Need suggestions on a wood stove

[ejsechler]

Hello everyone, I am in the early planning stages of putting in a wood stove. As of right now I have a factory fireplace in the living room. My plan is to tear that out then install a wood stove in its place. The fireplace now sits in a cavity and is sticked out with dry wall around it making it look like a fake masonry chimney. So I am going to tear that out and put stone veneer up the whole wall and then build a elevated hearth for the base. My living room is a little over 300 sqft with 16ft vaulted ceilings with a ceiling fan in the middle. The house is about 2900sqft built in 1997,open floor plan except the bedrooms/bath. The whole upstairs is open and you can look down on the living room. Last year I bought a harman accentra pellet stove. I put that in the dining room adjacent to the living room. It did fairly decent for heating but I feel like we need something bigger. Anything below 20 degrees it wouldn't stay above 68 in other rooms. Went though 5 Tons of pellets and it was a very mild winter. So my question to you guys is what suggestions do you have on a wood stoves that wood heat my home entirely? I don't have a budget per say but I also don't want to buy something just because it is the best of the best. I want something that will work and work well. And if all possible have to open the windows if it gets to warm. Not have to worry about the wife complaining it is to cold. The stoves I was looking at were the bk king, the hearthstone equinox, and also also vaguely looked at the regency 5100. Now all these stoves are I would think top tier stoves and I am sure they do great but.....My question is do I really have to spend 3-4k or can I get something from say lowes or tractor supply for 1300k that will do the same thing. I know I am also leaning toward a catalytic stove just because the burn times and I would like a low and slow burn being we are both not home for atleast 8 to 10 a day. If there is any more infromation I could give you guys that you need to help out my situation I would be glad to. Just let me know. Thanks for your time and lookin forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

 

[begreen]

5 tons of pellets is a lot of fuel. You'll need a big stove, but it may not heat the whole house. You'll need one that fits while honoring the stove's clearance requirements in an alcove. That will narrow down the list. To start planning, take out the tape measure and figure out the stud to stud width of the ZC fireplace cavity. Also note that many stoves require an 84" high ceiling in the alcove.

 

[NW Pa Burner]

Sounds like I have a similar house to yours, when we built we put in a masonry fireplace and then put an insert inside. The fireplace sits in a 500 plus square foot room with cathedral ceiling and 140sf of glass on the wall. Loft upstairs and master bedroom downstairs and to the side. The Osburn 2400 we have will heat the whole house even on the coldest nights (-21 F is the coldest we had so far). Now, the master bath, furthest corner away will get chill (probably low 60s) as it is hard to get the heat back there. If it is above 35 I don't burn because it will bake you out of the house so last year my gas bill was higher than normal ($500 for the year vs $350 years prior) due to the above average temps. That includes forced air heat and hot water heater.

The 2400 is not a cat stove and now that I am three years ahead on firewood I wish it was for the longer burns and better control. However, it took me until now to get good seasoned firewood so I would not have been burning, or rather, burning properly the last couple years if I had a cat. My parents had a cat stove when I was younger and it was good for long steady burns. With seasoned hardwood I can get a good overnight burn where the fans are still blowing in the morning, do a reload and get going without paper or kindling and have the fans still on when we get home from work. Do a 1/2 reload when we get home then stuff it full for overnight again.

Stay with better name stoves and you'll enjoy burning more. I do like the Osburn 2400 for the firebox size and massive heat output. On year three with it and the paint is pealing in spots but otherwise still looks good and no operational issues. Cleaned the stainless flue this spring and maybe a cup or two of creosote dust.

 

[ejsechler]

5 tons of pellets is a lot of fuel. You'll need a big stove, but it may not heat the whole house. You'll need one that fits while honoring the stove's clearance requirements in an alcove. That will narrow down the list. To start planning, take out the tape measure and figure out the stud to stud width of the ZC fireplace cavity. Also note that many stoves require an 84" high ceiling in the alcove.

I understand what you are saying about the stove clearances and all that but there will be no cavity when i am done. I am taking the chase out. The chase is on an interior wall. So there will be no alcove at all. It is just going to be a straight run open stove pipe up to the ceiling.

 

[begreen]

Ah, my misunderstanding. That opens up the field to you. One difference in stoves you might want to know about is the flue diameter. Most now take 6" but some require 8". The larger size will cost more and require more space.