Larger stove used with less wood?

[gilbert1212]

I am in the process of changing my big old stove for a new EPA one. I hesitate between a small or medium one since I will use it in a 400 sf room in basement in a 30x35 home with 3 flors in total including basement.

If I do use a medium stove and use less wood in it so the room is not too hot, will the stove be efficient enough to burn its gases and thus not polute?

A small stove I saw (Pacific Energy Vista) seems so small, I do not think I would like to manipulate wood in such a small stove. On the other hand, next level stove is appropriate for 1200-2000 sf and this is where I am affraid my room might get too hot.

Thanks,

Gilbert
Abitibi, Quebec, Canada

 

[RedRanger]

I hear ya.. Our rec-room is only about 320 sq ft. Still, I put a honking 2.5 cu.ft insert in there. want the longer burn times, so the heat can slowly drift upstairs, and it does, but slowly. And yes, it does get cooking down there, usually hovers around 78-82. We just open a window, and shed the long sleeve clothing.

I wouldn`t change anything. You know that even with the smaller firebox, it still has to be brought up to temp to get the secondaries going, then damp it down, but the room will still be cooking. Only difference is that you will be loading it more frequently, and will never achieve an overnite burn.

All I do is when it isn`t that cold is build a smaller fire, get it up to about 500 or so and then let it die out. But at least I have tonnes of reserve of "firepower" for when we need it.

 

[begreen]

How did the big old stove work out for you? The new stove will probably work about the same heating wise, but will consume less wood. I wouldn't get the Vista unless all you want to heat is the basement room.

 

[N/A N/A]

Sonnyinbc is correct. Could not have said it better myself. The new EPA stove will still need to be gotten up to temp for the whatever type of secondary burn to activate. I would possibly look into some type of system to aid in moving air around your home. If done correctly it could help a bunch in keeping the room cooler.

 

[gilbert1212]

To answer Begreen, I have been living in this house for only 2 years and am was new to wood stove when I bought. The result is that at the beginning I used to reduce air inflow in the stove so much that it would heat less and last longer. That way, the room was hot but I could live with it. I then learn about the amount of polution I did, creosote, etc and reduced a lot using the stove because of this. I am not installing a six inch liner in chimney since old stove was eight inches. With new set up, I want to be able to enjoy wood burning without polluting. I do not necessarely need to heat the whole house but when it goes to -30 celcius, it is nice to help the electrical heating system with a comfy fire...

When the stove is not in use, colder air arrives in the basement through stairways. When heating with the stove, heat reach next story very very slowly. I have a small opening on the ceiling behind the stove to help with air circulation but this does give just a little bit of heat from past experience.

Should I understand that with a medium stove, assuming I put in the same amount of wood I would use in a smaller one, it will heat up until secondary burner kicks in and then the secondary burner will continue as long as I add a split once in a while . I want to be sure I will not start polluting again... or need to keep the stove so hot that I cannot live in my basement.

Thanks for your precious advise.

Gilbert

 

[fjordrr]

I have been struggling with the same question. I just got talked out of a Jotul F500 Oslo 70,000 btu and into a F400 Castine 55,000 btu, as the very nice salesperson was positive we would absolutely cook ourselves out of our 600 sq ft family room/kitchen area (which has 7 windows & 10' cathedral ceiling). There is only a 4' open doorway into the rest of the 2 story house.

His opinion was that if we built a smaller fire in the larger stove to avoid overheating the room, the stove would not get into that optimum 400-500 degree range for hours of heating, it would not be as efficient used like this and we would burn more wood. After over an hour of listening to him convincing me, I bought the smaller Castine. At least it still takes a 20" piece of wood. I hope he's right, as I sure would have liked the bigger firebox.