Thoughts from your Hearth Heater Experience... much appreciated

[pamela]

Hello:

I am new to the forum as a member – but have been reading and learning a lot here. What a wonderful site.

I want to put the wood stove partially into my existing fireplace extending five to eight inches into the living room -- see low tech specs and snapshot attached below...

My house is a 1700 square foot two story Cape Cod in SE Wisconsin – poorly insulated
Fireplace is centrally located in a smallish living room - 18x11.

I would like to get an overnight burn, but do now want to be cooked out of the living area. I had put a deposit down on a Jotul Castine, but when the dealer came to measure for the installation he informed me the mantle would have to go, and suggested the stove was too big. I am now rather befuddled and regrouping as the temperature and leaves outside begin to drop.

I had already geared up for extending the hearth and re facing the surround with soapstone, adding a ceiling fan as well as several floor and wall vents to move the heat to other rooms. – I would prefer not to loose the mantle entirely, as it quite suits the room -- but this is a COLD house.

I am looking for some thoughts and feedback from folks who have installed stoves as hearth heaters.

Jotul Castine
Hearthstone Heritage
Jotul CB



Thanks sincerely –
Pamela

 

[begreen]

Hi Pamela, welcome and thanks for the drawing. You have several options. I have to disagree with the dealer, the Castine will not overheat the room or house. It is a pretty flexible burner. Can you tell us what the overall size of the house is and how open is the floorplan, especially as it connect with this room?

As far as the mantle goes, I would consider a removable heatshield attached with 1" spacers to the underside of the mantle itself. It could be painted white. This might be worth calling the stove company about to see if they would approve it as a solution.

 

[begreen]

Another option would be to install a nice insert with a heatshield at the stove. This would allow the mantle to stay intact. Jotul makes a nice mid-sized insert, the C450 that would look great in that spot.

 

[pamela]

Thanks for the reply. The house is not at all open -- thus the need for a ceiling fan and grates. Typical 50's suburban Cape. LR, DR kitchen, den, plus two other rooms and bath make up the first floor. Someday I would like to remove some walls but it will not happen this year.

 

[btj1031]

I have a castine in a setup very similar to yours. Works very well heating my poorly insulated 1,700 ft cape.

 

[pamela]

From what I have garnered hear and experienced in other peoples homes a stove is a more efficient option as opposed to am insert, though I have looked into them as well. VC's new Magestic is one that looks really great -- but I feel I would need so much steal surround to cover the large fireplace opening it would aesthetically overpower the room. Also I like the look of a stove -- and already have the fireplace and am hopeful the firebricks will conduct some heat through the house.

Pamela

 

[pamela]

I have a castine in a setup very similar to yours. Works very well heating my poorly insulated 1,700 ft cape.

Did you need to remove or remake a mantle?

 

[pamela]

I have a castine in a setup very similar to yours. Works very well heating my poorly insulated 1,700 ft cape.

...And do you have a photo you could share?

thank you

 

[SlyFerret]

Nobody mentioned it yet, so I figured I'd bring it up...

Don't cut any holes until you get the stove in and see how you do with ceiling fans, doorway fans, box fans, and natural convection currents.

Cutting holes in walls and floors/ceilings can be dangerous code violations. Make sure you do your research on this before you make any cuts.

The biggest safety concern with cutting holes is that they will offer smoke, flame, and CO express routes from your stove room into other parts of the house (such as bedrooms) and can significantly reduce escape/reaction time in the event of a fire or malfunctioning stove.

-SF

 

[bcnu]

Pamela, from what I can see our mantle is almost a twin to yours. I had quite a time meeting code and ended up putting a "foot" on each side of the mantle to raise it up 9 inches. It sits higher than I would like but my wife loves it - I love her - and all is well with the world.

 

[pamela]

Thank you sincerely for your ideas -- Is it a Hearthstone Homestead that you have? and do you have a photo? Would love to see what others have done as I am a visual type of person.

sincerely
pamela

 

[begreen]

If you do an advanced search on the model of stove and constrain it to look only in the Perfect Picture forum, there should be some nice shots there.

Here's what I found for the Homestead:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13497/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/499/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/15027/