Intro

[northwinds]

I wanted to introduce myself and thank everyone here for the valuable information on this board.

Back in the mid-90's, my wife and I had a solar envelope home and heated the house with a soapstone wood stove supplemented by electric baseboard heat. At the time, we lived in Oshkosh, WI, and had some really cold winters. I knew nothing about burning wood. I think we pretty much burned wide open with small fires that I monitored so that we didnt' get into the "red zone" on the pipe thermometer. Anyhow, I grew to love soapstone. But the stove was in the lower level which really got warm (I still remember our golden retriever putting his nose right up to the hearth when it was sauna-hot).

Presently, we've got a crappy decorative wood burning fireplace, which is really poorly designed for our hillside ranch. We basically can't burn when it gets cold or our kids on the lower level get too cold at night. And it is very inefficient with most of the heat going up the chimney. My sweep basically told me that these types of pre-fab fireplaces are designed to provide a nice aesthetic experience, but don't count on it for heat or for burning very often.

But...we are in the early stages of designing a home for a 12 acre wooded homesite for occupancy in about two years, and I want to do it right this time for heating the house with wood (propane back-up). I was all set to do a masonry wood heater, either Tuklivi or heat kit, until I started reading this site and some additional information about how masonry stoves work, seasoning, predicting the upcoming weather. The fact that wood stoves are considerably cheaper is a bonus.

Now, I'm convinced that a soapstone wood stove is the way to go again, except that this time I'll be armed with the knowledge(from this board) of how to properly use the thing. We're designing a home with a wide-open floor plan, and the stove centrally located.

Finally, I really like brian-in-idaho's hearth. Sad to hear about the problems with the stove itself. We liked the hearth so much that we took a printed out picture of it to our architect.

Again, this board is a great resource. Thanks to all who make it possible.

northwinds

 

[wg_bent]

If I were designing a home from scratch, I'd definitely put in a masonry heater. Tulikivi or Tempcast. They're safer, more efficient, and darned nice addition to the home. Plus they are capable of putting out tremendous amounts of heat....far more than a wood stove.

That said, a nice big soapstone stove would also appeal to me and I do believe that a home really can't exist with just one stove. Many on this site have two or more and I'm sure that at some point I'll be one of them.

The one thing I'm totally convinced of is that super insulation is also key. I have a friend that built a super insulated, passive solar home and they heat the entire house with about 2 cords and a CAT VC defiant.

Welcome to the forum, and we;ll all be perfectly glad to help you spend your money!!

 

[northwinds]

Thanks.

We have a southern facing hillside and are going passive solar as well. I'm thinking that between the passive solar designed by an architect who is good at that, and a large soapstone woodstove, we'll be in pretty good shape. To make things more interesting, this home is being designed specifically for wheelchair accessibility. I have an adopted son who is in the early stages of Duchennes muscular dystrophy. We're taking our time on design. It'll be awhile before we break ground. But I'm having fun starting on the woodpile.

northwinds

 

[elkimmeg]

check out this post
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/374/

 

[Todd]

Welcome to the forum. What stoves are you looking at? You will need one with a big firebox for long burns, if it's going to be your primary heat source. Good luck, keep us posted.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

What a nice intro. Welcome! by the time you buy your stove you will likey know more then the salesman helping you.

 

[northwinds]

Thanks for the link, elkimmeg. I wish I had your skills. There are things that I would do with our hillside acreage except for the wheelchair accessibility issue. We're going to have to put the garage on the back side so he can enter on the main (upper floor). The lower level will be mainly basement/shop/ maybe guest bedroom/bath. I like the idea of the four sliding glass doors and the insulated window coverings.

I'm leaning towards the Hearthstone Mansfield, but I've changed my mind a bunch of times already going leaning towards a Tuklivi to a Woodstock Fireview to a Scan soapstone. My wife really likes the look of the Scan soapstone, but the firebox is very small. I'm working hard to keep the finished space under 2000 square feet. My wife is pushing to make it bigger. We negotiate everything.

There's a chance I might end up back at the masonry heater. Wisconsin is fortunate to have a pretty good masonry heater builder:

(broken link removed to http://www.gimmeshelteronline.com/masonry/building.html)

For now, I'm going to keep researching and reading and learning before making a decision. I've got a lot of dead trees and downed trees to cut up over the next year.

northwinds

 

[seaken]

Welcome. I'm sure you're already aware, but for others observing, the main difference between a stove and a masonry heater is your lifestyle. If you have a good masonry heater you will fire it once or twice a day and the heat just keeps radiating all day. For some folks, a stove is preferred because it is easier to control when and where to put the heat. If you are planning on being off the grid, and heating with wood as your primary fuel, you will have to be very careful on size and location. If you will be home most of the time a wood stove could be a good fit and it will cost less to build. If you won't be home most of the time will you be radiating heat from a masonry mass that is heating an uninhabited space? If you don't fire the masonry heater will you get heat when you need it fast?

Good luck with your project,
Sean

 

[northwinds]

Welcome. I'm sure you're already aware, but for others observing, the main difference between a stove and a masonry heater is your lifestyle. If you have a good masonry heater you will fire it once or twice a day and the heat just keeps radiating all day. For some folks, a stove is preferred because it is easier to control when and where to put the heat. If you are planning on being off the grid, and heating with wood as your primary fuel, you will have to be very careful on size and location. If you will be home most of the time a wood stove could be a good fit and it will cost less to build. If you won't be home most of the time will you be radiating heat from a masonry mass that is heating an uninhabited space? If you don't fire the masonry heater will you get heat when you need it fast?

Good luck with your project,
Sean

We won't be off the grid. As my first post indicated, we will have a propane traditional furnace for back-up. But you hit on a key point: I will be leaving a 60 hour/week (own a small coffeeshop/roastery) before we move into this house, and I will be home most of the time, eventually shifting into a caretaker role for my son. Since I'm going to be at home a lot and enjoy playing with fire, that tilts towards the wood stove.

So far, I'm thinking about putting the wood stove between the kitchen and the living room/great room, and putting the kids' bedrooms on west edge and the parent's bedroom on the east edge. We like to sleep cold, so the thermostat will go in my son's room to make sure that room stays at a stable temp. No family room, media room, etc. If we keep the rooms at a reasonable size, it should be doable. I'll have to get the digital camera out so I can show you guys the project as it goes along.

northwinds

 

[brian_in_idaho]

northwinds, welcome to the forum, and thanks for the comments. It sounds like you research things about as much as I do, I looked at masonry heaters, would love a Tulikivi...but the budget can't quite swing it.

Mountainstove guy had a good thread to his experience with his Hearthstone Heritige, essentially burning it a couple times a day and letting it burn way down, much like a masonry. I'm searching for his thread, I'll post the link once I find it. I'm hoping to have similar success with the Mansfield once I get it.

It sounds like you will do well either way, with a central location and an appropriately sized home. In addition, attitude means alot, you are designing around the stove and it sounds like focusing on a "independant" lifestyle. The soapstone stoves make a really nice addition, a piece of furniture if you will. However, the masonry heater really looks like part of the home...from an astetic standpoint, I haven't seen anything that appeals to me as much as a Tulikivi. But...from what reading and research I did, it would have been somewhere between $15-20k to add one, whereas the Mansfield, hearth and chimney system is maybe $3,500. Plus you have the issues you mentioned with anticipating the weather, etc.

Hopefully some more masonry heater guys will chime in, I'd also like to learn more.

Finally, with regard to your propane furnace, I'm guessing you are doing a central forced hot air system. Given that you are putting the thermostat in your son's room, this will set the minimum temp for the rest of the house. With the wood stove as your primary source, have you thought about electric heaters in each bedroom to allow you the local control? The new hydronic (liquid filled) baseboards are silent, we tried one in our shop, its moving into our bedroom. Also, the in-wall electric blower heaters are lots nicer than they used to be, we're doing that in other areas as a backup. Just something to think about...when you put the money into a higher end wood heater, putting a big bunch of dollars into the backup is painful. It happens in my area that electric rates are pretty low, actually lower than propane. It might be a bunch different where you are.

Good luck with your project!

Bri

 

[brian_in_idaho]

Here is the link to MSG's experience with the Heritage:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/1598/

Bri