Size recommendation

[Jeepj667]

Hello, I'm looking for a recommendation for a wood stove for my cabin I am building. It's off grid, in the mountains above Mt Pleasant, UT. Sits at about 8000' elevation. The cabin is 22'x30' with a 22'x15' open loft. The stove will sit almost directly in the center of the cabin. The chimney will be straight up to the 19' ceiling and another ~5' through the roof. I'm expecting to need to use double wall pipe to retain enough heat in the pipe. Correct? I want a stove that can make it through the night but not too big that we'll be cooking ourselves out. I'm thinking Lopi Answer size but I'm not sure.
All help is appreciated.
Thanks
Ryan

 

[bholler]

Hello, I'm looking for a recommendation for a wood stove for my cabin I am building. It's off grid, in the mountains above Mt Pleasant, UT. Sits at about 8000' elevation. The cabin is 22'x30' with a 22'x15' open loft. The stove will sit almost directly in the center of the cabin. The chimney will be straight up to the 19' ceiling and another ~5' through the roof. I'm expecting to need to use double wall pipe to retain enough heat in the pipe. Correct? I want a stove that can make it through the night but not too big that we'll be cooking ourselves out. I'm thinking Lopi Answer size but I'm not sure.
All help is appreciated.
Thanks
Ryan

If there is no other heat source that means you will be heating the cabin and it's contents up from cold. Because of that you need to go pretty large. Possibly a large cat stove which can be run hard to bring the place up to temp then once everything is heated up you can shut it back pretty low.

 

[Jeepj667]

Good point. How big are we talking? 2.0cuft?
I also would like something that isn't too hard to run. This will be my first foray into wood burning.

 

[bholler]

View attachment 256247

Good point. How big are we talking? 2.0cuft?
I also would like something that isn't too hard to run. This will be my first foray into wood burning.

I would go closer to 3 cu ft. It takes a ton of BTUs to heat a space up from cold. How long will you be there at a time?

 

[begreen]

How well insulated is the cabin? Does it have any other form of heating? If the place is tight and has good insulation then a 2 cu ft stove may handle it. But if you are just going there on weekends then I would consider an alternate form of heating to maintain the place well above freezing to protect water pipes. With a smart thermostat you could even start the place warming up before you get there.

The heat will want to pocket at the roof peak, making the loft area a lot warmer. A ceiling fan will help circulate the heat. Run it in reverse in the winter. As a new woodburner know that the #1 thing that will make it easier is having dry, fully seasoned firewood. Build a good shed and stock it up with split wood now.

 

[Jeepj667]

During winter months we will probably only be there a week here and there. It's snowmobile only in the winter. Spring and fall we may be there for weekends and full weeks occasionally.
It will be well insulated. It's all being built to code. We are toying with getting it all spray foam right now.
We won't have water in the winter. So pipes will be drained. Also no electricity, so no smart thermostats. I did pick up a small propane wall heater to supplement.
We will have ceiling fans, one in the loft and one over the great room.

 

[begreen]

With excellent insulation, a radiant 2 cu ft stove will handle it. A 3 cu ft stove will too and it will have more reserve power, but this is not a large cabin, so during fall and spring you could find yourself leaving windows open. Your call. Either go for a 2 cu ft stove and plan on supplementing it with a decent propane heater in the dead of winter until the place warms up or go large and run the stove on partial loads in milder weather.

Another option is to go with a cat stove for longer burntime. However, these stoves are more complex and maybe not the best for a first time burner.

 

[Gearhead660]

Seeing how you're new to burning, and cabin will see occasional use(not there full time), I would suggest a 2.5-3.0 cuft stove. A steel, tube type. Those are easy to operate, decently priced and put out good heat. Not as good looking as some higher dollar stoves, but not ugly either. Can use that as a gauge for what size you need if you want to upgrade in the future.

 

[Jeepj667]

So.. we went to two showrooms yesterday to look at stoves. Man, they get expensive quick. First place we went had no display or even brochure. He sold Ironstrike he suggested the Grandview 230. Too expensive. The second place sold Jotul and Timberwolf. The Jotul's were nice but too much. He recommended the Timberwolf 2200. That was more in line with the price we were expecting.
What are recommended stoves in the $1000-1500 range?

 

[Gearhead660]

Check out SBI. They have quite a few brands in all price ranges. Drolet is one of them. Nice heaters, fair prices.

 

[begreen]

Look for a True North TN20 sold by PE dealers and a Drolet Escape 1800. I prefer the TN20 firebox shape, but both are good value heaters. SBI also makes Century stoves. The Century FW2000 or FW3000 are also worth checking out. The FW3000 has a 2.4 cu ft firebox and can load N/S like the TN20.

 

[Jeepj667]

Well.. we ordered a stove. While researching the options you guys gave I found a website with the escape 1800 for $749. I felt I couldn't pass up that deal so I ordered it.
Thanks for all the help and advice. I'm sure I'll have more questions this spring once it comes time to Install.

 

[snaple4]

During winter months we will probably only be there a week here and there. It's snowmobile only in the winter. Spring and fall we may be there for weekends and full weeks occasionally.
It will be well insulated. It's all being built to code. We are toying with getting it all spray foam right now.
We won't have water in the winter. So pipes will be drained. Also no electricity, so no smart thermostats. I did pick up a small propane wall heater to supplement.
We will have ceiling fans, one in the loft and one over the great room.

How are you going to run the ceiling fans if you don't have electricity? I am not familiar with the Escape 1800 but it looks like it will be a good fit. Non-Cat for fast and high heat, low maint... Not sure how you found one for that price new. I think it will work well for you. Just make sure you build out a good wood shed so you have dry wood every time you use the place.

 

[Jeepj667]

Initially we will have generator power. Eventually we'll go solar. The stove is on special from a internal dealer. My fireplace products .com.

 

[ManitobaSky]

Nice someone found that sweet deal myfireplaceproduts.com is running on the escape 1800. Drolet makes a good stove and that is a great price, enjoy!