Hello, my name is David. I have an old home in Vassalboro, Maine. Seems it's not too hard to get wood around this area.The insulation is not too bad. The stove will be going into a 200 square foot living room in the middle of the house. The house is two floors but I'm not worried about the upstairs. Kitchen is off the living room seperated by a 3 foot wide entrance with a opening at the top for air flow. The kitchen is about the same size as the living room. Off the kitchen is a bedroom. Not worried about this room. And finally is the small 14 foot hallway off the other side of the living room which is also the stairway to the second floor. Another bedroom is next to the stairway. No concern. We are looking for wood heat during the day and into evening. The forced hot air would take over so the two bedrooms would recieve oil heat unless it's possible to get the wood heat into these rooms. All the first floor measures about 1100 square feet. My questions are: Will we be too hot in the stove room to enjoy and how big a stove. I'm pondering the Napoleon 1400. We are going to purchase green wood this spring and install the stove after next winter. Kind of early but I'm excited. Can I be excited or is this going to be a bust because of the small burn room ? Thank-you everyone!!
I would like a wood stove
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You have our permission to be excited! 
I'd do lots of research before buying. Search the forum. There is also a SEPARATE stove review engine available from hearth.com main page, I think you have to click on community. But some of the more detailed comments in the forum can be more helpful than the short reviews.
Why are you planning to install after NEXT winter? Can't you install this summer? If you split and stack the wood off the ground it can be ready in 6-8 months. A lot of people say a year, but really it only takes 6-8 months.
I'd do lots of research before buying. Search the forum. There is also a SEPARATE stove review engine available from hearth.com main page, I think you have to click on community. But some of the more detailed comments in the forum can be more helpful than the short reviews.
Why are you planning to install after NEXT winter? Can't you install this summer? If you split and stack the wood off the ground it can be ready in 6-8 months. A lot of people say a year, but really it only takes 6-8 months.
I'd love to install this summer but one of out daughters needs braces. Diane and I have five children. We home educate so only one money maker for now. But you never know. My wife want a stove too.
If money is a concern, I highly recommend looking for a good used stove. You can sometimes pick them up cheap, especially as the season comes to an end (craigslist, or local classifieds, maybe ebay). Then you also have the brand new ones on clearance like the NC-30 (Lowes, $450 on clearnance now if you can find one still) that are extreme bargains.
Nothing wrong with used. We picked our 30-NC up for $500, lightly used with the blower. We love it.
Do you already have a chimney and hearth installed, or is this a complete installation that needs to be done?
Do you already have a chimney and hearth installed, or is this a complete installation that needs to be done?
Hello David,
As a comparison, we have used a Napoleon 1401 insert for 11 years to heat both floors of a 2900 sq ft colonial in MA. Last year we made it through the entire winter on about 1/2 a tank of oil. I didn't buy oil all winter, and the house was warm. The house has 6" exterior walls, so it's very well insulated. If your living room is in the middle of the floor plan, that's good. How warm your room stays will depend upon how well you're able to exchange heat out of it. We put one fan on the floor in our foyer to blow cool air into the living room where the stove is and that pushes warm air out at the ceiling. This works well to keep the living room tolerable. The women NEVER are too hot, but I am sometimes. Our stairwell is in the foyer so a lot of that heat goes right upstairs. If your stairwell is close to the living room, that will help a lot to get heat to the upstairs.
I hope this is helpful to you. We homeschool as well, four kids, so I understand your budget concerns.
Dan
As a comparison, we have used a Napoleon 1401 insert for 11 years to heat both floors of a 2900 sq ft colonial in MA. Last year we made it through the entire winter on about 1/2 a tank of oil. I didn't buy oil all winter, and the house was warm. The house has 6" exterior walls, so it's very well insulated. If your living room is in the middle of the floor plan, that's good. How warm your room stays will depend upon how well you're able to exchange heat out of it. We put one fan on the floor in our foyer to blow cool air into the living room where the stove is and that pushes warm air out at the ceiling. This works well to keep the living room tolerable. The women NEVER are too hot, but I am sometimes. Our stairwell is in the foyer so a lot of that heat goes right upstairs. If your stairwell is close to the living room, that will help a lot to get heat to the upstairs.
I hope this is helpful to you. We homeschool as well, four kids, so I understand your budget concerns.
Dan
I love this! When we install it will be everything--stove and chimney. I'm just a little concerned with the small room. Or maybe It's not so small. I don't want to get a small stove and be wishing for a larger one. Thank- you for the replies.
Can you sketch up a quick floorplan?
How big is the house in sq ft? I know you say you arent worried about it but the stove is going to try and heat the whole house.
As far as stove size, one of the joys is being able to wear shorts and t's in January
You can build a small fire in a big stove but cant build a big fire in a small one.
How big is the house in sq ft? I know you say you arent worried about it but the stove is going to try and heat the whole house.
As far as stove size, one of the joys is being able to wear shorts and t's in January
You can build a small fire in a big stove but cant build a big fire in a small one.
I've attempted to draw the floor plan we live in. Very crude. The total bottom floor space is about 1700 square'. The living room is 190sq.'. Heat flows into the small hallway using forced hot air. The only place we can place the stove is in the corner. I'm thinking a medium stove. If the living room gets hot but tolerable, allright. Your input will help us to decide on size of stove and whether we go 24/7. I'm new here and have read much on this site. The house is old but with improvements such as window weatherization and such it is holding the heat in pretty well. There are two small bedrooms at the top of the stairs with one having a vent into the living room. The entrance between the living room and kitchen has an airway at top for airflow. Also, there is a wall vent for air between living room and bathroom/laundry room. The house rests on a full unfinished basement with oi forced hot air furnace. The stove pipe would go through the 8 ft. ceiling, into a 4.5 ft. crawl space and through the roof. Pretty average petched roof, but pipe will need to go up a bit since it will be on the lower part of the roof. thank you so much for helping!! This is our first stove.
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No offense Furstfamily, but that floor plan is awful. A bedroom off of the kitchen? The bah and laundry on one side of the living room? Where is the entrance/exit to the outside? Do you have shed roof or is every wall in there a retaining wall? I'd consider some serious remodel.
As for maintaing the current floor plan and adding the stove, I'd move your "x" up to the edge of the entrance to the kitchen.
-Kevin
As for maintaing the current floor plan and adding the stove, I'd move your "x" up to the edge of the entrance to the kitchen.
-Kevin
I'm sorry. My floor plan sucks. The bedroom off the kitchen was a dining room. We have a large family so now it's a bedroom. There is an outside entrance at each end of the house. The house is old. They call it a New Englander style home-- whatever that is. We are new home owners also. These things take time. And I am new, very new to it all!! I'll study some more and come up with a stove plan. Thankyou for your input though.
Heating the living room will be easy, getting the heat around the house will be a bit more of a challenge, but not impossible. Is there a doorway going to the hallway and stairs or is it flat ceiling from the livingroom through the hallway? If flat ceiling, some of the heat will naturally follow along to the upstairs.
The Napoleon should work out ok for this installation. With an appropriately placed fan, some heat should be able to circulate into the kitchen area.
The Napoleon should work out ok for this installation. With an appropriately placed fan, some heat should be able to circulate into the kitchen area.
There is a doorway leading into the hall. I turned the furnace heat up to 70 and ran a fan from the hallway into the living room and lots of air streamed in. Without the fan air still circulates. The entrance to the kitchen is uninterrupted. My main concern is stove size. Warm air does go up through the vent in the living room to the bedroom upstairs, but we keep the heat on 60. You can feel the heat coming up when the heat is higher. So, I can manage air flow. Don't want to be blasted out of the living room.
You can manage the stove heat by the fire size, frequency and with the air control. In the middle of winter in Maine, I don't think this will be an issue. That is unless a room over 60 is considered too warm .
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hey im no expert but i would agree with moving it up to by the kitchen just so more heat would get in kitchen i like bedrooms colder and find with my stove i have to close bedroom door. that floor plane isnt so bad man 5 kids im impressed u have any room at all.
Is that wall between the kitchen and livingroom load bearing? If not, I would knock it out to give you a more open floor plan.
One other thing to consider in deciding where to put the stove is how you will be moving wood to the stove. Ideally you want the stove in a place that's convenient for getting the wood to it without carrying fuel all around the house. Of course other factors are more important like ideal spot for heat distribution, and where the flue/chimney placement works best. If possible you want to run the flue/chimney straight up, and completely inside the house, for killer draft (which makes operating the stove easier, not to mention less chance of any smoke in your house or cold air leaks when the stove isn't running (stack effect). Don't assume your dealer or installer really knows what they are doing, many of them don't. You should read up on this stuff BEFORE they talk you into anything:
(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/technology/bpfireplaces.htm)
(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/technology/bpfireplaces.htm)
Yes, the wall is load bearing. If the stove is in the corner it still is only about 7 feet from the entrance way into the kitchen. We are used to 60 degrees in the house so 65 degrees in the kitchen would be like beach weather. We're not greedy. No problem with carrying wood and stuff. I want a wood stove. Please tell me we can have a wood stove. How much fun can it be! Thank-you so much for your help.
one thing i noticed , well actually a few but , to our poster; i want you to look closely at where the stove will be and the chimney , look at it in relation to the higher roof, you must take that into consideration. a chimney built through a lower roof adjacent to a higher one is a tricky thing. not a thing that cannot be done , but the standard rules do not always apply. can you supply us a drawing or digital picture of the house , looking at it from the side the stove would be closest to and mark on the picture ,. or describe where the flue would come through the roof? from what i gather you are looking to do this on a kinda tight budget (thats ok) i work with folks all the time who do. but im looking at the higher roof as being a bit of a problem if we do not plan for it.
guys chime in if im missing somthing here.
also , someone posted about out 30-nc , it may be too much for that house, maybe not , but if you hold heat well it would be. the napolion is a good unit too, so it may not be a bad fit at all.
guys chime in if im missing somthing here.
also , someone posted about out 30-nc , it may be too much for that house, maybe not , but if you hold heat well it would be. the napolion is a good unit too, so it may not be a bad fit at all.
Go for it, your main concern now should be getting a safe, quality installation. There are pluses and minuses to most stove locations. I think it will be ok where you've chosen to install it. The large opening to the kitchen will help to get some heat in there. If your ceiling in the living room is high enough to handle a ceiling fan, then that will assist circulation. If you can move the stove out of the corner it might be better, but it's not that it won't work there. The current corner location will help get some heat upstairs as well. Particularly if a small corner fan is blowing toward the stove.
The main thing that will change is that you will have to adjust to a 70 degree livingroom. If you can handle that, you're going to be a happy camper.
The main thing that will change is that you will have to adjust to a 70 degree livingroom. If you can handle that, you're going to be a happy camper.
Mike, my corner install is a somewhat similar in going through the lower part of the roof. . The flue had to go up about 7' to meet code and needed a brace, but it's been working fine.
Todd said:
Even though the wall in question is load-bearing, you could still put a large rectangular cubby hole in there.
Furstfamily said:
You can have a wood stove and it will be a lot of fun, as well as save you some money on heating oil or propane or whatever you use. We installed our first stove a few years ago right before the first winter in our house, an old, poorly insulated New Hamsphire farm house. The total installation cost that fall was about $1,500, with the chimney, stove, and hearth pad. Our floor plan isn't exactly the best for wood heat, so we use a couple doorway fans to move the warm air out of the living room and down the hall. This is our second stove now, and it keeps our living room around 80 if we want it, and the rest of the house from 63-70. Nice and toasty in here!
Pay careful attention to the chimney, and be sure to follow the stove's clearances to a T and you'll be fine! There are a lot of really knowledgeable people here, and a lot of them work in the industry, so this will be a great resource for you I'm sure! I wish I was on here when I installed our first!
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