Newbie looking for advice

[TriMom]

We are tired of paying the oil man.

I've been to many shops, read here and other places on line and feel like I'm on information overload.

Wood we'd have to buy. Have been mixing wood with biobricks or the like this year in our Garrison. Can we use only bio brick type fuel?

We have a house built in 1992 with about 1550 SF on each floor including half the basement is finished. House is pretty well insulated and we use about 1000 gallons a year including hot water for big family and about 4200 finished SF. We live in MA. We have two zones of heating one main floor and one second floor.

We have 3 fireplaces...2 are normal brick fireplaces on opposites of the house on outside walls. Living room fireplace has flue with a second flue used for old Garrison stove in basement.We get back draft in the basement if we have fire in family room or if it is windy. We don't have a liner in chimney.

Family room (opposite side of the house) has fireplace that one flue is for furnace and other for fireplace. This fireplace burns the best.

Kitchen has a prefab fireplace that is quite small and unlikely to be able to do anything with.

We are considering but open to other options or suggestions:

Replacing Garrison with a wood stove that is more efficient. I like the look of Jotuls. We live near many dealers with most all brands as well as NH where we could drive and get a Woodstock. For the basement that is about 1000-1200 SF what type of BTU output would be appropriate? My husband travels a lot so easy to maintain and long burn time would be great. We have a big brick hearth and wall that will likely fit any free standing stove. Blaze King we'd have to go farther to get plus look is different than we like.

Main floor:
Kitchen and master bedroom (above kitchen) are the coolest room in the house. Kitchen has prefab fireplace which won't work for a pellet or wood insert. We are considering putting in a pellet stove in one corner. I think with clearances and space to wall/windows a wood burning stove won't work.

Also considering adding pellet stove insert into Living room fireplace as it opens up into more of the house. Or putting a nice looking see the flame type wood burning insert into family room.

We wouldn't do all three on main level...just considering our options.

Other idea would be put a pellet furnace in basement and hook into HVAC system and add pellet stove into kitchen with master bedroom upstairs.

I'm worried a bit about clearance of wood burning inserts into family room fireplace.

Opening to combustibles is 34 5/8 tall and 49 5/8 wide
Firebox
24" deep
27 high
37 front width
21 3/4 back width
Raised heart is 20" deep and 10" off the ground.

Looking at Jotul inserts not enough non combustible surround is my take.

What would you suggest?

Is buying a wood burning stove or insert off Craigslist generally ok if we have it installed professionally or is there a big risk.

Lots of information but hope I gave enough to get some helpful input.

 

[TriMom]

A follow up, do you think we could put a free standing stove into the family room fireplace?

 

[Dix]

Welcome to the forums !!

I think a floor plan would help, here... rough draft is fine.

Start getting firewood now !!

 

[dougand3]

Pics of FPs and potential install locations will help. From what I've seen on CL...mostly overpriced junk BUT you may find a diamond in the rough. Need to be able to assess stove condition well, in order to avoid potential expensive repair bill. But CL lookin' is free!

 

[Dix]

A follow up, do you think we could put a free standing stove into the family room fireplace?

You might.

Again, a floor plan will help.

 

[TriMom]

Outside of house to see the chimneys


Corner in Kitchen that we may put in stove in

Fireplace in kitchen prefab

Outside of house to see chimneys(broken image removed)
Right is prefab in kitchen

More photos in another post

 

[begreen]

Seems like you are vacillating between pellet and wood. Pellets are convenient, nice on a thermostaticallly controlled stove and can be cost effective depending on your supplier. But they are often noisier and more complex which makes them more prone to component failure. Wood will take more effort (stacking, loading) than pellets but it is quieter, works during power outages and may be less expensive.

Why can't an insert be installed in the pre-fab fireplace? Do you know its make and model?

For the basement stove size, is the basement insulated?

 

[Wood Duck]

I'd consider a large catalytic wood stove for downstairs. If you've been using the Garrison stove then I assume it helps keep the house warm, so a better stove in the same location should help. Woodstock sells catalytic stoves that people on this forum really like. I think the Fireview is the large catalytic model from woodstock. With a stove like that you'd be able to load no more than twice a day, which isn't an excessive amount of work.

If you want more heating then an insert upstairs somewhere would be a nice addition. You could use it for ambiance and also in really cold weather. I think a liner would really help make an insert or stove work better. I suspect that backdraft problems could be reduced by extending the flue(s) out the top of the chimney.

Adding more hearth to a fireplace isn't a big deal, so i wouldn't let it be the only factor in the choice of an insert.

Your catalytic stove will need nice, dry firewood. I'd try to get a two year supply stacked right now. The wood may be a little wet the first year, but should be good for the second year. You'll want to get faster dring wood, especially for the first year. Ash, Maple, pine, cherry are all relatively fast drying. Oak is great but dries very slowly.

 

[TriMom]

Begreen:
Prefab fireplace is a Superior FB model BCF3835

Opening is about 37 wide and 20 high depending if we measure to opening of door unit or bricks behind it. Chimney sweep that installs pellet stoves told me it wouldn't work.

It would be easiest to install in fireplace. There is two vents one something from outside that is about 4-5' above the ground and the other one that sort of looks like drier vent that goes to top of chimney and has a round cap on top.

Yes we are debating back and forth between wood and pellet. We like look of wood burning but the ease of pellets makes it attractive. The more complex nature of pellet stove is big negative.

We just started using the Garrison this year. It does warm up finished basement quite a bit and when we burn it higher we can tell in the floor above it.

Wood Duck:
The chimney company we had out to clean and inspect our chimneys suggested we line our flue for our Garrison but he wanted $2000 to line chimney which seemed a bit high. We also have some weird angles in the piping out the Garrison and think reducing the angles would help with backdraft.

 

[dave_376]

I don't see any base board heaters so I assume you have hot air. I would get an ad on furnace or a dual fuel furnace since you would get even heat through out your whole house and not have a space heater.