Time to replace old stove in basement

[diverscale]

After the terrific cold snap we got here in Quebec (pretty cold even for quebec), I am now fed up with my basement stove. The stove is a ''foyers richelieu model s136, good for 1200 sq/ft, heats ok when it's not that cold outside, but for very cold temp, it has to be wide-open pretty much all the time, and has to be refilled often. Moreover, when I wake up in the morning after 6-7 hours, even though I have enough coal to light a fire, there is very minimal heat left and the house is down in temperature pretty much. Also, when the stove is cleaned, I can only get 3 logs in, only 2 if they are big ones.

here is the stove in the attached files. If someone can identify what it is really.

So, after looking at all the stoves, and the clearance requirements, the pacific energy summit is pretty much the one that I think will for the job there. Maybe a bit oversized for my house (approx. 1000 sq/ft, basement and first floor), but heating from the far end of the basement, then back to the staircase, then back again to the living room, I think it will perform much better here.

Any experience with a summit in the basement, did it heat up much quicker than your smaller stove? Did you cook yourself in the house? Do you think I'll see much better performance than my older stove?

 

[begreen]

If looking at big stoves, take a look at the Drolet HT2000 too. You might also consider cutting a floor vent near the stove end of the house so that a convection loop can form with heat rising at the stove end and cold air returning down the stairwell. If you do this, be sure to install a fusible-link damper below the vent's grate.

 

[diverscale]

Thanks for the suggestion, looked the the HT2000, and the problem is that it does not fit my installations (clearances/chimney placement).

Also, I already made traps in the back end of the house. Unbelievably, it does not transport heat up, it mostly bring some cold down to the basement.

 

[begreen]

Also, I already made traps in the back end of the house. Unbelievably, it does not transport heat up, it mostly bring some cold down to the basement.

That's interesting. Can you post a sketch of the basic layout that shows stove location, stairwell and the vents (traps?)?

 

[diverscale]

Here is a basic plan. Stove is in the basement, that you could imagine open for the sake of it. The heat has to travel from the stove (in green), to the stairwell, then in the kitchen and living room. No traps in the bedroom since we like to sleep the colder possible, didn't take the chance to add traps there. The two traps in the small room is my future computer room, which I wanted ventilated too for the future. Good down draft there too.

I finally bought the PE summit today, and the seller, which I think was a pretty knowable guy, told me that to increase my draft from those traps (which were a very good start in his opinion), I could use some 4X10'' adaptors for pipes, and then bring a pipe to the floor from the traps (4X10'' traps), and thus increasing the cold downdraft significantly.

 

[begreen]

What you are experiencing is gravity fed convection. Old systems were often set up this way with floor grates (traps) on the cold perimeter walls and the furnace feeding heat to the main floor via a large register in the center of the house. This worked out relatively well and avoided draft as the cold air sunk off the walls into the floor grates and was heated and convected up in the middle of the house by the furnace. The problem in your house is that the system is only partially implemented and the stove is in the wrong location, so the hot air has little choice but to take the long route up the stairs. That is, the stove is exactly under the area where you don't need or want the heat. Is is possible to relocate the stove?

 

[diverscale]

Stove relocation= impossible. Massonery insulated chimney relocation would cost so much that I'd better sell the house. Also, I don't want my wood stove on the main floor, as we really like to sleep cold, and we really like the smooth heat the stove is generating from the basement with the traps. Also, a floor fan is blowing cold air to the stove from the stairwell to help the heat moving. Having had my wood stove on main floor in my other house, I prefer the heat from my (very insulated) basement. I do miss the continuous fire view a lot though, and find myself going down often with a beer. Really like the warm floors on the main floor too.

The problem really is during cold temps of below 0 f, where it takes too long to get the house to temp and the burn time. But even at -20f, I easily keep 75f on the main floor as long as I refill the stove. I finally ordered the summit, hoping to get greater burn times!