In need of advice in RI

[BartMX]

Hello everyone,

I've been a lurker for the past couple of months trying to take in as much information as possible. My wife and I purchased our home a little over a year ago. It's a fine specimen of a 1980's home. Built in 1982 to be exact.

I will attach a couple of pictures and blueprints so all of you can see what the general layout is. It's a little over 2200 sqft, currently we're heating the home with oil (Rheem 85% efficient 140000 BTU/hr) in sub 35 degree weather and a 3 ton Seer 13 Heat Pump if temps are above 36 degrees.

We just upgraded the heating system from the original furnace that was put into the house in 1985. It turns out the owner originally only heated the house with a wood stove for the first 3 years. He is a physicist by trade and said he build the house to be only heated by wood. It happens that he just got tired of lugging the wood to the stove and decided to retrofit a forced hot air oil furnace. Then after a couple of years of no longer running the wood stove he got rid of the stove.

He stated that over the 3 years that he was burning wood he would use between 2 to 3 cords of wood per season. Now after reading all the posts on hearth.com this seems a little ridiculous. But I did a little calculation with the amount of BTU's the house uses. As we have a 8 month old baby we keep temps at 72 degrees 24/7. With temps in the low 30's/high 20's we use about 30k BTU/hr. If it drops to the low teens, like today the demand increases to 40k BTU/hr. House is technically a Cape, with 2x6 construction with R19 insulation (I think.) Windows were just replaced with U-Factor 0.3 double hung vinyl windows. (Once again this is my fuzzy math, if it doesn't make sense please don't crucify me )

So now that you know a little about the house onto my question. The hearth size is 52" wide and 42" deep. The brick hearth is located in the center of the house, and it has a brick chimney that it goes up against it. I was looking at the Harman TL300 and the Regency 2400 as possible contenders for this house. I believe both require a minimum of 48". So, do they sell any hearth extenders that would match my hearth design?

I am leaning towards the Harman as it's not a catalytic stove, I've read on another site that the cat has to be replaced every 6 years of use. Are there any other stoves that anyone would recommend to be used a primary/secondary heat source in my situation, please take into account my hearth size.

Also note that the sun-room is currently 62 degrees. It's separated from the rest of the house with insulated walls. My plan was to get the stove up and running in the living room and any of the excess heat would go into the sun room via the open french doors.

I appreciate any input into our heating situation, anyway onto the pictures: (These are the pictures that the sellers Realtor took August of 2012).

Thanks again,
-Bart

 

[tigger]

Hey there Bart. Welcome. I'm over on the island(portsmouth). We also have a cape that we heat 75%with wood. The problem with the capes is the chopped up rooms. Haveing a fan or two to move cold air around will help a lot. As I'm sure you have read most of peoples problems are solved with seasoned wood. I would buy a few cords now to get a jump on next year. We have the typical layout in our house with the sunroom that connects the kitchen to the garage. It's on the north end of the house, two walls glass sliding doors and garage on the other. That room is always a bit colder than the rest of the house. I picked up an electric wall heater from eheat.com. Good luck. Nice purchase. East G is a good place to raise a family.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Both stoves are non-catalytic. Of the two the Regency is the more conventional. The Harman is a downdraft stove. There are many stoves that will do the job here. They vary from non-cats to cats, castiron to steel to soapstone to combos of these stoves.

 

[Big Dan]

you should go down the fireside stove shop in Wakefield. that's where I got my stove they won't steer you wrong. ask for John he's the owner very knowledgeable about stoves.

 

[lml999]

If you need a second retailer, I'd recommend Commonwealth Fireplace in Norwood. Been around for a while, sold and installed my insert about 6 or 7 years ago, very helpful.

 

[Big Dan]

you should definitely get a larger stove then you think you need because you'll get longer burn times which makes even heat distribution easier to achieve.

 

[pen]

this ends now.

Thread closed.

 

[begreen]

Reopening the thread with the caveat - this is not the place for dealer bashing and personal insults will not be tolerated. Stick to helping the OP make a stove decision, period.

 

[ridemgis]

Reopening the thread with the caveat - this is not the place for dealer bashing and personal insults will not be tolerated. Stick to helping the OP make a stove decision, period.

OK, let me try this again. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't hesitate to go with a catalytic stove. The amount of control over heat output and burn times is the big selling point for me. If I could swap in a new stove every couple of years I'd like to compare steel, cast iron, and cat stoves against the current hunk of soapstone warming the house nicely in this weather.

 

[mikey]

I live in newport 1762 colonial old windows, doors, and not much insulation and have a jotul f100 inside an old fireplace "a colonial sweep" did the install. Great job heavy duty stainless liner, block off plate at the lintel,pearlite insulation, they do great work, and will give you good advice. They are firefighters and will take care of permits ect.

 

[Dave A.]

Was looking at the realtor photos and couldn't really see the hearth area. Might be helpful to take and post a pic of that area to better understand any potential issues. The Harman is nice for putting out even heat like a catalytic stove, but can be difficult to run properly for some users (especially with marginal wood), just so you're aware. Others have no problem and love it. Also the combustion package has been reported as fragile and is expensive to replace if you damage it.

If you want the even heat of a catalytic there are some good options there. Do you want the look of cast iron or steel or soapstone. You should decide those things.

 

[BartMX]

Thanks for the warm welcomes and for all the great input! We appreciate everyone's input. I think I'll become a true woodsman in a couple of years by belonging to this forum. I grew up in the countryside of Poland, but lost my country roots when I moved to the states as a child, but I would love to rekindle my past.

Funny that you would mention Fireside. My wife and I are actually going down to fireside in wakefield tomorrow, as I really want to see the Harman in person. We do have a local shop nearby in Warwick, RI which carries Jotul and hearthstone. The F600 is very impressive in terms of output but I'm just not sold on the ash tray as well as the gothic look. My wife definitely doesn't like the appearance of them, I like the fact that they're Scandinavian built. The hearthstone is a definite no in terms of aesthetics.

I am in the boat that bigger is better. Since the first floor layout is very open and doesn't have any door arches the heat should disperse nicely. I did chop some downed trees when i first bought the house so I have about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cord of oak drying as we speak. I have 2.25 acres of woods with over 10 downed trees that should keep me busy this spring.

Here is a picture of the hearth. Obviously, the TV and TV stand will have to be relocated. (I hope the picture works)

 

[begreen]

There are many big 3 cu ft stoves available to you. I'd consider the Englander 30NC, Drolet 2000HT, Pacific Energy Summit, Regency F3100, Lopi Liberty, Napoleon 1900 as alternative big steel stoves.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

I live in newport 1762 colonial old windows, doors, and not much insulation and have a jotul f100 inside an old fireplace "a colonial sweep" did the install. Great job heavy duty stainless liner, block off plate at the lintel,pearlite insulation, they do great work, and will give you good advice. They are firefighters and will take care of permits ect.

I grew up on the island and went to school with Philip Rondina Jr. from Colonial Sweep. They do good work.

 

[Matt Ruggeri]

I was also going to reccomend the place in Wakefield, those guys have always been good to me! Good to see all the fellow RI'ers here. I'm right across the pond in Jamestown, and a former Newporter..

 

[raybonz]

I wouldn't rule out cats entirely. There are a few hybrids which encompass both secondary burn and catalytic technology. This will give you large BTU's when you need them and long low burns in the milder weather.. If I were to buy another stove I would go this direction as I have used both technologies and know the advantages of each. Woodstock offers the Progress Hybrid (soapstone and cast iron) and if you can wait the Ideal Steel (steel and soapstone) for much less money. Lopi also has a cast iron beauty that is a hybrid. Cat life would be enhanced due to the dual technologies and even if the cat is dying would still burn as a secondary burn stove. Just something to consider..

Ray

 

[BartMX]

For whatever reason the hearth picture didn't work, lets try this again.

I was shocked to see the price on the englander nc30! Less than a grand for what appears to be a beast in terms of heat production. That is about a 1/3 the cost of a harman or a regency stove. I looked at the reviews on Home Depot and they are (95%) stellar. Did a little research on here and everyone seems to love them. I'm going to look into every option everyone posts as I really want to make the correct decision.As I don't want to be that guy that posts "I should have gotten a larger stove."

Nice to see quite a few fellow RI'ers on this site. Keep the recommendations coming!

-Bart

 

[bluedogz]

I was shocked to see the price on the englander nc30! Less than a grand for what appears to be a beast in terms of heat production.

Mine is an animal, and the support is stellar.

Only downside is that it isn't as "pretty" as some others...

 

[Matt Ruggeri]

was shocked to see the price on the englander nc30! Less than a grand for what appears to be a beast in terms of heat production

One of the reasons we were looking at it also!

 

[begreen]

You have 6 from me in addition to your original 2. Any more than 8 choices is gonna make your head explode.

The 30-NC is a good value stove as is the Drolet. The next 4 I listed go up in cost and features. All will heat the joint without issue as long as the wood is well seasoned.

Question: Are you going to block off the fireplace and then add a new thimble at the 4-5' level? For a simpler install, have you considered a big insert instead?

 

[Nick Mystic]

I have a Jotul F 600 and can tell you the ash pan works fine. I empty it every few days before it gets too full and it is just a matter of cracking the side door and then opening the ash pan door and pulling it out and re-shutting the ash pan door before carrying the ash pan outside to dump the ashes into your ash can. I have another stove without an ash pan and I have to shovel the ashes out directly into my ash can. It's no big deal, but seems to be a bit messier than dealing with the Jotul's ash pan. As for the looks of the stove, I can't help you there since it is a purely aesthetic preference.