Newbie looking for advice!!

[oldandcold]

First let me start by saying "what an awesome forum". Second let me say I am a complete novice at woodburning.

We recently purchased a double wide manufactured home that is approx 1900 Sq Ft. It currently uses electric forced air heating, and after doing some research I can't decide what my best option is. I am looking at either going with a stand alone wood stove or a wood furnace attached to the existing duct.

A couple concerns, most of the wood furnaces I see say they are not approved for mobile/manufactured homes. Our home actually sits on a full basement, which is where the current furnace is located. Any ideas why one of these would not be able to be installed in the basement? Also the chimney would have to run out of the basement wall and up the side of the house. I thought I read somewhere that the metal chimney going up the house would have to be triple wall, but I only see Lowes, Home Depot and Menards selling double wall http://menards.com/main/plumbing/he...wall/6-x-36-chimney-pipe/p-1323305-c-8502.htm. Would it be ok to use this?


Now for the wood stove route. I have two concerns with this, the first being if the stove would be able to keep the whole house warm. The house is about 65' long and about 30' wide, obviously split into two sides right down the middle. On the front half of the house is a family room, then the kitchen, then a good size living room. The family room is basically wide open to the kitchen and then a door sized entrance way leads into the living room. On the back of the house is two smaller bedrooms and a bath(directly behind the family room/kitchen) which is accessed through a door sized entrance from the kitchen. The master bed/bath sit behind the main living room. So do you thing it would be possible to heat this whole house with a wood stove in the family room?
I'm not concerned with it being too hot in the family room as we don't use it much, I am more concerned if the living room and bedroom would stay warm on the other end of the house.

The second concern is this has no attic access, the last homeowners said it was completely filled with insulation when it was brought in. Is it possible to run this chimney pipe up through the ceiling and roof without having access to the attic.


Any suggestions on which option would be best???

Thanks in advance!

 

[WellSeasoned]

I think you can heat your whole house with a woodstove. I'm having one installed in a day, and have researched alot. Lots of help from this site as well. Definitely do your research on woodstoves, there is special regulations for a mobile/mfg home, for example, starting off with a mobile home approved stove, and outside air kit (aka oak), having room for proper stove and pipe clearances, hard mounting the stove to the floor, grounding to the chassis, or running copper rod 7' into ground,ect. Each insurance co and township have there own requirements, ect. I'm quessing you have somewhat of an open floor plan, which will help your situation. Farther off rooms, use fans to move cooler air toward the stove to replace with warmer air. I am going to put a vent/register for the 1 bedroom up toward the ceiling to receive warm air. Good luck and welcome to the forum, your in the right place.

 

[tim1]

Wow, a double wide sitting on a basement foundation. Anyway, freestanding epa 3000 sq.' stove to your flavor would be fine. Do not know local code, but if me, Metalbestos pipe thru wall and up the side of house where I could put some cement board as a extra barrier for the metal siding. Trailers are really due diligence homes and must be addresses. Like wiring,heaters, ventilating,building materials. They can be pretty drafty if old. Good luvk. Tim

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It is very possible to heat that home with a wood stove. The space is very close to what we have and we heat with Woodstock Fireview. Our older stove was an Ashley but the Fireview keeps us warmer with only about half the amount of wood we put into the Ashley.

Basically the big requirement is for the stove to get all of its air from outside the home. The hard mounting to the floor is sort of ridiculous as the home will not be moved again so most pay no attention to that. However, you need to check on codes in your area and also with your insurance company. Also running the chimney up the side of the house is no problem as that is how ours is. In addition, our chimney is not supposed to work because it is too short according to all recommendations. It works just fine.

As for heating the other areas of the home, there are a few tricks that work amazingly well. The easiest is to learn how to move the air and it is not trying to blow the warm air around. Quite the opposite. If you set a small desktop fan (not a pedestal for sure) on the floor in a hallway or doorway and blow the cool air (on low speed) towards the stove room you will be amazed at how well this works. In addition, if you have ceiling fans, run them so that they suck air up rather than blow air down. This all sounds backwards, but it works great.

As for a furnace in the basement, I see no reason why it would not work except for the fact that it will get really old quick having to go up and down the stairs filling the furnace. In addition, you also have to get the wood down there and the ashes out. Lots and lots of work.

And the number one thing is that you need to address the fuel needs before the stove! Burning wood is not like burning oil or gas. With those, you can install a furnace and then call for a fill up. Not so with wood. Even if you are buying and the seller says it is "seasoned" and ready to burn, don't believe it. Question it. When was the wood cut to length and when was it split? Wood won't dry until it has been split. Then most of the wood needs to sit out in the wind for a year before being burned. You won't find many sellers who have this type of wood. They usually split the wood just before delivery. That will make a very unhappy wood burner with lots and lots of problems in his first year burning. And if you want to burn oak, better plan on that drying for 2-3 years.

Good luck.

 

[oldandcold]

When I mentioned going through the wall and up the side of the house, that was only in reference to using the furnace coming out of the basement. This is vinyl siding by the way. If I were to go up the side it would be about 14" away from the house to sit about flush with the gutter.

If I was to put the wood stove in the actual house I would want it to go through the roof and not out of the side of the house, this room is in the front of the house and I don't think that would look the greatest. Is this at all possible to do without attic access? Just not sure how the pipe collars/mounts work, if they can just be done on the roof and on the ceiling without anything being done in the actual attic. I thought possibly I could cut a hole in the ceiling and clean out the insulation enough to get the pipe through??

If I was to go with the furnace in the basement what is an acceptable amount of pipe on the horizontal run? The current furnace sits about 7' from the wall. Would it be better to put the wood furnace right near the concrete wall and run the duct 7' to connect to the existing furnace or should the wood furnace be close to the existing furnace and run the vent pipe 7' to the basement wall?
Thanks again

 

[raybonz]

Welcome to the forum O&C!

Ray

 

[firecracker_77]

Go a little bigger than you think you may need for the really cold days. Make sure that wood is dry.

 

[tim1]

I am sure they make a kit to go thru the roof. Much better ides. Check code and do it to code, ne jerry riggin with a mobil home. OAK is a must! Tim

 

[chimneyguy]

Hi,
Any store that sells woodstove chimney (actually, "UL 103HT Listed All Fuel chimney" is the proper name) has diagrams and parts lists to properly address your installation. I prefer ICC Excel brand, for several reasons:
1.meets tougher Canadian Standard- will withstand a 30 minute chimney fire with no damage, versus all other brands available here in the US only rated to withstand a 10 minute chimney fire.
2.rated for 1'' versus 2" clearance to combustibles and uses a 10" by 10" support box versus 12" by 12" for other brands; that 2" can come in very handy when you're trying to avoid cutting framing or don't want to move your stove further into the room/traffic pattern to avoid said cutting.
3.the fit and finish are excellent (they even include stainless steel screws), and installation is a breeze compared to some other brands.

You may have to look on the internet to find it. Here in Salt Lake City area, all the stores only sell (cheaper) other brands, but in the Seattle area, it is a common brand. Your mileage may vary...
If you get stuck, call Pugh & Associates at 206-232-2552 (Importer from Canada) and they can tell you where to get some in your area.
Stay warm,
Ed