what woodstove to buy

[mkvrgti]

we are looking into getting a stove for our house and using it to mostly heat our house. what is a good stove to buy? was have a ranch and is aprox. 1300sq feet. planned on putting it in the basement. i know the basement is not the best place. but our layout upstairs really does not work that well.

 

[Wood Duck]

Ha! The classic question. I think you have to choose, but I suggest you pick one that will have relatively long burn times and therefore require relatively little tending. If you are going to use the stove for your primary heat you are going to want to keep it burning most of the fall, winter, and spring. The longer the burn time the less you'll have to tend it. I enjoy tending the stove as much as anyone, but I find it gets to be a hassle at times I wish my stove would burn longer between loading. You don't need a big stove for your relatively small house, but big stoves burn longer than smaller stoves. Also I think a stove with a catalytic combuster tends to give longer burns than a non-cat stove becaues you can maintain secondary burn (burning the smoke and gases) at a lower burn rate in a cat stove compared to a non-cat stove. I guess I am recommending a large cat stove. I have a small non-cat stove, so I may not know what I am talking about. It isn't that I don't like my stove, but it often burns out when I am asleep or away from home and I would like it not to.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I have 3 different stoves in different locations I like them all but every brand is different. I like the harman best,its the most versatile and longest burning but its also the most expensive, next is the country hearth, its attractive gives a lively burn on low draft and keeps the glass very clean ,and third is the englander 30. THe englander is a workhorse but not very attractive IMO .Many although like its plain look just fine. If there is someplace you can go to see the stove your thinking of in action(while burning) a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[NSDave]

having just gone thru this process, I can offer the following; most people here will say that you can burn a small fire in a big stove, but not the other way round. For me, a newbie wood burner; It came down to I had to decide how I would use the stove, what area of the house I wanted to heat; so total sq ftage wasn't a concern, and look at how big the room was the stove was in, and what that room was used for.

Since I was replacing a new to me pre existing setup, I had to bear in mind how it would all fit together; with regards to hearth size and fit in the room. Also I wanted something easy to maintain and simple to use. we'll see how that works out LOL

If you're new to wood heating don't worry too much about the long burn time right away;you'll get there eventually ; but do keep it in mind when buying ,as wood duck explains

 

[hotprinter]

Blaze King! IF you only want to heat your house the Blaze King is top of the line. I am in Alaska and ours has been heating our house since October 22 without relighting, thats right, only one match so far in 5 months. Our oil bill has been cut to almost nothing (98 gallons for 7 weeks, and that includes heating our domestic water).BLAZE KING ULTRA is the best but in your case you may get a princess...

 

[begreen]

Welcome mkvrgti. Ya, basement heating is far from ideal. And if the basement is uninsulated it will mean a lot of wood burned to keep upstairs comfortable. Are you in a far northern climate? If so, I would go large and run partial loads during the milder weather. What is the budget?

To size the stove we need to know whether the basement walls are insulated and where would the stove be located in the basement in relation to an always open stairwell. It would be best to have a large open stairwell centrally located with the stove close by.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

is the house including the basement 1300 sq ft, or are we looking at more fotage when we count the basement?

if you are "unfinished" in the basement and it was not included in the sq footage given i would stay at 3 cubic foot or larger, if finished somthing in the 2.4 and up range may be enough. hard to say for certain without more specifics ie. degree of insulation, age of structure, size of basement especially if it was not included in origional sq footage given.

 

[mkvrgti]

i am in maine, that 1300 was just the up stairs, basement is not finished, but do plan on doing something on the walls,

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Unless you have a very well insulated basement you will be very disappointed with the amount of heat that makes it upstairs.Plus you will have to make it uncomfortably hot in the basement to get it just right a floor above. I tried it. Theres no comparison to having a stove actually IN the upstairs.

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

Is upstairs a no go due to the house lay out or size requirements . . . sometimes posting a rough drawing of your home's lay out can result in folks offering up ideas for a stove placement that you might not have thought about. Honestly, while Maniacs have a history of putting woodstoves in the basement, the best placement for a modern woodstove often is in the living space -- more heat, you can tell when to reload and you get the visual beauty of the flames.

Where in Maine are you? No, don't worry . . . I promise not to visit. Just curious as to where fellow Maniacs are writing in from.

As for what stove . . . you have lots of decisions (steel vs. cast iron vs. soapstone, cat or non-cat, the various brands, etc.) . . . the one thing I definitely recommend . . . well two things I recommend . . . figure out the size stove you need and then go up one size (few folks complain about their stove being too much for their home whereas far more people complain about their stove being sized too small) . . . and check out the stove ratings site here once you narrow down your choices to see what folks think about their stove.

 

[begreen]

i am in maine, that 1300 was just the up stairs, basement is not finished, but do plan on doing something on the walls,

I suspect you will need to go large then, but do insulate those basement walls and seal up the sill plate, then insulate the sills too. It will save you a lot of wood. Without insulation you can figure on about 25-33% loss to the walls.

A big, solid affordable stove like the Englander 30NC or Drolet Myriad will get the job done.