@Bethany Waterfall , you have good advice here. I personally would, as you are already leaning, stick with non-cat stoves for the public areas so well meaning ignorant could do less damage, and look pretty hard at a catalytic combustor equipped stove for the the owner's area.
The good news is the 30.2 BK box you are looking at is a fair bit more advanced than my BK 30.0 box- but we can both run spruce-pine-fir with excellent efficiency and season green freshly felled wood in one summer. I burn spruce only up here, about 8 cords annually for 1200 sqft, really good insulation envelope compared to the lower 48 and I prefer my wife in summer outfits.
I came up with this doohickey several years ago:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/solar-cord-wood-kiln-operation.152699/
I am not overjoyed with my kilns though I continue to run them. The main problem is I have to replace the plastic membrane every 18 months or so and that is a fair bit of crude oil represented going to the landfill.
FWIW I finished my first college degree in Schenectady and have a reasonable familiarity with your mild southern climate, 😃 .
Since building my passive solar kilns, I had an opportunity for a clean sheet build and came up with these:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...rk-1-is-built-and-filled.181504/#post-2542414
To get SPF (spruce-pine-fir) dry in one summer the controlling variables are to get it split, stacked and covered on top by May first, with good airflow. Having a 1.5 inch space front and back on the middle row seems to be adequate if you have good air flow.
If you need oak or beech or live ash dry in one summer you will probably have to kiln it. Search on
@Woodsplitter67 for "threads started by" here - he has had good results with eastern NA hardwoods. Astounding results really, respect is due, this is a person for you to get to know. Good job
@Woodsplitter67 .
10 cords annually is a LOT. I could do it, but I would be maxed out on free time. Given what I have seen in thread, spruce pine fir with non cats in the public areas is certainly an option. SPF seasoned one summer to 16-20% MC will work very well in whatever BK box in the owners area - given reasonable insulation and air tightness; and should do well in non cats in the public areas.
My opinion, 10 cords annually is where a burner, where the cutoff is, to look at a small tractor with forks on the front end and shrink wrapped cord wood on multiple pallets to serve as multiple small kilns. At 15 cords annually, no brainer, get a tractor with forks and palletize cordwood splits with shrink wrap. At 20 cords, build a green house to hold your palletized cord wood in while it dries and you move it around with tractor forks.
@stoveliker , your situation is unique as your wood stove is not on the same floor, not at the same level, as your primary living space. Most of us are looking at heat coming off the stove to distribute, you are looking at heat coming up the stairwell to distribute. My oservation is when I run the convection deck fans my burn time is shorter, but the heat in my envelope is greater. I dont give a hoot what my flue temp is as long as my brushing out looks not dangerous. If I got khaki/ brown/ tan/ grey / sweepings with a few crunchy black speckles, I am good.
I do run a 4 way temp/ humidity sensor (Acurite brand) at my house. Two of the sensors are in my crawl space, one at the hole in the ground where I have potable in and sewer out, the other next to the dehumidifier in the same crawl space. The third sensor moves around the house as I see fit, and the home unit is on the side table next to my recliner in the (upstairs, stove level) TV/ stove room. Mine was about $60 from amazon. You have a notably strong background in both chemistry and physics. While I appreciate your guidance on flue heighth; your abilty to comment usefully to folks running stoves below their main living area is potentially unsurpassed here with minimal instrumentation.
FWIW, I get best heat distribution to the back bedrooms with my convection deck fans running at any speed other than off, and a 20 inch box fan on low in the hallway gently wafting cold air from the floors of the bedrooms towards the wood stove. Local to me above about +20dF it doesn't really matter, but below -20dF outdoor ambient fan speeds are mission critical. I am seriously looking forward to your data and findings .