New Member (Heyyyyy) and questions

[jamus34]

Hello All,

New member here. I'm used to burning wood but for smoking purposes rather than home warming.

In the process of purchasing a house in western NJ that is currently using oil heat. Happy in that I currently have forced hot air heat which sucks in my opinion, unhappy because NG is one of the cheapest heating sources out there and I'm moving over to an oil fired furnace (baseboard heating).

The home currently has a LP gas insert in the FP. Looking to rip that out and put something wood burning in. I've seen some setup's that have a stove in the fireplace and some that use an insert.

What are the specific pro's and con's with each? Unfortunately I do not have the measurements of the FP however I may be able to post a picture for reference.

TIA for any advice / thoughts.

 

[Grisu]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Congrats to your (soon to be) new home. To figure out if you can use a hearth-mounted stove you will need to find out the height of the fireplace and the depth of your hearth. The way it looks you may need to partially recess any stove in the fireplace which may restrict your possibilities. You will also need to check whether your current flue allows a liner for a woodburning stove. A hearth-mounted stove has a few advantages:
- More radiant heat and less/no reliance on a blower to distribute the heat.
- Comparable stove models are often less expensive than the insert.
- Potential cooking surface in case of a power outage.
- Safer option with a prefab fireplace (as yours may be).

Disadvantages:
- Takes up more space.
- Requires a relatively tall fireplace.
- More limited selection.

Plus, many wives seem to prefer the look of an insert over a hearth-mounted stove.

I would suggest posting the measurements and some more pictures of the fireplace. In addition, the following info will be helpful:
Size of home? Insulation? Do you know the last owner's oil consumption during the winter? Are you planning on primarily heating with wood? Budget? Floorplan?

You will also need to get dry, seasoned wood if you want to burn next winter.

 

[Jags]

Wait. Oil burner for heat, yet LP for the fireplace and you want to replace the fireplace with wood? I am with ya with wood burning replacing the LP, but why oh why wouldn't you replace the oil burner with an LP option?

 

[avsmusic1]

Welcome!

Once we have measurements, layout, sq ft, budget, etc the flood gates will open with quality recommendations

Side note - have you checked to see if you can convert to NG?

 

[jamus34]

Wait. Oil burner for heat, yet LP for the fireplace and you want to replace the fireplace with wood? I am with ya with wood burning replacing the LP, but why oh why wouldn't you replace the oil burner with an LP option?

Oil furnace is maybe 2 years old. I'd eventually like to look to convert it to something else (not sure if NG is available in the area but that would be preferred) but I'm not going to scrap what amounts to a brand new system at this point. If it was 10+ years old then sure I'd think about it.

Is LP really better than fuel oil? I always thought LP was the worst for heating besides electric expense-wise.

A little more background the fireplace hasn't been used for close to a decade per the current owner and no gas in the tank - I'm going under the assumption the insert is non-functioning.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. We'll need to know more about the fireplace to give good advice. Besides getting the dimension of the fireplace it will be important to know if this is a masonry fireplace with a masonry chimney. If it is, approximately how tall is it (one story or two)? How open is the floor plan and in particular this room to the rest of the house. That will determine the right size insert or stove. Both will work.

PS: Sounds like the house has an oil boiler. A furnace is for hot air.

 

[jamus34]

Some specifics I know right now:

2 level Colonial. 2000 sq ft
Built in 77 / 78.

Insulation is ok; probably going to add batts in the attic sometime this fall to get it to around R-50 / R-60 level. Walls are unknown but probably the R-13 to R-19 range based on age.

I'll see if I can scrounge up a floorplan.

budget is somewhat up in the air. gonna plan on working on the wood supply this summer with the expectation that the stove would go in sometime next summer but I may try to shoe-horn it this year. Probably looking 3-4k total installed cost.

 

[jamus34]

Welcome. We'll need to know more about the fireplace to give good advice. Besides getting the dimension of the fireplace it will be important to know if this is a masonry fireplace with a masonry chimney. If it is, approximately how tall is it (one story or two)? How open is the floor plan and in particular this room to the rest of the house. That will determine the right size insert or stove. Both will work.

PS: Sounds like the house has an oil boiler. A furnace is for hot air.

Doh

Yeah...I'm coming from a forced hot air NG lit furnace so I think in terms of furnaces.

Chimney's two story on an exterior wall. It actually needs some work as there was notable damage so I'm unsure what the makeup of the chimney will be on closing.downstairs floor plan is pretty open from what I remember...I'll try to get it sketched out.

 

[begreen]

Great, 2 story is good. It looks like a decent sized fireplace that may be able to accommodate a good sized insert. Regardless of heater you will want an insulated stainless liner connecting it and an insulated block off plate at or below the damper area. The mantel is a little close so that may be a factor for clearances. But a mantel shield can help mitigate that issue or perhaps go with a flush insert.

 

[jamus34]

Ok, here's a picture of the first floor. Fireplace is in family room

 

[begreen]

Looks like the heat will get upstairs pretty easily. The living room may get the short end of the stick without some assistance.

 

[Kosmik]

I've never seen an oil boiler, but I'd figure it would be easy to make use of the existing infrastructure with a wood boiler?
Just notice a lot of people out east seem to have oil boilers, I like fireplaces and stoves but if I already had radiators hooked up?
Plus it seems like you can fit a bit of wood in some of those boilers, 6-7 cuft. Then if you can't run it, you have all that water that has been heated which will take time to cool down...(yes, time to heat up too...But if it lets you get an extra 24 hrs before the house freezes?)

I'm sure you will know more, just wonder why I don't see more changing out of the oil boiler with wood boiler?

Or it's probably because this is the wood stove section Takes me a minute sometimes.

 

[begreen]

This is a bit more expensive change, but there are wood/oil boilers out there if the OP is interested. That would be a better topic for the boiler room forum here.

 

[fire_man]

Wait. Oil burner for heat, yet LP for the fireplace and you want to replace the fireplace with wood? I am with ya with wood burning replacing the LP, but why oh why wouldn't you replace the oil burner with an LP option?

I don't know about Illinois, but in parts of New England this winter, LP was 30% more expensive than oil per BTU.

 

[jamus34]

I don't know about Illinois, but in parts of New England this winter, LP was 30% more expensive than oil per BTU.

Yeah...I'm not up on current LP prices but I use to work for Suburban about a decade ago and LP *might* have been cheaper per BTU in the fuel itself but there were tons of added on charges that would kill the number (cylinder rental fee, delivery charge, etc)

Not really looking to convert the oil to wood or even NG at this time. It's a closed loop baseboard heating system with an attached boiler holding tank for hot water. The boiler, water tank and oil tank are all less than 5 years old that I can tell so I have no real reason to change it out; I am more looking for a way to supplement the heat I have with the FP. Once any component starts to go out on me I will look to transitioning to a NG boiler if it's available.

I also need a good way to keep wood. I think I have a pretty good space that I can stash about 2 cords but any more than that may take some planning.

BTW - Thanks for all the ideas / thoughts. I had a FP in my current house (last used in 2006) that was worthless for heat. Looking to make something that is there more useful.

 

[Jags]

I don't know about Illinois, but in parts of New England this winter, LP was 30% more expensive than oil per BTU.

Fair enough. Oil is not comparable to anything around my parts. Almost non-existent because of costs.

 

[Grisu]

I also need a good way to keep wood. I think I have a pretty good space that I can stash about 2 cords but any more than that may take some planning.

If you have some room in the garage/basement think about getting some compressed wood logs like Ecobricks or Biobricks to supplement your cordwood. They are more expensive than firewood but when bought by the pallet it is not that much more. Still, a huge saving compared with oil. And you won't have to worry about moisture content or getting bugs in the house.

 

[Kosmik]

I do believe there is an extensive 'Woodshed' thread.
Seems to be most peoples answer to storage here.

Also, seems the cone is a popular way of stacking wood in other places with limited space.
http://www.holzmiete.de/instruction.php

Putting wood stove/insert in your FPs will dent your heating bill in a big way...It'll be addicting.

 

[jamus34]

I'm bumping this with an additional question (sorry I know it's an old post).

Can I rip out the existing hearth to floor level, put in a hearth pad and then install a larger stove (that will then fit in the fireplace)?

Really don't know what my options are. I would like to get a catalytic stove / insert however I'm not exactly thrilled with the painted white brick look so I'd like to rip the hearth out either way. Also wondering what ballpark labor would be for that type of job...would this be considered a major project?

 

[Kosmik]

Somewhat depends on the stove...
What you need to protect is the floor from 'pyrolisis' ?sp?.
Should be found near the 'minimum clearances' data.
So different stoves will indicate different R values and thicknesses of the material under the stove so one too many overfires doesn't catch the floor on fire.

The hearth pad is just to catch falling embers and such, not insulate combustible materials from the stove.

The rest, I do not know.

 

[Grisu]

I'm bumping this with an additional question (sorry I know it's an old post).

Can I rip out the existing hearth to floor level, put in a hearth pad and then install a larger stove (that will then fit in the fireplace)?

Really don't know what my options are. I would like to get a catalytic stove / insert however I'm not exactly thrilled with the painted white brick look so I'd like to rip the hearth out either way. Also wondering what ballpark labor would be for that type of job...would this be considered a major project?

What kind of fireplace is it exactly? Does it have a metal floor and a steel pipe as chimney? If yes, you can probably remove the brick hearth in front but you won't be able to recess any stove in the fireplace without removing that, too. Essentially you would remove the whole fireplace, finish the space as an alcove and then you can put a freestanding stove in there. If you want to go catalytic, Blaze King and Woodstock would be two obvious choices. Do you have a pic of the outside "chimney"? Contracting that out won't necessarily come cheap and will be in addition to stove, chimney etc.