Help me upgrade and upsize my wood stove!

[Jan Pijpelink]

I did, just this afternoon. Here was the response to my email this afternoon confirming what I had talked about with Woodstock over the phone:

"We offer the 6 month guarantee which starts during the next burning season if you purchase the stove now and accept delivery or pick it up in April or May. You don't need to know where you want your stove shipped, or if you are going to pick it up when you place your deposit, and you don't need to know the artwork or the colors, we can assist you with that."

Man, what a great company! Whether or not I decide to go with a Woodstock, I seriously respect their business model.

I think you just made your decision.

 

[kennyp2339]

Hopefully you just gave up beer for Lent. If so, I gotcha covered..stop by any time.

Never really developed a taste for liquor or wine, so I guess its all alcohol, its not a big deal for me, I have tons of mountain dew.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I think you just made your decision.

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Pijpelink.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Happy Anniversary, Mr. Pijpelink.

Thanks!

 

[Woody Stover]

I have tons of mountain dew.

You're gonna end up big, like the guy in your sig.

 

[Cold Holland]

Hi all,

A month ago I had my chimney lined and installed a little Jotul F100. I knew it was way undersized for my home, but due to mantle clearance issues, this was what worked, and I figured the main thing was getting the liner done well and then I could reassess the stove situation (plus I got the F100 for $150 on craigslist, so no big loss to swap it out). I love having a wood stove, and quickly realized that not only is the F100 not cutting for my house but not even my first floor nor even the stove room, which I can only get up to about low to mid 70s at best. I am ready to go much bigger now, even if that means taking out the mantle, but it might not. One absolute restriction I have, I believe, is that I need a rear venting stove that can fit in a 30 inch opening, and an insert wont work due to a shallow fireplace firebox.

My home is a bit over 2000 square feet, three story victorian from 1890s with original windows (a bunch of them and they are large at 34.5"x67") with not so great storm windows added in the 80s or 90s, I had blown in insulation in all the walls, and it's fairly drafty. We mainly used the first two floors, but the third floor is a nice finished non-heated attic, and I'd use it more in the winter if it were warmer up there. I have a forced hot air furnace on floors one and two, and 9 foot ceilings throughout the first two stories. My first floor doesn't have an open floor plan, but there are open doorways throughout (with no doors on them), the stove is in the center of the first floor, there is an oversized open double door opening that opens from the stove room to the living room next to it, and the stove room and adjacent living room both have open doorways that lead to an open staircase up to the second floor. The staircase to the third floor is also open.

My thoughts on getting a larger stove are to either remove the mantle so I don't have those clearance issues, or to run a horizontal double walled pipe far enough to get me far enough past the mantle, but not so far that I loose draft (i.e. no more than 18 to 24 inches). The opening of the T from my liner to my firebox opening is 6.5 inches, so I'd need 18 inches of horizontal pipe to just reach the end of the 12 inch mantle. I have a 30 foot 6 inch, smooth walled liner (which I hear gives 20% more draft), and draft has seemed good so far. I'm including a layout of my house, which is relatively accurate, and a pic of my fireplace with all dimensions.

One other possibly relevant detail is whatever the temp of my stove room, the upstairs is consistently 6 degrees cooler - so if it's 71 in stove room, it's 65 upstairs. Not sure if this would carry over to other set ups.

Here's what I've already researched and am debating:

1) Woodstock Ideal Steel. I love the stove, the possibility of serious warmth and long burns, and like the idea of a cat. I spoke with Woodstock, and after looking at my setup via this info above and pictures, they told me the stove was the right size for my house, that I could get it past the mantle and be fine leaving the mantle up with a rear heat shield on the stove and heat shields for the mantle, and I'd have no problem with draft with the horizontal run (they thought I might even want to add a damper with my chimney height), however, they felt that the stove was too big for the stove room and might give me temps as high as 90 in that room! I asked about running the stove low, and they said that I knew the airflow of my house better than they did, but they still cautioned that it could be very warm in that room (by the way, my family and I like warm, that said, 90 might be a bit ridiculous!)

2) Jotul F45. I believe I can make clearances to my mantel with heat shields and the short leg kit. I like what I've heard about this stove, but fear that it might only heat my first floor, or have a lot of that heat escape upstairs and I may continue to be frustrated by no place in my home being warm enough due to it not being big enough.

3) Jotul F55 - I'm confused on Jotul's technical manual for this stove - at one place it says there is no short leg option for this stove (which means it won't work) and in another part of the same manual it says there's a short leg kit that makes it about 4 inches short - what gives?!?! If this is an option, I'm not sure about if I could pull it out far enough to make it work with the mantle or if I'd need to remove the mantle.

Beyond this, I'm open to thoughts, and would love some suggestions, opinions, technical details and potential benefits and pitfalls. My mantle is beautiful, from the 1890s and I hate to tear it down, but I think warmth and comfort will take precedence if necessary.

Thank you hearth friends!

Kenny

View attachment 223018 View attachment 223021

I would rear vent it to have a true freestanding stove. With 30' of a total run you will have a very strong draft, except at start up like the rest of us meaning no embers/coals. Anyway,
Moving heat horizontally is much more difficult than horizontal. Your home seems drafty old and big enough for 2 small stoves or one beast. Less is more in my opinion. Anything in the teens becomes challenging to heat exclusively for any wood stove slave, unless your home is 1200 sq ft with 8' ceilings. Get my point! The ideal is a catalyst stove and really saves on wood but also gives long burns. Your place needs a beast and yes, any room of a average size will be hotter with a wood stove in it compared to the farther rooms. But 90, I bet not! Hope my input helps.

 

[KennyK]

I would rear vent it to have a true freestanding stove. With 30' of a total run you will have a very strong draft, except at start up like the rest of us meaning no embers/coals. Anyway,
Moving heat horizontally is much more difficult than horizontal. Your home seems drafty old and big enough for 2 small stoves or one beast. Less is more in my opinion. Anything in the teens becomes challenging to heat exclusively for any wood stove slave, unless your home is 1200 sq ft with 8' ceilings. Get my point! The ideal is a catalyst stove and really saves on wood but also gives long burns. Your place needs a beast and yes, any room of a average size will be hotter with a wood stove in it compared to the farther rooms. But 90, I bet not! Hope my input helps.

Thanks Cold Holland - I appreciate your input!

 

[KennyK]

Well Hearth.com friends, today I did it...I put a down payment on a Woodstock Ideal Steel! I started this thread on Feb. 14, and began thinking about this decision even earlier. With all sorts of great feedback to this post, PMs with people on this site, and some other help elsewhere, I got a lot of invaluable information and I feel very grateful to the many of you who lent a hand and took time to share thoughts (and I'm sure will continue to do so!). Even those of you who offered differing opinions from my final decision, you were invaluable and extremely helpful. A sincere thank you to all of you! I also read many other posts, visited Woodstock in person, talked with two dealers of other stoves I was considering, had a contractor come look at the floor where the stove is going (and more importantly the ceiling of the basement underneath it) to make sure it could handle the weight of a heavy stove, met with the city inspector for my ward to double check a couple things, and have mulled this over for many, many hours (my wife thinks I'm nuts, but I guess I'm probably in good company around here! ).

I will post pics and updates as they come.

Thank you!

 

[Rearscreen]

Order with a red Red Sox logo?

 

[KennyK]

Order with a red Red Sox logo?

Maybe I'll go I'll go for Red Sox, Celtics and Pats logos on the top burner plates and two big Bruins B's on both side panels

As a kid from Beantown, these are my teams, but truth be told, while I love to play sports and will gladly cheer these four teams on, I'm not a huge sports nut. I'm a musician and a traveler, so expect some of those themes to come through if all goes according to plan!

 

[Gumbyagain]

KennyK I shared in your agony and Pleasure. I too spent Hours in this forum as well as a couple of others. Visited 2 of the 5 dealers in my area that carried brands I thought might work. After a fight with the wife about it, decided on an art pattern and placed my order this week.
Cheers and congrats!! I feel we both made an excellent decision.

I am new to these forums so give me some time to figure out the proper reply methods and how to fix my signature.