Looking for freestanding wood stove advice for top to bottom ICF new construction.
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Yeah the plan is to go through both the concrete cap over the basement and the roof will be concrete as well, this is not the usual wood trusses on ICF wall construction, we went all in on ICF.
As long as we get sleeved correctly before the pours it's not a problem, but any changes down the road will be a lot less fun than on a traditional house.
That's the main reason I was posting here looking for input, I really need to get any floor vents or things like that in place during construction or it probably won't happen.
As far as the exterior chimney, I did consider it, it would be on the backside of the house. I will have a covered back deck to get through, the chimney pipe might need a cage or something around it, but I'm a metalworker so that's not a big deal to do. That would prevent any issue with flashing to the metal roof panels over the house, I wouldn't care if it leaks slightly over a deck.
Though my preference is passive circulation, I can see why you might be leaning toward a powered circulation using the HVAC. The overlay of the floorplans is not ideal for passive vents unless they can be done over the bedrooms.
How tall is the basement? Will there be a drop ceiling put in to hide mechanicals? If so, at what height?
The plan is to have a 9ft ceiling height with the actual build deck forms, and then drop down with a suspended ceiling at 8ft to hide mechanicals. Leaves my HVAC guy just barely enough room for the basement ductwork.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Yeah that could work well, it isn't too late yet, they are just about to pour the basement floor and then start stacking the walls, but I would need to get a plan soon for sure.
We started out looking at fireplaces in the first place but we were really surprised at the prices (at our only local dealer anyway), and saw a few advantages to the stoves so we started looking at them instead. The local dealer only carries Lopi stoves and Fireplace Xtrordinair
Anyone have suggestions for fireplaces that could be setup with ductwork to other rooms?
I do like this idea, the only one I've looked at so far was from Fireplace Xtrordinair and it seemed not quite ideal for this, they claim 50% of the heat to a room within 20ft, and it was also pretty expensive.
I'm pretty handy and plan to do a lot of the interior work myself, so even something that would require work or some modification on my end is fine, doesn't have to be a turnkey solution, but I don't know where to start looking at all the different brands and models!
I do like this idea, the only one I've looked at so far was from Fireplace Xtrordinair and it seemed not quite ideal for this, they claim 50% of the heat to a room within 20ft, and it was also pretty expensive.
I'm pretty handy and plan to do a lot of the interior work myself, so even something that would require work or some modification on my end is fine, doesn't have to be a turnkey solution, but I don't know where to start looking at all the different brands and models!
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
Isn't the whole point of ICF construction to be energy efficient? If so, then that size of AC system sure sounds like a mistake to me.
I was going to suggest a wood furnace too, but I see that was already thought of (and ruled out?)
Also wanted to suggest a stove on each floor...use them as needed, obviously one of them would probably win out as being the main workhorse after a while, but the other could be still nice for a lil ambiance sometimes...
I was going to suggest a wood furnace too, but I see that was already thought of (and ruled out?)
Also wanted to suggest a stove on each floor...use them as needed, obviously one of them would probably win out as being the main workhorse after a while, but the other could be still nice for a lil ambiance sometimes...
It should be very efficient, but I don't know enough about HVAC sizing or how this house will perform to guess what size I need. I think I'm currently using a 4 ton AC on a 3200sqft wood house built in the 1960's and it struggles, barely ever shuts off in the summer time. It's already been 100+ here right now.
I thought it seemed pretty big too, I assume I will need less than the older wood house I'm in now even though I'm adding square footage. He did say I needed variable speed/output units for the AC compressor and Furnace both which I'm fine with, and he was probably overshooting it with that estimate, he has not yet done his load calculations, I'll be sure to discuss this with him before we commit to anything.
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The more I've thought about it I'm really liking the suggestion of a zero clearance fireplace with a blower and ducting directed to a few floor registers upstairs. That seems like the best compromise for the goals I'm trying to achieve.
I will call around tomorrow to a few dealers further away and see if they have any models that would work for this, if anyone has brand or model suggestions for ones that would fairly easily accept some ductwork let me know!
I will call around tomorrow to a few dealers further away and see if they have any models that would work for this, if anyone has brand or model suggestions for ones that would fairly easily accept some ductwork let me know!
Go with the fp30. They work really well. Plan on ditching the oem fan on the remote heat kit and upgrading it to a better fan. The one supplied is loud and would be obnoxious in your upstairs.
I have a couple thoughts. I built a ~1900 sf ranch with a basement. I have a Napoleon woodstove in the basement and an RSF woodstove/fireplace on the first floor. The basement: slab is insulated with R10 foam, walls have R10 foam and R-19 fiberglass and rock wool walls. The main floor is double stud insulation 2x12 walls with dense pack cellulose. I have outside air intake to both stoves. Here's my experience:
I prefer to keep the basement stove... I cycle it down to glowing ash covered embers but still, the basement overheats, getting to 80-82 degrees. I typically run the basement 24/7. We use the RSF fireplace on the first floor in the shoulder season because it tends to overheat and my floor plan impedes heat movement. But the RSF is so efficient that it uses very little wood. Besides the wood, we heat with a propane fired boiler with radiant floor heat. I'm not really satisfied with the system because with the house so well insulated, it tends to overheat. But running small loads in the stoves cycles the stoves constantly. Also, despite having outside air, it's not sufficient to prevent having the stoves sometimes backdraft, especially when it's foggy out. We also need to be careful not to run the stoves, the clothes dryer, bathroom vents and kitchen stove fan all at once or we get backdrafting.
Because my home is tight and well insulated, my ideal system would be forced hot air with a wood boiler hot water coil in the air handling unit. The boiler would be located in a semi-conditioned space like a garage where an outside air supply is easily provided, and where the mess, ash dust, wood handling, insects and mold/fungi spores are kept out of the living space. I'd circulate the hot water from a wood boiler to the HVAC's air handling unit. I realize this doesn't help for power outages, but our home has sufficient insulation and mass that we don;t lose much heat in 24 hours. And most power outages are only a few hours, if that.
If you want the fireplace, I recommend looking at the RSF units. They accommodate duct work for either natural convection or fans. For cooking, we really haven't needed to use our wood stove. Our propane cook stove doesn't require electricity.
My thought is to consider installing a wood boiler in the garage and integrating it into the HVAC system.
I prefer to keep the basement stove... I cycle it down to glowing ash covered embers but still, the basement overheats, getting to 80-82 degrees. I typically run the basement 24/7. We use the RSF fireplace on the first floor in the shoulder season because it tends to overheat and my floor plan impedes heat movement. But the RSF is so efficient that it uses very little wood. Besides the wood, we heat with a propane fired boiler with radiant floor heat. I'm not really satisfied with the system because with the house so well insulated, it tends to overheat. But running small loads in the stoves cycles the stoves constantly. Also, despite having outside air, it's not sufficient to prevent having the stoves sometimes backdraft, especially when it's foggy out. We also need to be careful not to run the stoves, the clothes dryer, bathroom vents and kitchen stove fan all at once or we get backdrafting.
Because my home is tight and well insulated, my ideal system would be forced hot air with a wood boiler hot water coil in the air handling unit. The boiler would be located in a semi-conditioned space like a garage where an outside air supply is easily provided, and where the mess, ash dust, wood handling, insects and mold/fungi spores are kept out of the living space. I'd circulate the hot water from a wood boiler to the HVAC's air handling unit. I realize this doesn't help for power outages, but our home has sufficient insulation and mass that we don;t lose much heat in 24 hours. And most power outages are only a few hours, if that.
If you want the fireplace, I recommend looking at the RSF units. They accommodate duct work for either natural convection or fans. For cooking, we really haven't needed to use our wood stove. Our propane cook stove doesn't require electricity.
My thought is to consider installing a wood boiler in the garage and integrating it into the HVAC system.
Is there a go to online dealer for Pacific Energy products? The closest dealer I found was a HVAC service in Kansas and they are so busy doing AC repair right now I can't seem to even get a price on the FP30.
No, Tom Oyen had that exclusive purview for the US. Sadly, he passed last year. There is a Canadian site, but they are not allowed to sell to the US. Tom's website still has a wealth of info. It is now hosted here on Hearth.com in the articles forum. This is the FP30 page from a year ago. Prices have gone up quite a bit since then.
Pacific Energy FP30 Wood Fireplace - pricing and online sales
Shop and compare the Pacific Energy FP30 Wood Fireplace at The Chimney Sweep Online
hearth.com
Well I was wondering about those prices. I had came across that page while searching and got excited thinking this was a much better price than the Extraordinaire stuff!
Well thats about half of what I was getting quoted for a Fireplace Extraordinaire, so I'll take that!
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