Piano vs Stove & other questions

[rccola]

I am considering getting a stove, I currently have a gas stove and I hate it. Costs a fortune to turn on and has a cold draft when it is off. I would prefer a wood stove which I can get free wood for.

The stove I really like is a Progress Hybrid Soap Stone Stove.

I have a couple of questions:

1) We have a grand piano, if it's the stove or the piano. The piano will win (wife's piano not mine, not an option). The layout of my home is attached. Total square footage of home is 2150 square feet, lower floor is probably at least 1200 sqft. The main floor is open with basically no doors any where. The piano is on the opposite side of the house from where the stove would be (probably separated by 50 ft or so). There is a wall between the kitchen and the piano that partially blocks the piano. The piano however sticks out a bit and there is a large 9 foot tall opening that connects the kitchen to where the piano is. Is this a horrible situation for a piano or acceptable? Any one with experience with piano's and stove's? I have read mixed information on line, some say not a problem 100 years ago people had piano's and seemed to be okay. Other people have a more negative opinion. Don't want to find out the hard way.
2) Is a soap stone stove a better stove to have with piano's? Does the softer heat help with humidity at all or is there no different from a non-soap stone type? I am also semi interested in a Blaze king Chinook.
3) Emission rate is 1.33 g/hr for the Progress Hybrid Soap Stone, is this a visible amount of smoke coming out of the stack and will there be a strong smell outside or is it fairly unnoticeable?.
4) I saw some video's online of outside wood gasifiers that once they got going (a few minutes into the burn) the smoke in no longer visible and it burns extremely clean. I however cannot find any data on how many g/hr they emit to compare it with the progress stove emissions. Any one know if this stove would have similar emissions in comparison to an outside wood gasifier or not?

 

[begreen]

The stove is in a good location relative to the piano. Heating the interior of the house will decrease the humidity regardless of the heater. It's about dewpoint, not the heat source. In Seattle this is not a big deal in the winter because the dewpoint is relatively high and humidity outside is also. But in Reno or Santa Fe, it could be a real issue because the outside humidity is already low. If the piano is sensitive then an indoor humidifier would be the best solution.

1.33gms per hour is a very low emission for a wood burner. When the stove is run correctly there will be no visible smoke except briefly during reloading.

Looking at the floorplan it looks like the majority of the heat is going to be contained by the small openings into the piano room and foyer. If this home is in a mild climate then the PH might be too much stove for this house without assisting heat circulation. A table or box fan on the floor at the entrance to the piano room, blowing toward the stove would probably solve this problem. It would help draw warm air through the foyer and living room.

 

[rideau]

I haven't a piano in the house, but I have lots of wood, including valuable antique chests and cabinets. I had a Woodstock soapstone Fireview for years before acquiring the PH last December. None of my wood (floors, trim, or furniture) has suffered from the heat from the stoves. The heat is gentle and feels like the sun is shining on you. Your piano is so far from the stove that I cannot imagine it will suffer. You could certainly abate any concern by taking two easy steps:
keep a cast iron steamer on top of the soapstone top to add a small amount of humidity to the air;
install a swinging half door (which could be made very attractive) in the opening between the kitchen and piano room, blocking the direct heat from the stove for the full height of the main body of the stove. That would leave plenty of airflow, but block any direct heat that might radiate from the stove to the piano proper. (I don't think that step would be necessary, because of the distance, but there is a direct vision line between the stove and piano.) I actually doubt more direct heat will get to the piano than gets there now with its proximity to your kitchen stove and range. And I am sure you are heating your home in some fashion now. Any heat is somewhat drying unless you have adequate humidity in the air. The Woodstock stoves are not going to turn your home into a desert. I have had both oil and electric heat. I find hte soapstone woodstove heat far more comfortable than either of those.

Good luck. Hope a PH works for you. They are great stoves, and will comfortably and easily heat your home with a long, gentle fire.

 

[rideau]

Was typing at the same time as begreen. Agree about the fan...you'll be fine with that for air flow. Might also get a small fan for the top of the stairs to blow air down...that's what I occasionally do...clip it onto a bookshelf at the top of the second floor landing.

I have never seen smoke come out of my chimney, but then I am never outside in the ten minutes it takes me to get the PH to cat mode. The exhaust is always clean, and noone would know there was a fire burning in the home, except for the smell. You definitely can smell the fire when you are outside, if you are near the house...at least you can in my setting, deep in woods out in the country by a lake. Don't know whether there are enough other smells in towns to make the smoke smell unnoticable. The smell is pleasant and not overbearing, but it is there. I'm used to it and seldom am consciously aware of it, so I can't swear it is always there, actually.

I don't think anything else will heat your home with less wood than a PH, and since the PH emissions are extraordinarily low
I do not believe you are going to find any other means of wood heat will produce lower emissions.

 

[slindo]

We have a humidifier in our piano, that our tuner installed when he did some work on it some years back. Seems to work just fine but we have to top up the water every few days and replace the elements (paper towel-like pads) every year or so.

 

[jdonna]

I have an antique baby grand in my house, it sits near three windows and is 20 ft from the stove. Has not suffered the least bit. Pianos like constant temperature and steady humidity in an ideal home.

Our home has issues of keeping humidity up, (lots of draft and leaks) but the humidity stays low through the winter and stabilizes in the summer. Two tunings a year keeps the piano in check.

A cold air return or heat register right next to your piano would be a worse situation in my opinion.

You could install an humidity system in the piano if you are worried. The heat savings I have enjoyed over the years would have payed for a complete restoration or replacement a few times =)

 

[Sprinter]

The term "softer heat" relating to soapstone only means that the radiant heat will be less intense than steel-sided or cast. But that stove is so far separated from the piano, I can't imagine it will make any difference. Assuming that you will be keeping the air temp the same as before with the gas, then the RH shouldn't change.

However, if you are like many of us here, you may very well end up keeping the house warmer than you did, in which case the RH will go down and you may want to consider that.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I've known many homes with pianos and none has ever had a problem to my knowledge. When I was a young lad we had an old upright piano and the neighbors had a grand and also heated with wood. No problems.

Good luck.

 

[begreen]

The term "softer heat" relating to soapstone only means that the radiant heat will be less intense than steel-sided or cast. But that stove is so far separated from the piano, I can't imagine it will make any difference.

For sure, any stove that radiates heat measurably for 50 ft doesn't belong in a house! I'd think that 15 ft would be more like it.

 

[rccola]

Thank you for your response this is exactly what I needed to know. I live in Salt lake city Utah which is already dry.

 

[Sprinter]

Thank you for your response this is exactly what I needed to know. I live in Salt lake city Utah which is already dry.

If you have any trouble getting dry wood, that piano should be well seasoned (no need to let the wife see this)