New Member looking for New Stove for old house in the deep south

[ChillyGator]

I've been lurking.....and I'm very impressed. I live in North Florida (5 miles south of Georgia line) and it really does get cold sometimes. Down to upper twentys tomorrow....I heat with cental heat/air propane furnance. Burn about 300-400 gallons year using programable timer and max 68*...no one home during weekdays. Old house with good insulation (R28 attic) but off grade wood floors open underneath.....they get cold. Everything is sealed good (I reglazed 192 panes of glass last year...very fun) and chauked every crack I could get at. I've cut my electric bill in 1/2 (avg $200 down to $104) and I run that a/c all summer....had lots of leaks I guess...lol. New white metal roof installed this past fall....expecting a/c bill to go down another $20/month or so.

My father heats with old Sierra stove and we have access to free good oak....just sweat equity. Looking to use old fireplace that has been inspected and cleaned to vent wood stove (too small for insert). Opening height is issue as fp is only 26.25" high for a rear vent stove....this limits my choices. Total sqft of house is approx 1600 but I'm really heating about 1300'.

Dealership choices are limited, only one local showroom (they have been helpful...and sold my brother his insert for new house years ago) and another dealers 1 1/2 away. Looking at Jotul FC3B, Castine (will just fit w/ short leg) and Morso 7110 (2110 is nice but too $$). Both quoted same price for FC3B ($1629) and Castine($19something) but only local has Morso ($1770 for 7110). Had about decided on FC3B but local called me and dropped price to $1360 on the Morso. I plan on doing some negotiating before purchashing either. Looks like about $1100 in materials and another $600-$800 in labor to do the job.

Okay....so I found a heating zone map (EPA linked I think...don't have it handy) that shows zones for different parts of the country and I'm in zone '6' which on thier graph says I need btu/hr average output of 17-23 btu/hr to heat my size house. So I'm trying to figure out the correct size stove for my needs using 20 btu/hr output. I don't know how to figure the average btu/hr for each stove. Jotul shows 42,000 btu max for F3CB and Morso 38,000 btu/hr for 7110. I'm leaning towards the $1360 Morso but don't want to cut myself short and be pennywise and pound foolish.

I cannot run the stove 24/7 as no one is there to fire it anyway but mainly to run in the evenings until I leave for work the next morning and on weekends when needed. I'll still run my furnace if I just need to take the chill out of the air, especially early fall and spring. I plan on cutting that propane use down to maybe 100-150 gal/year.

Advice appreciated.

-ChillyGator

 

[ChillyGator]

well that was a rambling first post so let me simplify it some........

If I'm trying to get around 20,000 BTU/hr to heat my house during cold spells in a very temperate zone, will the Jotul F3CB or the Morso 7110 give me that much heat?
How often will I have to refire it to keep it there and how long of a burn time can I expect from each burning 20% moisture split oak?

Any advise is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Jags]

You are looking at some quality stoves. You probably won't go wrong with any of them. The downside to the stoves will be the burn time. Small firebox = less wood = shorter burn cycle.

I would guess your burn cycle to be at 3 or 4 hours per load. You do have an advantage with the low btu requirements and may be able to extend the heating cycle by tuning the stove down more than most.

I think you are on the right track with your choices, just don't expect to load up the stove and wake up to a 500F stove top temp out of the little guys.

 

[webbie]

Yeah, I think it is a good choice to stay small - and those are two models which will heat up very fast (good for your app) and thrown a lot of heat when needed, but without consuming excess wood, roasting you out of the house or creating a lot of creosote.

Another thing to keep in mind is chimney draft. Most homes in that area are short and one-story. The best chimney would be a metal one straight up (HT) which matches the size of the stove pipe (6").....and run it up a little higher than you think. That will result in a responsive stove.

If you want to get real fancy about longer burns, here are a couple choices.........

1. Build a nice masonry wall and floor around it - as close as possible, so that heat given off will be stored in the masonry and continue to radiate after stove goes out.
2. If you have the $$, you could consider a Keystone or Palladian soapstone stove from Woodstock - relatively small firebox...but designed for longer slow burns. Downside is that it will take longer to heat up from a cold start.

 

[ChillyGator]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I'll be venting out an existing chimney in the middle of the house, 20' straight up with insulated 6" pipe (should be high enough?). I did look at ads for the Soapstones, very nice, but a little leary of having no one locally to service them (or deal with any shipping related damage).

Will the Castine give me much longer burn times if I went in that direction? I like the fact that both the smaller stoves come with built in heat shields and can be located closer to the existing chimney.

I'm also thinking about installing a duct that runs from my liviing room (where the stove will be) that will be mounted above the door that enters the hallway where my return vent is so I can efficently run my central fan to currculate the heat throught the rest of the house. The duct would only have to be about 4' long and would end direcdtly underneath the return vent (mounted in ceiling of hallway). The house is a little 'chopped up' and I'm afraid that the heat will end up 'backed up' above the door openings. Good idea or waste or time?

 

[Jags]

Be wary of putting any kind of air routing pipes close to the stove. This presents a smoke and fire hazard if anything bad were to happen. A direct link to you, so to speak.

Many people have found that fans on the floor, moving cold air to warm works pretty darn good.

 

[ChillyGator]

If installed, the duct opening would be at least 12 feet away from the stove. I might be overthinking this project....lol.

I'm now basically down to two stoves, F3CB Jotul & 7110 Morso. They are priced within $140 of each other now. Leaning towards the Jotual as I think the firebox is bigger and will give longer burn time.

Agree/Disagree?

 

[Jags]

At this time, I would suggest going with whatever you like the best. I know the F3CB has a long and well respected following as a quality stove. And the 7110 is good stuff too.

I do have to admit that I like the fact that the F3 can take logs up to 18" rather than the 16.5 of the 7110.