Woodstock FV vs PH

[Nathan13]

Hi I just purchased a new home in northern NH and moved in this January. The home came with a Vermont castings resolute acclaim and we got some seasoned hardwood. The stove is from around 2004 and it doesn’t feel like it heats the house at all. I plan on getting a new stove this year hb and had some questions.

I have a 1750 sq foot 2 story colonial built in 1985 with a fair amount of windows. The house does seem a little drafty however we plan on adding some insulation in the spring. I love the look of both the fireview and the progress hybrid. I am having trouble though as my house is right in between the 1600 sq feet of the fireview and the 2200 of the PH. I was curious if the fireview would be able to do the job. I do also have forced hot air but would like for the stove to do most of the heating.

The stove is located in a 26x11 great room right next to the stairs. Thanks for any advice I receive.

Nate

 

[weatherguy]

My sister is heating that much square feet in Maine with a Keystone. I have the PH heating about 75% of 2800 sf. If you tighten your house up the FV would probably do it, the PH can run hot for a longer time so I think in shoulder season you would be happy with FV. I tried to talk my sister into getting the PH or IS but her keystone does it.

 

[Nathan13]

Okay, I just don’t want to regret the FV if it doesn’t heat enough but didn’t want the PH to be overwhelming. I am brand new at wood burning. Thank you for the quick response!

 

[trguitar]

You will not be overwhelmed by a PH, especially if your house is a little drafty. You can always burn it low and slow, or make a smaller fire. And you know when it gets below 0, you will be warm.

I'm heating 2400 sf pretty easily with the PH.

 

[Rearscreen]

PH. A technician at Woodstock told me once, you can always build a smaller fire. The PH is also designed to cook on. Originally my PH was in a 1500 sf 1860's house and was situated in a fairly small room. No problem at all.

 

[barnaclebob]

I have 2000sq ft to heat with the progress hybrid with 1000sq ft on each floor. My house is pretty well insulated with just a couple leaky doors. We keep about 600sq ft of the house with the doors closed because they don't need heating so most of the time the stove is really only heating about 1400 sq ft. It will be usually be too warm for us with a really hot fire (stove top at ~550) but our temps usually are only in the mid 20's to mid 30's at night (Puget Sound). When it got down into the low teens for a few nights it wasn't too warm with a hot fire and when the doors to all of the rooms are open it reduces the temp to comfortably warm. In NH I think you'll be fine with the PH.

 

[Woody Stover]

My sister is heating that much square feet in Maine with a Keystone.

That surprises me. Two story house?
I would go PH. I've read a couple guys saying that they felt their wood use went down when going from the Fv to the PH. I can tell you that the Fv box is bigger than the Keystone, but not big by any means. I measured it at 1.8 usable space, probably owing to the andirons.

 

[Nathan13]

Thanks for all the help everyone! I’ll probably go with the hybrid!

 

[weatherguy]

You can always burn the PH low when its milder, Ive been running mine 500 lately, usually 550-600 in the colder weather.

 

[weatherguy]

That surprises me. Two story house?
I would go PH. I've read a couple guys saying that they felt their wood use went down when going from the Fv to the PH. I can tell you that the Fv box is bigger than the Keystone, but not big by any means. I measured it at 1.8 usable space, probably owing to the andirons.

No it's a 1600 sf one story open floor plan, she used to heat with a Dutch west, I'm surprised she does it with the keystone, I thought sure she made a mistake.

 

[Woody Stover]

No it's a 1600 sf one story open floor plan, she used to heat with a Dutch west, I'm surprised she does it with the keystone, I thought sure she made a mistake.

With decent insulation and air-sealing, and that layout, it's conceivable..
Not sure which one she had but I also have a Dutchwest 2460 cat, and the Keystone is a notch above it in heat output. The Fv is a notch above the Ks.

 

[toddnic]

Definitely the PH! You will get more benefits from the PH and you can always build a smaller fire during the shoulder season or on warmer days.

 

[peakbagger]

Welcome to Northern NH, especially if you are younger than 65 . About the only folks moving up work are at the prisons in Berlin or are retiring. Make sure you go to town meeting next week, good way to figure out how the town works, just don't volunteer for something until you know what you are volunteering for.

Your house may have been built during the housing boom of that era when a lot of homes went in including mine. I made sure mine was energy efficient for the time but many were not, the contractors knew how to make them look good but cut corners where they could. Many towns, like my town Gorham, didn't have any building inspection or minimal at best and the NH didn't have an energy code or if they did it wasn't enforced. You may have 2x4 walls and uninsulated basement walls typical of that era and generally the attic insulation is thin. I strongly suggest contacting Eversource about getting a home energy audit. Unless the program has changed, they will match 50% up to $4,000 of energy improvements if you pay for half the initial audit which is fairly cheap and worth it just to see how many air leaks you have. They run a blower door test and find then seal up a lot of air leaks in the house and cut down on the overall heating load. They most likely will foam the sills and a lot of attic leaks and if you have one of those old Bilco bulkheads they will seal up the interior door. They usually wont add attic insulation as sealing the air leaks is the best payback but its worth doing separately. Once done they do a post test and if it doesn't pass they have to do more. Eversource audits the work so if you have any issues just call the Eversource program manager and the contractor will be very responsive as the Eversource work is probably 90% of their year round work.

Many homes were built for the view and used too many windows and the windows they used were not high R value. Even the Andersons and Marvins of the era weren't great, they usually had good air sealing but double pane glass is only so good and some of the builders specials were worse. Double cellular blinds with side seals will make a major difference in heat load, they are expensive but really cut down on drafts and radiant heat loss from the windows which improves the comfort of the space. The key is to make the energy improvements first and then buy the right stove to meet the reduced load. No matter what, a stove set up to deal with the occasional -30 F nights is going to be overkill for shoulder seasons. A boiler with storage is the way to go but probably out of your budget if you just bought the house. Folks laugh but there is lot to be said to have two stoves, a winter beast and a small shoulder season stove. Unless you have cash burning a hole in your pocket you may want to do the energy work first and use the stove you have until you get about 12 cords lined up and seasoning to cover two years of hard core burning and then think about a stove. Unless they left you a lot of seasoned wood, you will be fighting damp wood next winter and EPA stoves really do not like damp wood. Therefore the stove purchase needs to line up with the heating season where you have enough dry wood to feed it.

Knock on wood this week will be our last cold stretch and we will start melting out as its been a long winter. If near Gorham feel free to start up a PM (private conversation) and I may be able to answer your local questions but up front know I cut my own wood so I don't know any firewood dealers with seasoned wood

 

[Nathan13]

thank you so much for that information, I’m actually just an hour south of you in Madison, I am under 65 haha. I planned on doing an energy audit this year. Currently at work now but will really analyze your paragraph when I get home! Thanks again.

Nate

 

[peakbagger]

Madison that's central NH, you gotta be north of the notches or you are just a darn flatlander

Definitely a bit more vibrant economy down in Carroll County and of course Madison has the famous boulder https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/madison-boulder

Are you in Eversource territory or NH Electric Coop? I think they both have energy efficiency programs.