Looking for advice to update stove

[Sparkey127]

Have a old homemade steel plate stove copy of all nighter it does well heating my 1800sqft cape. Its located in the basement vents into new exterior masonry 6"flu chimney about 25' high. With that said only thing I dislike is 7 cords a year thing just eats wood and burn time isn't great what would the brain trust here recommend for a new stove that would use less wood. I would like something that has glass on the door and could take 22" log but would look at all options if say I could get down to 3 cord a year. Also I am located in Massachusetts
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think the only way a new stove could get you from 7 cords a year to 3 would be if you upped the insulation in your house. Low hanging fruit first, are your basement walls insulated?

If you can reduce the btu that your house needs to stay warm, you physically don't have to burn the wood.

 

[bholler]

Have a old homemade steel plate stove copy of all nighter it does well heating my 1800sqft cape. Its located in the basement vents into new exterior masonry 6"flu chimney about 25' high. With that said only thing I dislike is 7 cords a year thing just eats wood and burn time isn't great what would the brain trust here recommend for a new stove that would use less wood. I would like something that has glass on the door and could take 22" log but would look at all options if say I could get down to 3 cord a year. Also I am located in Massachusetts
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Yeah going from 7 to 3 is a big stretch. Unless you are currently overheating your house all the time because you can't shut your stove back.

Going from 7 to 5 is probably more realistic. Is your basement insulated well?

 

[Sparkey127]

I think the only way a new stove could get you from 7 cords a year to 3 would be if you upped the insulation in your house. Low hanging fruit first, are your basement walls insulated?

If you can reduce the btu that your house needs to stay warm, you physically don't have to burn the wood.

So good point house was built in 2007 2x6 walls good insulation is pretty tight had mass save add some insulation on 2nd floor knee walls to tighten it up more.
Basement is just standard 8’ concrete walls one end is a walk out with 2x6 walls and good insulation ceiling is insulated in basement as well. We keep the house 72-75 I like it warmer .

 

[Sparkey127]

Yeah going from 7 to 3 is a big stretch. Unless you are currently overheating your house all the time because you can't shut your stove back.

Going from 7 to 5 is probably more realistic. Is your basement insulated well?

So even 5 would be better and longer burn times would be a plus.
I assume standard concrete walls are not good insulation?

 

[bholler]

So even 5 would be better and longer burn times would be a plus.
I assume standard concrete walls are not good insulation?

Standard concrete walls are no insulation. Roughly 1/3 of your btus are going into the earth around your home.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Yeah, insulating the walls, and letting that heat up into the house by removing the floor insulation could get you from 7 to 5 by itself.

you may want to run the old stove a year longer so you can then figure out how much heat you’ll need. Who knows, you may decide to keep the old stove and enjoy the 80+ degrees that the house now is, lol.

 

[kborndale]

Insulate the floor in the basement as well as the walls. Even just putting down some carpet and padding will help a lot. Removing the insulation from the basement ceiling not only lets more heat upstairs but also will make the first floor floors feel like they are radiant.

 

[EbS-P]

How are you getting heat up from the basement? What temperature is the basement when stove is running?

You are talking 7 full 4x4x8 foot cords? That seems really excessive for 2x6 relatively new construction

 

[Sparkey127]

How are you getting heat up from the basement? What temperature is the basement when stove is running?

You are talking 7 full 4x4x8 foot cords? That seems really excessive for 2x6 relatively new construction

Temp in basement is 80 when 1st floor is 74 ish heat travels up the stairs and 2 floor grates. Basement ceiling is insulated
7 full cords I cut and split stack myself actually measured it out a few times last year I had about a half cord left over so 6.5 but wasn't a real cold winter

 

[kborndale]

Temp in basement is 80 when 1st floor is 74 ish heat travels up the stairs and 2 floor grates. Basement ceiling is insulated
7 full cords I cut and split stack myself actually measured it out a few times last year I had about a half cord left over so 6.5 but wasn't a real cold winter

What is the moisture content of this wood? If it hasn't been split and stacked for at minimum a year (some species of wood can take up to 3 years to get below 20%) then you are wasting a lot of heat just boiling the water out of your wood.

 

[Sparkey127]

What is the moisture content of this wood? If it hasn't been split and stacked for at minimum a year (some species of wood can take up to 3 years to get below 20%) then you are wasting a lot of heat just boiling the water out of your wood.

All below 20% a lot of maple ash some birch and poplar in shoulder season Some of the oak does take a couple years

 

[begreen]

Insulate the floor in the basement as well as the walls. Even just putting down some carpet and padding will help a lot. Removing the insulation from the basement ceiling not only lets more heat upstairs but also will make the first floor floors feel like they are radiant.

^^This^^ The ceiling insulation is not helping, but wall insulation and some sort of floor insulation will make a significant improvement which should result in a notable reduction in wood burned.