New to Hearth.com, and I've never owned a wood stove so any thought or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I have a 1200 sq ft bungalow on 2 acres. It was built in 1978, L shaped living room dining room faces south, electric furnace with baseboard heaters in the bedrooms. The basement is divided in to three sections , laundry/ mud room, bedroom, and 400 sq ft family room with open staircase in the middle of the basement. In the winter during the day we get a lot of solar heat coming through the windows even if it is -30, but soon as the sun sets you can feel the house get colder. The family room in the basement is around 60 f , and running a space heater barely makes it warm enough. I would like to put a wood burning stove in the south west corner, with an outside chimney. I would like it to heat up the family room with excess heat going up the stairs into the living room. Plan A is every day around 4 I fire up the stove and let it die out around midnight. Knowing I'll have to preheat the chimney to get the flue warmed up. Plan B I love the heat so much I run it all the time. Also if the power goes out for an extended period of time I would like it to be able at least keep the house warm enough that the pipes don't freeze. Thinking between P.E. vista 1.6 , P.E. Super le 2.0 , Enerzone 2.3. Last thing is the wood around here in western Canada is mostly poplar, pine or ash so that will affect burn times and heat output . Any thought on size? Or anything else. Thanks Brian
I have a 1200 sq ft bungalow on 2 acres. It was built in 1978, L shaped living room dining room faces south, electric furnace with baseboard heaters in the bedrooms. The basement is divided in to three sections , laundry/ mud room, bedroom, and 400 sq ft family room with open staircase in the middle of the basement. In the winter during the day we get a lot of solar heat coming through the windows even if it is -30, but soon as the sun sets you can feel the house get colder. The family room in the basement is around 60 f , and running a space heater barely makes it warm enough. I would like to put a wood burning stove in the south west corner, with an outside chimney. I would like it to heat up the family room with excess heat going up the stairs into the living room. Plan A is every day around 4 I fire up the stove and let it die out around midnight. Knowing I'll have to preheat the chimney to get the flue warmed up. Plan B I love the heat so much I run it all the time. Also if the power goes out for an extended period of time I would like it to be able at least keep the house warm enough that the pipes don't freeze. Thinking between P.E. vista 1.6 , P.E. Super le 2.0 , Enerzone 2.3. Last thing is the wood around here in western Canada is mostly poplar, pine or ash so that will affect burn times and heat output . Any thought on size? Or anything else. Thanks Brian
But a couple questions here, is the basement insulated? or is it just block against earth on one side (assuming its walk out since theres a mud room) If your going the wood stove route, while deciding whats best for your home and getting all required permits in order along with quotes, start gathering firewood now, you will want the stuff split and stacked asap since most wood types take a minimum of a year to dry out to the ideal level of 20% moisture content. All stoves love dry wood, and your kidding yourself if you think you can walk into the woods and drop a dead tree cut, split, stack and burn that night. You will want to shoot for a healthy 4 cords (stacked - 4ft x 4ft x 8ft = 1 cord) of wood to start off with, this will gauge what you'll need for a full winter, plus any wood left over just dries out even more and is better the following year. 
