Newbies to wood burning

[TJ1]

Good morning folks. We will soon be having a ranch style house built in the middle of 40 acres and are surrounded by oak and poplar trees. Our plan is to have a wood stove with a glass door installed basically in the center of the house. We are skipping on a fireplace. The stove will not be our primary source of heat but we plan to use it as often as possible to save on utilities. The house will be one level and approximately 2,500 square feet with an open floor plan. We do realize the heat from the stove will most likely not make its way back to the master bedroom and that's ok.

Looking for suggestions on quality brand of stoves to consider.

Thanks and looking forward to learning a lot here.

 

[Fsappo]

If I had a big wide open area to deal with, and wasn't looking to go big box store, I would use an Equinox by Hearthstone. Just because its big and beautiful and can look nice from all sides. I dream of the day I have a place that could justify that stove.

 

[Simonkenton]

I like the Jotul Oslo. Beautiful stove with big glass doors. Make that living room real big, with big high doors leading out from it.

 

[mopar440_6]

If I had the funds and the proper layout of the house to make it the centerpiece, I would either go with a QuadraFire Isle Royale or the Hearthstone Equinox mentioned above.

 

[begreen]

If you invest in superior insulation, and a thermal break between the studs and the exterior, you will heat pretty easily. How large a stove for your warmer climate region will depend on this insulation. If done well a 2-2.5 stove will heat the place pretty easily. If the house construction is average, go 3 cu ft. There are lots of options depending on your budget and aesthetic choice. Have you looked at any stoves yet and decided on a style?

You have a good combo of wood. Poplar is good for mild weather and oak is good for more heat and a longer burn. Poplar will dry in a year after splitting and stacking but oak will need to be split and stacked at least 2 years in a location that allows the prevailing winds to blow through the stacks.

 

[maple1]

What will be your primary heat?

 

[Wood Duck]

If I were choosing a stove as an important heat source for a large area, I'd choose one with a long burn time. If I were choosing a stove for a relatively mild climate I'd choose one that will burn cleanly at a low setting, Put these two things together and it suggests a large stove with a catalytic burner. I think some of the suggestions above are for large cat stoves. I don't have any experience with cat stoves so I won't recommend a brand or model.

I'd cut and stack a ton of wood so you can let it season for a couple of years, and never worry about running out. You might burn four cords per year, and it would be great to have 12 cords on hand at the beginning of each winter.

 

[TJ1]

What will be your primary heat?

Builder told me the newer furnaces are dual heat. They run a electric heat pump till the temperatures drops down to about 35F then they switch to using natural gas.

 

[begreen]

Has a heat loss calculation been done on the house to determine the hvac system size?

 

[maple1]

Builder told me the newer furnaces are dual heat. They run a electric heat pump till the temperatures drops down to about 35F then they switch to using natural gas.

Heat pump is good. Will it do a/c too?

There are so many options & improved building technologies available these days I don't think I'd know where to start if I was building new today. But there's a good chance it might not involve a boiler as I have now, and would also likely result in a lot less wood being burned.

 

[begreen]

Money spent on good thermal insulation is money in the bank. It's an investment that will pay off year round for AC and heating.

 

[TJ1]

Its a new house construction and yes AC is part of the system. Already discussed the insulation with the builder so just trying to explore stove options at this point. Double paned windows, ceiling fans, etc are all part of the build. No need to even start splitting an stacking early as there are enough standing dead trees they would most likely last us 10 years or more. But I will start to cut and stack this coming fall as house construction starts in October and is scheduled to be completed by July 2016.

Climate? Its middle Tennessee so it will drop down to 0-10F on occasion but most winter temperatures will run 20-45F.

 

[Rickb]

I would look at:

Blaze king sirocco, ashford, princess
Buck 20 or 80
Woodstock Progress Hybrid or Keystone

 

[tcassavaugh]

i would consider the blaze king king too, because of the long burn times obtained with the automatic thermostats, the size of the box and cause its fugly

 

[DougA]

Knowing the heat loss would be good. If you have a lot of large windows, even with double pane, the heat loss will add up fast. I've got an Equinox which is 4 cu ft and rated at 120,000 BTU and should be too much for me but I went that route after being not warm enough with a 2.3 cu ft. for too many years. The Equinox turned out to be perfect for me. The other question is, where in Tenn.? Some parts can be as cold as here in Ont., some not. Always go larger than the BTU numbers suggest as many of us think stove BTU numbers are inflated quite a bit. You do not want to spend a lot of $$ and find out it is undersized when we get a cold spell.

The BIG problem is what do you want the stove to look like - or more importantly, what will your wife like?
The three main appearance types are:
Soapstone - Hearthstone or Woodstock
Antique looking - Jotul, and lots of others
Modern looking - Blaze King, Kuma, PE

Might as well find out what is in the running appearance wise before going too far. Also, some of the larger ones are 8" pipe which is a bit more $$ but necessary.

Last thing - standing dead trees are sometimes good, sometimes spunky. They will still need a year to dry after being cut and split. If you go with a cat stove, you want DRY wood.

 

[Simonkenton]

Doug is right, even though those trees are standing dead, they probably are not dry enough. These new stoves demand very dry wood. The biggest problems newbies run in to is not getting that wood dry enough. Tell you what, whack one of your dead trees, cut a 20 inch drum and split it and measure the moisture content. It better be below 20 percent.

When I read that you had a heat pump I was about to jump through your computer screen and yell at you, then, I read that it was dual fuel with natural gas backup if it goes below 35. That should be a very good system.
My fiancee owns a big rental house here in Asheville NC and we let our heat and air guy talk us into putting in a new heat pump 3 years ago. Let me tell you, that thing has been a nightmare for us. It just doesn't heat worth a damn, in real cold weather like we have this winter. In fact, that house is just the size of your house, a 2,500 sq ft ranch style. Now, the heat pump does great in the summer for a/c, but of course it doesn't get real hot here in the NC mountains, probably a similar climate to yours in Tennessee.

At any rate, with your natural gas furnace for cold nights, plus a shiny new wood stove and a 40 acre wood lot, you will be in great shape.

By the way, I had thought that in a big sprawling house like yours, you could run a wood stove, turn the central furnace to "fan" and blow the heat throughout the house; however, report following report on this forum shows that it usually doesn't work. You might try using extra insulation on all duct work, and you might have some success blowing that wood stove heat throughout the house.

 

[brad wilton]

If it'still not for primary heat go for something built well and looks good most quality stoves heat well .you might want to ask about an oak they will tell you what it is back to work

 

[TJ1]

Appreciate the advice. I did read the sticky threads about what to read before asking questions. Still learning but wife and I just want to buy one stove and do it right the first time. We want quality and will pay extra to get it as we want the stove to last 20 years.
I will be cutting and splitting wood this fall to use the winter of 2016 so I am sure it will be dry as I will just be dropping dead trees and then it will have a year to dry even further.
Being in the middle of 40 acres of old growth forest has its advantages

I am guessing the family room (where the stove will be located) and the kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining area will be roughly 1,600-1,700 square feet. No doors or walls between any of these areas.

 

[Wilbursan]

I just had the same size house built in the same area (upper Alabama). I also got a dual heat system and it's been really nice.

Keep an eye on your installer's handiwork when putting in the stove. I don't think they do many of these around here, they don't seem to really expect you to use it. My stove is supposed to have a 15' total draft and they installed around 25'. They had to because of the high ceilings and steep roof line, but you'd think they could have at least mentioned that they were 10' above the recommended chimney height in case I wanted to change stoves or something. They also had a minor code violation and didn't install the insulation shield in the attic (the shield is not required here but it's in the installation guide).

I wish I could have picked my ideal stove the first time, but I'm new to this and I just didn't know enough to do that. Still don't really. My builders upgrade price was so high that getting the next highest upgrade would have cost me more than buying the new stove outright afterwards and having two. So I'll burn this one for a few years to see what I like/dislike and take it from there. I like it a lot, may just stick with it.

I love the heat pump/gas heat/wood stove combination. Like to keep my options open. I also added a gas stove, just in case.

 

[maple1]

At this point, with the heat pump unit being installed, I would concentrate on the chimney side of things (location & construction) - as long as it's done good, it will accomodate any wood stove. Then take your time on stove selection - get out & about when you have the chance & see several different ones in operation.

(But what's Tennessee like for stove shops?)