Woodstove for New Cabin

[Mad Birdman]

My wife and I are in the planning stages of a new cabin for some heavily wooded land in southern Wisconsin. We are pretty set on a wood stove and the cabin style decor is more Scandinavian, so we have gravitated towards a more modern look, similar to the Jøtul F370. The great room which we are heating will be about 22’ x 20’, but is open to a second floor loft and a high ceiling, making the cubic volume to be heated greater than just a square footage. We will have forced air (propane) as a heat source, but when we are at the cabin, we’d like to use the stove.

So, I thought I would pose some questions to get into this a bit deeper:

1. The Jøtul has a log length of only 12” which I think will be a pain, since most wood is available in 16” lengths. Of course, the wood I cut and split myself could be made shorter, but seems like that is not the best use of time and effort. What stove could people recommend that are the same style class as that one?

2. Does a stove rated to heat 1200 sq ft or thereabouts seem appropriate for our size dwelling?

3. Was quoted around $4500 for the Jøtul (plus installation and pipe- which would put me close to $7K all in). Does that seem pretty appropriate? Was a bit more than I was hoping for, but not a deal breaker for a quality product that I home to use for years to come.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

 

[xman23]

Your design sounds similar to mine although mine maybe a bit more rustic. My great room is 16 x 28 with 20' ceiling. The Oslo heats the hole house well. Because of the openness it's hard to overheat the downstairs. The open loft bedroom that overlooks the great room has never had heat turned on. The key is a tight house, good windows and Insulation.

 

[Simonkenton]

I built an addition onto my log cabin 2 years ago. Almost the same size as your place, 20 x 24 feet with high cathedral ceiling and a loft. I put the Jotul 500 in there and I certainly would not have a stove any smaller. And I am in the NC mountains, low last night 5 degrees I know it is colder where you live.

My house is very well built and well insulated. So I would go at least with a stove as big as the 500 and maybe bigger if I were you.

 

[HomeinPA]

I don't want to sound pessimistic but....at 12" your going to load a few pieces and about the time you sit down on the couch and turn the tv on you're going to be getting up to get more wood aren't you? I'd want a stove with a firebox that holds a fire for a while as well as looks good. My theory has always been: You can burn a smaller fire in a big stove but you can't make a small stove have a bigger fire....or something like that .

 

[begreen]

My wife and I are in the planning stages of a new cabin for some heavily wooded land in southern Wisconsin. We are pretty set on a wood stove and the cabin style decor is more Scandinavian, so we have gravitated towards a more modern look, similar to the Jøtul F370. The great room which we are heating will be about 22’ x 20’, but is open to a second floor loft and a high ceiling, making the cubic volume to be heated greater than just a square footage. We will have forced air (propane) as a heat source, but when we are at the cabin, we’d like to use the stove.

So, I thought I would pose some questions to get into this a bit deeper:

1. The Jøtul has a log length of only 12” which I think will be a pain, since most wood is available in 16” lengths. Of course, the wood I cut and split myself could be made shorter, but seems like that is not the best use of time and effort. What stove could people recommend that are the same style class as that one?

2. Does a stove rated to heat 1200 sq ft or thereabouts seem appropriate for our size dwelling?

3. Was quoted around $4500 for the Jøtul (plus installation and pipe- which would put me close to $7K all in). Does that seem pretty appropriate? Was a bit more than I was hoping for, but not a deal breaker for a quality product that I home to use for years to come.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Jotul's modern eurostyle stoves are space heaters. It sounds like you want a whole house heater. There are much better options if that is the goal, especially considering the cathedral ceiling.

 

[Mad Birdman]

Thanks for the thoughts so far. I understand people’s comments on the size of the room, etc.

What are some options (brand names if possible) for a stove of similar style that use 16” logs? Looking for a pedestal/modern look (my wife gravitates towards the stoves with no legs). Would love it if Jøtul made the F370 in a bigger size.

Have seen Suerte stoves but they don’t seem to be shipped to the US. What about RAIS stoves (from Denmark but have US dealers)? Does anyone have any experience with them?

 

[begreen]

There are lots of variables that determine the best stove. Tell us more about the cabin. How well insulated will the cabin be. How tall will the ceilings be? Will the stove be supplemental and more for ambience with a primary heating system carrying most of the load? Will the cabin if weekends only or full time occupied?

 

[Mad Birdman]

There are lots of variables that determine the best stove. Tell us more about the cabin. How well insulated will the cabin be. How tall will the ceilings be? Will the stove be supplemental and more for ambience with a primary heating system carrying most of the load? Will the cabin if weekends only or full time occupied?

Cabin will be used on weekends only (no more than a couple of days at a time). Has forced air (propane) as the primary heat source, which will keep the pipes from freezing during the winter (we’ll set it in the 50’s or so) but when we’re there, we want to use the stove. Can use the furnace’s fan to help circulate as well as a ceiling fan. The cabin isn’t built yet, so I don’t know the insultation or r values of the walls. The catherdral ceiling in the great room will be about 25’ tall I think.

 

[begreen]

If you don't mind using the propane to do the heavy lifting then the Jotul would work, but my preference would be for a larger stove. It's takes a lot of btus to raise the interior and all it's mass from 50 to 70.

But if you like the contemporary stove, then don't skimp on insulation and good sealing. That will help a lot.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

Morso has a lot to offer in the same style as the 370. Most are really smaller area heater too, though, I believe. But you might want to check it out

https://morsoe.com/us/categories/indoor/products/shopc/wood-burning-stove-us

Pacific Energy has some more contemporary offerings too. Something like a Neo 2.5 might appeal to you. Worth a look...

https://www.pacificenergy.net/wood/

 

[RandyBoBandy]

When I think of cabins, contemporary and modern are not part of it. Classic cast iron clad stoves is what I would be looking at. JMO.

 

[Dav1966]

I don't want to sound pessimistic but....at 12" your going to load a few pieces and about the time you sit down on the couch and turn the tv on you're going to be getting up to get more wood aren't you? I'd want a stove with a firebox that holds a fire for a while as well as looks good. My theory has always been: You can burn a smaller fire in a big stove but you can't make a small stove have a bigger fire....or something like that .

I agree I went with a larger stove in our house based on the same thought can always make a smaller fire in a bigger stove but can’t make a bigger fire in a small stove and has worked out to be the right thinking

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

My wife and I are in the planning stages of a new cabin for some heavily wooded land in southern Wisconsin. We are pretty set on a wood stove and the cabin style decor is more Scandinavian, so we have gravitated towards a more modern look, similar to the Jøtul F370. The great room which we are heating will be about 22’ x 20’, but is open to a second floor loft and a high ceiling, making the cubic volume to be heated greater than just a square footage. We will have forced air (propane) as a heat source, but when we are at the cabin, we’d like to use the stove.

So, I thought I would pose some questions to get into this a bit deeper:

1. The Jøtul has a log length of only 12” which I think will be a pain, since most wood is available in 16” lengths. Of course, the wood I cut and split myself could be made shorter, but seems like that is not the best use of time and effort. What stove could people recommend that are the same style class as that one?

2. Does a stove rated to heat 1200 sq ft or thereabouts seem appropriate for our size dwelling?

3. Was quoted around $4500 for the Jøtul (plus installation and pipe- which would put me close to $7K all in). Does that seem pretty appropriate? Was a bit more than I was hoping for, but not a deal breaker for a quality product that I home to use for years to come.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Congratulations on the new cabin, sounds exciting.

Get a bigger stove than the one you are planning. You'll be sorely disappointed if you don't. Spend that $7 grand wisely.

Next point, remember the rule of thumb: form follows function.

It's a cabin in Wisconsin, not a condo in Europe, traditional looking is going to be just fine. There are plenty of contemporary stoves that are larger, if you are dead-set on that. But, either way, go bigger.

If Mrs. Mad Birdman is pushing this aesthetics based agenda, then be certain that she understands that buying the small stove will do almost nothing to offset the propane use. It's your job to be persuasive enough to convince her.

If you can't, just save yourself that $7k and buy a few nice candles for the ambiance.

 

[electrathon]

My input on this discussion. Yes, you can use your furnace piping to circulate air and heat from your stove. Make sure none of the pipes are ran in un-insulated areas, like the crawl space or attic. Run them all through interior walls or exposed piping through the cabin. This same rule goes to water pipes too, none ran on exterior walls, all of them on interior walls or ran exposed to the interior.

 

[St. Coemgen]

The great room which we are heating will be about 22’ x 20’, but is open to a second floor loft and a high ceiling, making the cubic volume to be heated greater than just a square footage.

You are right to think of volume. And getting too large a stove has problems just as getting too small as stove. A little bit bigger is okay, but too big can also be problematic.

So, first, suggest giving this a read, it also includes calculations how to estimate stove size based on volume:

https://www.thestoveyard.com/resource-centre-home/what-size-stove-

If you are not familar with metric, then these conversion may help:

1 cubic foot = 0.0283 m3
1 kWh = 3412.14 BTU

So if your space is 22’ x 20’ assuming an 8' ceiling height, then the volume is 3520 cubic feet. Assuming the loft is peaked with also an 8' ceiling, then the volume is 1760 cubic feet. Total 5280 cubic feet, or about 150 m3. If you have a well insulated house, diving by 25 means a nominal 6 kWh stove is needed, which is about 21,0000 BTU. The Jotul F370 should be fine (in theory rated at 35,000 max BTU). If your house is not well insulated (or given your very northern location) dividing by 15 means you need probably a 33,000 BTU stove, then you are pushing the upper limits of this stove I would not suggest it. (All of course assuming I did all my math correctly).

Take home message: investing in insulation is probably a good idea. And if one has to choose, maybe more money better spent on insulation than on a stove.

Was quoted around $4500 for the Jøtul (plus installation and pipe- which would put me close to $7K all in). Does that seem pretty appropriate? Was a bit more than I was hoping for, but not a deal breaker for a quality product that I home to use for years to come.

I have had a lot of different stoves in my life. Both of price an quality.

We currently have two stoves. A $400 Wamsler and a much more expensive La Nordica.

The Wamsler has been used each winter for nearly a decade and shows no signs of problems. Even if I had to re-buy this stove each decade I would have to live a century to justify spending instead $4500 at once.

In my humble opinon, a $4500 is buying a name and to add some "bling" to your house for interior decoration purposes. The stove has an "Award for Design Excellence", but what about an award for heating excellence? (Red dot award?) Do you want a great looking stove, or a work horse that keeps you warm? Those may or may not be mutually exclusive with this stove, I do not know.

Don't get me wrong. I love our expensive La Nordica. Great stove. And the bling factor did influence my purchase to some extent. And visitors to our house complement us on it, and even ask to take pictures. Meanwhile, noone has ever even mentioned our Wamsler, even in passing, much less taken a picture of it. But the Wamsler ... well warms it's part of the house just as expected without problems just as well at the La Nordica does in it's.

So in effect, if $4500 is "worth" it or not will depend on "why" you are buying the stove. And, again, nothing perse wrong with "bling" if that really matters to you.

But, functionally, also do consider if the max wood size is 12 inches that would lead me to suspect it does not have a very large firebox, which means long burns may be more difficult, which means loading every few hours to keep the house warm (are overnight burns then possible?). That may or not bother you. So maybe a nice stove to sit around and enjoy a glass of sherry or wine after dinner, but as for it's real heating ability as a mule type workhorse.... hm. I honestly do not know.