Will my new Morso cook us out of house and home?

[ecstasy426]

Longtime lurker, first post.

Having done hours and hours of research, I'm ready to plunge into the world of wood stove heating. The local dealer has a Morso 2110 in stock, and I love the look of it, but I'm a little worried it might be so hot as to be uncomfortable. We have a drafty (despite latter-day insulation) farmhouse from 1818, and I'm mainly looking to heat our living room and dining room with a stove placed between them in what could be called a foyer. The stove would be used in conjunction with our hot-water baseboard heaters, which drink heating oil in the winter. We live near Hudson, NY, where the winter nights can occasionally be brutal.

Problem is, both rooms are only 400 sq ft, and the ceilings are just over 7 feet tall. The stove would be adjacent a staircase, so I'd think the upstairs would benefit as well, but is that a huge stove for our space? I had considered passive ceiling vents with fusible links and the requisite CO2/smoke monitors to get some of that heat going into the rooms above the dining room and living room, but I know that topic creates fear and loathing on here.

I suppose my question is this: Morso 2110 owners, is it too much stove for my house, or can it be tamed? It's rated for 800 sq ft to 1400 sq ft., but I know those numbers can be arbitrary. For other stove owners, the manual says it can create 42,000 BTUs of heat.

Also, if anyone has a new perspective on passive ceiling vents to keep our living room from overheating, I'm all ears. Thanks!

 

[babalu87]

Can you sketch up a quick floor plan?
How many sq. feet is the house, is it 800 sq. feet or is that only the first floor?
Yes, the second floor will benefit.

Initially, if the stove is in a small room it may get hot but the temps will balance out after a few hours. If you burn 24/7 you may not have that problem, the house will stay balanced.

 

[eernest4]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Choosing_a_Wood_Stove/

Here is something I just read, and as it pertains to your question, I think you should click on it and read it too.

I add it on as a edit.

****************************************************************************
edit #2
Your question has been eating at me all day! I have 2 more thoughts to add.

You can build a smaller fire, using less wood in a biger firebox & custom tailer your fire to the size of the room, not taking into account that a smaller load of wood may not burn as efficiently as a regular load & keeping in mind that a certain temp must be reached for secondary burning chamber to ignite the smoke. below that temp and no secondary ignition
or burning occurs & you will get smoke up the chimney.

On the other hand , with a small firebox, you can not build a bigger fire. you are limited by the size of the fire box & a small fire box will not give you a 8 hour overnight burn. For a 8 hour overnight burn you need at least a medium 1500 sq ft stove.

For the porposes of overnight burns, the bigger the firebox the better. a 1500 sq ft is comsidered the minimum for overnight burning, while a 1800 sq ft, 2000 sq ft & 2700sq ft
are even better.

Thought #2
I dont know how much you will pay for a morso stove , but both home depot & lowes sell
model #fw240007 Century stove, rated 1000 sq ft, epa rated secondary burn; for home depot $497.oo including shipping & lowes for $469.00

Do these prices sound better than the "deal" you were going to get??

Of course , these are just plain black stoves with glass fronts, no immitation gold plating.
But siver & gold dress up doors are available as a extra cost option, usually 150.00 to 250.00
more,depending on the stove you order them for.

Spending extra for a stove does not get you a better stove, only more jingles & jangles.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

ORIGINAL POST:

First, I never owned a morso 2110, but, I know a few of the rules of wood burning after burning for two years.


Both rooms together are only 400 sq ft or each room is 400 sq ft giving a total of 800 sq ft.

the morso 2110 is rated 800-1400 sq ft

If each room is 200 sq ft for a total of 400 sq ft & you are sticking the stove in a hallway????

I would immagine that the hallway will feel like 130* unelse you have 24 inch fans blowing away the excess heat, but, Im not sure--- maybe its a drafty hallway, maybe the heat will make right for the upstairs stairway, and maybe not.

EACH HOME HAS ITS OWN NATURAL HEAT CONVECTION PATHS THAT WILL ONLY BECOME APPARENT AFTER A STOVE HAS BEEN INSTALLED. This is not something I could figure out over the internet. To find your homes natural heat convection paths requires a on site inspection or install the stove an see what you get.

You may want to consider a smaller stove if you insist on the hallway location.

That stove, morso 2110,will be ok in one of the rooms but is too big for a foyer. The foyer
will overheat while every wheres else wont be warm enough.

My thinking is that the foyer will creat a heat dam, heat may not be able to disburst to
other rooms quickly enough unelse fan assisted.

The stove can be set to low burn & this will help , but will it help enough, I dont know.

I would be looking to place the stove in a larger room or if the foyer is where a stove must go,then get a smaller stove.

The looks of a stove is not important, i always buy plain black,the size of the stove, the placement & opperation & heat disbursal to other rooms is.

Im ok with floor /cieling registers, even fan forced ones.

---- but , who so ever opens the door
of the stove, must first open the stack draft damper
all the way open, then ever so slowly,-----
open the door, so that cold air does not flow into the firebox pushing a large volume of smoke out which will go right up to the registers and stink out other rooms.

After you have had that happen to you, several times, I might add,you might actually remember that I warned you in advance.

After two years burning, it still happens to me, ocasionally.

These are my thoughts on the subject, they are free & thats about what they are worth.
I'm not a expert, only have 2 yaers experience at wood burning.

 

[JimWalshin845]

I don't know!

But what time is dinner if it does?

Welcome aboard ;-P

 

[eernest4]

Hi jim,

boy, some of these questions are really something, eigh!

Talk about tough to answer!

But i keep learning new stuff, by reading the posts here and even by answering newbees
questions.

My stomach say its time to cook breakfast & the rest of me say its time to refresh the fire, so gotta go. bye!

 

[precaud]

My past experience with the 2110 is that it's a relatively sedate heater for it's size, and a joy to use. I don't think it will cook you out.

 

[ecstasy426]

Excellent info... I should clarify that it is not really a closed foyer at all, simply an open space between the two rooms, with the front door (rarely, if ever, opened) in front, and the stairs leading up about 12 feet away. I attached a picture of the living/dining room, with a red dotted line indicating where the stove would go. Of course, the room will be rearranged, the hearth made to spec, etc., but it'll give a good idea of my situation.

 

[babalu87]

I'm not sure about clearences to doors and windows but that stove wont cook you out of that house.
What is the total sq. footage of the house? Two 400 sq ft rooms on the first floor correct?

 

[kjklosek]

Excellent info... I should clarify that it is not really a closed foyer at all, simply an open space between the two rooms, with the front door (rarely, if ever, opened) in front, and the stairs leading up about 12 feet away. I attached a picture of the living/dining room, with a red dotted line indicating where the stove would go. Of course, the room will be rearranged, the hearth made to spec, etc., but it'll give a good idea of my situation.

I would scout around and pick a good place for the chimney.

I think if you put the stove that close to the windows it will end up sticking out in the room too much. However the cold air from the windows may help generate some air movement. What is above that room? You will have to cut some pretty big holes in the ceiling/floor in order to put in the chimney.I would locate framing in the floors and ceilings just to see where the possibilities exist best to locate the chimney first.

If you have a chance post a floor plan as suggested earlier.

From the looks of the space that stove will not roast you. In fact you may be hard pressed to get a steady warming heat from such a small stove since most of it will go up stairs.

I had a small stove last year, Jotul f100, and about the same square footage(700) of the main/stove area. Once the temperatures were in the high twenties, only half the space was warm because of my lack of insulation and poor windows.

Bigger is not always better, but in your case a stove with a 2-2.5 cubic foot firebox would not be too much.

J.P.

 

[JimWalshin845]

Personally I would nix the idea of placing the stove near the door. Remember you will end up with a toe kicker hearth here and with the room traffic and stair traffic it just doesn't make sense.

You will need area for wood storage, utensils, etc and unless you are a real neat-nick aesthetically I don't think it is a good fit. From a real estate view I think it would be a real negative if you ever decide to sell your home.

As per the placement it would definitely heat the 2 adjoining rooms but the majority of the heat will fly up the stairwell. I am assuming the roof ridge runs from left to right of the photo and if it does you will have a long run of exposed pipe through your roof.

 

[backpack09]

I have a very similar setup with a 600 sf living room with a large opening to a 100 sf breakfast nook with a doorway into the kitchen. My house is 50 years old with single pane windows. I am running the Morso 7110 which is rated to 1300 sf. I have never felt overpowered. I would recommend a LARGER stove if you have an old drafty house. my total house is 1500 sf, with 1000 of it on the first floor. Living room with the stove gets to about 70-75 kitchen hits about 68, and bedrooms upstairs (staircase is FAR from living room) are comfortable for sleeping say 58-62ish.

I would recommend going with a 1000 sf rated unit or larger, it is easier to add fewer splits to a large stove to control the heat, than to add more splits to a small stove to bring up the temps.
---------
EDIT you can dissregard all of my previous post.... That unit will be great for what you need. When you said a 800 sf morso I thought you were referring to one of their toys like :
(broken link removed to http://www.morsoe.com/NR/rdonlyres/8C726C24-4057-4668-81D7-2DF088AD25A7/0/1410N_thumb.gif)

 

[eernest4]

I was envisioning a much smaller ,like hallway, from your earlier post discription ,so I have to agree with both jim walsh & smoking joe.

You should consider a mid sized stove 1400-1600 sq ft capacity as the smallest stove suitable and maybe even look at some 1800 sq ft models. A lot of your heat will fly right up the stairs & warm/heat the second floor.

We really need a floor plan to advise you properly.

Your proposed placement is too close to the door & will infringe big time on a heavy traffic area, like jim says, a real toe/ shin buster & it will be hot walking past it when the stove is cranking out btu's.

I think ,with a little effort, you cam determine a better location, even in the same room.

When I installed my pellet stove in my living room, I had to throw out the big divan that was eating up the outside wall, but I dont regret it for a second, best thing i ever did. I love my pellet stove & my wood stove & I snear at my oil/ money burner.

Remember, you can build a small fire in a big stove, to regulate the temp but you cant build a big fire in a small stove because no room in firebox. Also, small stoves dont have 8 hour overnite burn capacity in firebox/ cability.

If you buy a larger stove and place it well, you will find yourself primaryily heating with just wood & only using your oil / gas/ money burner as back up for when you are out of the house.

fuel oil prices will be over 4.50 a gallon , next winter 2009/2010, with gasoline around 5.50 a gal. & everything else more expensive accordingly.

That is another reason why I say to look at a larger stove to heat the whole house without any assist from your money burner.

 

[begreen]

Ecstasy, the 2110 would not be too large a stove for this house. Remember that the 42000 btu rating is the maximum the stove can put out. It will be rare that you would be burning close to the maximum output. The stove will run at much lower outputs when you make smaller fires.

The others are correct. Adding the woodstove will be like adding a new piece of furniture to the room. It needs it's own space and clearances. And there is the mechanical consideration of chimney (flue) location. Have your Morso dealer stop by the house and scope out the ideal locations for the stove or post both floor plans here and we can see what works best. But whatever is decided on, it will likely be a rearrangement of the room to some degree. For us, that turned out to be a good thing.

 

[ecstasy426]

Looks like the stove will be okay, then... I made a crude Photoshop image of our floor layout attached below. I should mention that the front door is a "door" in name only. It is probably opened three times a year. The only real exit and entrance is the side door in the kitchen. However, I'll make sure the clearances are aesthetically pleasing, and make sense for the house. Any thoughts after seeing the layout? Obviously, the rest of the house is not meant to benefit directly from the stove - the radiator heating will take care of everything else. Our three requirements, really, are:
1) would like to cut down on heating bills in the winter when we spend so much time in the living/dining room
2) would like to see an actual fire and have that cozy experience in the living room
3) don't want to be uncomfortably hot all the time

I assume we're doing okay?

The input on this site has been amazing.

 

[babalu87]

The rest of the house WILL benefit from the stove.
From the sketch , what rooms are on the first floor?
I named rooms A, B, C, etc.

 

[begreen]

That helps, thanks. Take some tape and mark out the space require according to the stove manual. That would be 40 x 43". One thing that concerns me is the curtain behind the stove. Personally, I'm not comfortable with that, even if it is acceptable clearancewise. Minimum distance to furniture is recommended at 30".

Is there any possibility of placing the stove in a corner? Here are the possible locations. Would any of these work? If yes, there are stoves in this size range that have tighter clearances. A Morso 7110 or Pacific Energy Alderlea T5 would work, as would the Jotul F400 Castine.

 

[ecstasy426]

I thought of some of those spaces, but I forgot to add one pertinent detail: our house is solar powered, and there are panels directly above the other locations. As it is, the stove chimney (per my suggested placement) will be casting a shadow on one of the panels in the winter when the arc of the sun is low. I could add a bend in the chimney, but after all the research I've done, it seems like a chimney that goes straight up and through the house is a worthy goal.

 

[Bill]

That Morso has a 2 cubic foot box, I think that should be plenty for you. You should be able to get a nice overnight burn also. It takes 18 inch logs, so if your cold ad more wood, if not damper it down some. You don't have to load it to the top, I sometimes ad one split at a time, just to keep the cast-iron warm.

 

[JimWalshin845]

Assuming the front of your home is facing north, I would place it on the east or west wall. An exterior chimney is a lot easier to install. If you insist to run the flue inside your home then you will probably only be able to run the flue through a closet on the second story and that will limit your placement.

Here is some fodder for consideration. We all know a dining room is suppose to be next to the kitchen, but did you ever consider swapping the living and dining room? If you did then I would suggest placement in the new living room corner next to the kitchen on the east side. This is close to everything including the side door which I assume you would be bringing the wood through. It would heat your main living area, be aesthetically pleasing and be close to all the action.

 

[ecstasy426]

That's an interesting suggestion regarding swapping rooms. I'd be interested, but I'm sure my wife would not go for it.

The house is actually facing south, hence the solar panels right above. The stove/chimney would be going through the room on the 2nd floor (no problem there) and through the gable in the front, which is the only place where solar panels aren't placed. I'll post pictures as I do my planning, and any feedback would be highly valued!

 

[ecstasy426]

The rest of the house WILL benefit from the stove.
From the sketch , what rooms are on the first floor?
I named rooms A, B, C, etc.

Actually, all of those rooms are the first floor. It's a very weird house, originally a 2-over-2 from 1818, then each century a new part was built.

 

[G-rott]

After burning the 2110 for two years it seems to be a very easy heater to control, lots of heat when you need it or a low burn when you don't. I have an open plan 1550sq ft house that is very well insulated and I can heat the whole house with the wood stove.

I have tile in the living area and didn't want the look or toe stubbing potential of a raised hearth so....

I recessed my hearth into the floor, cut out the floor sheathing, sistered the floor joist to lower the sub-floor, added micore, tile backer and tiled the whole thing. I have the required non-combustible floor, higher than required r-value and no edge to deal with.

Garett

 

[JimWalshin845]

I have the required non-combustible floor, higher than required r-value and no edge to deal with.

Garett

FYI.....Besides the "R" value you have to meet the "K" value which deals with heat conductivity.

 

[begreen]

Ultimately, you will need to look at the house and the possibilities. Keep an open mind and consider all rooms including the kitchen. But I think the original question has been answered. Fine stove and not too big for the house.

 

[precaud]

That Morso has a 2 cubic foot box, I think that should be plenty for you.

Maybe your 3610 does, but the 2110 is 1.2 cu. ft.