I have a new construction house with a 1500sqft basement. The main area in the basement is 30x35 and there are two other rooms that make up the rest of the space(room doors can be left open)Basement walls are 8ft 6”. We have a stair well that goes upstairs that can be left open and I plan to use my furnace fan to move as much warm air as I can upstairs. The upstairs is also 1500sqft. The insulation in the house is good. The stove will be in the basement. What size stove would be best for this setup? A mid range up to 2000sqft or a large size 2400-3000sqft? The installer that I have chosen sells Hearthstone and Pacific Energy. Any help or suggestions would be great!
Wood stove size
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I have my Quad 5700 in the unfinished cellar.
Get the biggest stove you can and use the bulkhead as your wood containment area.
Get the biggest stove you can and use the bulkhead as your wood containment area.
I have some questions to better understand the house. Is this a daylight basement or completely surrounded by earth? Insulation of basement walls makes a huge difference. Is the basement fully insulated? Is the stairwell in the same room as the stove location?
What is the furnace's output BTU rating?
What is the furnace's output BTU rating?
Yes it is a walk out basements. 3 of the 4 sides of the basement are dug into the ground. The basement is insulated all the way around. Yes the. Stairwell is in the same room as the stove.
Are you asking what the wood stove BTU output is?
you're welcome.
I wouldn't think of anything less than a 2500-3000 sq ft heating ability.
This is all good. I am asking for the furnace's output BTUs, not the TBD stove's.
It sounds like a large stove will work and by the other Manchester thread, it sounds like you like a classic looking stove. Is that correct? How important are the maintenance requirements?
I believe my furnace is rated for 70 or75,000btu. For maintenance I am fine doing some it does not bother me. I like the classic look. The installer I choose sells PE, Hearthstone and Vermont casting. I liked the idea of longer burn times.
In that group, I would suggest the large PE Summit or Alderlea T6.
It's a mixed bag. All reports are not negative. We have some folks that are happy with their new Hearthstones. The Green Mountain line looks well-built. Hearthstone makes very good-looking stoves but servicing issues and weak hardware have made for some grumpy customers and service people. All of their stoves have been revised to accommodate a cat and yet their stoves have retained their good looks which is not trivial considering the internal changes. It's too early to tell how this new generation of their stoves will stand up. That will take another year or two.
Is the customer service for the PE better? What kind of burn times can I expect from the Alderlea T6 or the summit? In your opinion is the cast worth the extra money?
The service comes from the dealer. My dealer was the best, never an issue, but normally these stoves are very low service. I've put less than $100 into our stove in the past 14 yrs of use. In mild weather, 12-14 hr burns are normal for both stoves on a full load of wood. In very cold weather this can drop down to 8hrs. My best friend has the Summit, we have the T6. I prefer the cast iron jacket. The extra mass does a great job of smoothing out temperature swings and it releases steady heat after the fire has died down. I love waking up in a warm house even if there are just a few coals left.
Do you think the T6 would still work fine with the chimney outside? How was your chimney setup?
The PE T6 and Summit are easy-breathing stoves. I have a friend with a poor setup and a short exterior chimney. Their Summit is working great for them. It's their primary source of heat. Our T6 is connected to a straight-up flue system about 20' tall. There is an offset made of 45º elbows in the connector.
What is unknown is whether negative pressure in the basement will be an issue. Cold exterior chimneys can be balky to start until they warm up. Then they can overdraft. If this is the case, a key damper in the stovepipe may be warranted. If the negative pressure is serious then other solutions may be required to remedy this. Factors that can cause this are air leaks in the upper level of the house, exhaust fans, and competing appliances like a furnace or gas HW heater.
What is unknown is whether negative pressure in the basement will be an issue. Cold exterior chimneys can be balky to start until they warm up. Then they can overdraft. If this is the case, a key damper in the stovepipe may be warranted. If the negative pressure is serious then other solutions may be required to remedy this. Factors that can cause this are air leaks in the upper level of the house, exhaust fans, and competing appliances like a furnace or gas HW heater.
I did. Not sure if I had to buy it from PE as an add-on or if it came with it (been some years). But it fit on the lower, back side of the stove and moved the hot air well, when I needed it.
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