Larger stove in a not so open room.

[mtrel]

I'm currently searching for a new stove and have it narrowed down to four. The Woodstock IS and Progress, and the BK Ashford and King. My house is a 3000SF colonial in western Connecticut. It will be replacing an Oslo I had sitting on the hearth of my masonry fireplace. The Oslo(and pellet stove) wasn't enough last year as the bedrooms upstairs would stay in the 50's and after overnight burns there would be good coals burning but not a lot of significant heat so the temperature swings were big and it was tough to recover in the morning. The wood I had last year was not even close to being seasoned but regardless, I want to upgrade to something larger with longer overnight burns. I have 8 cords stacked in the backyard since spring so this year my wood will be better but still not great.

The stove will be located in the family room which is in the center/back of the 2 story part of the house. The chimney is in the dead center of the house. The room is 16x17 with 8 foot ceilings and it has 3 standard size doorways (32 inch?) going to the rest of the house and a wider hallway that leads to the kitchen at the 1 story end of the house where I also have a pellet stove inset that is usually running on low. There is a second staircase in the kitchen to the upstairs so I think I get pretty good airflow from downstairs to upstairs.

I'm concerned about getting heated out of the room which is not so large and open to the rest of the house. Would I be better off with a BK which is more convective and can be turned down? I have a deposit with Woodstock on the IS or Progress but now I'm second guessing myself.

Since the two BK stoves are top vent, the installs would be more difficult and expensive but maybe worth it in the long run. I already have an 6" insulated liner which would have to be replaced for the King but If my wife is warm then it may be worth it.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for all the help over the years.

 

[Grisu]

Was the room particularly hot compared with the surrounding rooms when burning in the Oslo? If not you may have a good chance the heat from a bigger stove will also travel maybe assisted by some fans blowing cold air at the floor level into to stove room to move the warm air out.

Another caveat: What you want is more heat and longer burn times. That will be tricky. For more heat you can burn more wood; to achieve longer burn times you will need to stretch out the burn giving you less heat per hour. Hence, getting both means upgrading to a really large stove like the BK King or similar (e. g. Hearthstone Equinox). (broken link removed)

If two stoves are not enough to heat your home I would also highly recommend to look into energy efficiency upgrades. Have you considered replacing the pellet stove with the Oslo? With two stoves running full time you may get enough heat even when not putting in something extra-large like the King. (I assume you don't want to turn up the pellet stove because you get your wood fro free.) Btw. With a large stove and your heating needs you could easily use 5 to 6 cords per winter. To have seasoned wood for next year's winter, your wood stack needs to grow even more.

 

[begreen]

The Progress may help a bit, but it will not be a substitute for the improvement that fully seasoned wood will make. Can you buy kiln dried wood in your area? If so, it may be worth buying a few cords now for this season and save the other wood for the 2015-2016 season.

Did you run the pellet stove on high during the very cold weather? If so that should be a steady ~40K btus. If that didn't work, changing out the Oslo is not going to make a lot of difference. Maybe this is a circulation problem? Post a basic sketch of the floor plan that shows the locations of the Olso and pellet stove.

 

[mtrel]

I would say it was warm but tolerable in the stove room but my wife would say it was cool but tolerable. I think the Oslo was never really working up to its full potential because of the less than perfect wood.

The pellet stove works in the kitchen because it's relatively close to the kitchen table and entry door to the garage. I wouldn't want a hot cast iron stove there with my kids passing by. I get some of my wood for free but for most of it I pay $200 per cord. I don't mind going though 2-3 tons a year. The kitchen area needs some major air sealing/insulation work which will hopefully get done this year.

 

[mtrel]

Never ran the pellet stove on high. I think that would make the kitchen too hot and would go through pellets like crazy. For some reason I really like the heat of a woodstove over pellet. I kind of regret the pellet stove purchase but it is great in the shoulder season and it's basically hassle free.

I was thinking of putting a ceiling fan in the stove room to circulate air. I've tried the small fan on the floor blowing cool air to the stove and a fan being the stove in the FP but it doesn't seem to help much. A sketch of my floor plan is below. The upstairs has a hallway going from the kitchen stairs to the chimney area and then around to the front of the main staircase which is pretty open to the floor below.

 

[Grisu]

If you buy wood for $200 a cord consider Ecobricks. One ton of them equal in BTU about one cord of wood and they are guaranteed dry plus quite a bit more convenient than firewood.

The location of the Oslo is very central and should be almost ideal for heating. What's your main problem; getting the heat upstairs? Where did you place the fan(s)? One about at the location where the pellet stove is would get the heat to move over to the kitchen and probably also up the stairs then. You could try one in the entry at the corner to the dining room blowing cold air towards the family room to maybe get some heat up those stairs. A fan on top of the stairs blowing cold air down may also move some more heat upstairs.

I fear a bigger stove may help somewhat but your largest problems are using unseasoned wood and too high of a heat loss.

 

[prezes13]

I agree with Grisu buy some Eco bricks this year burn them exclusively or even mix them with your not so perfect wood, learn the full potential of Oslo and then decide if you really need a bigger stove.

 

[jeff_t]

I'd give it another try with some good wood, and I suspect you are losing more heat than you think.

Those oil filled electric heaters are a good backup for bedrooms. The one we have seems to work really well, and doesn't really get super hot to touch.

I really would like to give the IS a try. It would be high on my list if I was stove shopping, and being able to rear vent would save you a bunch of trouble with installation. Then again, you may benefit from a more convective stove with a blower.

As far as the King goes, I hafta say it is nice waking up to a stove that is still 500°

 

[begreen]

That is a pretty nice setup. The Oslo is well centered, though I can see how the entry hallway and stairs would not get the full convection due to the doorway. You are getting good recommendations. I would try another season with the Oslo but will either known dry wood (kiln or barn dried) or a high quality compressed fuel like BioBricks, Ecobricks or Northern Idaho Energy Logs. You should notice a significant improvement in heat output.
(broken link removed to http://www.mypelletstore.com/NorthIdaho.htm)

A ceiling fan in the stove room might help. Or perhaps try to get the air to convect using a table or floor fan, on the floor blowing from the living room into the family room? I too would consider having an oil filled electric heater or two upstairs to supplement.

 

[stovelark]

While we understand your frustration, the real problem is prob the wood. What type of pellet stove and do you turn it up a bit at night perhaps to help?? Last year was very cold here too, under a normal CT winter, has this setup been through one?? It looks like a pretty ideal setup. The Oslo is pretty much a heat hammer with seasoned wood. I think I'd try it again too, seems like a good arrangement, of course, if you want a new stove, congrats. Seems new stove or not, with unseasoned wood the same problem will exist. Good luck with it.

 

[mtrel]

If you buy wood for $200 a cord consider Ecobricks. One ton of them equal in BTU about one cord of wood and they are guaranteed dry plus quite a bit more convenient than firewood.

The location of the Oslo is very central and should be almost ideal for heating. What's your main problem; getting the heat upstairs? Where did you place the fan(s)? One about at the location where the pellet stove is would get the heat to move over to the kitchen and probably also up the stairs then. You could try one in the entry at the corner to the dining room blowing cold air towards the family room to maybe get some heat up those stairs. A fan on top of the stairs blowing cold air down may also move some more heat upstairs.

I fear a bigger stove may help somewhat but your largest problems are using unseasoned wood and too high of a heat loss.

I looked up kiln dried firewood in the area. The prices are crazy. I will look for ecobricks or another kind of compressed wood for next season. I think that will really help.

I wouldn't say the main problem is moving heat. I think if it were 5 degrees more on the main floor we would be alright. Also, the fact that the stove is so cool by the time I leave for work in the morning is a problem. I would load the stove to the gills at 10PM and when I get up at 5AM it's not putting out much heat. I'm not sure how much dry wood will help with that.

 

[mtrel]

I really would like to give the IS a try. It would be high on my list if I was stove shopping, and being able to rear vent would save you a bunch of trouble with installation. Then again, you may benefit from a more convective stove with a blower.

As far as the King goes, I hafta say it is nice waking up to a stove that is still 500°

That's my biggest concern with the IS. If it was more convective I think the heat would spread out and be easier to circulate.

Waking up to a 500 degree stove would be nice but I'd be happy with 250 at this point.

 

[prezes13]

I looked up kiln dried firewood in the area. The prices are crazy. I will look for ecobricks or another kind of compressed wood for next season. I think that will really help.

I wouldn't say the main problem is moving heat. I think if it were 5 degrees more on the main floor we would be alright. Also, the fact that the stove is so cool by the time I leave for work in the morning is a problem. I would load the stove to the gills at 10PM and when I get up at 5AM it's not putting out much heat. I'm not sure how much dry wood will help with that.

I know you are pretty far from me but there is a place in Cheshire that sell block fire wood for $50 a 2 cubic yards. I have seen a place in New Britain which had the same block wood close to a face cord for $40. BT enterprises in Bristol sell eco bricks for $265 a ton and they deliver they also sell other bricks.