Sizing and placement advice

[michoujordan76]

Hi!

I am new to this forum and I have just begun to heat with wood. I have an old, poorly insulated house with a large masonry double-sided fireplace between the kitchen and family room. When I bought the house, it had a small Jotul F100 inserted into the fireplace that I stupidly removed and sold -- I wanted to use the fireplace for the look of an open fire. It's my third year in this house and my heating bills are killing me! I live in Hemmingford, Qc about 5 miles north of Champlain, NY. Winters are cold, not Siberian, but cold enough. I bought a cheap second-hand steel stove on craiglist for 240$. It is a very small Drolet stove, pre-EPA that had never been used. Anyway, I installed it back into the fireplace and it does an OK job of taking the chill out of the family room/kitchen but not much else. This was meant to be a temporary measure until I could afford a larger stove. Also, the fireplace opening is only 23 inches high and I think that a stove out in the open might radiate more heat. I am considering the F500 or F600 in the family room (see red spot on plan). Furniture placement is limited in this room due to the fireplace and window/patio door, which is why I chose this particular spot. There are two chimneys on either side of the front part of the house but they have long been out of use, covered with drywall. I think using one of those would be prohibitively expensive. Plus, we spend most of our time in the kitchen/family room (i.e. rear extension). My question to any seasoned wood burners out there willing to take the time to answer is: what size stove would you recommend for my house? And, do you think that the placement of the stove would heat the majority of the house with a couple of doorway fans to push the air towards the front? Thanks in advance for your wise advice!

 

[begreen]

Welcome. The more centrally you can locate the stove the better it will be for heating the core of the house. Maybe keep the small Drolet for now and put a stove in the living room? That will help heat upstairs a lot better. In the long term I would consider putting a big insert in the fireplace facing the family room. In milder weather burn just one stove but when it is in the teens and below burn both stoves for even heat.

 

[michoujordan76]

Welcome. The more centrally you can locate the stove the better it will be for heating the core of the house. Maybe keep the small Drolet for now and put a stove in the living room? That will help heat upstairs a lot better. In the long term I would consider putting a big insert in the fireplace facing the family room. In milder weather burn just one stove but when it is in the teens and below burn both stoves for even heat.

Thanks begreen for your reply, it's much appreciated.

After further pondering, I am considering installing an insert. My other half is insistant that we do something that preserves the double-sided nature of the fireplace. Apparently, the fireplace is the only reason why we bought the house in the first place... I thought there were others but I will not win this battle -- there must be two views of a fire, in the kitchen and in the family room. So, I have a crazy idea... what about installing two inserts back to back? The openings are 36 in wide by 22.5 in high, and about 36 in deep. The lintels are quite deep, at about 9 inches. Given those dimensions, I don't seem to have a lot of choices. I think the Jotul Winterport, Vermont Castings Montpelier, Quadra-Fire Voyageur, and Regency Hampton H1200 will all fit with room for the liner to attach behind the lintel. We thought we could start off with one and sometime down the road get a second. I personally prefer the cast iron enameled look to the steel stoves. Have you got any words of wisdom about this installation idea or any of the brands I mentioned? It would be a significant secondary source of heat, but not the principal one. Our little ugly wood-hungry Drolet has been burning pretty much nonstop since October, and our electricity usage for Oct. was half that of last year. (We have an electric forced air furnace). I am guessing that a modern EPA insert would be much more efficient.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Beside your staircase that says up, there looks to be a wall. Is this where an addition was put on? If given the choice, I think I'd place a stove there. As Begreen stated, the more centrally located you can place the stove the better.

 

[begreen]

Thanks begreen for your reply, it's much appreciated.

After further pondering, I am considering installing an insert. My other half is insistant that we do something that preserves the double-sided nature of the fireplace. Apparently, the fireplace is the only reason why we bought the house in the first place... I thought there were others but I will not win this battle -- there must be two views of a fire, in the kitchen and in the family room. So, I have a crazy idea... what about installing two inserts back to back? The openings are 36 in wide by 22.5 in high, and about 36 in deep. The lintels are quite deep, at about 9 inches. Given those dimensions, I don't seem to have a lot of choices. I think the Jotul Winterport, Vermont Castings Montpelier, Quadra-Fire Voyageur, and Regency Hampton H1200 will all fit with room for the liner to attach behind the lintel. We thought we could start off with one and sometime down the road get a second. I personally prefer the cast iron enameled look to the steel stoves. Have you got any words of wisdom about this installation idea or any of the brands I mentioned? It would be a significant secondary source of heat, but not the principal one. Our little ugly wood-hungry Drolet has been burning pretty much nonstop since October, and our electricity usage for Oct. was half that of last year. (We have an electric forced air furnace). I am guessing that a modern EPA insert would be much more efficient.

Take a look at the Enviro inserts like the Boston or Venice. They come in two sizes.