Jotul F45 or F55 1600 sq ft Maine and burning Pine

[Hampy123]

First post, but this is a great forum with lots of awesome information!

I have been using a pellet stove for the last 10 + years, but my current one is in need of replacement so I intend to switch back to burning wood. Seeing as I have not burned in over a decade, I have plenty of questions on these newer EPA stoves.

My house is about 1600 square feet, in southern Maine, built around 1800. Its two stories, with 7 foot ceilings and the second floor rooms have slanted ceilings, so not a ton of cubic footage. Although it has some insulation and some windows replaced, I will call it mediocre at best for tightness.

I would like to put in a decent wood stove on the first floor with hopes of being able to heat the whole house as needed. I will have other heat sources, but as my oil furnace is also aging out, I will probably put heat pumps in next year and want the stove be able to stand on its own if needed in the dead of winter.

I attached a very very rough sketch of the house, with the Orange star being where I intend to put the wood stove because of an existing chimney. It will need to be lined first, so I am also not opposed to consider placing the stove on an exterior wall with a thru the wall chimney as an option.

Local stove shop had some Jotul stoves I liked, and locally built. I think I want to stick with non-cat style. The F45 and the F55 where the ones I was eyeing and they are having a sale currently $500 off. I would go with the larger F55, but don't want to oversize things. I see people mentioning you can get away with small fires in a big stove but want to confirm that is true.

Also, I intend to burn pine at least part of the year with some hardwood especially at night. I have a decent size property with pines that are constantly falling so I have a lifetime supply. Are these stoves a good option for pine burning?

Thanks for your input!

 

[bigealta]

Picture would help. But i'm sure 1 of those will work for you.

 

[stoveliker]

Keep the stove in the center of the home with the flue straight up. It'll perform better and more efficiently.

Pine is fine if you let it dry for a full summer while split and stacked off the ground.
If it burns too quickly (uncontrollably), mix it with oak.

 

[bigealta]

Second keeping stove in middle of house. That's where mine is.

 

[Todd]

I’ve burned a lot of Jack pine in my F45 and it burned pretty good, even had decent overnight burns. So about 800 sq fr each level? I think either one would work. Probably be using about 2 cu ft of the fire box in both most of the time and there’s really not a huge difference in firebox size, I think .4 cu ft?

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Pine is fine in any modern stove.

 

[begreen]

Pine is fine in any modern stove.

As long as it is fully seasoned and the fire is not allowed to smolder. Cut thicker splits for longer burns.

The stove will heat the house better by being in the large open L section than in the smaller room. The doorways will trap heat in there. Can it be located on the opposite side where the blue star is?

 

[Hampy123]

Thank you for all the quick replies.

Yes its about 800 square feet per floor.

Begreen I agree it would be ideal to put it in the large "L" shaped area but don't think I can. There is an existing fireplace right around where you put the blue star. However its offset from the main chimney by a good 6 feet to the right. The passage from the fireplace over and up to the main chimney is wide enough, but only 2-3 inches tall. I don't think anyone could feasibly chip away enough bricks that far of a distance to fit a liner. Someday that might end up as a vent free gas log.

Would I be oversizing if I go with the larger F55? Where its steel and non-cat I assume I can just build smaller fires as needed and it would still be hot enough not to cause creosote issues.

 

[begreen]

Is this a wood burning fireplace? If so maybe consider an insert in the fireplace, or a freestanding stove in front of it?

The F45 or F55 in the small room would definitely overheat it unless there was a fan constantly blowing cooler air into that room through one of the doorways.

 

[EbS-P]

How big are the door ways heading out of the stove room? Stove room will Be quite warm.

 

[bigealta]

A picture or 2 will greatly help you get the best recommendations. Otherwise it's a bit of us guessing.

 

[Hampy123]

The brick area is where I was thinking of putting it. The doorway next to it is 3 feet that leads to the kitchen and an open staircase to the second floor. The other main doorway to the left of the blue curtain is about 30 inches. Figured a fan or two to move the air. Have had a pellet stove in here for about 10 years on the exterior wall with a doorway fan pushing heat in the other room.

The existing fireplace in the other room was wood burning and I did consider an insert. But unfortunately I dont see any feasible way to get a stainless liner to it without major destruction/construction. The old brick construction takes a sharp left turn several feet before connecting to the main chimney and is only about 2 inches tall. Mantle is fairly low and a quick look had shown some clearance issue with most models. I also had an insert in my last home and wasn't the biggest fan. Without a blower it didn't push much heat. A snow storm this April left me without power for 5 days so the added feature of being able to heat things on the stove top is something I want.

Other thought was putting it in the right hand corner and through the wall in the second picture where the computer sits now.

 

[stoveliker]

I think you'll be fine given the wide doorways.
You could even have two fans on the floor, on opposite sides of the central "hub" (between orange and blue marks in the sketch), running low to create a circle flow to spread the heat.

 

[bigealta]

Yes i'd put it right there where you have the brick and a spot for the liner. Those openings and the stairs should fine. Is that a door that closes off the stairs? If so that's even better. I have a door to my stairs and use it all the time to let hot air up or keep it downstairs.
The pics are a huge help.

 

[begreen]

I think you'll be fine given the wide doorways.
You could even have two fans on the floor, on opposite sides of the central "hub" (between orange and blue marks in the sketch), running low to create a circle flow to spread the heat.

They look like 36" doorways at best. And there is a connecting hallway in one. In my experience this room will overheat unless there is forced convection moving the heat out of the room and cooler air into it.

 

[bigealta]

They look like 36" doorways at best. And there is a connecting hallway in one. In my experience this room will overheat unless there is forced convection moving the heat out of the room and cooler air into it.

I think a 20" box fan blowing cold floor air into the room would work well, maybe even a smaller fan. The room will definitely be hotter than the other rooms but for me that's actually a bonus. We like it hot when it's cold outside. 80F or more in the stove room with the rest of the house at 67F-70F range, is fine by my wife and i. You are in Maine, you have 1600sq feet to heat. You have 2 door openings, and a stairway that can dump cold 2nd floor air into your room. I think either stove will work for you.

If it's much easier to put it by the brick that's what i'd do. If it's just a little more work to put it on the backside of the brick wall then that might be better, but how much better, that is the question?

 

[begreen]

Yes, a fan on the floor blowing cool air in will definitely make a difference as long as that is ok with the other half. By blowing cooler air in from the kitchen or the hallway into the dining room, it will create a convective loop that pulls the heated air around the house. A box fan on lowest speed works well for this but a large (12"+) table fan can also work.

 

[Nordicbynature]

Hello from Sweden,

I have a wood burning insert installed on one side of the house. I was a bit sad, that we couldn't install anything in the center of the house, because the masonry chimney has its position already. I expected the heat distribution to be less than optimal and the living room would easily overheat.

Most of the times we now run the wood burning insert joint forces with a mini split heat pump in fan mode. For us it creates a nice air circulation, taking out the heat energy from the living room (where the fire is) and distribution it nicely in most parts of the house. I was totally surprised how effective this is.

I have marked two places, where I would consider to install the internal unit of the mini split.

I belive, it is not 100% predictable. I have also a pellet stove in another room of the house and the mini-split and the pellet stove don't work together in the same way. I believe it might be because of the relative position or because of the convection fan of the stove. (writing about it, I think I should do some testing with other fan speeds)

in our house the mini split is in the entrance hallway, so any fan noise does not bother us.

To be a but more accurate, we run the mini-split in "fire place logic" mode. Works like a dream for us.