Questions about using wood stove as primary heat

[ri spec b 13]

i just purchased a blaze king ashford 30. i was originally looking at the princess but the stove place i went to recommended the ashford 30 over the princess. the house is two floors and its 2,300 sq ft. The house is being built currently so it will be well insulated and air tight.the house is equipped with a oil burner furnace and hydro air set up but id like to not use that all that much.

I have two questions regarding using this wood stove as a primary heat. the first one is will that stove be large enough to heat my home? My other question is the house has a air handler in the attic for the central air and the heat my biggest concern is if the heat isn't used much on days that it gets down too the teens should i be concerned about my pipes freezing i wasn't sure if anyone else has the scenario. Thank you

 

[begreen]

The stove will probably work out very well for heating the core of the house. How well it heats will depend on the stove location, floor plan, ceiling height, amount of glass and it's insulation, wall and roof insulation, etc. Things like excess glazing, closed off rooms, poor stove location, etc. will all affect how well the stove heats the house. In a tight modern house it should have an outside air kit installed and connected.

To avoid anxiety of freezups when building new, keep all plumbing in the core of the house and away from perimeter walls and insulate the basement walls. Regardless, don't be afraid to cycle the boiler once in awhile. If the boiler is also heating domestic hot water then it will cycle anyway throughout the day.

 

[ri spec b 13]

The ceilings are 7ft. The wood stove is placed in the center of the house and the main floor is very open. The pipes are already ran and we had no other place to put the air handler but in the attic. I'm sure it will kick on once and a while and it will only get heat when the thermostat up stairs calls for it. thank you

 

[maple1]

You should always refer to your other heating system (oil burner) as your primary heating source. To those that matter (insurance guys mainly), primary is what heats the place without manual intervention. So wood stoves should be called secondary. Which one gets used the most doesn't really qualify primary/secondary. If you call your wood stove primary when speaking with insurance, they will raise their eyebrows, at least.

 

[trguitar]

You shouldn't have any problems heating your house primarily with wood. I'm a little north of you, and heat about 2400 sf with only wood. My house was built back in the late 70s. The attic and basement have been recently air-sealed, and I have R60 in the attic.

My stove is at the far end of the house, in a room with a 15 ft cathedral ceiling, so I need a fan to push the heat around. It works very well. Downstairs is always between 68-72, and upstairs is mid to upper 60s which we like for sleeping. This is true even when outside temps get down into single digits or below zero.

I only had to run the furnace 2 or 3 times this past winter, mostly when we were away. I did have to run it a few mornings when the temp was below 0. At those temps I have to reload the stove every 6 hours or so to keep the downstairs at 70, and I like to sleep at night!

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I dont think you going to have alot of issue, but that being said you dont really know untill your doing it. Nothing is always perfect and some adjustment may need to be made but that's not to say that you're going to be freezing your first winter i doubt that's going to happen. I would be concerned about your wood supply, will you have enough, will it be dry enough. Your stoves performance will be driven based on the quality of wood you're putting in it your stove placement may be great your house may be tight, but if your stove can't get up to Temp you're going to be cold.

 

[Ludlow]

You should run the furnace through its cycles several days a month regardless. They are like a car that sits. Will go to crap if not used.

 

[kborndale]

Hopefully you already have been working on your woodpile. If you dont season (split and stack) your wood for a minimum of a year, you are going to be very disappointed with your stove.

 

[ri spec b 13]

I have jotul 500 in the house right now that we use to warm it up a little so i have been splitting wood. Also i was planning on using a wood stove as much as possible so i have about 3 cord split an stacked and its been sitting for 2 years then another 6 cords in 5 ft lengths that need to cut up and split those are 4 years old then i have about 5 trees i dropped that are hung up on the stump so they don't lay on the ground there about a year and half old. i did get a moisture reader and all my split wood is reading 21%. I'm hoping to burn around 3 too 4 cords next winter but I'm not sure what to expect so i defiently want to be prepared.

 

[xman23]

I'm guessing the house isn't finished, no insulation. The Oslo is a construction heater? Surely you can heat a well designed and built, 2300 SF house with any large size stove. Sounds like it maybe to late to make house changes that can make the stove work better. You do need a complete automatic heating system, for a number of reasons. A 70 F house will take a lot of hours before it gets to 32 and freeze pipes. That said I'm not coming home to a house that's 45 and takes 6 hours to get it comfortable. As said heating with a stove, typically has the colder rooms further from the stove. I would look at a central heating system that has thermostats in each room.

 

[MTY]

The ceilings are 7ft. The wood stove is placed in the center of the house and the main floor is very open. The pipes are already ran and we had no other place to put the air handler but in the attic. I'm sure it will kick on once and a while and it will only get heat when the thermostat up stairs calls for it. thank you

I think current building code calls for a minimum 7' 4'' ceiling except in bathrooms. Are you certain about the 7'? Just curious as I am remodeling and dealing with a low ceiling issue.

Other than that, as long as the pipes are not in the exterior walls you should be fine.

 

[Dug8498]

If I were you I’d spray foam insulate the roof deck of your attic to make it a conditioned space and thus never have to worry about any pipes up in the attic freezing.

I’d imagine this would also be good for your equipment in the summer as I dont know if 150 degree heat is great for anything mechanical either? I’m not really sure on that one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ashful]

i just purchased a blaze king ashford 30. i was originally looking at the princess but the stove place i went to recommended the ashford 30 over the princess.

Is this installed yet? The Ashford 30 is a great stove, I have two in this house, but the Princess is considered one of the best wood heaters ever made. If that’s the one you like, I’d not have talked you out of it.

Ashford advantages:
1. Cleaner glass, better fire view
2. Much prettier
3. More convective design

Princess advantages:
1. A little bigger (only 3.5%, but users who have had both seem to favor the Princess for heating capacity)
2. Older design with fewer reported issues (search on Ashford smoke smell, and you’ll see a ton of talk. Search on Princess smoke smell, and you won’t see much.)
3. More radiant design
4. Deeper ash belly, but remember, overall volume is still just 3% greater

It sounds like I’m contradicting myself when I say “more convective” is advantage for one, and “more radiant” is an advantage for the other, but that’s because your house dictates whether more convection or radiation is favored.

... that's not to say that you're going to be freezing your first winter i doubt that's going to happen.

I’ve become a proponent of just leaving your programmable central heating t’stats set for what makes you comfortable. Make it your personal game to stay ahead of them with the stove, but when you can’t you’re only going to burn a small amount of oil to keep the family warm, while the stove continues to carry the majority of the load. This also ensures your central heating system stays in good working order, versus letting it fallow.

If you want to turn it off the occasional weekend, to get a sense of how the stove does on its own, that’s great. But there’s no need to freeze, or drive yourself nuts all week, to save a few pennies in oil.

 

[MTY]

I’ve become a proponent of just leaving your programmable central heating t’stats set for what makes you comfortable. Make it your personal game to stay ahead of them with the stove, but when you can’t you’re only going to burn a small amount of oil to keep the family warm, while the stove continues to carry the majority of the load. This also ensures your central heating system stays in good working order, versus letting it fallow.

That is what I do. It also circulates air around the house when it kicks on. If the room with the T-stat is 65, it is colder at the back of the house.

 

[ri spec b 13]

The house just was insulated and sheet rocked and plastered. The ceilings are like 7’ 8”. The house doesn’t have the boiler in yet so we don’t have heat so we just used the wood stove to take the chill out. The attic is well insulated I’m gonna get a sensor for the attic to monitor the temp as well. I will be getting the nest for the tsats. Also the house will have hydro and the tsat would just be left one 60 at all times. We have not gotten the wood stove delivered yet I just put a deposit on it. If you think I should get the princess I will gladly go to that. The down stairs is all open there is only one room with a door and it has a built in window box that faces the kitchen which is 20 ft from the stove and the bathroom is right next to that everything else is open. Also I plan to use the fan on the fan from the heat to circulate the heat around the house. We also have a hot water heater so the boiler doesn’t turn on for that.

 

[weatherguy]

I'm in New England not far from you, I keep my tstat on 64 all the time so it will occasionally kick on more during frigid weather, I do 75% heating with wood, you should do better and be very comfortable.

 

[jetsam]

If it was me, I'd go back and change the order to a King or at least a Princess. In an insulated new 2300sf house in Rhode Island, the Princess is going to want 8-12 hour reloads in the cold part of the winter, even less if you are playing catch-up because you had a long shift or whatever. The King can double that number at the same heat output. They both run pretty low in shoulder season (though the Princess goes lower). You don't care what size the flue is because it's new construction.

If the house is super-insulated and very tight, the Princess gets points for its slightly lower turndown.

The Ashford may be better if you need a strongly convective stove because you live in an old dwarven fortress, or if your wife vetoes the princess/king for cosmetic reasons. (My wife criticized the Princess up until the first cold day, then abruptly got over it. )

 

[Highbeam]

If you can tolerate the look of the princess, it has better performance specs and less user problems than any of the 30 series stoves.

 

[ri spec b 13]

We already ran a 6” pipe and the king would be too big for me. Here are pictures of my down stairs

 

[jetsam]

It looks like you already have the stove, too...

 

[ri spec b 13]

That’s the jotul 500.

 

[begreen]

So how is the Jotul doing now that the insulation and windows are in?

 

[Ludlow]

I think current building code calls for a minimum 7' 4'' ceiling except in bathrooms. Are you certain about the 7'? Just curious as I am remodeling and dealing with a low ceiling issue.

I would think that is for new construction spaces and not remodeled existing space.

 

[MTY]

I would think that is for new construction spaces and not remodeled existing space.

I am not sure how this is germain. His is new, and and quite nice by the way. On a remodel if you raise the ceiling you also have to go to code. I could not stretch with out hitting the ceiling. I raised it to 8'.

 

[ri spec b 13]

This was a complete knock down. Everything is brand new including the foundation. My father in law and I are building it. With the sheet rock and plaster there it’s 7’ 8”. The jotul does ok. It’s really hard to say there is no door going down to the basement yet and we designed a in-law so there is a seperate stair case that goes into the garage from the basement and there isn’t a door there and the garage isn’t insulated so the cold air just comes up the stairs.