Will the heat make it out of the living room?

[HollowHill]

My husband and I are having a discussion about whether to purchase a wood stove. We have an old, drafty 2400 sq ft house which has 4 large rooms off a large central hall on 2 floors (typical Federal layout). The doors into the various rooms are normal size and linked to the hall. We are wondering if we put a wood stove (hopefully the new Woodstock prototype) in one of the front rooms on the first floor (about 10 to 12 feet from the center of the house) if the heat will circulate around the rest of the house given our layout. I know it would be preferable to deal with the draftiness issues first, but due to the large amount of interrelated work that is needed, that will not be happening for a bit. In the meantime, we would really like to cut down on our oil consumption and we own a woodlot. My husband is very dubious that the heat will make it out of the living room. I'm hoping that it will at least partially, and hopefully substantially, heat the whole house. What are your thoughts/experiences? Thanks for the input.

 

[Todd]

It will always be warmer in the stove room but the heat will find it's way around and help cut down on oil consumption. You may find it helps to set a fan on the floor near the doorway or hallway somewhere and push the cooler air towards the stove which will help suck the warm air out.

 

[rdust]

You'll be surprised how well the heat evens out if you burn 24/7. If you can post a rough floor plan we'll get a better idea. As Todd said above, placing a fan blowing cold air into the stove room will also help. It sounds backwards but it does work.

 

[BrotherBart]

We live in a 2,500 sq. ft. center hall colonial with the stove in a fireplace on the south wall of the family room. The hallway comes up from in front of the front door to the upstairs. Same deal, eight rooms. It has been the only heat source for this joint for a lot of years and the heat finds its way around just fine. When it is in the teens or single digits we just don't go in the family room except to feed the stove. The usual temp split is four to five degrees difference between the upstairs and the downstairs rooms except for close to the stove.

 

[begreen]

The heat will need assistance, but maybe not much. Normally with this kind of layout one can get a circular flow going on the first floor by placing a fan on the floor blowing cool air into the stove room as Todd mentioned. On the otherhand however, hubby may be right if every room has a narrow 36" or less doorway. In that case, opening up the stove room doorways will increase natural convective circulation (and you will get more light in the room).

 

[ColdNH]

the stove will definitly help on the oil bill, how much, thats hard to say, just make sure to put the stove where you spend most of your time.

I didnt think my stove would heat as much as my house as it does, but even if it didnt, I love the dry heat the stove produces in our living room so much that it makes the stove worth it even if its not saving me money. Pre-stove we were sitting in the living room with sweatshirts on with the electric heat cranking away at 63ish degrees costing a fortune. Now it can be bitter cold and we will be walkign around barefoot in shorts smiling. can you tell i love my stove!

 

[HollowHill]

You'll be surprised how well the heat evens out if you burn 24/7. If you can post a rough floor plan we'll get a better idea. As Todd said above, placing a fan blowing cold air into the stove room will also help. It sounds backwards but it does work.

Can't figure out how to get my floor plan (in Word) to post here, but BeGreen's plan is not far off. The hall is wider and the stove would actually be on the wall between the front and back room (stove would face the front wall of the house) where he has the door between the two rooms (doorway is closer to the side of the house). Widening the doorway to the stove room would not be an option, unfortunately, and the doorways are only 33" wide! On the other hand, we have enough of a draft of cold air moving about the house, that maybe the heat would be pushed around as well?

 

[begreen]

Word's not a graphics program. Maybe try the paint program and save it as a jpeg image?

The first investment really should be to eliminate the source of those drafts. Then no matter what the heat source, it is money saved from that point forward. Too bad about the doorways. That would be one of the first things I would tackle. It is not that big a deal.

 

[Adkjake]

Second what BeGreen recommends about eliminating as much of the drafts as you can. With some of the high tech
insulation products on the market these days, even an old house can be improved.

I note that you are located in Central NY. Check out the NYSERDA programs you can take advantage of, tech help, low cost
financing, even some grants.

www.nyserda.org

 

[SolarAndWood]

Second what BeGreen recommends about eliminating as much of the drafts as you can.

+1. Replacing our 50 year old windows cut wood consumption by about a third. Makes a big difference when the wind is cranking here in the winter.

Have you considered a wood add on furnace? It might be a better choice for a house your size/age/layout in our climate.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

My husband and I are having a discussion about whether to purchase a wood stove. We have an old, drafty 2400 sq ft house which has 4 large rooms off a large central hall on 2 floors (typical Federal layout). The doors into the various rooms are normal size and linked to the hall. We are wondering if we put a wood stove (hopefully the new Woodstock prototype) in one of the front rooms on the first floor (about 10 to 12 feet from the center of the house) if the heat will circulate around the rest of the house given our layout. I know it would be preferable to deal with the draftiness issues first, but due to the large amount of interrelated work that is needed, that will not be happening for a bit. In the meantime, we would really like to cut down on our oil consumption and we own a woodlot. My husband is very dubious that the heat will make it out of the living room. I'm hoping that it will at least partially, and hopefully substantially, heat the whole house. What are your thoughts/experiences? Thanks for the input.

That certainly would be nice to be one of the first to get the new Woodstock stove. You house sounds similar to one I grew up in when I was a kid, a couple years ago. Back then we knew nothing other than wood heat and because we did not have running water in the house we did not keep it warm at night either. Burrr. Oh, those old memories. But in time we did get running water....and the water never froze either. We kept the stove going but barely so it was still cold in the mornings. However, the good news is that during the day we were able to raise the temperature in most rooms to a very comfortable level even though there sometimes was snow on the window sills in a couple of rooms.

Fast forward to the present. We too worried about a long hallway and the stove in the opposite end of the house. Then we learned the trick that sounds completely backwards, which is to blow the cool air towards the warm rather than the other way around. It was an amazing discovery for us even if it does sound backwards. It works and you do not have to blow the air at a high speed. Low speed is what you want else it probably would get too drafty. We use a little fan with about a 3" blade set on low and it evens out the temperature in the house.

I think you will find the very same thing happening in your home.

Please keep us informed on how your plans go and good luck to you.

 

[begreen]

Second what BeGreen recommends about eliminating as much of the drafts as you can. With some of the high tech
insulation products on the market these days, even an old house can be improved.

I note that you are located in Central NY. Check out the NYSERDA programs you can take advantage of, tech help, low cost
financing, even some grants.

www.nyserda.org

Thanks for posting the NYSerda program info. The OP's research started in a thread in the Boiler room. I recommended them getting an energy audit first thing. Hopefully this program will be able to help them connect with a qualified auditor soon. Their budget is tight, but I think by taking this step, they can reduce the heating load so that it can be carried by the stove. The house does have an old style storm windows, so the auditor may recommend initially spending on sealing up leaks elsewhere. The basement sounds very cold and leaky. I'm sure it's part of the issue and a source of drafts.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/54136/

 

[wsorg]

Definitely look to take advantage of an audit. There can really be some tax benefits to implementing the recommendations.