Stove Size?

[cham1733]

Hi, I live in Buffalo NY and am looking to put a woodstove in ourbasement and use it as our primary hear source. We have a 900 sq ft house, it is very well insulated and do have a natural gas furnance. My question is, what size should I be looking for. I went to a local dealer who recommened the regency f1100 and said that anything bigger would be too hot. Also in consideration was a Osburn 1600 which was a little bigger. I have read online that it is ok to buy a little bigger stove and just build a smaller fire in it but am not sure how accurate that is. Any help you can give is appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Greetings. You may be ok with a slightly larger stove. A lot depends on how you run the stove and whether you are trying to burn nights and weekends or 24/7. If you want to burn 24/7 you might be happier with a small catalytic stove from Woodstock or BlazeKing.

 

[HotCoals]

Basement insulated also?

 

[begreen]

Good question. Also is the basement sq ftg included in the 900 sq ft.?

Basement heating can be iffy in some situations if the basement is not insulated, the stove is far from the staircase, the doorway to the basement is small, the basement is partitioned which stops good convective air flow to upstairs. Note that often the basement has to be heated to a much higher temp to ensure a moderate first floor temp of say 72F. Is that OK?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

All good advice above. While you are choosing your stove get your wood put up to dry. Don't wait on this. Preferably you'd have 2 years put up but at least get the first year.

 

[stovelark]

For Buffalo winters- 900 sq ft above the basement??? Better think about a 2000 sq ft heater. If the basement is unfinished and cement walls, get as big as you can. The Osburn 2400 comes to mind. Espec if you are looking as a primary heater. A big steel stove in an unfinished basement is a good choice for that heating job. Big like Quad 5700, Enviro 2100, PE Summit etc etc. x2 on getting the wood ready now.. good luck.

 

[aansorge]

Here is a nice choice...(broken link removed to http://buffalo.craigslist.org/hsh/4483157769.html)

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

To op, I bet it is easier to cool the house down in the middle of the winter than it is to heat it up, if these guys say go bigger, Go Bigger, you don't want to struggle to get heat up those stairs. It's going to be tricky getting heat in a bedroom that is farthest away from stove. How much wood did you say you had already....? Gl

 

[begreen]

Hard to know what is being heated without the OP responding.

 

[HotCoals]

Hard to know what is being heated without the OP responding.

..it don't matter we will just keep going on and on..lol.

 

[realstihl]

Don't go TOO big or it might not work out well. I'd stay in the 2 cu ft range.

 

[cham1733]

For Buffalo winters- 900 sq ft above the basement??? Better think about a 2000 sq ft heater. If the basement is unfinished and cement walls, get as big as you can. The Osburn 2400 comes to mind. Espec if you are looking as a primary heater. A big steel stove in an unfinished basement is a good choice for that heating job. Big like Quad 5700, Enviro 2100, PE Summit etc etc. x2 on getting the wood ready now.. good luck.

Thanks for all the input so far. Sorry for the delay. 900 sq feet does not include the basement. The basement is finished and insulated. We have been here for a year now and last winter our National Fuel bill from November - April averaged $88 a month, that is with heating the basement. I do not know if that helps at all. Our basement is partioned. We have 3 rooms down there. The room we would be putting it in is slighly to the right of the stairs with a door separting them but right below our bedroom. Should I be looking at putting in a few grates in the floor to help the heat rise? I wasn't sure if that was going to be neccesarry. I started cutting and splitting last year and have about 10 cord stacked so far.

 

[aansorge]

A small stove should do fine with that low of a heating bill. A small cat stove would be ideal....

 

[Jags]

Should I be looking at putting in a few grates in the floor to help the heat rise?

And you don't want to just cut holes and drop grates in them. Look up thermal fused grates. They will auto close in case of fire. It just might save your life (or the lives of others).

 

[8ball]

Regency F1100 is a pain to own and operate but the F2400 is a great stove.I personally would put it up stairs because those fires are just to beautiful to hide in the basement,stove will run better upstairs,chimney is cheaper,wood is easier to handle and overall I prefer stoves up with me where I hang out.0.02$
cheers

 

[smokedragon]

Sounds like your home is very well insulated. Your situation screams Woodstock fireview to me. With that low of a heating bill, I agree that you don't need a really large stove. I still think that a stove you have more control over (catalytic or hybrid) would be better so that you can get more heat if needed. Even though I don't think you need a big stove, I still think that a bigger stove is not a bad idea, because you can build a 2 cu ft fire in a 3 cu ft stove.

Your biggest issue is going to be getting the heat upstairs. Whether that is with fused grates, fans, etc, that will be the hard part.

Congrats on getting ahead on your wood.

 

[begreen]

This is going to be a challenge. Heating from the basement can be done, but it usually means that there is a free open path to the stairway and that one is ok with having the basement much hotter in order to accomplish a nominal 72F or so on the main floor. I would consider opening up the partition to minimally block the flow of heat up the stairs. Opening a vent to the bedroom doesn't sound like a good plan. Usually one wants the bedroom a bit cooler for sleeping. It will get warm enough just being over the stove room.

To assist the flow of heat it may take an insulated duct pulling cool air from the opposite end of the house and blowing it with an inline fan into the stove room.