Sizing question - Heritage - homestead- tribute???

[sarahf]

I am new to the wood stove world but after several months of research have opted for a wood stove (over a pellet). I like the hearthstone and am trying to decide between the Heritage, Homestead, and the Tribute. I live in western - central MD. My house is 2100+ square feet, 2 stories. It is an old house so the rooms are fairly small with 9 foot ceilings. Each of the rooms has a passive heat vent in the ceiling. The room that I want to put the wood stove in is 180 square feet and in the center of the house, it has 2 large windows on the side with the chimney, and the other three walls have double doorways to other rooms (one up the stairway). There are also ceiling fans in the rooms. The house has the original insulation - that would be plaster and horse hair with the upgrade of drywall on top of the plaster (I don't think that we are going to need to worry about "cracking" a door or window to prevent smoke from entering the house lol).
My question is: the Heritage/Homestead are for heating about 1800sq ft and the Tribute 1300. Am I going to be roasted out of my small room (180 sq ft) with the Heritage/Homestead? I don't want to get it so big that we can't run it at a safe hot heat but I also want to be able to keep the upstairs warm at night. We can shut the vents during the day but the heat will still travel right up the stairs. And the house gets REALLY cold, seriously the insulation needs to be upgraded and the windows are original (I am in the process of reglazing and rehabing the windows but it is a slow process (especially with three kids under 4!)). One room does not have any heat source at all (well an electric heater but I won't use it). At night, wool sweaters, full clothes, and wool blankets will keep you from shivering - just! Of course, I refuse to turn the heat above 62 - I am a heat miser - oil heat just costs too much!

Another question. The space that the stove will take up is an issue. I want to add a rear heat shield and double walled pipe to reduce clearances but I don't know how much space the rear pipe exit on the Homestead will add to the required space. I can't really figure out what the manual says about that. Would the Heritage be better with the top pipe exit?

Also, the chimney is a masonry wood stove chimney (terracotta liner) and brand new. I had a chimney sweep check it out and he said we were good to go - no need for an insert until the tiles crack but we would need a thimble and a heat shield around the thimble. It looks like the previous owners covered the cinderblock chimney with drywall and there is 7 inches on each side of the terracotta pipe (that goes from the chimney into the room (sorry don't know the name)) to a wood window frame. Am I safe installing a wood stove here? The previous owners had one here before (I know because they had a fire in the old chimney which explains the new chimney (I just found this out)) but I am not looking forward to having to rebuild the chimney because of my own fire. I don't see signs of scorched paint on the window trim (and the paint is original).

Sorry about all of the questions and thanks so much for any help! I am looking forward to a warm winter.

 

[Highbeam]

First off, the stove will heat 1800 and your house is 2100 so even the heritage is undersized. Then the 1800 SF rating assumes average insulation so your stove will be working even harder. Don't worry about oversizing the stove. The Heritage will not be too much. Might even go bigger, like the mansfield.

Buy and use electric blankets. Seriously, they are cheap to buy and use minimal electricity and provide very effective sleeping heat. This is a band-aid but there is no reason that you should be sleeping with wool sweaters!

The Heritage can be 7" from a combustible wall. That's close. I used 10" due to the chimney location and have the extra margin. The top exit of the heritage will be better since even the double wall stove pipe must be 6" from the wall. Plus it will draft better without the extra bend. Straight up is always best for a chimney.

I can't comment on your block chimney. I removed the existing masonry chimney the first spring after I moved into my home.

Lastly, insulation is the low hanging fruit to improve the heat loss from your home. I replaced our very leaky single pane windows and am scheduled to have attic and crawlspace insulation installed within a month. I hope to see huge improvements.

 

[Vic99]

I agree, as usual, with Highbeam.

The Heritage may be a bit undersized and may not work for the areas further from the stove, but if those are sleeping areas and you can deal with a bit cooler and make up with blankets, great.

Spend the money on insulation as soon as you can. In old houses it is not always practical for every area, but do what you can. I'd advocate this order if possible:

1) Weather strip / caulk leaks (windows, behind outlet plates . . . any crack you can see daylight through)
2) Attic insulation
3) Replace leaky window if its just 1 or 2 windows, otherwise I'd bump it to a lower priority due to cost
4) Walls
5) Floor

Some areas are just inaccessible without lots of demo and remodel.

Also, see if your state has an energy audit program. Many states will go through your house in an hour and offer suggestions for improvements. They offer pretty deep discounts, tell you how long you can expect to break even on your investment, and will often come back later to make sure that the contractor installed the insulation or whatever properly.

 

[Highbeam]

I had our local energy provider come out and do the "audit" which was somewhat beneficial. He actually claimed that the priority list for insulation is ceiling, floors, walls, and then windows. Air sealing of course as you go. The walls didn't account for much heat loss and even the best windows aren't much better than the worst ones unless of course the wind blows right through them. The electric company kicked in several hundred dollars toward my floor/ceiling insulation. I don't intend to insulate the walls since they already have this funcky R5 fiberglass batt in them that would make it very difficult to improve, it would be easier if the walls were empty.

I think that I will be responsible for verifying the contractor's work.

I agree, as usual, with Highbeam.

The Heritage may be a bit undersized and may not work for the areas further from the stove, but if those are sleeping areas and you can deal with a bit cooler and make up with blankets, great.

Spend the money on insulation as soon as you can. In old houses it is not always practical for every area, but do what you can. I'd advocate this order if possible:

1) Weather strip / caulk leaks (windows, behind outlet plates . . . any crack you can see daylight through)
2) Attic insulation
3) Replace leaky window if its just 1 or 2 windows, otherwise I'd bump it to a lower priority due to cost
4) Walls
5) Floor

Some areas are just inaccessible without lots of demo and remodel.

Also, see if your state has an energy audit program. Many states will go through your house in an hour and offer suggestions for improvements. They offer pretty deep discounts, tell you how long you can expect to break even on your investment, and will often come back later to make sure that the contractor installed the insulation or whatever properly.