Husband wants to install a wood stove for emergency heating in our old smallish farm house.

[enduring]

We have been in our house 31 years, DH has been here, except about 12 years as a young adult, his whole life. The house has been well maintained since it started on site as a relocated house from town in the 30's.

We used to have a lot of electrical outages, but the Coop has improved their service over the last 25 years. So they are infrequent and only last 12 hours or less.

I am ok without wood stove, its a DH thing. He is focused on doing this...or rather it looks like I'm focused on it, lol.

He does have a tractor gas generator, but never had a home generator. The tractor generator operates at 20kw, he says you can run the whole farm on it. the down side of that is that he will let his sister use it instead of us, because she runs a goat dairy with refrigerated tanks. He runs it 4x/year to keep it in order. The good thing is, sister-in-law's electric is a different power company than ours, so when we are out she isn't. Hers seems to be a little more consistent than ours.

As some of you have mentioned, taking up room in the living area for a stove is a negative. DH is also against taking up living room space.. Our house is small and rooms are small.

I support DH in this endevour, but only if we get the chimney lined, and we can make all the clearances work with the existing location considering the proximity to the heater and the ceiling. Our HVAC service will need to look at the furnace and see if we can relocate some things to meet clearances. I want to contact the home insurance company too for specifics on fire coverage and wood stove install.

QUESTION:

Is there a ceiling shield for stoves, like those for walls? - If we go with the 2cf stove, the clearance to ceiling calls for 84" floor to ceiling, combustable surface. Our basement has 79". Floor is concrete, ceiling is wood, walls are block.​

 

[begreen]

You could put up a ceiling shield on 1" non-combustible standoffs. It can be made out of 22-24ga sheet metal or cementboard.

 

[Highbeam]

You could put up a ceiling shield on 1" non-combustible standoffs. It can be made out of 22-24ga sheet metal or cementboard.

You could do a lot of things but would a ceiling shield as you describe relieve you of the manufacturer’s specified requirement for ceiling clearance?

 

[AlbergSteve]

I would not waste time with any stove under 2 cubic feet in any case other than a boat or purely decorative novelty type stove.

...what he said.

 

[begreen]

You could do a lot of things but would a ceiling shield as you describe relieve you of the manufacturer’s specified requirement for ceiling clearance?

It has been done in several installations we have seen here. In this case the clearance reduction need is minimal. I'm sure it would be safe. When in doubt, contact the manufacturer.

 

[TWilk117]

I think you should look at the England Stove Works/ Summers Heat 28-4000 add on furnace. It’s rated to heat up to 3000 sq feet when connected to your existing furnaces plenum and using the 28-4000’s blower. It of coarse can be used without the blower or attached to duct work for a smaller space.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

You could use some type of floor register above the stove that can be covered normally. that would solve the problem of getting heat up from the basement without electricity. The beauty of a wood stove during a power outage is you have heat ,you can cook on it and it will light up the room its in to some degree. And you just may get the wood stove fever like so many of us here on Hearth have and use it often.

 

[begreen]

You could use some type of floor register above the stove that can be covered normally.

Might not necessary if the stairwell is close to the proposed stove location, but could be added later if needed. The register should have a fusible-link damper system if installed.

 

[begreen]

You could do a lot of things but would a ceiling shield as you describe relieve you of the manufacturer’s specified requirement for ceiling clearance?

From the Drolet Escape 1800 manual:
Reduced clearances using shielding
You may decrease the clearances by installing heat radiation shields between the walls or the ceiling and the stove. These heat radiation shields must be installed permanently, and can include sheet metal, a rigid non-combustible sheet or a masonry wall.

This is also covered in detail in the Drolet Columbia's manual in section 7.4.

 

[Highbeam]

So be sure to look for this allowance in your specific stove manual. Don’t be surprised if it’s not there. Drolet stoves are a good option.

 

[Stinkpickle]

I can’t tell from the pics, but would placing the stove on the side of that chimney, where the chest freezer sits, help with clearances?

 

[Hogwildz]

Have you given thought that your husband or even yourself, might end up loving heating with wood so much, you may want to do it more often or even make it the primary heat source? Just something to ponder, lord knows it has happened to quite a few here.

 

[Hogwildz]

"I clearly missed something in this part of your long, rambling post:"


Completely uncalled for, and a total dickhead thing to say.
Most times we ask for more info, the poster thought ahead enough to give complete info, and you call it long & rambling... Total doucheness[/QUOTE]

 

[enduring]

I can’t tell from the pics, but would placing the stove on the side of that chimney, where the chest freezer sits, help with clearances?

I asked DH that very question, but he said due to the upper protruding brick work, holding that large beam, it would possibly weaken that side if we put a hole on that south side. But I thought that location was perfect otherwise. Now if you can put a few more elbows in the duct run we could use the existing opening in the chimney. But that wouldn't be good for draught, would it?

As I was looking again at the option of the south location, I found an old opening that has been covered with a steel cap on the north side. As I tap on the seal, it sounds a little hollow, and edges sound solid, as if its just a cap and not a solid plug. Is it dangerous to have a hole put into the opposite side 180 degrees from the capped hole? The 2 existing holes that are 90degrees from one another with the open hole on the east side of the chimney. Would the appropriate thing to do is first, brick up the old holes, then create the new opening on the south side, well below where the east facing opening is currently located?

 

[enduring]

"I clearly missed something in this part of your long, rambling post:"


Completely uncalled for, and a total dickhead thing to say.
Most times we ask for more info, the poster thought ahead enough to give complete info, and you call it long & rambling... Total doucheness

[/QUOTE]
I'm not too much offended by that comment, maybe a bit, but I just brushed it off. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I remember once I thought I was being funny on another forum, and made an uncalled for comment, that I apologized for later, though it really impacted our online conversations for me from then on. I was totally embarrassed. Language arts were never my strong point, lol. DH on the other hand is great with words and writing, so I have him to rely on for edits, etc. Then there's spell check, I LOVE SPELL CHECK.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Might not necessary if the stairwell is close to the proposed stove location, but could be added later if needed. The register should have a fusible-link damper system if installed.

They did say the stairwell was at one end of the basement. Without fans in the event of a power outage painfully little heat would make its way up thru there.

 

[jetsam]

An add-on wood furnace may need power to its blower to run safely, and it definitely needs it to work effectively. That said, if it's going in the basement, I'd get the furnace too. A deep cycle battery and a small inverter could power that fan. Charge the battery back up when the big generator is running, let the battery handle it when it's not.

If it was me doing it, I'd put a big stove upstairs and forget the blower. I wouldn't even try a stove in the basement with that house.

(Power supply note for urbanites: farm houses usually have a big fuel guzzling generator because the first thing you want power for is the well pump, which has a big startup draw. A working farm may have livestock heat, water deicers, milking equipment, electric fences, etc on top of that. Usually the house is the smallest part of the load.)

 

[begreen]

They did say the stairwell was at one end of the basement. Without fans in the event of a power outage painfully little heat would make its way up thru there.

Problem here is that there are two points of view. One that is trying to answer the OP and DH with what will meet their criteria of a backup heating system. And the other is trying to set them up with a 24/7 whole-house heating system. What we don't know is how frequently DH expects to be running said backup heating system nor how long the expected need would be. Can DH get on the line and provide more specifics?

 

[Highbeam]

I would want my backup heating system to heat the whole house 24/7 until the emergency passes.

 

[enduring]

Good Morning! I like the idea that DH should take part in this discussion. I will have DH get on this evening when gets in for the evening. Thank you all very much for the comments thus far.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I would want my backup heating system to heat the whole house 24/7 until the emergency passes.

I wouldnt spend a lot of money oversizing for a few hrs a year of emergency heat. Just the knowing that the pipes wont freeze and i wont freeze is enough for me. To each his own.

 

[Highbeam]

a few hrs a year of emergency heat.

Yeah, you're idea of emergency/backup heat and my idea are totally different. If all I wanted was a few hours a year of heat I would just go out in the truck and run the engine. Go out to dinner with the wife. For a weeklong power outage or broken furnace that needs a part from China, I want to keep my house safe, warm, and livable. The price difference between a stove that can do this and one that can't do this is essentially zero. My NC30 was 800$ delivered and is 3.5 cubic feet, 6" flue. Why spend the same money on a decorative sub 2 cf stove?

 

[begreen]

A house at 65º upstairs and 80º in the basement is safe, warm and livable, especially if the basement room is made comfortable. I'd much rather go there than sit out in a truck. If the power is out in the area, it might be out at the local restaurants too.

DH has the right idea. Feeding a 2 cu ft stove every 6 hrs is not a big deal if one is prepared and has dry firewood on hand.

 

[Ashful]

Completely uncalled for, and a total dickhead thing to say.

You know, you’re right Hogz. Sorry to come off that way, it wasn’t my intention. Again, sorry about that, and thanks for calling me on it.

 

[Stinkpickle]

I asked DH that very question, but he said due to the upper protruding brick work, holding that large beam, it would possibly weaken that side if we put a hole on that south side. But I thought that location was perfect otherwise. Now if you can put a few more elbows in the duct run we could use the existing opening in the chimney. But that wouldn't be good for draught, would it?

As I was looking again at the option of the south location, I found an old opening that has been covered with a steel cap on the north side. As I tap on the seal, it sounds a little hollow, and edges sound solid, as if its just a cap and not a solid plug. Is it dangerous to have a hole put into the opposite side 180 degrees from the capped hole? The 2 existing holes that are 90degrees from one another with the open hole on the east side of the chimney. Would the appropriate thing to do is first, brick up the old holes, then create the new opening on the south side, well below where the east facing opening is currently located?

View attachment 257820View attachment 257821View attachment 257823View attachment 257824

Would installing a jack or two to support that beam instead work?