floor and other floors I recommend you get a unit that puts out more convection heat which is either a convection wood stove or fireplace insert. They're designed to heat more than normal amounts of air that spreads around your entire house. They're harder to roast yourself out of the area they're in compared to a freestanding stove because the more and hotter the air it heats the more that air wants to leave and spread to the colder parts of your house and they don't make as much radiant heat which can only be utilized near the stove. Your situation, of wanting to heat areas not near the stove is exactly what convection wood stoves & fireplace inserts are perfect for. You're looking for stoves that advertise "convection" (convection means it heats additional amounts of air which moves to other rooms), and don't want ones that advertise "Radiant" (a form of light, that can only be utilized line-of-site of the stove and doesn't move to other rooms). So, I'd look at maybe the Vermont Castings Dutchwest models (though I'm not a fan of ashpan drawers as I hear repeatedly they leak air), don't see Jotul makes convection wood stoves, didn't see any from Morsoe, Lopi makes a nice small unit the Answer which doesn't have blowers but has convection chambers on 5 sides. Nice! I think the Lopi answer you can get optional blowers, I'd spring for them.

 

[fbelec]

i don't have a second floor yet. i have a ranch that i'm going to have to add a floor to for more bedrooms. you people here bring out a good point about noise. in the summer i love my air conditioner but hate the noise. the noise if constant would help me to sleep but you can't hear anything that might happen in the house. the old work horse i'm using now is radiant. 27 year old vc defiant. it is in the kitchen at one end of the house with bedrooms on the other. heats good. there is brick walls on the side and behind the stove. takes about two to three hours to heat the walls but once they are warm they convect heat long after the fire go's down. unfortunatly the stairs to the addition will be away from the stove and something tells me that there won't be to much heat getting upstairs from that stove. that's why i'm looking into a small stove for upstairs. i'm in the planning stage now and will most likely put one in the hallway between the bedrooms for even heating.

 

[Rhone]

Hmm... before you go further are you certain your ranch can have a second floor? In my area two story houses need at least a 10" thick foundation, single story only 8" thick. It turns into a lot of fun when someone with a ranch wants to put a second floor on, and finds out they need to replace their 8" thick foundation with a 10" first, then ask again. Usually, they opt for building on to their existing ranch or move instead. A gotcha you might have to consider.

 

[elkimmeg]

There is no mention in the codes concerning hall locations My interpetation is if it is not mentioned then it is accepted.
Bedrooms are mentioned. Think about it, where are we most vunerable sleeping in a bedroom? Bedrooms themselves, are usually isolated placed on second floors, usually with one exit way into halls to stariways. It is these stairways, that fire and smoke spreads to first. That is why smoke detectors in bedrooms are required and, that at least one window has a 24" /24" clear shash opening for escape. Thought not code, think the process threw. You are placing a potential source of fire in the very location that is your escape route. In a perfect world nothing ever happend bad Right roospike? Part of our logic is denial it can't happen to me?. Just wondering? How many wifes after reading my warnings about cutting vents threw their ceilings a to bedroom flloors, say Go ahead honey, I am willing to accept the increased risks to me and my childern? Forget all the bad stuff one wind bag claims, it will never happen to us? The wet paint sign philosophy, How many still touch the paint to see if it is wet? They were told it was wet but still did not believe.

 

[fbelec]

well that makes it a hard to decide to
1: pay keyspan double to triple what it wood cost me to heat with wood
2: put the stove in the hallway anyway
3: put in a insert in my fireplace at the bottom of the stairs and if that screwed up it wood block my exit anyway.

something else to lose sleep over

 

[begreen]

Sounds like plan 3 would be the way I would go. It gives you a lot more design freedom for the 2nd fl. and will probably cost less. The new addition is going to be very well insulated and easier to heat, so the insert should do a good job. And you'll have the benefit of enjoying the fire in the primary living space. As far as egress goes, there are options there as well. At the least, have an knotted rope in each bedroom that has a an emergency exit window. Better yet, there are rollout safetly ladders designed for this purpose. Or, I have seen homes where they build a permanent ladder next to the primary upstairs exit window.