I've been lurking.....and I'm very impressed. I live in North Florida (5 miles south of Georgia line) and it really does get cold sometimes. Down to upper twentys tomorrow....I heat with cental heat/air propane furnance. Burn about 300-400 gallons year using programable timer and max 68*...no one home during weekdays. Old house with good insulation (R28 attic) but off grade wood floors open underneath.....they get cold. Everything is sealed good (I reglazed 192 panes of glass last year...very fun) and chauked every crack I could get at. I've cut my electric bill in 1/2 (avg $200 down to $104) and I run that a/c all summer....had lots of leaks I guess...lol. New white metal roof installed this past fall....expecting a/c bill to go down another $20/month or so.
My father heats with old Sierra stove and we have access to free good oak....just sweat equity. Looking to use old fireplace that has been inspected and cleaned to vent wood stove (too small for insert). Opening height is issue as fp is only 26.25" high for a rear vent stove....this limits my choices. Total sqft of house is approx 1600 but I'm really heating about 1300'.
Dealership choices are limited, only one local showroom (they have been helpful...and sold my brother his insert for new house years ago) and another dealers 1 1/2 away. Looking at Jotul FC3B, Castine (will just fit w/ short leg) and Morso 7110 (2110 is nice but too $$). Both quoted same price for FC3B ($1629) and Castine($19something) but only local has Morso ($1770 for 7110). Had about decided on FC3B but local called me and dropped price to $1360 on the Morso. I plan on doing some negotiating before purchashing either. Looks like about $1100 in materials and another $600-$800 in labor to do the job.
Okay....so I found a heating zone map (EPA linked I think...don't have it handy) that shows zones for different parts of the country and I'm in zone '6' which on thier graph says I need btu/hr average output of 17-23 btu/hr to heat my size house. So I'm trying to figure out the correct size stove for my needs using 20 btu/hr output. I don't know how to figure the average btu/hr for each stove. Jotul shows 42,000 btu max for F3CB and Morso 38,000 btu/hr for 7110. I'm leaning towards the $1360 Morso but don't want to cut myself short and be pennywise and pound foolish.
I cannot run the stove 24/7 as no one is there to fire it anyway but mainly to run in the evenings until I leave for work the next morning and on weekends when needed. I'll still run my furnace if I just need to take the chill out of the air, especially early fall and spring. I plan on cutting that propane use down to maybe 100-150 gal/year.
Advice appreciated.
-ChillyGator
My father heats with old Sierra stove and we have access to free good oak....just sweat equity. Looking to use old fireplace that has been inspected and cleaned to vent wood stove (too small for insert). Opening height is issue as fp is only 26.25" high for a rear vent stove....this limits my choices. Total sqft of house is approx 1600 but I'm really heating about 1300'.
Dealership choices are limited, only one local showroom (they have been helpful...and sold my brother his insert for new house years ago) and another dealers 1 1/2 away. Looking at Jotul FC3B, Castine (will just fit w/ short leg) and Morso 7110 (2110 is nice but too $$). Both quoted same price for FC3B ($1629) and Castine($19something) but only local has Morso ($1770 for 7110). Had about decided on FC3B but local called me and dropped price to $1360 on the Morso. I plan on doing some negotiating before purchashing either. Looks like about $1100 in materials and another $600-$800 in labor to do the job.
Okay....so I found a heating zone map (EPA linked I think...don't have it handy) that shows zones for different parts of the country and I'm in zone '6' which on thier graph says I need btu/hr average output of 17-23 btu/hr to heat my size house. So I'm trying to figure out the correct size stove for my needs using 20 btu/hr output. I don't know how to figure the average btu/hr for each stove. Jotul shows 42,000 btu max for F3CB and Morso 38,000 btu/hr for 7110. I'm leaning towards the $1360 Morso but don't want to cut myself short and be pennywise and pound foolish.
I cannot run the stove 24/7 as no one is there to fire it anyway but mainly to run in the evenings until I leave for work the next morning and on weekends when needed. I'll still run my furnace if I just need to take the chill out of the air, especially early fall and spring. I plan on cutting that propane use down to maybe 100-150 gal/year.
Advice appreciated.
-ChillyGator