Ideas to heat home

[subpared]

We bought a home built in 88 recently. We live in a remote part of Northern BC so we definately need heat for winter.
Our Forced Air Gas Furnace only works when the fan runs constant, if Auto is used the burners engage when needed but the Blower does not engage. And every week the thermocoupler gives in and the pilot goes out.
Anyway I am hoping to either get a Zero Clearance Fireplace, or a good Wood Stove before the fall.
The house is a bungalow with 1350 in the basement and 1350 on the main floor
We would prefer to have the unit on the main floor. There are 11 heating ducts upstairs and only 5 in the basement, there are two fresh air returns upstairs and one downstairs 20 feet from the furnace.
We would much prefer the unit to be on the main floor.
So far we have looked at the RSF Opel, FP9, and bigger wood stoves.
We would prefer to duct into the existed ducting for heat.
The problems we are having are:
Unsure if basement will get enough heat thru duct tie ins,
Would like the ability to dispese the heat fairly evenly thru the house, hense unsure about wood stoves.
Any ideas would be great regarding.

Cheers,

NC

 

[begreen]

If the gas furnace is to be the backup (good idea) it needs to be reliable. If this is the case, I would consider replacing it as a first step. Adding a wood stove is a fine idea or you could add a wood furnace, tied into the existing ductwork to avoid concerns about getting enough heat into the basement. If you choose a main floor woodstove you could cycle the furnace blower during cold weather to prevent pipe freezing.

 

[subpared]

The existing gas furnace is adaquate for a backup at least for insurance purposes. Ive thought about wood furnaces but the wife wants the ambience of a wood fire on the main floor. Also we have no kids so when Im not home she wont have to drag wood into the basement.

Thx

NC

 

[begreen]

OK, I wasn't sure that the furnace was reliable based on the description. If it is, then is the main concern freezing pipe? If so, the furnace can be cycled, say once or twice a day to warm up the basement. Or put one or two well placed electric heaters down there on a low temp thermostat. A ducted ZC fireplace can help also.

I'm going to move this thread to the wood stove forum. It sounds like that is the biggest question. If you can provide full details about the house (size, # of flrs, layout style, ceiling height, insulation, etc.), we can help with suggestions the stove or ZC fireplace decision and placing. A picture or sketch of the floorplan will get you bonus points .

And welcome to hearth.com!

 

[snowleopard]

If the stove is on the main level, you're really only talking about heating 1350 sf with it, and any good mid-sized stove should take care of that with no problem, I'd think. We have dealers that hang out on this forum that could better advise on the specifics, but I agree with your wife. A wood stove is much more than just a heater. If you went with one that also allowed for cooking, you'd have a good system in there that could keep you going even in the event of power outages and system breakdowns. Radiant stoves dispense heat very well, and if you couple one of those with a high-mass hearth, I think you'd be set.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Agreed snowleopard. 1350 sq. ft. a Fireview could heat that very well or even the bigger stove that Woodstock will be releasing very soon. Of course many other stoves also come to mind but I really like the way the radiant heat of the soapstone heats the whole house. In addition, this is a super clean burning stove along with being one of the best looking stoves on the market. Of course, I partial to the Woodstock line.

There are many other good stoves to choose and the BK line is excellent for long burning. Englander are the lower cost stoves. Morso and Jotul come to mind too.


For sure if you want to heat with wood, please know that your wood supply should be on hand NOW. Don't make the mistake of others and think about the fuel only after the stove is installed. You can do that with gas and oil but not wood. Firewood needs time to dry; mostly a year. And do not believe if you buy wood that you can buy good dry wood no matter what they tell you. So do yourself a big favor and get some wood ASAP.

Good luck.

 

[subpared]

Thanks All,

I have had Blazekings in the past all in the basements and they did heat the basement and main floor, the problem I had was in order to heat the entire house the stove had to be quite warm and unfortunately my man cave was right in the room where the stove was making it too warm for me.

That is why I am trying to find a source of heat that I can regulate the amount of heat that I can duct into various rooms, wife would be happy having a wood stove upstairs her area ( she likes heat). If I did that I would freeze in the basement where my big screen sports TV is.

I guess I could get two seperate woodstoves and chimneys one for each floor but I could see that causing problems and extra costs.

I am being told by one fireplace dealer that an Opel RSF Zero Clearance tied in to the ducts would work, yet told by another dealer that it would not?

Maybe there is no wood burning systems I could utilize.
I know an outdoor wood furnace would work but then my wife would not get her fire and I live in a town where we cant have them anyway.

Thx