I've decided it's time to put some kind of wood burning stove in my house. I was recently appointed as our Community Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and thought I better get myself prepared if I'm going to help others prepare.
Living in snow country and two miles from a major fault that is long overdue to slip, I've started to think about staying warm if a major snow storm knocks out power or an earthquake happens in the dead of winter. So I started searching the Internet and found this forum. I've cruised around a bit but there is soooo much info here and so much of it discussed between pros that I thought I'd ask a few questions to get started.
First, a bit about my house. It was built in the mid 70s and is 1900 s.f. The main level is above a garage and a basement family room. The living room has a high sloping ceiling, a large expanse of single pain windows and an inefficient fireplace surrounded by thick stone from floor to ceiling.
My idea is to 1, put an insert in our current fireplace, 2, put a stove in front of the fireplace, or 3, put a stove in the family room in the basement which has a place built for a stove directly under the fireplace above.
I will not likely use the stove very much for everyday heating. I'll use it occasionally during very cold weather or when my wife wants to get romantic or when that storm hits and I'm without power for a week. Also, I don't want to spend any more $$ than is absolutely necessary. I already have a fairly large supply of aged wood from trees I've cut down over the past several years including Scotch Pine, Atlas Cedar, Silver Maple, Honey Locust, and Mulberry.
Here are my questions to help start the discussion:
1. Would a fireplace insert work as well as a stove?
2. Is it better to put the stove on the main level or put it in the basement family room and try to vent/blow the warm air up to the main level?
3. If a basement stove: I assume that there should already be a separate flue space running from the basement since it seems to have been built for a stove but also assume that the cheapskate builder wouldn't have put any kind of liner in it. What kind of liner should I be looking at installing or what search criteria should I use to find relevant threads? I don't know what the chimney is made of. It's clad with wood siding.
4. Based on some of the things I read on the forum I did a search in the local classifieds for wood stoves. There is an older Jotul 118 that has just been restored for sale for $300 and an Englander of some kind for $250. Would something like this work?
5. Looking at the list of wood species I have available above, is any of it not good for burning (assuming it is aged properly).
Thanks for a great forum and for any advice you are willing to give.
Craig
PS I'll see if I can load pictures of my house and the stove for sale.
My house
Englander stove
Living in snow country and two miles from a major fault that is long overdue to slip, I've started to think about staying warm if a major snow storm knocks out power or an earthquake happens in the dead of winter. So I started searching the Internet and found this forum. I've cruised around a bit but there is soooo much info here and so much of it discussed between pros that I thought I'd ask a few questions to get started.
First, a bit about my house. It was built in the mid 70s and is 1900 s.f. The main level is above a garage and a basement family room. The living room has a high sloping ceiling, a large expanse of single pain windows and an inefficient fireplace surrounded by thick stone from floor to ceiling.
My idea is to 1, put an insert in our current fireplace, 2, put a stove in front of the fireplace, or 3, put a stove in the family room in the basement which has a place built for a stove directly under the fireplace above.
I will not likely use the stove very much for everyday heating. I'll use it occasionally during very cold weather or when my wife wants to get romantic or when that storm hits and I'm without power for a week. Also, I don't want to spend any more $$ than is absolutely necessary. I already have a fairly large supply of aged wood from trees I've cut down over the past several years including Scotch Pine, Atlas Cedar, Silver Maple, Honey Locust, and Mulberry.
Here are my questions to help start the discussion:
1. Would a fireplace insert work as well as a stove?
2. Is it better to put the stove on the main level or put it in the basement family room and try to vent/blow the warm air up to the main level?
3. If a basement stove: I assume that there should already be a separate flue space running from the basement since it seems to have been built for a stove but also assume that the cheapskate builder wouldn't have put any kind of liner in it. What kind of liner should I be looking at installing or what search criteria should I use to find relevant threads? I don't know what the chimney is made of. It's clad with wood siding.
4. Based on some of the things I read on the forum I did a search in the local classifieds for wood stoves. There is an older Jotul 118 that has just been restored for sale for $300 and an Englander of some kind for $250. Would something like this work?
5. Looking at the list of wood species I have available above, is any of it not good for burning (assuming it is aged properly).
Thanks for a great forum and for any advice you are willing to give.
Craig
PS I'll see if I can load pictures of my house and the stove for sale.
My house
Englander stove