Quick Heating But Long Burning

[Seqouia]

Hello,

Taking the plunge here. I'm looking for a wood stove for a mountain home. Winter time temp can get down to below zero. 3-4 feet of snow on occasion. I removed an old Franklin several months ago and now am scurrying to replace it before the snow flies.

1100 sg ft structure, cathedral ceiling, wood floor, no hearth or pad. Stove to be placed in corner, 2 foot clearance from wood walls. Currently the corner has 2-4x4 sheets of asbestos attached to the paneling for fire protection. Studs are 2x4. Open beam underneath with R-38 and 1/2 inch insulfoam. I will need new stove pipe as well. The idea is to put 4 feet of cultured stone out from the corner all the way up the wall and build a pedestal/hearth to sit the stove on.

I can do some construction stuff but have a friend who's pretty handy and relatively cheap.

Since we frequesnt this place only a few times a week, when we get up there it's colder than hell inside so I'm looking for something that will heat up fairly quick.

There is no central heat here just portable quartz heaters.

I've done a bunch of nosing around here but hoping I can get some ideas for our particular situation.

Thanks in advance

 

[n6crv]

Hello and welcome to Hearth. If you live in Seqouia you might get lucky. If you ever have one of those trees fall down you will have wood for the next 10 years. Keep warm.
Don

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

Plate steel stoves tend to heat up quicker. About 3 cubic feet of firebox capacity seems to work best for overnight burning. I'd look at that as a requirement if heating with softwood.

ATB,
Mike P

 

[wahoowad]

A ceiling fan will make a big difference in how quickly you heat up too. I notice my living room with cathedral ceiling warms up a few degrees when I turn on the ceiling fan. Otherwise you start by heating that large space above you.

 

[Corey]

The size of wood will also have some effect on your heating. Use several small splits (don't let the fire get away from you!) for fast heat. Switch to one or two large chunks for a long burn.

 

[thephotohound]

A ceiling fan will make a big difference in how quickly you heat up too. I notice my living room with cathedral ceiling warms up a few degrees when I turn on the ceiling fan. Otherwise you start by heating that large space above you.

Wahoo -

You have that fan running in reverse pulling the heat upwards across the ceiling, right?

 

[Highbeam]

I have found that ceiling fan blade direction doesn't really matter at all in terms of actual room temperature. Whether you stir your eggs clockwise or CCW they still get scrambled. The effect of wind blown onto the wet human body is more of an issue.

 

[Corie]

*cough* NC-30 *cough*

 

[BrotherBart]

*cough* NC-30 *cough*

Cabins like the 30-NC.

 

[jpl1nh]

*cough* NC-30 *cough*

LOL, subtle, Corie, very subtle.. %-P

 

[Jags]

*cough* NC-30 *cough*

Bahhhahaha!

Good choice though.

 

[Seqouia]

Thanks for the responses. Been leaning toward the steel construction for the purpose of heating quicker. Most of the stoves I have looked at with a 3 cu. ft. box however are rated for much larger square foot areas. Although I definitely like the larger fire boxes due to the increase in log lengths won't such a stove drive us out? The room the stove will go in is about 600 sq ft including the loft.

We do have a ceiling fan but with all the drafts last year (before we got down and re-insulated) it made the place even more drafty and cold until I got that Franklin so hot it I had to open the doors.

I'm not ruling out the New Englander but I'm not real hip on the cast iron (partly due to my experience with the old Franklin which may not be fair). What is the difference between the NCL and NCH?

Yes splitting Seqouia's and cutting them down to 18" is gonna suck... None on the property though, 1/2 an hour drive.

This place was a real dump when I bought it two years ago. Talk about a fire hazard waiting to happen. Hopefully this pic will be light enough to see the mess around the old Franklin

Jeff P

 

[senorFrog]

I had the same type of stove. Search on my name and you'll see the pics. Loose that like bad habit.

 

[BrotherBart]

The Englander stoves are plate steel, not cast iron. The 30-NC comes in two flavors. The 30-NCL has legs, the 30-NCP is on a pedestal. The 30-NCH is the model sold by Home Depot. The ones at the Depot are on a platform but a set of legs is included inside them if you want to change out legs for the platform. The NCH also comes with top and ash lip trim.

It will be a big hoss for that cabin. I heat a 2,500 sq. foot house in Virginia with one. For less money the 13-NC would be a good bet for that kind of space but you aren't going to get an all night burn from it. Also with the big top space on a 30-NC it would be a good cook stove for the cabin too. Of course that makes for a messy stovetop. Once you get the technique down you can hold the 30 down to 400-500 degrees for a pretty long burn.

There are lots of stoves out there that will get the job done for you. Just stick with steel if you are going to be walking into the place with it dog ass cold and need heat fast.

 

[Seqouia]

Thanks for the clarification of the New Englander and yes in the winter I have walked into that place and had it below freezing.

Yeah that Franklin is gone. Stored it underneath and will maybe use it when we add a downstairs. Note the box of Match Light on the floor, ash all over the place. In one of the back bedrooms there were propane tanks for a grill and numerous boxes of ammo.

We are half through with the remodel.

Regarding putting stone up the wall as wide as the asbestos is now. Will cement board do it attached to the wall before the stone or will we need to add the dreaded air gap between the paneling and cement board? Likewise on the floor for a hearth. Will a 2x4 framed pedestal with cement board and then rock on top cut it?

Thanks for the intelligent help. Much appreciated

 

[BrotherBart]

Here is a link to the manual for the 30 that will give you clearance info for it. Not New Englander by the way, just Englander.

http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/30-NC.pdf

 

[Seqouia]

Thanks for the clarification.

It appears that Home Depot is the only game in town here on the "Englander" (doink) Although the website suggests Blowes carries it I can't find it on their website.

Thanks again.

Jeff P

 

[Bill]

I have about the same size cabin, with the cathedral ceiling. It's a very different experience trying to warm up a frozen cabin. I went with a 3 cubic foot fire box, rated for a 2500 square foot home. I had a smaller stove in there and it did not put enough heat out and didn't produce a long enough burn time. We woke up in the morning to a cold home. I would recommend a large steel stove, because they heat up fast and should burn all night. When the cabin is warm, put less wood in the stove, and damper it down. The type of wood you burn also affects heat output and length of burn time.

 

[Todd]

For 1100 sq ft I would look for a medium sized stove with a firebox around 2-2.5 cu ft. Anything over 3 cu ft would be overkill unless you are looking to add on to the cabin in the future. Yes, you can build smaller fires in a large stove, but for a 600 sq ft room you would be doing that all the time. Plus the larger stove may look too big for the space and take up too much room.

 

[Bill]

In order to get an idea of how my stove looks in my cabin, look under perfect picture and look up Morso. I think the point that needs to be repeated, is frozen cabin, and cathedral ceiling. So a 600 square foot room is 600 square feet up and down, or 1200. It can be very drafty and heat rises, so the floor tends to stay cool. If you lived in the cabin and had the wood burner going everyday, a small stove would work fine. When I load my stove, these curvy crooked pieces of wood do not allow 3 cubic feet of wood. Only slab wood fits that snug inside. Then add the fact that not all the wood I burn is Red Oak or Hickory either. So that again shortens your overnight burn times. With the smaller stove I had to run the electric furnace. (80 amp breaker) Very expensive unit to heat with and firewood is free by me. So I made a commitment to try and heat exclusively with wood. It's more work but a lot more rewarding.

Some other advantages of a larger stove, it can take 24" logs, but prefer 22", less splitting and you get more on a rack, need less racks. Larger doors provide bigger viewing glass. If you have a furnace then go with a smaller stove, but don't be like me and have a small stove for sale, and can't get $300 for it.

Even with my big stove it takes a few hours to make the cabin comfortable, or where you stop seeing your breath.

 

[BrotherBart]

Thanks for the clarification.

It appears that Home Depot is the only game in town here on the "Englander" (doink) Although the website suggests Blowes carries it I can't find it on their website.

Thanks again.

Jeff P

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=268086-76845-50-SNC30LC&lpage=none

At Lowe's it is under the Summers Heat brand. Same stove.

 

[myzamboni]

I agree with Smokey. Square footage is inaccurate . . .volume is a better indiator. If a stove has a sq/ft rating they are probably assuming std 8 ft ceilings.

A stove claiming 2000 sq/ft rating is 16000 cubic feet. If you have 1000 sq/ft cabin has 16ft (avg height as I don't want to get into extra calculations for catherdral dimensions) ceiling that 16000 cubic feet.



If I am thinking this through incorrectly, please let everyone know.

 

[Corie]

That thinking is def. correct. Back in the good ole days at Vermont Castings, the manuals listed cubic feet, not square feet.

 

[Seqouia]

Hi and thanks again for the great info.

So I have determined with the help of the forum to go with

a) a steel stove
b) a 3.0 cu foot box
c) no blower

The Englander certainly has many other brands I have looked at on price. I like the descent size view area. However I can't seem to find a heating efficiency rating listed anywhere.

Other stoves being considered are the Pacific Classic, the Lopi Liberty and the Pacific Alderlea T6 (plate box, cast iron outer shell). The later will I assume take a little longer to heat up.

JP

 

[Gooserider]

A modern stove doesn't seem to get tested for efficiency, they apparently decided that the cost for the test was to high for to little in the way of useful information. From what I've seen however, all the stoves are going to be in the same general range for efficiency, just as there is little meaningful difference in emissions.

That said, my gut instinct tells me that the lower the emissions, the more efficient a stove should be, just because the only way to get rid of the stuff is to burn it, and that means more heat...

In your shoes I would definitely give the Englander heavy consideration - it might not be as stylish as some of the other stoves, but it probably will give you more BTU's for the buck than any other stove. I would think that all else being equal it would be worth saving on a stove that is only going to be used occasionally since you don't live in that cabin.

Gooserider