Stove placement help!

[awesomerobot]

We've got a 1250 square foot 1.5 floor cape house – it's all electric baseboard

Anyway, the rooms are abundant but pretty small. We were considering putting a ~30k BTU stove in our living room - but are concerned it'd get too hot if we're cranking the thing to try and heat the rest of the house. The room is only 10.5 feet across... but it is more open (the spare room has a standard doorway, but the living room is 3 walls)

We're getting it more for utility than looks, so we could put it the other less-used room more central to the house and not miss out on looking at it... but would it throw enough heat to keep us comfortable in other rooms?

Here's a not to scale diagram with the two placement options in blue. Any advice would help greatly!

 

[smoke show]

lower left corner of living room angled towards hallway?

 

[lightyear]

I agree-lower left corner of living room

 

[awesomerobot]

there's a window about 1.5' from that corner.... might still work though?

Is it crazy to have a couch 4'-5' away from the front of the stove? Would it get uncomfortably hot?

 

[smoke show]

there's a window about 1.5' from that corner.... might still work though?

Is it crazy to have a couch 4'-5' away from the front of the stove? Would it get uncomfortably hot?

my wifes chair is about 6' from the front of the stove and she loves it. yes it is pretty warm there.

 

[smwilliamson]

my wifes chair is about 6' from the front of the stove and she loves it. yes it is pretty warm there.

Wives should always have a hot "seat"

 

[smwilliamson]

where you have it in the livingroom is fine. You could move it to the lower but I imagine then you would have a vent out the front of the house.

 

[movemaine]

Have you thought about the lower right - next to the stairs? Is there room there? That might prevent it from being too close in the living room while also throwing heat upstairs.

It might help to know what your main goal is? Heat for daytime, or more for nightime sleeping, or best placement for generalized use (possible sacrificing a little of day & night performance overall)?

It can get uncomfortable hot next to the stove - especially if you are cranking it so that the heat is reaching the further areas of your home - based on your layout, it looks like you are going to need to run the stove on high to throw heat to other areas of the house. This will be hot & and a little noisy - maybe not so great for watching tv in the living room.

The secondary room would possible work, but I would get a big stove (60k+ btu - maybe a p68) so that heat is thrown around the corners.
You may consider vents between the living room & secondary room and the secondary room and the upstairs hall.

You can see my heating diagram linked below - I am able to heat the back bedrooms with the stove, as the heat does manage to wrap around corners.

 

[awesomerobot]

Ah yes, that's very helpful - especially nice to see someone else's layout! May consider getting a larger stove and putting in the secondary room. We have ceiling fans and adding vents would make sense too.

Actually now that I think of it - it would be nice to knock down the wall and just have a larger living room area... so keeping that in mind the placement in our extra room may be ideal for that future project.

Thanks everyone!

 

[john193]

Just be mindful that your exhaust needs to be minimum of 48 inches away from doors/windows. This was the case with my harman.

 

[movemaine]

Ah yes, that's very helpful - especially nice to see someone else's layout! May consider getting a larger stove and putting in the secondary room. We have ceiling fans and adding vents would make sense too.

Actually now that I think of it - it would be nice to knock down the wall and just have a larger living room area... so keeping that in mind the placement in our extra room may be ideal for that future project.

Thanks everyone!

I think if you could get that wall down and open up the secondary to the living room, you would see better heat distribution and would have no need for vents up to the second level.

The question is, are you willing to reduce a potential 3 bedroom down to a 2 bedroom? Capes tend to be smaller and have chopped up rooms, so it's nice to see them opened up. (My wife's a Realtor and I was for 5 years or so). I guess it comes down to is this the house you are going to be in for a long time to justify losing a bedroom?

 

[smwilliamson]

Just be mindful that your exhaust needs to be minimum of 48 inches away from doors/windows. This was the case with my harman.

18" with OAK in Harmones

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

I'm not sure what kinds of pipe runs you looked into, but finding a closet or a corner in a room to run it would be ideal. Centralizing the stove as much as possible will help distribute the heat too. Things don't always work out like they plan and you make the best of what you got. Good luck

 

[awesomerobot]

I think if you could get that wall down and open up the secondary to the living room, you would see better heat distribution and would have no need for vents up to the second level.

The question is, are you willing to reduce a potential 3 bedroom down to a 2 bedroom? Capes tend to be smaller and have chopped up rooms, so it's nice to see them opened up. (My wife's a Realtor and I was for 5 years or so). I guess it comes down to is this the house you are going to be in for a long time to justify losing a bedroom?

Oh, absolutely willing to reduce it - it's crazy how many rooms are crammed into this place, and we'll likely be here for a solid 10 years.

I'm planning on getting a stove this season, but would likely not have the time to remove the wall/room until spring — would there be any value a simple wall vent to get the air moving between that spare room and the living room? I'm thinking there would be — and the effort to do that would be pretty minimal.

 

[movemaine]

Oh, absolutely willing to reduce it - it's crazy how many rooms are crammed into this place, and we'll likely be here for a solid 10 years.

I'm planning on getting a stove this season, but would likely not have the time to remove the wall/room until spring — would there be any value a simple wall vent to get the air moving between that spare room and the living room? I'm thinking there would be — and the effort to do that would be pretty minimal.

I think so, a vent would help (maybe 2 - put them up high, like air intake vents).

Additionally, depending on the wall, you may be able to pull it down pretty easily - assuming it's not load bearing, doesn't contain plumbing, etc.

 

[awesomerobot]

I think so, a vent would help (maybe 2 - put them up high, like air intake vents).

Additionally, depending on the wall, you may be able to pull it down pretty easily - assuming it's not load bearing, doesn't contain plumbing, etc.

The wall will come down easily, but the chimney walled-up inside of it is another story I could buy a car for the quote I got for repointing it — so it's going to likey come out brick-by-brick next spring/summer.

 

[movemaine]

you could always leave is as a column - a design element?

 

[briansol]

no need for vents up to the second level.

vents into the 2nd level are illegal and against code in most places. call your town /fire marshal before cutting.

 

[movemaine]

vents into the 2nd level are illegal and against code in most places. call your town /fire marshal before cutting.

Maybe regional, as well as dependent on the age of the house. I believe in Maine, due to a lot of houses having wood heat, vents are allowable. I think in a lot of areas you can have a vent, but it must have a 90 degree in it somewhere to prevent it being a straight column for fire regs.

 

[DBCOOPER]

vents into the 2nd level are illegal and against code in most places. call your town /fire marshal before cutting.

What about that large opening between floors called the stairway?

If I was installing a stove in that layout I would put it in the spare room. I would open up the walls with a cased opening on both sides of the doorway that looks like a window with the cross pieces wide enough for knick knacks or small plants.Not knowing what the window layout is or whats outside I would even consider building an outset and installing an insert so it wouldn't take up that much of the room.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

Gravity floor vents are allowed in some applications, with the building inspectors approval. The vents have to have a spring loaded fire door within the space if it is to be allowed.

DB, open stairways in residential homes do not count as a form of fire control. However in the building codes today, fire blocking is placed in the walls surrounding stairways to help control the flow of air inbetween floors in case of a fire. Same goes for the gravity floor vents, there has to be a good reason for them and there has to be some form of air control between the floors instead of just an open space.