Find a new or used Soapstone stove to heat a new home probably in the 1500 sq ft range.

[Skiesfell]

Hard to get real specific since we are still looking for land and might find something already built, but being a retired contractor and designer I am leaning towards building. The stove MUST have an ash drawer!
I am also remembering soapstone stoves in the 80’s and 90’s that were larger and therefore more soapstone, so I’m wondering if they were priced out of the market or efficiency just dictates smaller units now.
I am thinking that it will be primarily our heat source since I have 45+ years of wood burning experience and I have cut and sold wood long enough to know what is btu’s and what is junk. Rarely have chimney swept as I burn hot before damping down. Last sweep netted very little. Single wall inside and insulated pipe above roof. Jenn Air blower underneath hearth with a 6” hole cut in ceramic tile hearth straight up pipe heats 1750 sq feet easily. The room that the current stove is in has a 16’ vault plus ceiling fan and there are 3 additional rooms that have ceiling fans.
Ty

 

[stoveliker]

If you are going to build, one thought would be to look into masonry stoves. Finnish or other northern European.
That's the "gentle and long" soapstone experience but then 10 times better.
And heavier. So you design the home around the masonry stove. Very heavy.

Tulikivi makes lighter varieties (that still are very heavy).

 

[begreen]

The Hearthstone Mansfield and Woodstock Progress Hybrids are big rock stoves. However, they may be oversized if building new with a lot of attention to insulation and sealing.

 

[Skiesfell]

If you are going to build, one thought would be to look into masonry stoves. Finnish or other northern European.
That's the "gentle and long" soapstone experience but then 10 times better.
And heavier. So you design the home around the masonry stove. Very heavy.

Tulikivi makes lighter varieties (that still are very heavy).

Ty. This is what I was referring to, but the house I will be selling is 2 x 6 construction throughout and whatever that stove I purchased 25 years ago is terrific but without a lot of TLC it’s days are numbered although she still holds coals overnight without fail….

 

[bholler]

Ty. This is what I was referring to, but the house I will be selling is 2 x 6 construction throughout and whatever that stove I purchased 25 years ago is terrific but without a lot of TLC it’s days are numbered although she still holds coals overnight without fail….

Any decent medium to large stove on the market now will easily burn overnight. Some will easily go 24hours or more on a single load.

 

[DBoon]

I have a Woodstock Keystone. It is a smallish soapstone stove. I have a 1750 square foot well-insulated (18,000 BTU/hour heat load at 0 degrees F outside temperature) and well air-sealed (<1.0 ACH50) house in Central NY (historical 8000 degree day climate). I use it to (mostly) heat my house from mid-November to mid-March (whenever temps are under 40 degrees F outside consistently). During the colder days (below 10 degrees F average) it can't keep up (2nd floor is a little too cool for my liking) and I'm running 3 loads a day (a little more work). But I like the stove and the looks of it and it works the way I want it to (take most of the heating load, and radiant floor heating does the rest).

If I wanted to heat with just wood 24/7 all winter I would get a Woodstock Fireview (one size up).

 

[EbS-P]

Staying in SE KS? Get a really good HVAC contractor. One that really knows their stuff. Get a design and then a heat load calc. When it’s below zero and blowing 50 mph you will need a lot more heat than when it’s just 20.

My point sizing a stove for most of the time with a good backup heat source will give you a better experience than if you sized extra large for those 5 days extreme wind and cold. That said a 30 series blaze king model would do really well.

 

[DBoon]

Agreed with EbS-P - my small stove performs as well as it does in my climate and my square footage because of the investments I made in insulation quality and air-sealing.

 

[Pinesmoke]

The Hearthstone Mansfield and Woodstock Progress Hybrids are big rock stoves. However, they may be oversized if building new with a lot of attention to insulation and sealing.

As a data point on this. Our place is a new build we moved into 2 years ago this June. 3200sf under roof, about 1800sf living area. Steel roof and siding with 2x6 walls. There is 3" close cell sprayed from slab to slab, ecentually a big balloon. Probably the only air infiltration is the garage door.


My Mansfield can heat the entire place down into low single digits for extended periods, a week plus each of the last 2 winters. 20s and 30s it just low cruises on pine.

As we have all said before, go big and let the cats just cruise if a 240lb rock radiating at 550 degrees isn't needed.

ETA
I do have 10'6" ceilings in the place.

 

[EbS-P]

As a data point on this. Our place is a new build we moved into 2 years ago this June. 3200sf under roof, about 1800sf living area. Steel roof and siding with 2x6 walls. There is 3" close cell sprayed from slab to slab, ecentually a big balloon. Probably the only air infiltration is the garage door.


My Mansfield can heat the entire place down into low single digits for extended periods, a week plus each of the last 2 winters. 20s and 30s it just low cruises on pine.

As we have all said before, go big and let the cats just cruise if a 240lb rock radiating at 550 degrees isn't needed.

ETA
I do have 10'6" ceilings in the place.

Good new construction is an efficiency game changer.

Here I am with 2000’sq ft up and 1100 down and I have to burn 2 stoves hard if it gets below 25 at night. I had a 7 cu ft wheelbarrow piled high and it lasted about 18 hours.

 

[stoveliker]

Or good attic insulation and efficient windows in 70s home of 1700 sq ft up and 825 sq ft down.
2.9 cubic foot kept it around 70 for 20+ hrs at 20 at night and around 30 during the day.

The point of new construction is that it is a lower investment to reach a high efficiency construction and thus better ROI. So the level of efficiency in new construction is higher because of that.
It can be done in old construction, but the cost are much higher.

My walls still have the 70s r13....

 

[nortcan]

Woodstock ProgressHybrid and Blaze King products are good stoves and have excellent custommer's service compared to some other ones.