Jotul 602 too small?

[Uniontown]

Hello all,

I am looking for guidance on the proper size stove to purchase and install in our newly constructed house. Let me tell you some information about our area and the home construction:

Location: Arkansas, Zone 7-8,
Temperature averages: Oct 75* - 51*, Nov 63* - 40*, Dec 52* - 31*, Jan 49* - 28*, Feb 55* - 32*
Home specs: 1200sf heated, partially enclosed loft, 22' vaulted ceiling, 14,168ft^3 of volume. Closed cell spray foam in walls and ceiling, "flash and batt" system. Home is well-sealed - would not consider "leaky". See the couple of screenshots of the house model for reference.

Wife wants to have a wood stove installed for heating backup (we have electric heat pump as primary heat source), reduce utility expenses in winter, dual purpose stove for cooking as well and the whole romance of the thing. I don't want to select a stove that is too much for the house, resulting in opening windows because it is heating up too much. The vaulted ceiling creates a lot of volume to condition, but we have a large ceiling fan that is very effective at circulating the air in the room, so I'm not worried about losing heat to the top of the room and not being able to move it around.

I looked at the Jotel 602, its rated for 800sf, but I'm thinking to myself that a 3-4hr burn in that stove we're going to capture a lot of the heat and it's going to take a long time for us to lose that heat out of the house. In theory I think even though our house is larger than the rating, maybe the ratings assume that the house is leaky or inefficient, and in our case we'd be just fine...

My overall goal is to select a stove that is "right-sized" for our particular build, it's got to be a small footprint in the first place, but also be able to have an efficient burn without burning us up inside the house.

Is the Jotel 602 the right thing to look at, or would you recommend something different?

 

[Todd]

I think the 602 would be fine for the shoulder seasons but will be under powered for the colder Winter days. It may help out on the colder days keeping the heat pump from turning on as much but I don’t think it could handle the total heat load by itself on the colder days. I think I would look for a stove with a 2cu ft fire box just so you have the extra power. If you like the Jotul brand check out the F45, I think that may be a good fit.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Take a look at cat stoves. With the spray foam and your climate you're not going to need the raw heating ability that the folks up north need. A cat stove will give you flame when you want it, but let you dial it back for your long shoulder season winter and give an impressive burn time.

 

[TWilk117]

What Todd said. I have a replica of an older 602. Never ran a new Jotul 602 or a real one. My friend has a replica of an old 118. I wish they still made that one. Would be perfect for me perhaps.
I think the 602 is a great stove but the burn times are inadequate and with those high ceilings… I would go for something bigger. Maybe a hearthstone shelburn or something like that.

 

[EbS-P]

What is your manual j heat load calc? How many btus are the heatpumps? Do you have a blower door number?
sq ft rating means nothing. Insulation and air sealing are everything. My gut says you will be fine will ok with the 602. But you will be up every 4 hours during the coldest 2 weeks.

Point of reference. I can heat 2000 sq ft of 1968 ranch with new windows with a 1.7 cu ft Jotul down to the upper mid 20s. We maybe have attic insulation that’s R20 at best.

Being that well sealed think about placement that allows for an outside air kit.

 

[begreen]

The house is superinsulated and in a mild climate. The Jotul F602v2 will do the job, especially if it is supplemental. For the most part, the stove will be heating only part of the house directly due to doorways and hallways restricting convection. The ceiling peak area will get hotter and the loft. In a power outage, without the fan running, that's where it will be the warmest in the house. If the heatpump system is done properly with the supply and return ducts sealed and insulated, then its fan may work out to help convect the heat around the house.

How frequently will the stove be burning? Mostly nights and weekends or is the intent to run it 24/7? Do you have a cord or two of fully seasoned firewood already stacked and ready?

Have you moved into the house yet? If so how frequently is the heat pump cycling during the day when it's 50º? How frequently at night when it's 35º? What size is the heat pump system?