Oh man...wood really is better than LP, right??

[eclecticcottage]

Oh geez...I'm having a cunundrum right now. We more or less decided to wait for the off season sale at the ole home depot to pick up an Englander 17-vl for our detached office space thing (we call it a bunkie, but it's more or less a shed). It's a decent distance from the driveway so carrying some wood splits to it would be easier than an 100lb lp tank.

{bunkie is about 200 sq ft, no insulation, basically built like a shed. Probably won't be insulated. No heat source now. No electric.}

And now...I find...the stove I've wanted since we first looked at DV stoves 12 or so years ago. A Thelin. BUT it's a B vent. My thought was if it was a DV we could put it in the Bunkie but if we needed to, we could swap it into the place of the VF in the house later (which wouldn't work with a wood stove, this is back up heat in case we can't get home one night to stoke the stove).

But it's a B-VENT not a DV. But it's WAY less than new, and aside from the occasional pellet model these are rarely for sale outside of dealers. ARG. why oh why did they make them in B-vent?! As ugly as those DV thimbles are, it's so much better than all that venting upwards...

But it's the stove I wanted...and it's affordable...arg.

So guys and gals, talk me down. Wood really is better, right? This thing is going to eat LP like crazy in an uninsulated space, right?

 

[fbelec]

can't talk you down. sorry. wood is warmer, cheaper and has a great all around feel. but. and i mean there is always a but. insulate the bunkie anyway. if your always in there anyway, why not? less wood or propane or d: all of the above

 

[eclecticcottage]

We aren't in there that much, and we use the framing as shelving...plus it's all hemlock planking so it looks pretty good like it is (not like plywood or pressboard)....

 

[Sprinter]

How often will you be using it? I could see a use for a LP stove if you want a quick warm-up and for a short period of time. But, yeah, it's bound to use a lot of gas while it's running.

On the other hand, with wood, you would be burning wood that will be still be heating your space after you've left it. Which may or may not be wasteful depending on your use of the space. If you often go out to the building spontaneously, it will take a lot of time to heat up the space with a wood stove so you'd have to plan your sessions more carefully.

 

[eclecticcottage]

That's why we were looking at the 17, it's got like a 1 CU firebox so I don't think there will be TOO much waste. A few hours at a time for usage.

To be honest...I really wanted it to replace the VF...it would really look good there I think, on a nice double thick brick hearthpad to raise it up so you get a good fire view...I figure we've got a few more years operation from the VF, but I don't think Procom is all that high end and I bet parts aren't super easy to pick up so if it stats acting wonky we'll need to replace it with something.

Dining room with VF

 

[blades]

Ya makes your choices and live with the consequences, in this case a higher wallet depletion . I have an enclosed porch area where a couple cord of winter heat is stored, Splits need to be sized for stove on occasion, so when it is really cold out the chill gets chased by a lp torpedo. Course I have been working on the same grill sized tank for 2 years, 3 if it makes till spring. That would work out to $7/season, or about $1/mo. I keep the screen on the outside porch door so not a problem ventaltion wise.
I can also use the area as a wood drying kiln should the need arise with the same torpedo.

 

[Sprinter]

Very cute room!

What are the clearances for the 17? I'm just wondering if it would take up too much space?

 

[eclecticcottage]

Thanks!

this was the before, pretty bland

The 17 would fit fine in the Bunkie. Not so much in the dining room (above), but we wouldn't want to move the 17 into the house. Whereas I would want to with the Thelin, whenever the VF dies. Actually, for an inexpensive stove, the 17 has pretty good clearances.

 

[Sprinter]

I'm unfamiliar with B vent and direct vent issues. Why would a B vent device be suitable in the bunkie but not in the house?

 

[eclecticcottage]

It's fine for a house, but not what we really want. B-vent has to vent like a wood stove/fireplace. Up and 2' above anything within x feet (I can't recall what exactly). DV can go up a certain rise and out the wall to a thimble right there, it doesn't need to vent above the roof line. Where that would go would be up, through the attic and then through the roof. A lot more piping and another pipe above the roof line. Prefer DV, that side you won't see the thimble really, but the above roof piping you would.

This is our old DV (excuse the bit of a mess, this is our old house after we started doing some demo to get it rental ready). The pipe on the stove terminates into a thimble on the other side of the wall

 

[bag of hammers]

VF == vent free?

 

[Sprinter]

Thanks. I learned something.

It sounds like you have a very good handle on all the issues. So what do you really want to do? I think I'm seeing a 17 in that bunkie next year.

 

[Holiday]

VF == vent free?

That's what I was wondering. I wouldn't be using a vent free where I'm breathing the air personally.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Yes, VF=Vent Free (see sig).

We had a boatload of work to do out here when we bought the place. Had the 1750 installed then started thinking...what if we are away during the day and something happens so we can't get home? Can't let the dog or pipes freeze, but there's no furnace to back up the stove. Money being tight from all the other work, we picked up the VF and a 100lb LP tank as backup. Eventually I would like to replace it, but it's not a primary or really, even secondary heat source. It will kick on if it's in the teens or single digits or we screw up a stove loading and it drops down to the 50's in the house. This is an old cottage so it's not very air tight in here. But yeah, the reason I can't quite let go of the idea of the Thelin is because I want it to go live where the VF is one day. DH has no big issue with the VF so it wouldn't be until that dies. THEN there's what we'd put in the Bunkie...and we couldn't use the same set up for a wood stove and since we have a ceiling and attic in the house and not the bunkie, the B-Vent piping wouldn't all be used in the house either.

The easy answer is I'd like to get the 17 for the Bunkie and a DV Thelin Parlour for the dining room. The answer on our budget it...I don't know lol. If that dang Thelin had just been a DV, we could ahve relocated it into the dining room later on and used the hole we cut for the venting to pipe in a wood stove or another DV if we preferred. That little corner just wants a Thelin...(since the old parlor gas stoves weren't thermostatically controlled). A regular DV just won't fit in right.

 

[bag of hammers]

thanks eclecticcottage - guess I should RTFS before asking ...

I use a Rinnai direct vent propane furnace for my backup / no-freeze. So far its been great. But it's very much a different look / style than the Thelin - I have to assume you looked at those and aren't really interested...?

 

[Holiday]

Probably a good option for that type of use.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Yeah, we have mostly living space here, with a VERY small utility area. There was a LP boiler in there when we bought the place, but it's not somewhere that would let enough radiant heat out and I'm not sure how we'd manage to run ductwork from there. We'd like something that looks good, since where ever it goes, we're going to see it.

The other option would be something like an electric forced air unit installed in the attic. Or splits. I just like fire better :D (but both might be options we go with, depending on cost and feasibility)

 

[bag of hammers]

I just like fire better

+1

The Thelin seems to be well suited to your room IMHO. I can see why you like it. Good luck with whatever you go with...

 

[eclecticcottage]

Sigh...so I think we're going to pass on the Thelin. He's posted it a few times over the past two years and I always debate with myself when he does, lol. He's down to $550 for it with some of the piping. And did I mention it's brand new, never even installed? I bet he's wishing he had bought a DV now too, since it'd probably be sold by now if he had! I thought about it, and in addition to the extra cost and visual of the pipe going all the way up, it's got a b-vent hood on the back where I think the DV doesn't, so it effects clearances, which are tight in the dining room as it is. So, back to stalking the HD site for hearth product sales on the 17, lol. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll be on clearance around the same time we get a % off coupon in the mail since they don't do the 5% off Lowes match anymore.

 

[MishMouse]

How about a small pellet stove?

 

[eclecticcottage]

No electric in the bunkie, plus no space to store pellets.