Upgrade

[Flashback87]

I'm thinking about upgrading my stove and seeing if anyone can offer some insight.

I jumped into this loving my open fireplace but annoyed with how much wood I consumed. I saw someone that had a hearth mounted stove in a fireplace and i thought that looked nice so I started shopping around.

Since I've never burned in a stove before and really have never experienced one, I wasn't comfortable going all in on an expensive one. A local shop had a true north tn20, I liked the price so I went with that.

I've had it now for 3 years and I have been pleased. I have a 1900 sqft ranch with a pretty open floor plan. It's in the fireplace in the center of the home. It keeps that area nice with temps low to mid 70s and the bedrooms in the low 60s. Don't need to turn my heat on (hot water steam heat) unless it's in the teens or below and then I just turn it on at night.

A local shop has a jotul f55 so I am trying to determine if I'm going to see a noticeable difference with the heat it produces if I switch. Since I can rear mount the flue with the jotul, the stove will stick out of the fireplace more (current stove sticks out about halfway) but I am not sure how much more heat that will give me. Plus the bigger firebox on the jotul would give more burn time I am assuming. Currently, I get flames for about 2-3 hrs on the true north. Once the flames stop the temp in my room will start dropping unless i open up the air and keep raking coals to front. I do this a lot but not an option overnight obviously. It will get around 69-70° in that area and I will reload. When I wake up that area is 65-66°.

On super cold day (like now) I will do 4 loads a day. On warmer days I will do 3 loads. I have no issues keeping the coals in the truenorth and relighting but it is not super warm after an overnight burn so not sure how well it retains heat.

So, will I see a big difference with the Jotul or i am expecting too much?

Im just hoping to get a little more heat for longer but that may be unrealistic.

Again, my current setup is really the only experience I have had with a wood stove so I may be a little ignorant.

Thanks!

 

[bigealta]

Sorry i don't know anything about the true north stove. How big is the firebox in it?
Sure others here will chime in

 

[Todd]

A larger stove with a larger firebox sticking more into the room should give you better results.

 

[Flashback87]

Sorry i don't know anything about the true north stove. How big is the firebox in it?
Sure others here will chime in

2 cubic ft

 

[bigealta]

The f55 is listed at just under3 so that's a big difference in fuel load.

 

[bigealta]

Are you buying wood or do you have access to "free" wood, trees?

If you want more heat from a woodstove you will typically need more fuel. So with the f55 you will have a bigger box to load with more fuel. Your house should get more heat and longer burns, but that will require burning more wood. If that's fine then you just have to ask yourself is it worth it? In cold stretches like this the answer is probably Yes. But if it's only a few days or a week or 2 a winter then it might be more of a question mark?

I mostly heat my house with a jotul f400, and if i had your set up and could not get enough out of the tn20, i'd make the f55 my new stove.

I don't buy wood and enjoy cutting, splitting, stacking lot's of wood in my back yard. If you don't really like that then that's something to consider. If you buy wood, you should still buy it at least a year early which means a large amount of stacked wood somewhere in your yard.

 

[Flashback87]

Are you buying wood or do you have access to "free" wood, trees?

If you want more heat from a woodstove you will typically need more fuel. So with the f55 you will have a bigger box to load with more fuel. Your house should get more heat and longer burns, but that will require burning more wood. If that's fine then you just have to ask yourself is it worth it? In cold stretches like this the answer is probably Yes. But if it's only a few days or a week or 2 a winter then it might be more of a question mark?

I mostly heat my house with a jotul f400, and if i had your set up and could not get enough out of the tn20, i'd make the f55 my new stove.

I don't buy wood and enjoy cutting, splitting, stacking lot's of wood in my back yard. If you don't really like that then that's something to consider. If you buy wood, you should still buy it at least a year early which means a large amount of stacked wood somewhere in your yard.

I source ny own wood and like you it's more of a hobby. Love the exercise and being outside cutting splitting and stacking.

I have a lot of wood and I just don't feel like I'm getting the most out of it. Of course, that is magnified over the past couple days with these temps.

Again, the tn20 does pretty good but I feel with all the wood I have I should be baking in my house even in these cold temps. But, that may be unrealistic? It's 5° out today and the room where my stove is at 74° but as u get away from that it gets colder. Have my heat set at 62° and the thermostat is near the bedrooms away from the stove. House is basically a rectangle with stove in the middle and bedrooms at the end. Heat will come when I leave the house and cant tend to the stove. I'm not sure if the f55 would be any different though.

I have baseboard steam heat fed by natural gas so it's not the end of the world if it comes on. Natural gas is pretty cheap but it's just an annoyance when I hear the furnace kick on... lol.

On warmer days it will get too hot with the tn20.

I just done want to invest the money and be disappointed with the outcome.

I know no one can really answer that but any insight is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[stoveliker]

How tall is your flue from stove top to chimney cap?

Do you have a flue probe thermometer?

 

[Flashback87]

How tall is your flue from stove top to chimney cap?

Do you have a flue probe thermometer?

it's probably right at the minimum... 14-15 ft, not very tall. Its 10.25 feet from stove through attic to roof peak. Never measurured how tall the chimney is that sticks out my roof plus the cap. Its seens to draft well though. No flue probe as the liner is in my existing chimney. I put a block off plate in and can hit the flue with my infrared laser to check the temp where it goes in the block off plate. I dontbthinknthats 18 inches above the stove though. May be a little less.

 

[stoveliker]

Okay. Then it's unlikely too much heat goes up the flue being the cause of not getting enough heat in the room.