Stove location. Living room or family room.

[muscamoot]

Hello,

I am very close to buying my first wood burning stove.

Perhaps you can help me decide its location in my house. I live in a cape cod style house there are two bedrooms and a bath upstairs. I spend most of my time in the family room. Front living room is rarely used.

I have two possible spots where the stove could be located (1 or 2).

One is in the living room with chimney going up through an upstairs bedroom closet. In my mind this is a good choice because it keeps the chimney located in the center of house (out near the peak), allows heat to rise easily up the open stairway warming the bedrooms, and I assume allowing just enough heat to enter family room without roasting me out.
The down side of this choice may be that all the heat will go up the stairs and the family room/hall and den would remain to cold. I also loose closet space, and not sure about the looks of having a stove in the front room being the first thing you see entering the house through front door.

Second possible location would be the family room squeezed into the little corner by the half wall (three feet tall).
In my mind this would be a good choice because I could watch the flames, the family room/kitchen area would stay warm.
The down side is the chimney would exit near the edge of the house with a ten foot tall monstrosity on the roof with braces. I also think I may be roasted out of the family room in order to maintain a decent temperature upstairs.

What would your choice be? I am not sure how the heat would circulate.

Thanks for any opinions.

Jeff

 

[eclecticcottage]

Family room, to me the stove isn't just a heater-I want to enjoy it too.

 

[Oldhippie]

Why not put it in the family room, opposite where you show the #1 stove choice in the living room. Is that not an option due to chimney issues? That would keep it center of the house and allow air flow upstairs and potentially to that back bedroom.

 

[muscamoot]

Family room, to me the stove isn't just a heater-I want to enjoy it too.

Yes, but maybe I would spend more time in living room if stove was located there?

 

[madison]

Ask the wife first!

Interior chimney's (ie your living room), perform better. As well as centrally located stoves (living room). But where ever you spend the most time and don't mind the dirt and dust is a the deciding factor in many cases.

If possible I would put it in the family room so that it is visible from the kitchen....

 

[muscamoot]

Why not put it in the family room, opposite where you show the #1 stove choice in the living room. Is that not an option due to chimney issues? That would keep it center of the house and allow air flow upstairs and potentially to that back bedroom.

Not an option. Chimney would end up in upstairs hallway.

I believe these two locations are my only options, unless I want chimney intruding into upstairs living space.

 

[muscamoot]

Ask the wife first!

Interior chimney's (ie your living room), perform better. As well as centrally located stoves (living room). But where ever you spend the most time and don't mind the dirt and dust is a the deciding factor in many cases.

If possible I would put it in the family room so that it is visible from the kitchen....

No wife. Its up to me.

Would not really see it from kitchen because it is behind the little half wall. Would just see the stove pipe.

 

[logger]

I enjoy watching flames while I scratch myself and watch TV, so if it was me Id go family room. Some good use of a fan or two will help get heat where you need it.

 

[muscamoot]

I enjoy watching flames while I scratch myself and watch TV, so if it was me Id go family room. Some good use of a fan or two will help get heat where you need it.

Yes, I spend most my life laying on couch scratching and watching, but would not have use of fans for heat circulation when power grid goes down.

 

[LLigetfa]

Ask the wife first!

Interior chimney's (ie your living room), perform better. As well as centrally located stoves (living room). But where ever you spend the most time and don't mind the dirt and dust is a the deciding factor in many cases.

If possible I would put it in the family room so that it is visible from the kitchen....

Sage advice! The route the flue takes and where it goes through the roof relative to the peak are important factors. A straight-up top-exit inside shot with no Tee or or hard 90° elbow is better for draft, less creosote, and if/when creosote does fall, it falls back into the stove. Also if you have a second storey, you can vent the chase and reclaim some of the heat.

 

[muscamoot]

Ask the wife first!

Interior chimney's (ie your living room), perform better. As well as centrally located stoves (living room). But where ever you spend the most time and don't mind the dirt and dust is a the deciding factor in many cases.

If possible I would put it in the family room so that it is visible from the kitchen....

Sage advice! The route the flue takes and where it goes through the roof relative to the peak are important factors. A straight-up top-exit inside shot with no Tee or or hard 90° elbow is better for draft, less creosote, and if/when creosote does fall, it falls back into the stove. Also if you have a second storey, you can vent the chase and reclaim some of the heat.

So you would choose the living room.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum muscamoot.

From what I've read so far I would advise putting it into the family room. However, I would not install in the corner as you have it. It seems that it might be better to put it square against a wall as with most stoves the heat comes out the front. The way you have it pictured the heat would all be aimed right into the center of the family room and going away from the rest of the house. Would it not be better to aim the heat in the direction you need the heat to go?

Yet another point comes to mind and that is how you get wood to the stove and ashes out. That may or may not be an issue but needs to be considered. As for moving heat with a fan or maybe two fans, you are talking the exception rather than the rule with power outages. During those times you just heat as well as you can but this is also going along with how you place the heater. Place it so you can still get heat to other areas without the fans. The fans will just help even out the temperatures.

Have you yet considered your fuel supply? Do not make the typical mistake of planning all this out and installing a stove and then get the fuel. This will not work with wood heat! Please re-read that last sentence. Even if you are buying your wood, that wood needs to sit split and stacked out in the wind for a minimum of a year before it is burned. Oh, you can burn it sooner if you wish but be prepared to have some really big problems. So if you want to burn wood, get the wood first, before the stove and give Mother Nature time to dry it. And do not believe a wood seller when he tells you it is "seasoned" and ready to burn. We know from experience that their wood is extremely rarely ready to burn. They just tell you that hoping for the sale.

 

[HotCoals]

How about taking the wall out between the living and family room..then use the living room install..but turned 90degrees?

 

[LLigetfa]

So you would choose the living room.

Yes. Central with good access from outside. I assume good airflow to the stairs. Cold air will roll down the stairs and get picked up by the stove. Are the stairs open banister or walled in? If open, hot air has a shorter path up the stairwell.

 

[muscamoot]

Welcome to the forum muscamoot.

From what I've read so far I would advise putting it into the family room. However, I would not install in the corner as you have it. It seems that it might be better to put it square against a wall as with most stoves the heat comes out the front. The way you have it pictured the heat would all be aimed right into the center of the family room and going away from the rest of the house. Would it not be better to aim the heat in the direction you need the heat to go?

Yet another point comes to mind and that is how you get wood to the stove and ashes out. That may or may not be an issue but needs to be considered. As for moving heat with a fan or maybe two fans, you are talking the exception rather than the rule with power outages. During those times you just heat as well as you can but this is also going along with how you place the heater. Place it so you can still get heat to other areas without the fans. The fans will just help even out the temperatures.

Have you yet considered your fuel supply? Do not make the typical mistake of planning all this out and installing a stove and then get the fuel. This will not work with wood heat! Please re-read that last sentence. Even if you are buying your wood, that wood needs to sit split and stacked out in the wind for a minimum of a year before it is burned. Oh, you can burn it sooner if you wish but be prepared to have some really big problems. So if you want to burn wood, get the wood first, before the stove and give Mother Nature time to dry it. And do not believe a wood seller when he tells you it is "seasoned" and ready to burn. We know from experience that their wood is extremely rarely ready to burn. They just tell you that hoping for the sale.

I am aware of the dry wood needs, but will have to start on that after I get through planning and install.
I read almost all your posts, and would love to have eight years of free wood prepared, but I need to start somewhere sometime. By the time I get the thing planned purchased and installed this winter season will be half over. I will probably buy some of that pressed sawdust bricks to get me started, then begin my new hobby of scrounging for wood.
I do have a furnace.

I thought the angled corner location in family room would be best, for viewing the fire, and for clearance issues. There is a doorwall along that back wall. I do have a ceiling fan in there. I am hoping there would be just enough room on the right side to open the door to load and unload. My stove will most likely be a Fireview.

 

[muscamoot]

How about taking the wall out between the living and family room..then use the living room install..but turned 90degrees?

I dont think I could take down the entire wall. I considered taking down part of that wall dividing the two rooms, but that would be another major/costly project. It is a prefab house shipped in two pieces front and back.
Not sure about how much I could take out because of the loads above, and would require totally new interior redecorating.

I would need an engineer/architect to calculate how much wall could be removed. Major project, but would be nice if money was no object.

I am going to put more thought into it.

 

[ironworker]

I have almost the same layout with a 6' opening between living room and family room and have my stove in the living room and I am very happy with it, the heat goes thru 40" opening and right up stairs to upstairs, in your family room the heat might have a hard time getting upstairs.

 

[muscamoot]

So you would choose the living room.

Yes. Central with good access from outside. I assume good airflow to the stairs. Cold air will roll down the stairs and get picked up by the stove. Are the stairs open banister or walled in? If open, hot air has a shorter path up the stairwell.

The location marked on my drawing is pretty close to lining up with the closet above, so that is where it would need to be.
It would give easier wood loading with more space. The stairs have a banister opening from front of house, then is walled in about half way down the hall. It is open at the top of stairs. I worry that all the heat would go up the stairs.

The coldest spot in the house is at bottom of stairs by front door, but I dont spend a lot of time there.

 

[rdust]

I would want it where I spend most of my time, I think the family room would work. How about a location 3? I assume it will interfere with living space above but figured I'd toss it out there. Either location you have picked will work imo, I would chose 2 out of the choices due to it being your main room.

 

[muscamoot]

I have almost the same layout with a 6' opening between living room and family room and have my stove in the living room and I am very happy with it, the heat goes thru 40" opening and right up stairs to upstairs, in your family room the heat might have a hard time getting upstairs.

40" opening? Do you mean 72"?

Problem with opening the wall is placement of furniture. Cant figure where my beloved couch would go.

If I put a 6' opening in wall then I would still need to decide where stove would go. 1 or 2?
I thought about leaving wall as it is and adding a couple openings along the top between the studs. But still 1 or 2?

Thanks to everyone for the help. Its a tough choice.

 

[begreen]

Family room, to me the stove isn't just a heater-I want to enjoy it too.

Yes, but maybe I would spend more time in living room if stove was located there?

By the layout, it looks like a living room stove would heat primarily the LR and upstairs. If the intent is to heat the house it looks like the family room location is more open which means the stove is going to do a better job of heating where people hang out the most. Some heat will get upstairs, but not all of it. If you are comfortable with the upstairs being a bit cooler (~5º?) for sleeping, then that could work out fine.

 

[Hanko]

Hello,

I am very close to buying my first wood burning stove.

Perhaps you can help me decide its location in my house. I live in a cape cod style house there are two bedrooms and a bath upstairs. I spend most of my time in the family room. Front living room is rarely used.

I have two possible spots where the stove could be located (1 or 2).

One is in the living room with chimney going up through an upstairs bedroom closet. In my mind this is a good choice because it keeps the chimney located in the center of house (out near the peak), allows heat to rise easily up the open stairway warming the bedrooms, and I assume allowing just enough heat to enter family room without roasting me out.
The down side of this choice may be that all the heat will go up the stairs and the family room/hall and den would remain to cold. I also loose closet space, and not sure about the looks of having a stove in the front room being the first thing you see entering the house through front door.

Second possible location would be the family room squeezed into the little corner by the half wall (three feet tall).
In my mind this would be a good choice because I could watch the flames, the family room/kitchen area would stay warm.
The down side is the chimney would exit near the edge of the house with a ten foot tall monstrosity on the roof with braces. I also think I may be roasted out of the family room in order to maintain a decent temperature upstairs.

What would your choice be? I am not sure how the heat would circulate.

Thanks for any opinions.

Jeff

ideal way would be to take out the wall seperating the two rooms. wouldnt that be one nice big room.

 

[rdust]

Heat has a way of finding it's way around. If you get a good convection style stove I think it will heat pretty good from the family room. My layout is less than ideal but it heats this place just fine and the heat finds it's way up my closed in staircase pretty well. I usually have a 4-6 degree swing in temps from main level to the upstairs which is fine for sleeping, the lower level evens out pretty easily.

 

[begreen]

Is the LR used more in the summer or does that family hang out more in the Family Room year round. If the LR is not used much, change it into a game room with a ping-pong or pool table.

 

[muscamoot]

I would want it where I spend most of my time, I think the family room would work. How about a location 3? I assume it will interfere with living space above but figured I'd toss it out there. Either location you have picked will work imo, I would chose 2 out of the choices due to it being your main room.

Yes, position 3 was my first thought, but the chimney would come up through a small bedroom above. I thought it might stlil be done by boxing it in along the wall but after figuring the clearances for the stove, the chimney would come through a minimum of 10 inches from the wall. 10 inches plus the diameter of the pipe (6") plus 2" clearance inside the boxing on each side, plus the thickness of the framing bring it into the room at least 22 inches. Its a very small room, and would look very odd.

It is another option, but then again all the heat would be in the family room even further away from the stairway,
and the stove would also block part of the large TV in the back corner of the family room. (there are few options for position of furniture/TV in this room to make it functional.

I then though about the corner to the right of your #3, but then the chimney would come through upstairs in front of a window.

Option #4 could be in the rear corner to the left of #3. The chimney would then come through the knee wall space upstairs (good thing), and I could put the TV on the wall (where #3 is), but then the 10' of braced chimney on the very corner of the roof would be even worse. I would rather have it in position #2 instead. That spot #2 is an out of the way corner not used for anything important and the monster chimney would be centered outside.