Stove to assist a gas furnace

[motterry]

I am looking for a free standing stove to vent up an existing fireplace. The house is ~1800sqft with a natural gas furnace. So the need to be a lumberjack to survive the winter is not needed. I have a source for oak & maple to burn and would like something more efficient than watching the heat rise out of my open fireplace.
The main purpose will be supplemental heat and a warm environment on weekends or evenings. If it is large enough and can save some gas - then all the better.
Would you size the stove for the whole house? Or get a smaller one to just add heat to the main living area? Will a small stove warm the living area, or will the heat dissipate up stairs and really just add a few degrees to the overall home temp? Heating the main living area is the goal.
For those owning a small stove is the small (<less than 16" log) a pain to deal with?
Any comments on the current small stove contenders?
Vermont Castings - Aspen.
Hearthstone Tribute (have a source for one close in price to the aspen)

 

[Cockshutt]

I think that a woodstove is great to back up your gas furnace. Your wood will have to very cheap to make it more economical than gas.
In my opinion go with a stove that can take a bigger log. My stove says it can take 17" logs, but getting one through the door takes more time and more care than it should. I regret not paying enough attention to the door size and firebox size.

 

[firefighterjake]

I can completely understand the desire to have supplemental heat and not want to be spending lots of time and effort in processing wood . . .

And I understand the idea of having a warm area on the weekends and evenings where you can sit back and relax after being out in the cold all day . . . and of course I understand saving a bit on the gas bill.

That said . . . I personally would try to size the stove for a house . . . if the lay-out is conducive to doing so. What I mean is if you have a traditional ranch, cape, colonial, etc. for a little extra money you should be able to buy a stove that would not only heat up the one room, but could heat the entire home in case of a power outage (i.e. avoiding frozen pipes) . . . or if you decide down the road to rely more on wood heat.

Depending on the lay out of the home you should be able to move a lot of that heat from a larger stove out of the room . . . and then there is always that nugget of wisdom . . . you can always build a smaller fire in a bigger woodstove, but it's hard to build a bigger fire in a small woodstove when it's already filled to capacity.

Moving the heat efficiently can work . . . but a lot depends on the home's layout. For example, in my 1,800 square foot Cape pretty much all of the downstairs is heated as well as the upstairs . . . the two notable exceptions being that the downstairs master bedroom is quite a bit cooler as the heat "current" I have established through the use of a fan curls past this room and goes upstairs and the mudroom/boiler room/bathroom is just a little too far away to get the full effect of the heat.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. In order to figure out what is a good fit it will depend on the openess of the floorplan, the location of the fireplace in relation to the location of the stairway and ceiling heights. Can you post a simple sketch of the floorplan? Also, what are the fireplace dimensions?

 

[motterry]

Begreen - Attached is a sketch of the floorplan. The fireplace opening is 28" x 40" with brick surround. Ceilings are a little less than 8'.