Needing a bigger stoveo

[Mahoney86]

I currently have a raised ranch in central NJ aprox. 1650sq ft. I brought my Jotul F400 with me when we moved and hooked it up on a central wall in our living room which is on the Eastern side of our home. Open wall heading into the kitchen and a then 3 bedrooms down the hall to the Western side. I currently have a fan blowing down the hall on light speed into the wood stove room. My problem, as most people have is that the living room stays at a nice temperature, however on cold nights I get zero help from the stove anywhere else in the house unless I work the stove very hard and even still I do not get much help. On a warm day, low 50s I can usually raise my master bedroom up approx. 8 degrees by using the stove at a nice pace. On cold days I get maybe 0-1 degrees help. My original throught process was that the Jotul F400 was rated up to 1600sq ft, I knew it would be pushing it but I was hoping that I would not steam out the living room with going with a large sized stove. In my opinion I think my issue is that Im maxing the stove out. I would also like a larger burn time. I have a Jotul F600 in my hunting camp which I believe would probably be too large for a 1650 sq ft home correct? I was thinking I may be best to upgrade to a Jotul 500 Oslo. Any thoughts on this?

I also purchased a Harmon Oakwood used, that I intended to use in my basement man cave or in my garage however I have not gotten around to setting it up in the last 2 years. Since then the stove has token on some surface rust and could use a cleaning and probably a paint job. If I could refinish that stuff, would the Harmon possibly be a better fit for the upstairs and maybe Ill swap the Jotul 400 into the mancave? Ultimately it may be worth just doing a test run with the Harmom and seeing if that helps heat the house better?

Any input would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[BuckyBeaver524]

I currently have a raised ranch in central NJ aprox. 1650sq ft. I brought my Jotul F400 with me when we moved and hooked it up on a central wall in our living room which is on the Eastern side of our home. Open wall heading into the kitchen and a then 3 bedrooms down the hall to the Western side. I currently have a fan blowing down the hall on light speed into the wood stove room. My problem, as most people have is that the living room stays at a nice temperature, however on cold nights I get zero help from the stove anywhere else in the house unless I work the stove very hard and even still I do not get much help. On a warm day, low 50s I can usually raise my master bedroom up approx. 8 degrees by using the stove at a nice pace. On cold days I get maybe 0-1 degrees help. My original throught process was that the Jotul F400 was rated up to 1600sq ft, I knew it would be pushing it but I was hoping that I would not steam out the living room with going with a large sized stove. In my opinion I think my issue is that Im maxing the stove out. I would also like a larger burn time. I have a Jotul F600 in my hunting camp which I believe would probably be too large for a 1650 sq ft home correct? I was thinking I may be best to upgrade to a Jotul 500 Oslo. Any thoughts on this?

I also purchased a Harmon Oakwood used, that I intended to use in my basement man cave or in my garage however I have not gotten around to setting it up in the last 2 years. Since then the stove has token on some surface rust and could use a cleaning and probably a paint job. If I could refinish that stuff, would the Harmon possibly be a better fit for the upstairs and maybe Ill swap the Jotul 400 into the mancave? Ultimately it may be worth just doing a test run with the Harmom and seeing if that helps heat the house better?

Any input would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!

With a house layout like yours, heat source on one end and the bedrooms on the other end separated by a hallway, you will never get an even distribution of heat no matter how many fans you run. Yes it is possible to move some heat, but it will never be anything close to ducted heat from a furnace. And upgrading to a larger stove is probably not a comfortable solution. Often times trying to run a big stove with a small fire results in poor performance. At least now your living room is comfortable - a bigger stove will probably over heat that space, and the bedrooms will still be cold. Perhaps you might try turning off a heating vent in the heated area (be careful not to turn off too many vents and throw the balance of your heating system off) and allow your furnace to take the chill off the bedrooms. Also, try down comforters on the beds or maybe electric blankets. Just use the furnace for a short time right before going to bed and a setback thermostat to turn heat on right before getting up in the morning. I have friends who live in your region and that method works well for them. Good luck.

 

[Mahoney86]

With a house layout like yours, heat source on one end and the bedrooms on the other end separated by a hallway, you will never get an even distribution of heat no matter how many fans you run. Yes it is possible to move some heat, but it will never be anything close to ducted heat from a furnace. And upgrading to a larger stove is probably not a comfortable solution. Often times trying to run a big stove with a small fire results in poor performance. At least now your living room is comfortable - a bigger stove will probably over heat that space, and the bedrooms will still be cold. Perhaps you might try turning off a heating vent in the heated area (be careful not to turn off too many vents and throw the balance of your heating system off) and allow your furnace to take the chill off the bedrooms. Also, try down comforters on the beds or maybe electric blankets. Just use the furnace for a short time right before going to bed and a setback thermostat to turn heat on right before getting up in the morning. I have friends who live in your region and that method works well for them. Good luck.

Thank you for the reply. I agree and understand that it will never be equal heating do the layout. However, I have seen that it does dramatically help with the temperatures are warmer outside. We typically leave our baseboard thermostat at 60 degrees during the day and 62* at night. The living room will get in to low 70s and be comfortable on the coldest of nights, though the adjoin kitchen is still only a degree or 2 above the thermostat on cold days. Warm days, I can get the bedrooms up to 68* degrees. Ive done a few things like running my central air on fan mode, playing with ceiling fans and desk fans but on the cold days, nothing seems to work which makes me wonder if the stove is undersized for the application

 

[BuckyBeaver524]

Thank you for the reply. I agree and understand that it will never be equal heating do the layout. However, I have seen that it does dramatically help with the temperatures are warmer outside. We typically leave our baseboard thermostat at 60 degrees during the day and 62* at night. The living room will get in to low 70s and be comfortable on the coldest of nights, though the adjoin kitchen is still only a degree or 2 above the thermostat on cold days. Warm days, I can get the bedrooms up to 68* degrees. Ive done a few things like running my central air on fan mode, playing with ceiling fans and desk fans but on the cold days, nothing seems to work which makes me wonder if the stove is undersized for the application

Well, you need to do what you need to do. Let me ask you this: if you dump more heat in the living room and are not able to move most of it out to the bedrooms, will it make the living room too warm? I think that is the key concern here.

 

[jatoxico]

If you can post a rough diagram of the house layout you may get some help. @begreen has a black belt in heat distribution.

 

[Mahoney86]

Good ideas, I attached a sketch of the layout of my ranch. Each room has a ceiling mounted fan and each room has multiple HVAC ceiling mounted HVAC return. The Western part of the hallways has a ceiling HVAC supply as well.

 

[begreen]

It sounds like there is quite a bit of heat loss happening. In very cold weather the heat loss appears to be exceeding the ability to recover with heat from the stove. One place to examine is the attic based HVAC system. They can be a source of a lot of cold air. Tape a thermometer (or use a probe thermometer) to check the temp on a cold day at each supply and return.

Is the attic HVAC just AC or heating also? How well insulated and sealed is the system? What is the insulation like in the walls and ceiling?

 

[Mahoney86]

The attic HVAC system is AC only, heat is from HWBB. The return ducts are flex duct that a wrapped very well in my opinion. Attic insulation is old, probably original 20 plus years old, there is no missing areas just old, the room with the stove was a recent addition maybe 10 years old so that insulation is newer. I am also thinking that we have an un-insulated basement that is not heated as well as wood floors, I could be getting a good amount of cold air up through the floors as well.

 

[jatoxico]

One thing that caught my attention was you saying you're running the fan on high (light speed). From what I've gathered slow and gentle is better.