New to wood burning

[Cottageaddict]

Hello All! I am new to burning as a source of heat. Took the plung after we built our pre-fab cottage on the same foundation as an older cottage was built. It came with an Old wood stove, quite small which
I kept reloading wood all the time due to small firebox. The stove in in the basement , with a 24' chimeny directly outside.

Once we got our 1st electric energy bill, I nearly pasted out! So I ´snapped' and did my research and narrowed it down to the Regency F3500 so far. I like the look big window, clean lines and technology of the catalytic Stove. Does anyone hear own one? What can I expect from this stove if my only source of heat to be wood burning. I have little to no experience with this, so any tips you can provide will help! Thanks do much! Mike

 

[brad wilton]

Hey addict welcome , could you give a rough drawing of the layout of house it will help the guys & gals to help you out.your basement is finished i hope otherwise about 50% of your heat is going to get sucked into the basement walls,if everything is insulated well and you heat 24/7 the heat will eventually rise up through house but it won't be as warm as the basement.you will also need dry wood around 15 to 20% the epa stoves live for dry wood.i assume being a cottage you have two floors if so it will be very hard to get heat up to second floor.

 

[Cottageaddict]

Hey addict welcome , could you give a rough drawing of the layout of house it will help the guys & gals to help you out.your basement is finished i hope otherwise about 50% of your heat is going to get sucked into the basement walls,if everything is insulated well and you heat 24/7 the heat will eventually rise up through house but it won't be as warm as the basement.you will also need dry wood around 15 to 20% the epa stoves live for dry wood.i assume being a cottage you have two floors if so it will be very hard to get heat up to second floor.

Hello Brad, thx for the quick reply. I have loaded 2 photos for you. One of the outside of the house with dimensions of each floor. And the other is to show you where the stove is located (basement under the beadrooms on far left of the house - when you are facing the pic)
The basement is almost finished. It is insulated with 3" of monofoam and chiprock , ponted. Howver no floors are in (only painted cement) and ceiling is still open (plumbing and wires showing) The existing small wood stove is located under the bedrooms, the stair case is always open to above. 1343 sqft basement plus same size main floor and 400 sqft loft area, all open concept. Don-Bar fireplace located on mainfloor for ambiance only. 24' chimney is all exterier.
Let me know what other info is required.

 

[Oldman47]

Welcome to the forum. I am going to guess that if the house is new to you that you do not have any well seasoned wood to burn. Until you get wood and start to get it dried for at least a year you will need to pay whatever HydroQuebec is charging you. Without dry wood you are completely at their mercy. For your 1350 square foot floor plan I would expect you will need at least a 3 cubic foot firebox in order to use it as your sole heating source. The 3.0 cubic foot capacity of the model 3500 will be just enough. You might want to consider a bit bigger fire box if you want to get away from the hydro bill completely.

 

[Starstuff]

That looks like a Pacific Energy (Super 27?) and is not as old as you think it is. Should be an excellent heater for your 1300sq ft insulated basement with proper usage. Definitely not enough to heat the whole house, but the step up to the Regency probably wont be much of an improvement. If you can add a second stove upstairs that would probably be better

I'm just curious if you are well-versed in burning in an EPA stove? My apologies for being presumptuous if you are. If you are not, then stick around here and you'll learn how to really use that baby and get some real heat!

 

[Seanm]

That looks like a Pacific Energy (Super 27?) and is not as old as you think it is. Should be an excellent heater for your 1300sq ft insulated basement with proper usage.

I have the super 27 which is the same stove unless thats a vista but I dont think so. I also have the same square footage and location of stove but my basement is fully finished living space. I live in a 83 build with 2 x 6 exterior walls and newer windows so that will have to be factored in. Had I known better I would have gone with the summit which has a 3 cf fire box for that extra muscle when needed. That being said Im able to heat my house with the super with the exception of the coldest days.

 

[Cottageaddict]

Hello, To address some questions above, I do have dry split wood from a year ago left and we just chopped down a dead tree and it seems dry? As for the model of the existing stove, I don't know? I will check this coming weekend IF the label is not faded and post it here.

As far as being well versed in buring in an EPA stove, I don't know anything at all. Perhaps my expectations are a little high for how much heat I can get out of it or I want to ensure I dont keep reloading it 4x a day (pain in the xxx) , since the firebox is small?
It has no blower fan, not sure that will help?
Thx, Mike

 

[brad wilton]

Hi addict, if you could get someone to come look at the fireplace and see if you can put in an insert or more affective fireplace like a cozy heat that would help you cut the hydro cable

 

[brad wilton]

The pe 27 is a very good stove,i think your problem with it is your loading to often once you have a good fire going start to turn down the air a 1/2 inch wait a few minutes then turn it down again you should get whats called a secondary burn then just let it heat you should only have to load three times if burning 24/7

 

[Seanm]

As far as being well versed in buring in an EPA stove, I don't know anything at all. Perhaps my expectations are a little high for how much heat I can get out of it or I want to ensure I dont keep reloading it 4x a day (pain in the xxx) , since the firebox is small?

4 times a day isnt all that bad so like you aluded to it boils down to expectations. Certainly a cat stove will be able to give you longer burn times especially during milder weather. They excel at low and slow. I did a quick re read of the thread and didn't see any mention as to what kind of wood you are burning? Sorry if I missed it. I burn soft woods almost exclusively and use larch/tamarack for over night burns with a reload at around now (11 pm) and then reload at 9 or 10 in the morning. When its cold out and draft increases I find reloading occurs earlier, like around 8ish. Not trying to talk you out of replacing the stove, each to their own. Hunting for a new stove can be kind of fun. Is the baffle in place with your stove? Cheers!

 

[brad wilton]

Hi sean,i figure three times because my poorly insulated house i average three a day ,all stone walls doesn't keep heat in too long.one in the morning one in the evening one before bed

 

[billb3]

Loading 4 or 5 times a day a 2 cu ft stove is what we do.
Won't heat the whole house in real cold weather either.

 

[brad wilton]

I have a dovre 400 cast iron stove that heats my 1991 bungalow 800sqft not huge footage but the stove is probably 1.5 cuft 4 splits about same heating schedule

 

[Oldman47]

In Quebec his typical wood will be something like iron wood, beech or birch but his best wood is likely to be sugar maple.

 

[Cottageaddict]

Hello All - well I took the plunge and must say that it was ´baptism by fire'! After my new Regency F3500 state of the art fireplace arrived, I was so excited to light the 1st fire, that I did not read the manual! (Mistake)...after the fire alarm finally stopped ringing, i figured out that with a NEW stove, the firebricks must be rid of any humidity for the fire to actually catch...other than continous smoke entering the house, it finally found it's place and it is an exceptional machine with splendid glowing fire once rhe cataytic mode is on. It provided steady heat and burned 1/4 of the wood my other Pacific Energy Super 27 did. Perhaps the seal was worn, but there was a huge difference in the ´steady heat' that the Regency gave off. The air blower fan also must help, since I did not have one of the other stove. Now I need to sell the other stove. What should I oroce it at? Thx!
Mike

 

[brad wilton]

Cats are made to burn nice and long hope you enjoy it