Sizing for an unconventional home in Northern MN

[soilandstream]

Hello,

I'm trying to size a stove correctly for our home in Northern MN, near Grand Rapids. It's an 800 square foot floor plan, BUT, with a 300 square foot or so large loft and high ceilings everywhere else. There are also a ton of windows and doors for such a small house. The weather gets very cold in the winter with many night below -10F, and windy. Insulation is medium to poor.

I'm having trouble deciding between a green mountain 60 or 80 by hearthstone. One is a 2.0cuft firebox and the other is 3.0 cuft. I'd like to burn as low and long as possible while still getting a clean burn. The 80 seems like it might be overkill, but I'm not sure given weather, high ceilings, loft area, and not great insulation.

Could I go wrong going with the bigger stove. Is the 60, with a 2 cuft firebox going to be perfectly good and I'm just worrying too much?

 

[begreen]

How is the place currently heated? If with a furnace, what is its output rating?

 

[soilandstream]

Hey thanks for the response. Good idea to check. We have in floor heat with an electric boiler. It's rated at 30,710 BTU. The boiler can keep it to 68 degrees until about +15F then it starts to struggle.

 

[nortcan]

What kind of wood do you have in your area to burn in your stove? Live there all week long and all days long or just occasionnally? Did you have a look at the woodstock Progress Hybrid? The cat in the PH is very easy to reach ( compare to the Hearthstone, you get a 3 burners cook top, very good company reputation, good quality finition all over the stove.

 

[soilandstream]

We live year in the house year round and will be burning a lot of black ash and paper birch.

 

[bholler]

By the specs the 60 should work fine. But I really don't know the stoves so I don't know if those specs are accurate

 

[begreen]

Hey thanks for the response. Good idea to check. We have in floor heat with an electric boiler. It's rated at 30,710 BTU. The boiler can keep it to 68 degrees until about +15F then it starts to struggle.

So a stove providing 35-40,000 Btu should work. Sounds like the GM60 will suffice. It would also help to invest in some insulation and maybe some insulated curtains or cellular blinds for the windows. A ceiling fan will be a must to circulate the heat.

 

[soilandstream]

Thanks all. The EPA btu rating for both of these stoves is 33,000 at the top end. Is it easy to push the stove beyond that? Do you need to have the cat off, or let the wood ignite more before engaging the cat? Or just fill the stove more?

Would there be any harm in going with the larger stove? The EPA btu rating at the low end is 15,000 for the larger stove and 13,000 for the smaller one.

I'm also pretty sold on the simple look of the hearthstone stoves, also considering the shelburne, otherwise the woodstock stoves do look nice.

 

[begreen]

That is not the top end, that is EPA testing with a fixed load of soft wood. With hardwood the GM 60 is rated at a max 60,000 Btus. A Woodstock stove would also be a good fit.

 

[bholler]

There are lots of options that could work very well

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The 2 cu ft will work.

You'll want to work on that insulation and air sealing so you dont let all that heat out of the house.

 

[nortcan]

One thing that makes me curious about keeping the heat inside of the house with the Hearthstone is because the cats are located very close to the stove vent/exit, One thing about the PH is that the wide cat is located ahead and far from the gases exit so the heat from the cat stays longer inside of the stove instead to go almost directly to the stove pipe and outside of the house like for the Hearthstone. Plus in the Woodstock PH, there is a HD cast iron heat exchanger with fins to help for keeping the heat longer inside ...

 

[ToastyRanch]

Hello,

I'm trying to size a stove correctly for our home in Northern MN, near Grand Rapids. It's an 800 square foot floor plan, BUT, with a 300 square foot or so large loft and high ceilings everywhere else. There are also a ton of windows and doors for such a small house. The weather gets very cold in the winter with many night below -10F, and windy. Insulation is medium to poor.

I'm having trouble deciding between a green mountain 60 or 80 by hearthstone. One is a 2.0cuft firebox and the other is 3.0 cuft. I'd like to burn as low and long as possible while still getting a clean burn. The 80 seems like it might be overkill, but I'm not sure given weather, high ceilings, loft area, and not great insulation.

Could I go wrong going with the bigger stove. Is the 60, with a 2 cuft firebox going to be perfectly good and I'm just worrying too much?

Curious about the final decision, and wondering how has it worked out for you. Impressed that your house functions with such a small electric boiler and I’m guessing you picked the smaller wood stove.