Replacing a wood stove (more detail inside)

[supermoose]

Hey everyone!

I was hoping you folks might be able to help me narrow down a selection for a new wood stove. My house currently has a Vermont Castings Intrepid II which is shot (inside is warped).

Some information that might be helpful for my next series of questions. The wood stove is located in an addition built in 1988. Overall square footage of the house is ~3300 sq ft. The stove is in a room that I use as my office and rough guess is ~20x20 or 20x25 wide and opens into a wide hallway that has a powder room and then goes to the kitchen. There is a small (~6x10) opening in the ceiling where there is a walkway that is in the hallway between the master suite (which sits over the addition) and the upstairs of the home. On the other side of the kitchen there are two doors (one to the dining room and one to the rest of the downstairs).

The stove currently sits on a 4x4 pad of tile with a 40"x34.5" tile backer and the rest of the wall is dry wall (I presume the tile is over drywall). Current chimney pipe measures 7" from the wall (wall to side of pipe) and ~10" on center (center line of the pipe). I suspect I'll need to move that forward a bit even using double walled pipe.

I'm looking for a new stove to use for supplemental heat and ambiance. House is heated with a furnace and a three zone hydronic baseboard system. The room the stove is located in is also the room I use as my office, so I don't want (can't have) the thing burning so hot it becomes uncomfortable in it.

I've narrowed down contenders to:

Hearthstone Heritage or Castleton
Jotul F445
Vermont Castings Intrepid or Dauntless

From what I've gathered, Vermont Castings quality seems to have dropped some and people have issues (at least on threads I can find here). So if those are not good options, it really leaves the Jotul and the Hearthstone series of stoves (unless there are others I should seriously consider).

From a looks perspective, I find the Hearthstone to be more attractive. I do know (from reading and talking to sales people) that they don't radiate as intense of a heat but they do hold their heat longer.

Just wanted to find out a little more about any of these stoves and whether one is significantly better than the other as far as quality, etc., and also given my desired use of supplemental heat and ambiance.

If there is any other information that might be helpful to add, let me know and I'm happy to get it together.

 

[begreen]

If the Intrepid was adequate in the past, go smaller like the Jotul F35. Heartstone Lincoln, PE Alderlea T4, or in catalytic a BK Ashford 20, Woodstock Fireview.

 

[supermoose]

If the Intrepid was adequate in the past, go smaller like the Jotul F35. Heartstone Lincoln, PE Alderlea T4, or in catalytic a BK Ashford 20, Woodstock Fireview.

Unfortunately, I have no idea if it was adequate or not.

 

[begreen]

If the ceiling height is normal 8-9' and the insulation is good, then it won't take much to heat 400 sq ft. If however, the intent is to supplement the house heat, that is another ball of wax. Then the question is how to convect the heat to adjacent areas. The hallway connection may complicate this.
How large is the doorway to the office? Is this a one or two story home? What is the floorplan like? Is there a basement?

 

[supermoose]

If the ceiling height is normal 8-9' and the insulation is good, then it won't take much to heat 400 sq ft. If however, the intent is to supplement the house heat, that is another ball of wax. Then the question is how to convect the heat to adjacent areas. The hallway connection may complicate this.
How large is the doorway to the office? Is this a one or two story home? What is the floorplan like? Is there a basement?

Ceiling height is 9'6". There is a crawlspace underneath this portion of the house.

The room opens out to the deck on the side opposite of the wood stove. The wood stove sits in the middle of the room opposite of that (wall is directly behind the wood stove). If you're looking at the wood stove, to the right is the hallway which is ~10' wide. To the left is the wall itself.

In that portion next to the wood stove (off to the right where it opens into a hall) is the area that opens up to the upstairs and if you continue walking down it you end up in the kitchen (maybe 10 feet again).

Above the room the wood stove is in is the master suite.

 

[begreen]

A small stove will easily heat the room, provide ambiance, and some supplemental heat depending on how wide the opneing is to the hallway. The kitchen will be out of luck without a fan assisting convection .

 

[supermoose]

A small stove will easily heat the room, provide ambiance, and some supplemental heat depending on how wide the opneing is to the hallway. The kitchen will be out of luck without a fan assisting convection .

Hallway is 10 ft wide and about 10 ft deep to get to the kitchen area.

Are any of the stoves I mentioned worth looking at or should I be looking for smaller?

It was my understanding the Intrepid II heated up to 1200 sq ft (from what I could find online).

 

[Woody Stover]

As begreen mentioned, stove size depends how much heat you want to supplement. You can use an 8" fan on low speed on the floor outside the office to move cool air into the stove room and displace warm air out the top of the doorway. This will keep temps lower at seating level. I think you want a convective stove (heats air) if you want to move heat to other areas. A radiant stove will heat nearby objects, like you if you are close. I think the Jotul is more convective, the others more radiant.

 

[begreen]

Hallway is 10 ft wide and about 10 ft deep to get to the kitchen area.

Are any of the stoves I mentioned worth looking at or should I be looking for smaller?

It was my understanding the Intrepid II heated up to 1200 sq ft (from what I could find online).

How wide is the doorway from the office to the hallway or is there no doorway, just a 10' wide opening?

 

[supermoose]

How wide is the doorway from the office to the hallway or is there no doorway, just a 10' wide opening?

There is just a 10' wide opening. If you took a 20' wall and split it down the middle, half is a wall and half is open.

I did hang a piece of toilet paper from the upstairs in the opening to see how air flows. When I turn on the fan for the HVAC (which runs 15 min/hr) I can see a little movement. The ceiling fan in the room with the wood stove certainly moved more of the air. So I have no doubt the heat would at least end up in the hallway upstairs.

 

[begreen]

OK, that makes a big difference. Then yes, some of the heat would supplement the house heating, mostly going upstairs. The ceiling fan will help. A better simulation than with the hvac would be putting a 1500w heater in the room and letting it run for an hour, then do the toilet paper test to watch heat convection.

The stoves previously mentioned would work. So would the Intrepid II or a Morso 7100 if you want something smaller.

Morsø 7110

Whether you have a contemporary-designed home or a classical one, the Morsø 7110 B will seamlessly blend in to make your home cozy and warm.

morsoe.com

 

[supermoose]

Great. I appreciate all of your assistance. I think I'm between the Castleton and the Heritage as I like the look of those the best. Cost would obviously be cheaper on the Castleton, I just wonder if I'd regret not getting a bigger firebox long term.

I'll have to think about that a bit.

 

[bigealta]

A pic or 2 of the room would greatly help and save time.