Pitching Whitfield pellet for Morso 1125? Hearth install questions....

[pelletmom]

After having a Whitfield pellet insert for 14 years, and living through the blizzard here in New England last year (which left us with NO electricity (thus NO heat) for 5 days), my husband has been obsessed with switching to wood. He doesn't like the dependence on electricity, but more than that - the pellet stove, installed in a cathedral-ceiling living room, is not warm. It's ok if the temp outside is in the 50s, but you literally must be sitting in front of it to feel warm. The rooms around the corner can reach, oh, high 50s when it gets very cold outside.

He's convinced (from growing up with a wood stove), that a wood stove would keep the house warmer. He also has this sort of romantic idea that he's going to gather wood, chop it, and stack it. I think it's a mid-life crisis. Better than wanting a convertible and a girlfriend, I guess!

He's found a green enamel Morso 1125 that's nearby and about $300.

I'm asking about installation. He's figuring he can do this himself. I'm concerned about code. Here's a few pics of our fireplace. Our house was built in 1965 and has a raised brick hearth. The house is on a concrete slab, all brick walls (with air pocket in between). Almost no wood. The chimney is an asbestos pipe. There is a decorative piece of curved copper over the fireplace, and a concrete half moon that comes out from the wall that it wraps around - limiting the height of whatever can go in there, unless the concrete thing is removed (don't even BRING that up to him, either).

He wants to install it in front of the fireplace - out a little bit, but still underneath the concrete. This would mean removing the legs. It would JUST fit underneath that concrete thing, too - with maybe an inch to spare. The closest wood is the ceiling which is about 6' above the hearth floor or the laminate flooring.

Would this work? Can this stove be safely installed sitting on a brick hearth, with no legs? I gotta admit, I love the style of these and it fits with our vintage house and vintage style.

Thoughts?

 

[begreen]

Welcome. The 1125 is somewhat old technology. A more modern stove will produce more heat out of less wood. Also, the pellet stove will put out a steady heat while the Morso will be cyclical. The Morso is also going to not have a fan. Convection is the only way a good amount of heat will get out from under that hood. Another concern is the giant hood over the stove. That looks like a big heat block. What is its function? Have you considered removing it? The next concern is wood supply. It is very hard this late to get truly seasoned wood. Unless there is a supplier of kiln dried wood locally you may need to burn compressed fuel like BioBricks the first year. Is that ok?

How large an area is the stove going to heat? High ceilings can be a problem during a power outage. Heat will get trapped up toward the peak. It can be 60F in the room and 90 at the ceiling. While you have normal power this heat stratification can be broken up by a ceiling fan or two. But during an outage the heat can all be at 6 ft and above, especially with a slab floor.