new construction - wood stove location

[twd000]

We're at the early stages of designing our house for a total rebuild

Total freedom of design due to fire damage (kitchen stove electrical fire, not related to wood burning)

2500 square foot colonial in southern New Hampshire. Left side of the drawing faces north

I've attached the draftsman's current first floor plan. He has the stove against the stairway wall, in the living room. Haven't though much about furniture or TV placement yet, just trying to get the room layout in order

Do you see any issues with this placement, or better options? There are of course restrictions with placement of the flu coming through second floor, but let's ignore them for now

Looking at a freestanding Blaze King Princess with a double-wall 6" pipe, to replace my Blaze King Princess insert we had in the old house.

Appreciate any thoughts on the plan

 

[begreen]

The location looks good. A straight-up interior flue system will work well.

 

[EbS-P]

Look pretty good to me. Where will the wood come into the house?

 

[begreen]

Look pretty good to me. Where will the wood come into the house?

I'd consider a wood box or rack on the porch.

 

[peakbagger]

IMHO I would skip the stove and go with wood boiler and minisplit or two but I am contrary by nature

 

[EbS-P]

Is construction going to be tight enough that an outside air intake is necessary? Planning on an ERV HRV or ventilating dehumidifier? Big kitchen exhaust hood?

If it’s a tight home with little makeup air an outside air kit might necessitate a different stove location.

 

[begreen]

f it’s a tight home with little makeup air an outside air kit might necessitate a different stove location.

Good point. It looks like an outside air connection can be made from under the stove to the outside wall under the porch. It's a straight 13' run.

 

[twd000]

Look pretty good to me. Where will the wood come into the house?

I'm thinking I can store a cord of wood stacked on the front farmer's porch

Previous setup had me storing wood on the rear screen porch but four steps down to grade level were problematic

 

[twd000]

Is construction going to be tight enough that an outside air intake is necessary? Planning on an ERV HRV or ventilating dehumidifier? Big kitchen exhaust hood?

If it’s a tight home with little makeup air an outside air kit might necessitate a different stove location.

yes I'm hoping to tighten the house to 2 ACH @ 50 kPa, give or take a little. I'm willing to install a makeup air kit, but then I read this: https://www.woodheat.org/the-outdoor-air-myth-exposed.html

Yes, definitely need fresh air to the house, debating ERV vs. ventilating dehumidifier, any thoughts there?

 

[Prometeo]

I would put the kitchen instead of the office, but smaller and office instead of living room, but smaller, the rest, table, armchairs, TV, and wood stove!

 

[EbS-P]

I just installed a whole house dehumidifier. It is not connected to fresh air now. 2.0 is tight by my standards. I don’t think venting dehu is good for cold season fresh air as there is no energy exchange. Conversely I don’t think ERV are good warm climate summer choices.

If you are windows open most of the time just use the AC when it gets really hot people I think an ERV and no dehumidifier is fine. I just don’t see the humidity being an issue. But I will say I spent my last summer at my in laws in Acton ME with out AC. After being in a house that’s 74-78 degree And 54% RH for the last 3 weeks (that’s how long we have had the whole house dehumidifier) it’s nice. Like really nice. But understand down here in coastal SE NC we are
more humid than New Orleans and Miami for several months a year.

my last piece of advice if doing the whole house dehumidifier it really should be ducted into multiple rooms. Mine is tied to the hvac whole house ducts.

ERV that’s adjustable so you can fine tune the intake and exhaust cfm separately connected to pull air from bathrooms blow into the bedrooms.awould be where I would start. Then if you feel like you need to control humidity you can go down that path with a non ventilating dehumidifier. There are not good integrated ventalatunf dehumidifier controls. Nothing that connects to your smart home for less than $600. And the controllers most manufactures sell does not measure CO2. Adding a CO2 controller is about 400$

What will be the non wood heat source? AC? At 2.0 AHC50 or lower you really need an experienced heating and air contractor. Good luck finding one. I had to twist my installers arm just to do a load calc that I paid 450$ for.

 

[begreen]

yes I'm hoping to tighten the house to 2 ACH @ 50 kPa, give or take a little. I'm willing to install a makeup air kit, but then I read this: https://www.woodheat.org/the-outdoor-air-myth-exposed.html

Yes, definitely need fresh air to the house, debating ERV vs. ventilating dehumidifier, any thoughts there?

This is one of the few times I disagree, at least in part with John Gulland. In a modern, tightly sealed environment, any combustion appliance should have a fresh air supply.

Sweep's Library - Why burn outside air?

Should I burn outside combustion air in my stove or fireplace?

hearth.com

The ERV/HRV question is coming up more frequently as houses get tighter. Fresh air exchange for humans and proper regulation is a separate subject. The Green Room has several discussions on the topic.

HRV vs. ERV after spray foaming.

We will be getting our house spray foamed from basement on up late this summer and it will most likely be too tight, in which case we will need an air exchange system to prevent moisture/ air quality problems. I have been doing some research already and have found some valuable info but most of...

www.hearth.com

 

[BKVP]

You might consider and elevated hearth. Myself and others have found that it serves two distinct purposes. First, darn as I have aged I like not having to get down on hands and knees to load the stove. (My raised hearth made of 2 x 6's and then 3/4" ply with 1/2" hardibacker with 1/4" stone has made loading much easier on my back & knees.

Second, I was able to conceal the fresh air connection line. When we had a King model with the Parlor legs, you could just see the 3" flex running out the wall behind the stove. This is because the fresh air ducting cannot be run any higher than the bottom of the stove. (Safety measure against reversed draft).

We installed the King 40 with a pedestal this time (Classic) and the fresh air runs down inside between the 2 x 6's and out the wall.

Others have posted pictures of their complete DIY builds of raised hearths. Here is the finished product.

 

[twd000]

I just installed a whole house dehumidifier. It is not connected to fresh air now. 2.0 is tight by my standards. I don’t think venting dehu is good for cold season fresh air as there is no energy exchange. Conversely I don’t think ERV are good warm climate summer choices.

If you are windows open most of the time just use the AC when it gets really hot people I think an ERV and no dehumidifier is fine. I just don’t see the humidity being an issue. But I will say I spent my last summer at my in laws in Acton ME with out AC. After being in a house that’s 74-78 degree And 54% RH for the last 3 weeks (that’s how long we have had the whole house dehumidifier) it’s nice. Like really nice. But understand down here in coastal SE NC we are
more humid than New Orleans and Miami for several months a year.

my last piece of advice if doing the whole house dehumidifier it really should be ducted into multiple rooms. Mine is tied to the hvac whole house ducts.

ERV that’s adjustable so you can fine tune the intake and exhaust cfm separately connected to pull air from bathrooms blow into the bedrooms.awould be where I would start. Then if you feel like you need to control humidity you can go down that path with a non ventilating dehumidifier. There are not good integrated ventalatunf dehumidifier controls. Nothing that connects to your smart home for less than $600. And the controllers most manufactures sell does not measure CO2. Adding a CO2 controller is about 400$

What will be the non wood heat source? AC? At 2.0 AHC50 or lower you really need an experienced heating and air contractor. Good luck finding one. I had to twist my installers arm just to do a load calc that I paid 450$ for.

non-wood heat source will be a heat pump. Haven't engaged with HVAC contractor yet, but I have a few names

 

[EbS-P]

non-wood heat source will be a heat pump. Haven't engaged with HVAC contractor yet, but I have a few names

Ducted or ductless? Two stories can be challenging.

 

[twd000]

Ducted or ductless? Two stories can be challenging.

looking at a ducted system. I think the benefits on mixing and filtering air justify the extra cost vs ductless system
Will be sure all the ducts are inside conditioned space

 

[EbS-P]

looking at a ducted system. I think the benefits on mixing and filtering air justify the extra cost vs ductless system
Will be sure all the ducts are inside conditioned space

Think about where your air returns must be. Must be 10’ from woodstove.

 

[Rearscreen]

One problem, unless you want a jog in the pipe, is that a straight pipe is hitting the center of the ridge beam. Since you live in NH, you could look into Woodstock stoves - no tax!

 

[BKVP]

One problem, unless you want a jog in the pipe, is that a straight pipe is hitting the center of the ridge beam. Since you live in NH, you could look into Woodstock stoves - no tax!

And they qualify for the 25C Federal Tax Credit!

 

[twd000]

One problem, unless you want a jog in the pipe, is that a straight pipe is hitting the center of the ridge beam. Since you live in NH, you could look into Woodstock stoves - no tax!

yeah I'm going to have the draftsman correct that in the drawings by shifting the stove a bit to the left

heard good things about the Woodstock stoves. Can they turn down as low as a BK? I really like the BK ability to simmer on low during shoulder season temperatures

 

[stoveliker]

The low output is determined by how long one can stretch the burn of a full fuel load.

I see that the Fireview has a 1.85 cu ft firebox, and that they advertize a 10-12 hr burn time (whatever that may mean is always unclear).

A BK 30 box has a 2.9 cu ft firebox, i.e. 57% larger, but it can burn for 30 hrs (I know this to be true; I have had 36-37 hrs, defined as "until the catalyst falls out of the active range"). To me this suggests that the BK can go lower by quite a bit *in steady state burning*.

However, you can burn smaller fires (that then go out and you'd have to restart from no coals). Moreover the soapstone thermal mass will stretch the heat output a bit longer than a simple "burn" because it will shed some heat after the burn is over.

The Fireview webpage lists a low BTU output of 7606 BTU/hr (per EPA tests). That is lower than the "low" (30 hr low) for the BKs listed on their website, but I don't know how the numbers can be compared (testing method differences etc.) After all, "volume of wood over a burn time span" determines the output, and with that the BK should be lower given the 57% larger firebox but 2.5-3 times longer burn possibility. (Note also that the low output is useful when you need a little heat, but not in mid winter when you need more... the 12000 BTU/hr equates to 3.5 kW output. If you divide that by the standard plug-in electric heater power of 1.5 kW, this means that the BK on low only puts out the equivalent of less than 2.5 plug-in electric space heaters! Not a lot to heat a home.)

All in all, I would not worry too much. Both have a catalytic combustor. The BK has a thermostat (which I like), the Woodstock stoves have soapstone, and for all intents and purposes a 10-12 hr burn services most people perfectly well. My estimate is that the BK would provide a lower output on its lowest setting than the Fireview, see above.

Overall wood consumption will be the same.

So I'd factor in what you like to look at - as it'll be a presence in your room for a long time (with these good, reliable brands).

 

[xman23]

I had the same issue with the same size great room with cathedral ceilings as yours. I assume those are two sliders. I did a slider in the middle out to a deck. Also a large window above it. The stove takes a lot of floor space. And you don' t want to sit next to it. So I went with the in the corner. It takes 5' on each wall. And a few weeks of wood on the side covered porch.

 

[Ovationcs257]

Not wood stove related but make sure you can get a mattress up the stairs. It looks tight.

 

[JamesGuido]

I'm thinking I can store a cord of wood stacked on the front farmer's porch

Previous setup had me storing wood on the rear screen porch but four steps down to grade level were problematic

storing a cord of wood on your new beautiful 6 foot by 24 foot farmer's porch??!!

only thing i'd share my farmer's porch (besides my wife) would be my glass of old forester.

 

[begreen]

storing a cord of wood on your new beautiful 6 foot by 24 foot farmer's porch??!!

only thing i'd share my farmer's porch (besides my wife) would be my glass of old forester.

Yes, a cord is a lot of wood (and weight) We have a stout wood box on our farmer's porch. It holds 4-7 days' worth of firewood depending on the seasonal needs.