Morso 2B Standard - Will It Be Enough?

[westofhistory]

So I have a question that I can't find an answer to.
We are building a 1900 sq ft house. 948 sq ft downstairs with 12 ft ceilings and the rest upstairs are 12 ft peak lofted rooms.

The question is will (2) Morso 2b Standards work to heat the space? One upstairs and one downstairs.
I can't find a good quality answer.

Im located in the black hills near Wyoming, so it gets cold. New build house, will be burning pine.

Thanks

 

[begreen]

I'd step up in size for the downstairs if the floorplan is open. Pine is not a high BTU fuel. Will the house be highly insulated, with not too much glazing? What will be the primary heating system and what is it's BTU output?

 

[westofhistory]

I'd step up in size for the downstairs if the floorplan is open. Pine is not a high BTU fuel. Will the house be highly insulated, with not too much glazing?

The house will have an open downstairs floor plan, with only a small bathroom in the front and bedroom in the very back. Its a 1860's prairie house replica. Normal R-13 insulation, as it's 2x4 construction. Pine is the only thing you pretty much burn here in the hills, but I have lots of it.

My worry is that our dealership was concerned the stove might be too small for the area. They suggested a Vermont Castings downstairs, and a Morso upstairs. However we really like the Morso Standard, but we have never owned one.

 

[westofhistory]

Wood stove is only heating source

 

[begreen]

Wood stove only for heating source

Then I definitely would go for a bigger primary heater. If it is the sole source of heat then look at Kuma Classic and the Blaze King Sirocco 30.2 stoves. I can't recommend Vermont Castings in this case. The little Morso is fine for an occasional fire upstairs, but you'll need a steady baseline heater with a decent burn time. Carrying wood upstairs to feed a stove as a primary heater will get old quickly. In non-cat I would look at the Pacific Energy Super or the Alderlea T5 for an 8-12 hr burn time.

For comparison, I am heating a 2000 sq ft old 2x4 construction house in a mild climate with a 3 cu ft PE Alderlea T6. The coldest we get here is in the high teens and our stove is working hard at that temp. At -10º you will need a lot more heat.

Also, rethink those 2x4 walls unless also sheathing the house in 1" EPS panels. 2x6 walls with more insulation and close attention to sealing will make a big difference year-round in comfort and cost savings.

 

[westofhistory]

The house is already nearly finished so 2x4s it what it is. Trying to find a unique stove. We currently have a 93-97ish Defiant Encore which sits in our cabin, so we are familiar with the catalytic system. We were looking at a Vermont Castings Dauntless or a Green Mountain 40. However, reading posts on this forum has, I think, scared us away from the HearthStones. On that note Vermont Castings has its problems also.

The Morso seemed to be a unique and easy to use alternative. Since it was rated at 1200sqft, we were hoping we would be able to heat the downstairs effectively and keep the upstairs area not too hot, or use a 2nd stove to help out on super cold days.

 

[Todd]

I think it would work but it would also get old fast having to reload the stove every 4 hours. I heated my small log cabin with a similar sized Jotul 602 . While it did fine I ended up upgrading to a larger Jotul F45 for a little more BTU and longer burn time.

 

[wjohn]

I also tend to agree you may want to go bigger. Is the Morso rated at 1200 sq. ft. for your climate? I remembered that Jotul made a nice zone map w/ approximate square footage in one of their brochures (Link). Looking at the F602V2, the EPA tested BTU output has a much higher range than the Morso 2B Standard. Jotul rates their stove for 800 sq. ft. in the SE but only 500 sq. ft. in your location (with higher BTU output than the Morso). 1200 sq. ft. seems really optimistic for your location, so that's the first thing I'd keep in mind.

Not that those numbers mean or guarantee anything, but I'm just saying that a pair of 2B Standards and going to be stretched when it gets cold. You will be feeding them constantly, especially with pine. Those are high ceilings, too. Personally I would go with something bigger, or at a minimum design for clearances to fit something bigger in if you want to give the 2B Standards a shot first. Maybe the downstairs stove could be larger, and a 2B Standard could be used upstairs?

Do we have a resident 2B Standard expert still on here that could chime in?