New member needs help with wood stove upgrade

[mcmars]

Hello all, I am trying to decide if I should upgrade to a modern stove from my 30+ year old Hurricane that still works fine, but goes through wood and needs new firebricks. It is the medium large sized one they made and has a functional blower, but I know I would likely burn 1/2 the amount of wood, less pollution and get more heat and less ash with a modern stove.

One consideration is my Hurricane stove has 8" piping consisting of 7.5 ft of single wall pipe (10ft) ceiling and then 12 ft more of stainless metalbestos triple wall pipe to the roof cap. It seems hard to find 8" flue these days, so would either have to get a 6 to 8" reducer which might slow down the draft and make problems with back draft or creosote build up, or I go with a 6" pipe that goes through the existing 8" triple wall and hope I can avoid having to get onto the way to steep roof to mess with new roof cap. Maybe I just replace my fire bricks and just keep feeding it a ton of wood?

I am thinking I could try and just reduce the 6 to 8" before it goes into the triple wall pipe as easy solution and see if it works as I do have 7.5 ft worth of space above the stove before it goes into the ceiling box. The ceiling box looks to be not up to any current code and I would likely want to upgrade that with a new one as well. Maybe there is a modern stove out there that fits in my budget with an 8" flue?

My home is located in SW Colorado at 6700 ft with temps down to zero in winter months and is on a hillside facing SE, so nice solar gain. It is an old Victorian church built in 1910 which was upgraded 35 years ago including double pane windows, R19 insulation in walls and attic and re-siding over the original wood with a 1" of foam and aluminum siding. It has 1600 sq ft of lower level footage with one huge living room and a kitchen and bath plus 800 sq ft of the upper attic that was converted to 3 bedrooms and a bath. I have already bought enough R38 insulation to get the attic above 2 of the bedrooms up to R60, but need to do some other work there first before I lay it down. The bedrooms now seem to be about 50 to 65 with just the heat from existing stove passively finding it's way to the upstairs via the stairway. I am hoping a new wood stove might be able to put out more heat to get the bedrooms another 10 degrees hotter. The stove is located in wrong spot now as it is on other side of room from the stairs, but it is on north side of the room and heat rises enough to find it's way upstairs.

I am hoping to find a new stove for under $1500 and do the work myself to get it installed. Just looking around on line, I think the best stove I have found might be a Century Heating FW3500 for $1200 delivered to my curb with an online retailer. Or the home depot Englander 2400 sq ft EPA stove for $1300. The Century Heating is made in Canada by Drolet. Drolet also has a $1600 model that might be better, the HT3000. But I don't know much about modern stoves, I got spoiled by a mid sized Pacific Energy stove that worked great for almost 20 years when I lived at 9400 ft and it kept my 2000 sq ft log home hot with little wood or maintenance issues.

I appreciate any advice, links or direction. I will do some reading here to educate myself a bit. Maybe best to just keep using my existing stove, but really would rather get one with a bit more BTU's and upgrade some of the marginal looking firebox at ceiling at same time. Thanks for your time and help!

 

[begreen]

I would venture a guess that the chimney pipe is not up to code along with the ceiling support. It probably is HT 1700 instead of HT2100. Might as well switch it all out for 6". If the chimney pipe is as old as the stove it's due for replacement anyway.

The Drolet HT3000 or Myriad/Legend III would work or the Englander 32-NC.

 

[peakbagger]

How is your wood supply?. If you have gotten religion and have two plus year old truly dry wood then go with newer stove. But if you on occasion have marginal wood then an old stove can burn it albeit at lower output while the new stoves will not.

 

[mcmars]

Thanks for getting back to me. I went to a bigger nearby town today and stopped by 2 wood stove places just to see what was available locally and answer is, not much with pandemic supply demand shortages. But the prices on quality stoves were 2 to 3 times what I could buy on line. Best I price I got was the large 99K BTU Pacific Energy Summit for $3K, $400 for blower and about $500 more to swap out the 7 1/2 ft of single wall pipe with double wall and a 6 to 8" reducer. That would be no delivery, I pick up and install it. The owner was real nice and looked at pictures of my current system and he said the ceiling support looked old but fine. The metalbestos triple wall looks to be fine to my eye, I got a good look yesterday with a strong light inside it when I swept out the creosote. The owner thought I could just use an 6 to 8" adaptor at the ceiling and upgrade the single wall pipe to double keeping my triple wall pipe.

Really at this point I am trying to decide if it is even worth messing with, maybe wait a while longer and just keep getting by. The exiting stove does work OK, when I got home today, it was 64 inside and still had huge bed of coals and in an hour I got it up to 68 in my big room with 10 ft ceilings. Decisions, decisions????

But the $1200 delivered to my driveway no tax and shipping included Century Heating FW-3500 made by Drolet in Canada looks pretty tempting for a best bank for buck stove. It claims 110K Max BTU. I called the online dealer and their staff said he could not fide any real difference between the century heating and Drolet other than cosmetic features and they are made in same location in canada. Here are the specs :

PRODUCT OVERVIEW The Century Heating FW3500 pedestal wood stove is a well sized steel stove with outstanding heating capabilities. Ideal for large spaces up to 2,700 ft², this non-catalytic wood stove produces up to 110,000 BTU/h and emits only 1.32 g/h of fine particles. The 2.84 cubic foot firebox will accept logs up to 22" in length. EPA certified, this wood burning stove includes a pedestal, ash lip air intake, damper rear, and a air deflector.

FEATURES

Extra-large firebox, ideal for large spaces and harsh climates Included: pedestal, ash lip, air intake damper and rear air deflector C-cast top heat protector to extend the life of your appliance

Cast iron door and ceramic glass EPA certified at 1.32 g/h Non-catalytic combustion system

SPECIFICATIONS

Approved for an alcove installation Yes Approved for a mobile home installation Yes Premium quality blower included (CFM) Option Certified according to applicable standards CAN/USA accredited laboratory Combustion technology Non-catalytic Stainless-steel secondary-air system Yes Flue outlet diameter 6" Chimney diameter 6" Type of chimney CAN/ULC S629, UL 103 HT (2100 °F) Minimum chimney height 12" Overall dimension (Width) 28 1/8" Overall dimension (Height) 35 3/4" Overall dimension (Depth) 31 1/4" Door type Single, glass with cast iron frame Door opening size (Width) 19" Door opening size (Height) 9 7/8" Glass type Ceramic glass Glass surface - W x H 16 5/8" x 11 3/4" Firebox size (Width) 22 7/8" Firebox size (Height) 12 7/8" Firebox size (Depth) 20 1/8" Maximum log length 22" (16" recommended) Log positioning Loading over width and over depth Baffle type High quality vermiculite High-efficiency certified appliance Yes USA Standard (emissions) EPA USA Standard (safety) UL 1482, UL 737 Steel thickness-body 3/16" Steel thickness-top 5/16" Distance-center of the flue outlet to back unit 9"

Maybe it is even too big for me and the Drolet Myriad III would be better. I did notice the firebox in the Myriad is a bit taller than the Century Heating and also the Drolid Escape 2100, both of which are larger stoves overall. Taller firebox sounds better to me and maybe the Myriad III is the one to buy, smaller stove with bigger firebox, 95K max BTU. $1350 delivered to my driveway. For comparison here are the Myriad III specs:

Combining respect for the environment and performance, the Myriad III is ideal for heating spaces up to 2,300 ft². This non-catalytic appliance is among the most ecological on the market with a particle emission rate of 0.95 g/h. Its maximum power of 90,000 BTU/h will keep you warm all winter long. Its firebox is specifically designed for loading of logs over depth.

SPECIFICATIONS

Combustion technology Non-catalytic High-efficiency certified appliance Yes, EPA 2020 approved Maximum log length 20" Log positioning Loading over depth Chimney diameter 6" Flue outlet diameter 6" Type of chimney CAN/ULC S629, UL 103 HT (2100 °F) Minimum chimney height (feet) 12' Baffle type High quality vermiculite Approved for an alcove installation Yes Approved for a mobile home installation Yes, with fresh air intake Shipping Weight 421 lb Door type Single, glass with cast iron frame Glass type Ceramic glass Glass surface – dimensions (Width X Height) 14 5/8" X 11 3/4" Glass air-wash system Yes Premium quality blower included (CFM) 100 Overall dimension (Height) 34 3/8" Overall dimension (Width) 24 1/4" Overall dimension (Depth) 32 1/8" Door opening – dimension (Height) 10 3/4" Door opening - dimension (Width) 16" Firebox – dimension (Height) 14 1/8" Firebox – dimension (Width) 19" Firebox – dimension (Depth) 21" Firebox lined with refractory bricks for better heat distribution Yes Stainless-steel secondary-air system improving gas combustion Yes

 

[mcmars]

How is your wood supply?. If you have gotten religion and have two plus year old truly dry wood then go with newer stove. But if you on occasion have marginal wood then an old stove can burn it albeit at lower output while the new stoves will not.

I have good wood, not a total fanatic, lol, but I know to cut and stack it early and keep it dry to season it. I have been burning oak that was standing dead and cut last year, smaller elm I cut a year ago, cedar, some ancient burled cottonwood that has been dead for years, and aspen slabs from a local mill that is super dry and clean burning. Lots of folks burn spruce and ponderosa pine out here as it is plentiful, but I avoid it as it has so much resin. I am in Desert SW and with the drought we have hot dry windy summers with humidity down to 5%, so anything left outside with some sun exposure really dries out fast. I always cover my wood with tarps or plywood or have it in the wood shed that is open on west side. I bet I have 3 cords sitting under tarps on pallets for next years wood, not split though, just cut to 16" rounds.

 

[marty319]

I would go with the myriad III stove,I have the osburn 3300 made by same company and the same stove,awesome performance,easy 8 hours on pine,

 

[mcmars]

I would go with the myriad 111 stove,I have the osburn 3300 made by same company and the same stove,awesome performance,easy 8 hours on pine,

Thank you! I am leaning that way, I see the Myraid III comes with a nice fan and the extra height in the firebox makes so much sense to me. I hope it will be enough BTU's for my home and the area I live in (?). Thinking after I lay out the extra R38 insulation above 2 of the 3 bedrooms it will work pretty good.

I am also thinking I could cut out a 2X2 ft vent in ceiling above the stove to the center hallway on the 2nd level so the bath and bedrooms get some direct hot air to the 2nd level. I bet there might be a fan already designed to work with a floor vent for this purpose, or I just engineer something myself.

I do have a 30+year old propane central furnace that I am trying not to use due to cost of propane now, but that will help to move the heat around the home. I have a friend that is good with electrical and might get him to wire a switch to be able to just run the fan. I probably need to crawl under the home and tape and insulate all the ductwork to improve the efficiency, but that old furnace was probably only 60% efficient back when it was new.

 

[begreen]

Century is the value, bare bones edition of the Drolet line which in turn is the value edition of the Osburn line. All are SBI stoves. It's a Chevy, Buick, Cadillac sort of thing. The Myriad III is a good choice.

 

[mcmars]

Century is the value, bare bones edition of the Drolet line which in turn is the value edition of the Osburn line. All are SBI stoves. It's a Chevy, Buick, Cadillac sort of thing. The Myriad III is a good choice.

Thanks! I like going middle of the road on my purchases, so I will probably go ahead and order it. Maybe it will qualify for the 2021 tax credit as extra bonus. I will figure out the install, probably just get an adaptor for now and see how it works and later can upgrade to double wall when it is not zero degrees at night and I can shut things down to do the work. I know it might be a trick to get the proper piping that will fit onto my existing metalbestos pipe as it is all proprietary fittings.

 

[begreen]

It does not qualify for the credit.

 

[bholler]

I have good wood, not a total fanatic, lol, but I know to cut and stack it early and keep it dry to season it. I have been burning oak that was standing dead and cut last year, smaller elm I cut a year ago, cedar, some ancient burled cottonwood that has been dead for years, and aspen slabs from a local mill that is super dry and clean burning. Lots of folks burn spruce and ponderosa pine out here as it is plentiful, but I avoid it as it has so much resin. I am in Desert SW and with the drought we have hot dry windy summers with humidity down to 5%, so anything left outside with some sun exposure really dries out fast. I always cover my wood with tarps or plywood or have it in the wood shed that is open on west side. I bet I have 3 cords sitting under tarps on pallets for next years wood, not split though, just cut to 16" rounds.

With that description it's doubtful your wood is dry enough to work properly in a modern stove. It really doesn't dry well untill it's split. When covering with tarps are you covering the whole stack?

And there is no reason not to burn pine at all

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Oak cut last year might not be dry enough for a new stove. They like their wood much dryer. Most have to season their oak 2 years+.


I'd put up more wood so it'll have more time to dry. So many people have issues after upgrading their stove because their wood was fine in their old stove, but isn't good enough for their new one.

Replace the firebrick for this year. Bricks are cheap, $3 each at tractor supply. Probably cheaper at a concrete yard.

Add the insulation to the bedrooms and do some air sealing. It will be more effective than adding the insulation!

You said your stove was in a less than ideal location. Install a new setup where the stove is in a good location with a new, correct sized, double wall chimney. You'll have better performance, less creosote, and no worries about safety. Give your new stove a chance to make you happy. Running it on an incorrect sized chimney in a bad location is like buying a new car, but making it run on the engine out of an 80s Pontiac.

 

[mcmars]

With that description it's doubtful your wood is dry enough to work properly in a modern stove. It really doesn't dry well untill it's split. When covering with tarps are you covering the whole stack?

And there is no reason not to burn pine at all

I will split the big rounds this spring and let them bake all summer in a covered space where they get west sun. I will have an extra cord or more of hardwoods to go into 2022 winter. The oak was standing dead and already seasoned when I got it in summer of 2020. I did just buy a general wood moisture meter so I can have real numbers. I have been burning wood since 1990 and understand the importance of burning seasoned wood. With the extended drought we have happening, it is pretty easy to season wood where I live, humidity levels are crazy low outside and temps are into the upper 90's in summer. I also have a 8 ft long firewood rack in my living room and keep about 1/3 of a cord inside, so the wood always get a long time indoors to sit inside.

 

[mcmars]

Oak cut last year might not be dry enough for a new stove. They like their wood much dryer. Most have to season their oak 2 years+.


I'd put up more wood so it'll have more time to dry. So many people have issues after upgrading their stove because their wood was fine in their old stove, but isn't good enough for their new one.

Replace the firebrick for this year. Bricks are cheap, $3 each at tractor supply. Probably cheaper at a concrete yard.

Add the insulation to the bedrooms and do some air sealing. It will be more effective than adding the insulation!

You said your stove was in a less than ideal location. Install a new setup where the stove is in a good location with a new, correct sized, double wall chimney. You'll have better performance, less creosote, and no worries about safety. Give your new stove a chance to make you happy. Running it on an incorrect sized chimney in a bad location is like buying a new car, but making it run on the engine out of an 80s Pontiac.

Yeah, I am still wondering if I just go buy new firebricks for this season and wait for 2022 to maybe find a better price on new stove??? I just feel the 30 year old stove is inefficient and not up to the current EPA standards and a modern stove might do better at maintaining heat through the night with less disruption to my sleep to go stoke the fire.

The stove location I have is ideal in that it is located 7 feet from the north side back door of the home and has the closest access route to my wood shed making it easy to wheel barrow loads of wood into the home. And it heats up the huge living room with 10 ft ceilings very well in that location. What is not ideal, is how to get the heat upstairs to the 3 bedrooms and bath as the stairwell is 25 ft away from the stove. It makes it up there now eventually passively, but the bedrooms are about 10 to 15 degrees less than the heated downstairs, and it takes so long for that heat to eventually make it up stairs, especially in the coldest early morning hours. So maybe what I need to do is figure out how to coax the heat upstairs with some fans, cut out a opening in ceiling to let the hot air rise, maybe install a return air duct from upstairs back to stove??

Or maybe I just buy another stove and install a 2nd stove at base of stairs, but hoping a new higher BTU stove will crank out enough heat to get the heat upstairs better than my existing old stove. And get that R38 insulation installed on top of the R19 in attic. It has been near impossible to find any help out here, but I need a good carpenter to help my beef up my roof structure before I lay out the insulation that would be in the way. *

I am not wanting to redo all the existing class 1 8" chimney. This place is an old Victorian church with tall ceilings and super steep roof pitch that would require a bucket truck or crane to safely access the roof location and the existing chimney is is in fine condition. I managed to find some help to get up to redo my roof cap last year with tall ladder and brave friend with safety harness and belay, but it is not something I am wanting to mess with now. Maybe you can help me understand how I can best adapt a 6 " stovepipe to an 8" class 1 chimney and minimize poor draft and creosote build up problems? I understand a whole new 6" stovepipe and chimney is the best way to go, but hoping I can adopt my existing chimney to work with a new stove with 6" flue. I guess other option, if that is not acceptable, is to research out the options for a new stove that have 8" flues?

Thanks for the advice to sort all this out and make best choice!

 

[marty319]

If you are considering buying a new stove I would get one sooner than later.the osburn I bought had an 800 price increase this year.the drolet is reasonably priced right now and the way this crazy world is going drolet could increase alot

 

[brenndatomu]

If you are considering buying a new stove I would get one sooner than later.the osburn I bought had an 800 price increase this year.the drolet is reasonably priced right now and the way this crazy world is going drolet could increase alot

Recent correspondence with SBI has revealed they have a 30-35% price hike coming 1st of the year...sounds pretty much across the board too...so if you are looking at an SBI made product, better get it now!
And for all the other brands...they have either already had a price hike, or will be doing one soon...and some again!
Steel costs have tripled in the last year or two...and most stoves are made of...

 

[ToastyRanch]

Yeah, I am still wondering if I just go buy new firebricks for this season and wait for 2022 to maybe find a better price on new stove??? I just feel the 30 year old stove is inefficient and not up to the current EPA standards and a modern stove might do better at maintaining heat through the night with less disruption to my sleep to go stoke the fire.

The stove location I have is ideal in that it is located 7 feet from the north side back door of the home and has the closest access route to my wood shed making it easy to wheel barrow loads of wood into the home. And it heats up the huge living room with 10 ft ceilings very well in that location. What is not ideal, is how to get the heat upstairs to the 3 bedrooms and bath as the stairwell is 25 ft away from the stove. It makes it up there now eventually passively, but the bedrooms are about 10 to 15 degrees less than the heated downstairs, and it takes so long for that heat to eventually make it up stairs, especially in the coldest early morning hours. So maybe what I need to do is figure out how to coax the heat upstairs with some fans, cut out a opening in ceiling to let the hot air rise, maybe install a return air duct from upstairs back to stove??

Or maybe I just buy another stove and install a 2nd stove at base of stairs, but hoping a new higher BTU stove will crank out enough heat to get the heat upstairs better than my existing old stove. And get that R38 insulation installed on top of the R19 in attic. It has been near impossible to find any help out here, but I need a good carpenter to help my beef up my roof structure before I lay out the insulation that would be in the way. *

I am not wanting to redo all the existing class 1 8" chimney. This place is an old Victorian church with tall ceilings and super steep roof pitch that would require a bucket truck or crane to safely access the roof location and the existing chimney is is in fine condition. I managed to find some help to get up to redo my roof cap last year with tall ladder and brave friend with safety harness and belay, but it is not something I am wanting to mess with now. Maybe you can help me understand how I can best adapt a 6 " stovepipe to an 8" class 1 chimney and minimize poor draft and creosote build up problems? I understand a whole new 6" stovepipe and chimney is the best way to go, but hoping I can adopt my existing chimney to work with a new stove with 6" flue. I guess other option, if that is not acceptable, is to research out the options for a new stove that have 8" flues?

Thanks for the advice to sort all this out and make best choice!

I’m also shopping around trying to decide on a stove or insert etc. And I’ve been reading a lot of fine print in the manuals. Some manuals say it’s fine to reduce the stove pipe size at any point past the flue collar. Other manuals explicitly say not to reduce the flue size, and advise running it on the flue that you’ve already installed, and then reducing the flue only if the draft is poor. Anyway, I’d suggest finding something that you really like and then only installing it when you are able to afford to be following the installation instructions exactly. Remember that if you don’t do that, you risk any accidental damage not being covered by insurance, or possibly even other worse outcomes.

Also, I know you’re in a dry climate, but my experience out west is that the consequences of the general dryness is that people are especially oblivious to mold buildup occurring in the cavities of a building envelope. Be cognizant of where you’re expecting the water vapor to go if you’re adding more insulation, and create a means for drying out to occur….Taping up your ductwork should have the added benefit of more even distribution of any household moisture.

However, running a thirty year old hvac fan (even without burning propane) will be massively more expensive than running basic room stand-alone fans or ceiling fans. Newer hvacs have some lower speed less energy intensive fan options, but typically older ones don’t. Hence, if you do want to use a central fan, try to get it setup to run for about 20 minutes straight out of every hour. At least that’s what I’ve read is best practices, and also what I’ve personally found to work best in various buildings.
Good luck with your project.

 

[mcmars]

OK, I get it, nothings same as before with the crazy world we have now. Bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush is how it is looking these days with all the pandemic supply and demand issues. So I just ordered the Drolet Myriad III minutes ago.

Today I replaced all the firebricks in my old dinosaur "Hurricane" stove, it took 20 "1/2" width fire bricks and it seems it is putting out more heat than before and holding it longer. But more revealing is how light the old bricks were compared to the new ones, like about 30% the weight of the new ones. Only 4 of the old bricks came out in one piece, most of them split into 2 or more pieces when I gently removed them. I guess I can set old faithful up in my backyard workshop or sell it, but it sure has a nice fan and heat exchanger I will miss. And I will also miss the 5 cu ft firebox, but the myriad takes up to 20" logs longwise, so that will be nice to not have to be wrangling logs sideways.

I think for now I will just get a 6-8" adaptor and an adjustable 6" double wall pipe, guessing I do not need a damper with this stove. But will get my existing chimney inspected when I can locate someone that can help, and if I fail, then this summer I will install new chimney. But I do think the current chimney might have been upgraded in last decade, maybe 5 years ago when the prior owner re-roofed the old church. There is no sign of rust or corrosion on the stainless steel exterior and the inside looked very clean when I swept it the other day.

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[mcmars]

I’m also shopping around trying to decide on a stove or insert etc. And I’ve been reading a lot of fine print in the manuals. Some manuals say it’s fine to reduce the stove pipe size at any point past the flue collar. Other manuals explicitly say not to reduce the flue size, and advise running it on the flue that you’ve already installed, and then reducing the flue only if the draft is poor. Anyway, I’d suggest finding something that you really like and then only installing it when you are able to afford to be following the installation instructions exactly. Remember that if you don’t do that, you risk any accidental damage not being covered by insurance, or possibly even other worse outcomes.

Also, I know you’re in a dry climate, but my experience out west is that the consequences of the general dryness is that people are especially oblivious to mold buildup occurring in the cavities of a building envelope. Be cognizant of where you’re expecting the water vapor to go if you’re adding more insulation, and create a means for drying out to occur….Taping up your ductwork should have the added benefit of more even distribution of any household moisture.

However, running a thirty year old hvac fan (even without burning propane) will be massively more expensive than running basic room stand-alone fans or ceiling fans. Newer hvacs have some lower speed less energy intensive fan options, but typically older ones don’t. Hence, if you do want to use a central fan, try to get it setup to run for about 20 minutes straight out of every hour. At least that’s what I’ve read is best practices, and also what I’ve personally found to work best in various buildings.
Good luck with your project.

Thank you for the great advice. I am thinking I will contact Drolet/SBI and get their recommendation on my situation and see what they advise regarding using the drolet Myriad III with a 6 to 8 adaptor. Hoping with 19 ft of vertical pipe and chimney, I will be good to go. I know most people are lazy about cleaning the creosote, so they have to assume the worst scenario, but it is so easy to bottom clean my chimney, I know I can easily keep things clean.

I totally agree with you on people out west not understanding mold issues, water leaks, swamp coolers, stucco and tight modern construction can really create some problems. The upper attic I have is just framing with wood siding and some aluminum siding on top of the wood. There is no sheathing, no tyvek or tar paper or anything to hold in the moisture. I am thinking about adding some tar paper to the inside just to control the insects and drafts and then install a passive vent on the east upper gamble with a exhaust fan controlled by a thermostat for venting in summer.

I pretty much came to same conclusion on the old furnace fan, it is too leaky and expensive to really use for heat distribution of my wood heat. Plus the lower crawl space is 40 to 45 degrees where the lower ducting is located. I have a couple small vornado inverter fans that have variable speed control and thinking they will be cost effective way to get the heat moving around the home. But I think the easiest and cheapest upgrade will be to install 1 or 2 floor grates into the upper hallway that can passively allow the heat to rise upstairs from main floor ceiling near the wood stove.

I was looking today at some R8 foam insulation I can get in 4X50 rolls on amazon to crawl under the home and wrap all the ducts and maybe also cover the rim joists and rock foundation, it will likely happen at some point. I did spend some time this fall mixing mortar and filled all the holes in rock foundation and that helped with drafts and mice, lol. Eventually I will upgrade the old furnace system to higher efficiency unit, but probably get mini split heat and AC for the upstairs first. What does work is to just set my programable thermostat to come on at 6AM and run the system for 30 minutes at 68 degrees once a day, and maybe also at 6PM as well, that seems to bring up the temps upstairs quite a bit and circulate the air. I ordered a 6" broan 100 CFS 4 scone room to room electric fan and will see how that might work to help, just not sure if better to mount them at floor level to exhaust or higher up to shoot warm air into the bedrooms?

 

[clancey]

That's seems to be a very nice stove and I think you will be happy with it..old clancey

 

[Dave_in_ABQ]

A new stove is much better than being cold. Good luck on the install.

 

[ToastyRanch]

Thank you for the great advice. I am thinking I will contact Drolet/SBI and get their recommendation on my situation and see what they advise regarding using the drolet Myriad III with a 6 to 8 adaptor. Hoping with 19 ft of vertical pipe and chimney, I will be good to go. I know most people are lazy about cleaning the creosote, so they have to assume the worst scenario, but it is so easy to bottom clean my chimney, I know I can easily keep things clean.

I totally agree with you on people out west not understanding mold issues, water leaks, swamp coolers, stucco and tight modern construction can really create some problems. The upper attic I have is just framing with wood siding and some aluminum siding on top of the wood. There is no sheathing, no tyvek or tar paper or anything to hold in the moisture. I am thinking about adding some tar paper to the inside just to control the insects and drafts and then install a passive vent on the east upper gamble with a exhaust fan controlled by a thermostat for venting in summer.

I pretty much came to same conclusion on the old furnace fan, it is too leaky and expensive to really use for heat distribution of my wood heat. Plus the lower crawl space is 40 to 45 degrees where the lower ducting is located. I have a couple small vornado inverter fans that have variable speed control and thinking they will be cost effective way to get the heat moving around the home. But I think the easiest and cheapest upgrade will be to install 1 or 2 floor grates into the upper hallway that can passively allow the heat to rise upstairs from main floor ceiling near the wood stove.

I was looking today at some R8 foam insulation I can get in 4X50 rolls on amazon to crawl under the home and wrap all the ducts and maybe also cover the rim joists and rock foundation, it will likely happen at some point. I did spend some time this fall mixing mortar and filled all the holes in rock foundation and that helped with drafts and mice, lol. Eventually I will upgrade the old furnace system to higher efficiency unit, but probably get mini split heat and AC for the upstairs first. What does work is to just set my programable thermostat to come on at 6AM and run the system for 30 minutes at 68 degrees once a day, and maybe also at 6PM as well, that seems to bring up the temps upstairs quite a bit and circulate the air. I ordered a 6" broan 100 CFS 4 scone room to room electric fan and will see how that might work to help, just not sure if better to mount them at floor level to exhaust or higher up to shoot warm air into the bedrooms?

Few brief comments: on my previous house we had one side resided and we switched from tar paper to tyvek for house wrap over our sheathing and underneath our natural cedar shingles. The difference in the improved ability to block out wind was unbelievable. It was a west wall which is where our prevailing winter wind typically comes from which also meant the wind was drying in spite of that side being shady and not drying out on account of sunlight….

I was just reading about what happens if you don’t have any sheathing and basically that part of your building isn’t built to withstand any kind of significant wind or seismic load nor is the fire resistance very good in that situation. In other words I think you should get an evaluation from a structural engineer before you spend any significant time or money upgrading that area.

As far as the Broan fan, it’s been quite a while but when I last called them for technical support. Previously, I called them several times with questions about a bathroom vent fan installation, and they were extremely helpful on the phone and guided us through many steps of a very tricky installation. You might still get some good advice from them if you call them before you install your fan.