what do you think of my plan?

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munkyboi

New Member
Jan 18, 2014
50
New York
hi all,

here is my current set up:

i have a 1800 sq ft single level ranch with a 400 sq ft walk out basement. the main part of the house which is consisted of the living room, dining room, kitchen, foyer, hallway, bathroom, 2 small bedrooms, the stairs that lead down to the basement was built in the early 60's. there is an addition which is consisted of a master bedrooms an office and a bathroom that was built in the early 70's.

the main level is laid out in an open concept where the living roon, dining room, kitchen, foyer and hallway are all openly connected. the only doors existed are the bedroom doors and the bathroom doors. the basement has a finished main room, a laundry room, a boiler room and a crawl space where the oil tank, well water storage tank are located.

the house is moderately/reasonably insulated with mostly single pane windows, some of the windows also have interior storm windows. the master bedroom and the office in the addition have sliders but the seal between the pane on the sliders are broken (foggy). also, the addition was not built on slab or foundation, instead, it was supported by steel beams and columns so the bottom of the whole area was exposed to external elements. i am sure there is insulation underneath the floor, but i don't know what kind of insulation there is until i remove the panels underneath to find out.

in average, i would say the addition part of the house is about 5 to 10 degrees lower than the main part of the house.

the roof is newer (2005) and there is no attic.

i have 4 zones hydronic water heating:

zone 1 in the basement
zone 2 in the living room
zone 3 in one of the 2 bedrooms in the main part of the house
zone 4 in the master bedroom in the addition area

the domestic hot water is provided by an ergomax heat exchanger connected to a weil mclain ultra oil boiler with a beckett burner.


here is my plan:

- spray foam or other insulation underneath the addition part of the house and the crawl space in the basement

- replace the single pane windows with double pane ones and replace the broken sealed glass of the sliders with double pane insulated glass

- install a lopi repubic 1750i or fpx elite 33 wood stove insert in the living room masonary fireplace.

- load up the stove at 11 pm and set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 (main part of the house including the basement) to 50

- go to bed in the master bedroom and set the thermostat in the master bedrrom zone 4 to around 58 to 60 while we sleep

- wake up in the next morning, set the thermostat in the master bedroom zone 4 to 50

- go out to the main part of the house and set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 up to run the boiler and heat to those 3 zones for 5 to 10 minutes

- set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 back down to 50

- go to work

- come home and load up the stove

- repeat the above before i go to bed


do you think that is a good plan in terms of burning as little oil as possible without freezing the pipes?

any inputs, recommendations, corrections, advice are welcome and appreciated.

thanks so much for reading.
m
 
Well first off get programmable thermostats to do all of that for you and i didn't see you loading the stove in the morning why not?
 
i have never owned a stove before so i am still very new to the protocol and practice on how to properly operate/maintain a stove. should i load the stove and let it burn while nobody is home?
 
Hi

With a pretty nice boiler system already set up, ever think about adding on a wood fired boiler?
 
Many people burn 24 7 during the heating season yes
 
i have never owned a stove before so i am still very new to the protocol and practice on how to properly operate/maintain a stove. should i load the stove and let it burn while nobody is home?


This made me laugh because I have heard this so many time ;lol;lol;lol;lol;lol

I would much rather burn while I am away then while I am asleep. But yes, it is quite common to burn 24/7.
 
i have never owned a stove before so i am still very new to the protocol and practice on how to properly operate/maintain a stove. should i load the stove and let it burn while nobody is home?

Welcome to the forums, in case I missed you !!

Where in NY are you? That would help a bunch.

Floor plan / layout? Even rough drawn would help.
 
You're making it more complicated than it has to be, if you have a good enough stove the furnace will hardly ever kick on so all that setting won't matter. The only one I'd worry about is the master bedroom being warm when you get up for work, I know my wife likes it toasty when she wakes up and she's not a morning person so I make sure the bedroom is warm in the morning.
 
It sounds like a moderately insulated house with cathedral ceiling and open floor plan: I would go bigger for your insert. At least a 2.5 cu ft firebox like the Enviro 1700 series or a 3 cu ft one like the Lopi Freedom, Osburn 2400, Pacific Energy Summit, Regency i3100, or Quadrafire 5100i. With those you will easily get 10 hours usable heat out of them which means your furnace will rarely turn on when you load them in the morning and evening.

Make sure to get a liner (insulated preferably) and a damper-sealing block-off plate: https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/make-a-damper-sealing-block-off-plate/

Plus, you will need wood with a moisture content of less than 20%. How many cords do you have already?
 
It sounds like a moderately insulated house with cathedral ceiling and open floor plan: I would go bigger for your insert. At least a 2.5 cu ft firebox like the Enviro 1700 series or a 3 cu ft one like the Lopi Freedom, Osburn 2400, Pacific Energy Summit, Regency i3100, or Quadrafire 5100i. With those you will easily get 10 hours usable heat out of them which means your furnace will rarely turn on when you load them in the morning and evening.

Make sure to get a liner (insulated preferably) and a damper-sealing block-off plate: https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/make-a-damper-sealing-block-off-plate/

Plus, you will need wood with a moisture content of less than 20%. How many cords do you have already?


thanks for all the inputs, everyone.

i have a mid century modern house so i am trying to get an insert that would compliment its architecture/design. originally, i looked at the wittus h30 and the morso 5610, but the h30 doesn't have a blower and the morso 5610 with the blower looks a bit too clumsy. so i continued to search and came across the fpx elite 33 plus rectangular with the black shadow box which looks very modern. then i searched the forum here and realized that a lot of folks are very happy with the insert. so that's why i am zero-ing in on it.

i am in northern westchester area. the house has an open layout with a low pitch roof with no attic. the heigh of the ceiling at the tallest point is about 10 feet.

i have about 1 to 2 cords of seasoned wood, and i am splitting the green ones every weekend.
 
The fpx 33 has only a 2.2 cu ft firebox and may have a hard time heating your home when it gets really cold. I would take a look at the 3 cu ft Large Flush Hybrid Fire insert: http://www.fireplacex.com/ProductGuide/ProductDetail.aspx?modelsku=99800177 It is also available from Avalon and Lopi (all Travis industries) just with a different outside face.

1 to 2 cords is a start but when you plan on burning 24/7 you will need more like 4 to 5 cords. Whatever you split right now will not be ready before the winter next year and even that will be a long shot.
 
hi all,

here is my current set up:

i have aslightly
hi all,

here is my current set up:

i have a 1800 sq ft single level ranch with a 400 sq ft walk out basement. the main part of the house which is consisted of the living room, dining room, kitchen, foyer, hallway, bathroom, 2 small bedrooms, the stairs that lead down to the basement was built in the early 60's. there is an addition which is consisted of a master bedrooms an office and a bathroom that was built in the early 70's.

the main level is laid out in an open concept where the living roon, dining room, kitchen, foyer and hallway are all openly connected. the only doors existed are the bedroom doors and the bathroom doors. the basement has a finished main room, a laundry room, a boiler room and a crawl space where the oil tank, well water storage tank are located.

the house is moderately/reasonably insulated with mostly single pane windows, some of the windows also have interior storm windows. the master bedroom and the office in the addition have sliders but the seal between the pane on the sliders are broken (foggy). also, the addition was not built on slab or foundation, instead, it was supported by steel beams and columns so the bottom of the whole area was exposed to external elements. i am sure there is insulation underneath the floor, but i don't know what kind of insulation there is until i remove the panels underneath to find out.

in average, i would say the addition part of the house is about 5 to 10 degrees lower than the main part of the house.

the roof is newer (2005) and there is no attic.

i have 4 zones hydronic water heating:

zone 1 in the basement
zone 2 in the living room
zone 3 in one of the 2 bedrooms in the main part of the house
zone 4 in the master bedroom in the addition area

the domestic hot water is provided by an ergomax heat exchanger connected to a weil mclain ultra oil boiler with a beckett burner.


here is my plan:

- spray foam or other insulation underneath the addition part of the house and the crawl space in the basement

- replace the single pane windows with double pane ones and replace the broken sealed glass of the sliders with double pane insulated glass

- install a lopi repubic 1750i or fpx elite 33 wood stove insert in the living room masonary fireplace.

- load up the stove at 11 pm and set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 (main part of the house including the basement) to 50

- go to bed in the master bedroom and set the thermostat in the master bedrrom zone 4 to around 58 to 60 while we sleep

- wake up in the next morning, set the thermostat in the master bedroom zone 4 to 50

- go out to the main part of the house and set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 up to run the boiler and heat to those 3 zones for 5 to 10 minutes

- set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 back down to 50

- go to work

- come home and load up the stove

- repeat the above before i go to bed


do you think that is a good plan in terms of burning as little oil as possible without freezing the pipes?

any inputs, recommendations, corrections, advice are welcome and appreciated.

thanks so much for reading.
m

q ft single level ranch with a 400 sq ft walk out basement. the main part of the house which is consisted of the living room, dining room, kitchen, foyer, hallway, bathroom, 2 small bedrooms, the stairs that lead down to the basement was built in the early 60's. there is an addition which is consisted of a master bedrooms an office and a bathroom that was built in the early 70's.

the main level is laid out in an open concept where the living roon, dining room, kitchen, foyer and hallway are all openly connected. the only doors existed are the bedroom doors and the bathroom doors. the basement has a finished main room, a laundry room, a boiler room and a crawl space where the oil tank, well water storage tank are located.

the house is moderately/reasonably insulated with mostly single pane windows, some of the windows also have interior storm windows. the master bedroom and the office in the addition have sliders but the seal between the pane on the sliders are broken (foggy). also, the addition was not built on slab or foundation, instead, it was supported by steel beams and columns so the bottom of the whole area was exposed to external elements. i am sure there is insulation underneath the floor, but i don't know what kind of insulation there is until i remove the panels underneath to find out.

in average, i would say the addition part of the house is about 5 to 10 degrees lower than the main part of the house.

the roof is newer (2005) and there is no attic.

i have 4 zones hydronic water heating:

zone 1 in the basement
zone 2 in the living room
zone 3 in one of the 2 bedrooms in the main part of the house
zone 4 in the master bedroom in the addition area

the domestic hot water is provided by an ergomax heat exchanger connected to a weil mclain ultra oil boiler with a beckett burner.


here is my plan:

- spray foam or other insulation underneath the addition part of the house and the crawl space in the basement

- replace the single pane windows with double pane ones and replace the broken sealed glass of the sliders with double pane insulated glass

- install a lopi repubic 1750i or fpx elite 33 wood stove insert in the living room masonary fireplace.

- load up the stove at 11 pm and set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 (main part of the house including the basement) to 50

- go to bed in the master bedroom and set the thermostat in the master bedrrom zone 4 to around 58 to 60 while we sleep

- wake up in the next morning, set the thermostat in the master bedroom zone 4 to 50

- go out to the main part of the house and set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 up to run the boiler and heat to those 3 zones for 5 to 10 minutes

- set the thermostat of zone 1 to 3 back down to 50

- go to work

- come home and load up the stove

- repeat the above before i go to bed


do you think that is a good plan in terms of burning as little oil as possible without freezing the pipes?

any inputs, recommendations, corrections, advice are welcome and appreciated.

thanks so much for reading.
m
I think you should save the money you will waste spending extra to buy a lopi get something cheaper with the same output keep your heat slighty below the temperature you are comfortable with and burn it up.if you speng a extra 2k on a stove that buys alot of heat ornamental fixtures dont help keep you warm. Unless you are hugging them lol
 
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