Trying to find a good stove for our FRAG. Mainly for ambience and can't seem to figure out what I want!

[seh1984]

We spend most of our time in our finished room above the garage (FRAG) and really want to add some ambience. We are going to rip up the carpet, put a focal brick tile on the wall where the wood stove would go to make it to our liking. We have oil baseboard up there, so the wood stove could truly be a secondary heat source, but can use it as primary for that room too. The room itself is roughly 400 SF, but connects to our entry way (ground level) which probably adds on another 150 SF? So roughly 400-600 sf heating area.

This new tax credit is really enticing so I would like to limit my options to the HHV >75%.

I am leaning towards some variation of the Morso 6100 series given it is fairly small, but I worry about the wood size only being 11" or below. Is that an issue?

I am also open to suggestions. I have looked at some of the BK line like the chinook, boxer and would be open to those but is my room too small for something like that? It's all overwhelming but am happy to have found this forum. Thanks for reading and helping out.

-Sam

Regarding the picture, the stove would likely go just to the left of the window where there is appropriate 8' ceiling height before the ceiling slopes.

 

[begreen]

If you are going for the tax credit yet something low output it could be challenging. The credit requires the stove to be 75% or greater efficient. The other challenge might be draft if the flue system is going to be short. BK stoves require at least 15'. One stove that might work is the Vermont Castings Aspen C3. It's compact and high efficiency. The Morso 61xx and the 2B also could work. So might the Woodstock Survival hybrid.

 

[AndrewU]

Nice thing about the BK line is you can turn the down a long ways to just get the heat you want. For the chinook I’d definitely be looking at the 20 not the 30. As begreen said though you need 15’ on the BK for flue (at sea level, if higher than 1000’ you need more) so you’d be going pretty high above the roof line.

 

[seh1984]

Nice thing about the BK line is you can turn the down a long ways to just get the heat you want. For the chinook I’d definitely be looking at the 20 not the 30. As begreen said though you need 15’ on the BK for flue (at sea level, if higher than 1000’ you need more) so you’d be going pretty high above the roof line.

just responded to other message and I think I would have about 15-16’ of flue when going 2 feet above apex of roof. Clearance is also a big deal and the morso seems to win in that regard. The chinook is worth looking into more though.

If I were to use this stove for ambience, nights and weekends while watching tv, playing games—is the morso or chinook preferable?

 

[AndrewU]

Can’t speak to the Morso, but the BK stoves are ambiance or low heat output. Not both at the same time. I run my Ashford 30 most of the time on “black screen” mode. Meaning I get the heat I want, but there’s no active flames to watch and glass gets obscured by the creosote. I love that I can keep my house at 68-72 with just that stove (and a surprisingly small amount of wood). But the entertainment of the flames only lasts until the new load is appropriately charred, then it gets tuned down to a nice red glow and and active catalyst making the heat.

 

[seh1984]

Can’t speak to the Morso, but the BK stoves are ambiance or low heat output. Not both at the same time. I run my Ashford 30 most of the time on “black screen” mode. Meaning I get the heat I want, but there’s no active flames to watch and glass gets obscured by the creosote. I love that I can keep my house at 68-72 with just that stove (and a surprisingly small amount of wood). But the entertainment of the flames only lasts until the new load is appropriately charred, then it gets tuned down to a nice red glow and and active catalyst making the heat.

Thank you, this is helpful!

 

[seh1984]

If you are going for the tax credit yet something low output it could be challenging. The credit requires the stove to be 75% or greater efficient. The other challenge might be draft if the flue system is going to be short. BK stoves require at least 15'. One stove that might work is the Vermont Castings Aspen C3. It's compact and high efficiency. The Morso 61xx and the 2B also could work. So might the Woodstock Survival hybrid.

Thought I replied earlier, but don't see my reply now. Thanks for the reply. I think we would have about 15-16' of flue/chimney when I was doing rough measurements. It seems like I will probably go the 61xx route given the low clearance, ambiance, air control. I do like the 7110 series as well, so will have to research that a little more. The Aspen is nice and was leaning towards that, but the automatic control throws me off. Maybe I just need to understand it more before tossing this one aside. Ive seen videos and seems like at certain temps, itll just restrict air flow and provide heat but no glow. Any idea if I could use small amounts of wood to get the glow/ambiance rather than stuff the box for max heat output?