wood stove recommendation requested

[oakvalley]

New to Hearth.com, and I've never owned a wood stove so any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I live in a 100 year old house in the Qu’Appelle Valley in SE Saskatchewan, Canada (cold winters!). We’re located on the south facing slope so there is good solar gain when the sun is shining. Primary heat is natural gas. I am considering putting in a wood stove in the basement for backup heat during power outages (thinking lots about resilience; keep the water pipes from freezing; alternate cooking surface if necessary) and general supplementary heat in the coldest weather (heat the basement which will heat the floor above). Maybe I’ll love it so much I’ll use it more!!

The basement is unfinished thick concrete, open to joists, water lines and electrical etc. Basement north wall is below grade; half of the south wall is 4 ft above grade; the other half borders a carport and is 6 ft above grade. Basement area is 1150 sf. A large ‘room’ of 660 sf [natural gas furnace is located near the centre] is open to the stairwell and to another ‘room’ of 290 sf. Another ‘room’ of 200 sf is best kept cooler as it contains a smaller cold room. So really, only 950 sf to heat. There are two floors above totalling 1990 sf. R70 in the attic. Exterior wood walls have 2 layers tar paper, house wrap, vinyl siding and aluminum framed double windows from the 1970s; insulation and upgrades are on the long list for the future. If the stove was placed in the north part of the 'large room', distance to roof would be lower [above 1 story, not 2] and this would be below a colder part of the house [the floor heat would be beneficial here] but farther from the stairwell.

I am surrounded by bur oak forest. I have a supply of well aged (dry) chokecherry, oak, maple from yard maintenance. A neighbour also gets poplar and birch delivered from up north and I could share a future shipment with him.

Any suggestions on wood stove and sizing? I would want run time to be at least 12 hours (no getting up in the night to fill it) and the ability to provide low steady heat (or so it seems to me). Pros/cons of catalytic converter? Are there specific distances it would need to be from water pipes, natural gas pipes, electrical wires? Or can that be addressed by framing them in?

Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[Kamiobi]

One thing people will tell you is the unfinished walls will soak up most of your heat. Also, you probably won’t get the floors upstairs all that warm, so you should try to get the stove as close to the stairwell as possible. You will also need really dry wood, so you should get it split and stacked in sunny spot as soon as possible.

 

[kennyp2339]

You going to want an epa air tube re-burn stove with a firebox past the 2.0 cu ft range (check out the drolet ht3000) good budget stove and will be there for you when you need it. You want big because your going to first need to heat the basement and a portion of the concrete walls will absorb the heat (think worst case is 1/3 of heat produced will get sucked into the masonry) then the heat will start to radiate into the upstairs living area (typically the stove goes in the most popular room of the house, its space heater so everything is coming from one object) Drolet, the bigger Englander 32-NC, Pacific Energy and all good brands)
Whats the plan for the chimney? If there's an existing one that is not being used by any other appliance, have it inspected, cleaned, verified that its up to current code w/ clearances and consider an insulated liner. Or are you running a class A metal chimney?

 

[oakvalley]

Whats the plan for the chimney? If there's an existing one that is not being used by any other appliance, have it inspected, cleaned, verified that its up to current code w/ clearances and consider an insulated liner. Or are you running a class A metal chimney?

Thanks. I didn't realize that the unfinished walls would soak up so much heat. Makes sense! So much to learn. Any risk of cracking stress on the concrete with raising temperature?

If the stove was in the north of the basement, I think the chimney would go out through the wall, along the side of the house, through the roof and on up.

If it was to go near the stairs, perhaps it could go up the old brick chimney which was used to vent out the natural gas water heater and therefore had been lined for that purpose. The previous 5 inch pipe entry has been capped off, and I assume this could be enlarged quite easily. [Water heating system is being changed to solar. Natural gas heater died and has been removed and this chimney is no longer being used for this purpose. Reusing would be great and perhaps?? save some chimney costs??] Chimney height is about 35 ft from the basement floor. Previous pipe location is 5 ft above basement floor. This location would place the stove about 10-12 ft from the natural gas furnace and a foot less than that from the brick chimney.

 

[kennyp2339]

35ft is a pretty long run, I would check to see what kind of space internally on the brick chimney, you will need an insulated liner, I wouldn't take a risk of just using a bare stainless steel liner in a 100 yr old chimney (mortar cracks and such can be dangerous if theres a chimney fire, regardless if you have a liner - the heat will go through the liner and into the cracks, insulation made for liners will reduce the danger by 99%) If 6" w/ insulation is to big, take to the manufacturer of the stove you choose and see if you can reduce the liner size down to 5 1/2" or 5" since you have a long run to begin with.
Generally speaking especially in your colder climate (thinking of the Saskatchewan Screamers - storms lol ) Having an exposed chimney on the north side of the house might be difficult to maintain, if you really need to go that route, this winter you may need to clean it a few times during the season since theres a higher chance of flue gases condensing and causing creosote build up due to the cold, but in the spring or summer look to box it out and insulate it with rock wool up to the roof line, this will pay dividends for the rest of the chimneys life.

 

[Gearhead660]

Many knowledgeable people here to set you in the right direction. Pics of possible location(s) and surroundings would be beneficial!