Hi, hopefully I can get some much needed help from some wood stove experts on what I should do. For the last 20 years I heated my house with a wood stove but I was burning poplar since it was the only hardwood avalible on my woodlot and I'd use about 10 cords a year which involved a lot of labour. So this year I decided to get a pellet stove to replace my wood stove, this was a very big mistake. The pellet stove is only rated for 40 000 btu which is fine for when it's 0'C outside but when it's -25'C outside it's a different story. My house a two story 1700sq ft 65 year old house with newspaper as insulation on the first floor and it's not too air tight either, it also has a basement. There is also no furnace or electric heat in the house. When we had -25'C this year in jan it went down to 15'C throught the house, even in the room the pellet stove was in. So I decided to put blankets up and enclose the room with the pellet stove in it. The room eventually heated up to 22'C but the rest of the house dropped to 5'C. I have already used 150 pellet bags so far this heating season but my pellet stove dealer told me that 150 bags would do me for the entire heating season. I now know my dealer made a huge mistake when he told me what pellet stove I needed. I defenitly want to go back to a wood stove by the time next years burning season starts. But this time I'm going to buy 6-8 cords of seasoned hardwood to go with it. I would like for the temperature to be from 26'C to 32'C throught the house. My old stove was a huge cast iron stove that had a split door in the front have no idea what it was rated for but would eat the wood if you let it and it could make the room it was in go up to 43'C which was a bit much. I think I need a stove thats rated for between 70 000 & 95 000 Btu's but I'm not sure. The stoves I'm looking into are a pacific energy summit or alderlea T6, Drolet Sahara or HT-2000 or a Harman Tl300 but I don't want to make a wrong choice and get one that's too small or too big. It's also not -25'C all winter where I live either it's more like -10'C or -15'C normally in the winter. This time I'll mount up corner fans in every doorway to distrubute the heat throught the house a little better too. Any help on deciding would be greatly appreciated.
Need to switch back to a wood stove but which one do I get?
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mayhem
Minister of Fire
Others will chime in with more informed opinions I'm sure, but one thing occurs to me. Not all pellets are created equal. My brother hates his pellet stove...it has an awful heat output and does a very poor job of heating even a small area...and its a relativly large stove (don't know the model). He always buys the cheapest pellets he can though, so they're strictly softwood. My wife's uncle has a pellet stove considerably smaller and less expensive in his house and he heats the whole house with it all winter long...interestingly he uses nothing but hardwood pellets.
Just suggesting you might want to try switching your fuel to another brand/type before you toss it all in the trash.
Wish iwas closer...been looking for a cheap used pellet stove to hook up in my basement so I can shut down my radiant floor heat...uses too much oil.
Just suggesting you might want to try switching your fuel to another brand/type before you toss it all in the trash.
Wish iwas closer...been looking for a cheap used pellet stove to hook up in my basement so I can shut down my radiant floor heat...uses too much oil.
blujacket
Minister of Fire
You can heat your room to 72c which is 161f ? Wow. I cant see any stove heating a house like that.
250colin,
You'll want a stove with at least a 3 cu ft firebox. The Englander nc-30 might be a good fit for you and will save you some money on the purchase price. I'd also consider something like the Buck model 91 if you're okay with having a cat. More money to spend... get a Blaze King.
You'll want a stove with at least a 3 cu ft firebox. The Englander nc-30 might be a good fit for you and will save you some money on the purchase price. I'd also consider something like the Buck model 91 if you're okay with having a cat. More money to spend... get a Blaze King.
It sounds like you are trying to heat a sieve. The best investment you can do for your comfort is to seal up the leaks in that old house and blow in some insulation in the walls and attic. Put a couple grand into tightening up the place and it will always be paying back with interest for the rest of your life.
Sorry :roll: but when I first posted this I used both celsius and fahrenheit but I had marked all the temperatures as being celsius but now I got them all in celsius so it should make sense now. :roll:
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
250, welcome to the forum.
It is a shame with what you have done and are still cold. We know of many that way, sorry to say. But you are probably on the right track with getting a new stove. I won't give anything on that but I will say that you need to get next year's wood cut now! At least drop the trees before the sap runs. Then cut, split and stack the wood and hopefully it will be ready next fall (I don't know what you have other than poplar). Most wood will season enough over a good summer so that you can burn the next winter but not all. Try to get two years ahead if at all possible.
Though I've not been there, it seems to me that you live in a very wet area, similar to the Pacific NW. If so, you may have to cover the top of your woodpile right away. We always leave ours uncovered the first summer (allows for better evaporation of the moisture in the wood) and then cover the top in late fall or early winter. We have covered it sooner when we had a very wet fall.
Another thing is the movement of the air. This is one thing I learned on this forum (and I've burned wood for over 50 years!) is how to move the air. It seems that if you want a cool room to warm up, you blow warm air into it. Wrong! We've found that if we set a small fan in our hallway, close to the floor, that the rear rooms warm up quite nicely. Just trying to blow down the hall, they stay pretty cool when the temperature is zero or below. But I do think that one fan at floor level pushing the cool air towards the warm and perhaps those little fans that fit right at the top of a doorway (this time aimed at the cool) might also help. That way you have one fan moving the warm and another moving the cool. They would only have to be run at a low speed just to keep the air moving. A high speed and you'll feel a draft.
Good luck.
It is a shame with what you have done and are still cold. We know of many that way, sorry to say. But you are probably on the right track with getting a new stove. I won't give anything on that but I will say that you need to get next year's wood cut now! At least drop the trees before the sap runs. Then cut, split and stack the wood and hopefully it will be ready next fall (I don't know what you have other than poplar). Most wood will season enough over a good summer so that you can burn the next winter but not all. Try to get two years ahead if at all possible.
Though I've not been there, it seems to me that you live in a very wet area, similar to the Pacific NW. If so, you may have to cover the top of your woodpile right away. We always leave ours uncovered the first summer (allows for better evaporation of the moisture in the wood) and then cover the top in late fall or early winter. We have covered it sooner when we had a very wet fall.
Another thing is the movement of the air. This is one thing I learned on this forum (and I've burned wood for over 50 years!) is how to move the air. It seems that if you want a cool room to warm up, you blow warm air into it. Wrong! We've found that if we set a small fan in our hallway, close to the floor, that the rear rooms warm up quite nicely. Just trying to blow down the hall, they stay pretty cool when the temperature is zero or below. But I do think that one fan at floor level pushing the cool air towards the warm and perhaps those little fans that fit right at the top of a doorway (this time aimed at the cool) might also help. That way you have one fan moving the warm and another moving the cool. They would only have to be run at a low speed just to keep the air moving. A high speed and you'll feel a draft.
Good luck.
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
I'm no expert, but I can tell you a few things that I did with my house in the past year or so that I would highly recommend to others.
1) First and foremost . . . take the time and money to tighten up your home's insulation. Insulating a home is certainly not very glamorous and you can't show off your insulating prowess (as opposed to fire starting prowess) to friends and family . . . but in the short run and long run you'll be happy that you spent the time to button up the home. Failing to insulate a home and attempting to run any type of alternative heat to offset the cost of heating with fossil fuels just doesn't make sense since you'll spend a lot more time and money using/buying much more wood/pellets/etc.
The way I see it, heating with alternative heat to "save money and stay warm" while failing to adequately insulate a home is like filling a car's gas tank full of gas in preparation for a long road trip, but then ripping out the radio, seats and upholstery -- sure you may still be able to get from Point A to Point B (either driving or heating the home) but you'll be a lot more comfortable and in the long run be better off when it comes time to sell the car/home down the road.
This past year I found a few areas that I needed more insulation (most notably in two crawl spaces which were always causing ice jams in the winter . . . and in the attic space above my mudroom. I can already tell that spending the time and money to tighten up these spaces has been pretty useful . . . and I'm already planning on adding more insulation to my basement/crawl space this summer.
2) When you do decide to go with a woodstove take the time to size your stove to your home . . . and then take folks' advice here and go at least one size larger. As folks here have said in the past, you can always build a small fire in a large stove . . . it's a bit harder to do the opposite. Plus, it seems that the manufacturers are sometimes a bit optimistic in the BTUs the stoves produce, burn times (whatever their definition of that term may be) etc.
3) Take the time to research the various stoves and what you think you would need in terms of features, size, etc. A great place to start is here at hearth.com at the stove reviews section. You mentioned several choices -- many of which are highly rated here by users.
4) Final bit of advice . . . you're at a good place with good people . . . many of whom know way, way more than I ever will know about woodstoves and wood burning . . . take advantage of their knowledge . . . ask questions.
1) First and foremost . . . take the time and money to tighten up your home's insulation. Insulating a home is certainly not very glamorous and you can't show off your insulating prowess (as opposed to fire starting prowess) to friends and family . . . but in the short run and long run you'll be happy that you spent the time to button up the home. Failing to insulate a home and attempting to run any type of alternative heat to offset the cost of heating with fossil fuels just doesn't make sense since you'll spend a lot more time and money using/buying much more wood/pellets/etc.
The way I see it, heating with alternative heat to "save money and stay warm" while failing to adequately insulate a home is like filling a car's gas tank full of gas in preparation for a long road trip, but then ripping out the radio, seats and upholstery -- sure you may still be able to get from Point A to Point B (either driving or heating the home) but you'll be a lot more comfortable and in the long run be better off when it comes time to sell the car/home down the road.
This past year I found a few areas that I needed more insulation (most notably in two crawl spaces which were always causing ice jams in the winter . . . and in the attic space above my mudroom. I can already tell that spending the time and money to tighten up these spaces has been pretty useful . . . and I'm already planning on adding more insulation to my basement/crawl space this summer.
2) When you do decide to go with a woodstove take the time to size your stove to your home . . . and then take folks' advice here and go at least one size larger. As folks here have said in the past, you can always build a small fire in a large stove . . . it's a bit harder to do the opposite. Plus, it seems that the manufacturers are sometimes a bit optimistic in the BTUs the stoves produce, burn times (whatever their definition of that term may be) etc.
3) Take the time to research the various stoves and what you think you would need in terms of features, size, etc. A great place to start is here at hearth.com at the stove reviews section. You mentioned several choices -- many of which are highly rated here by users.
4) Final bit of advice . . . you're at a good place with good people . . . many of whom know way, way more than I ever will know about woodstoves and wood burning . . . take advantage of their knowledge . . . ask questions.
MovingOffGrid
Member
I concur with the good suggestions you've received:
1) Insulate insulate insulate!
2) Blaze King ... a little farther down the food chain is my PE Summit or if you've insulated the house well a Blaze King Princess might do, or most other large firebox stoves as mentioned the Englander, although I have no experience with that one.
So far, I am very happy with the Summit in a 2500 sq ft two story central chimney home, but it's very well insulated with R20 in walls, R40 in ceilings and double pane windows, but I would not want to be heating exclusively with it for two stories on some of the very cold days we had in December.
If you aren't going to insulate, then the gargantuan Blaze King definitely! it will provide the longest burn times possible. I watched it work at my stove dealer and it is a steady burning powerhouse. It can also motor along on low for many hours, but except for the worst days in winter, I think it's overkill for pretty tight homes in coastal BC weather.
1) Insulate insulate insulate!
2) Blaze King ... a little farther down the food chain is my PE Summit or if you've insulated the house well a Blaze King Princess might do, or most other large firebox stoves as mentioned the Englander, although I have no experience with that one.
So far, I am very happy with the Summit in a 2500 sq ft two story central chimney home, but it's very well insulated with R20 in walls, R40 in ceilings and double pane windows, but I would not want to be heating exclusively with it for two stories on some of the very cold days we had in December.
If you aren't going to insulate, then the gargantuan Blaze King definitely! it will provide the longest burn times possible. I watched it work at my stove dealer and it is a steady burning powerhouse. It can also motor along on low for many hours, but except for the worst days in winter, I think it's overkill for pretty tight homes in coastal BC weather.
snowtime
Minister of Fire
I love our T6 and recommend it. Its versatility at running hot or just warm on those mild days is important. We also heat only with wood and our home is very well insulated. Your house insulation sounds like a problem. I also think your old stove probably threw a lot of heat so be sure you get a big enough stove. If you can not fix that then seeing as it will be your only source of heat I would strongly recommend the Blaze King. It will definitely do the job.
lexybird
Minister of Fire
i had a similar problem this fall. i bought a new 1300 sq pellet/corn stove ,i soon realized these pellet burners are more like a novelty ,they offer very little radiant heat the blowers seem weak to move air across a lrage area and the temperature output is nothing spectacular .my employer just bought a new large sized 2200 sq foot pellet stove and he is experiancing the same problem, .it only heats about half of what its rated for effectivley .they are alot of hype in my opinion ,they can make decent room heaters if you leave them run indefinitly but dont expect to heat a whole house comfortably in the frigid cold ,plus if the power goes out your screwed .pellets arent cheap(we only have hardwood quality pellets here) and get harder to come by,ultimatley i got smart and sold mine and quite playing with rabbit food ..I started burning large wood splits in my new addon wood furnace and we couldnt be happier or warmer ....buy a NC-30 and dont look back
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