What stove to buy?

[Treeapple]

Hi all,

I've been reading through all the info here and this is my first time posting. I've never had a woodstove so a complete newbie.

We moved into an old farmhouse in southern Quebec (climate zone 6) and planning a new wood stove as part of a major renovation. We will use the stove as primary heat (with electric baseboards). It's a two storey house with an insulated (R-15) but unheated basement--we're not worried about heating the basement, just keep it above freezing. Our plan is to reinsulate the walls to about R-35 and the atticsto R50-60 as well as air seal. Main floor is 950 sq feet, pretty open, 8ft ceilings. Second floor is 450 sq ft, 8ft ceilings. We're planning on putting the stove in the middle of the main floor and also having vents into the second floor. (I've attached a rough floor plan.)

The other consideration is there was a wood furnace in the basement (condemned by the chimney sweep) hooked up to an 8" insulated chimney. This chimney is not in a good spot so we'll be moving it. Most stoves take a 6" chimney so we were thinking of installing a new one--it would be over 15', vertical. However, I saw the Blaze King 40 is 8" and that got me thinking I could reuse the 8" chimney pipe, it's still in good shape. However, I think the BK 40 might be a little big for our house.

We'd like long enough burn times to get through the night (7-8 hours) and the ability to cook a little on the stove when the power goes out. (Seems easier to cook on cast iron, but can you also cook on steel stoves?)

So, my questions are:

- Any stoves that call for an 8" chimney that wouldn't be overkill?
- Can I hook up a 6" stove to an 8" vertical chimney without a huge loss in performance?
- We're leaning towards PE Alderlea T5. Also the Drolet Escape 1800 seems like a possibility. But open to suggestions.

Thanks very much.

 

[begreen]

What is the total square footage being heated on 1st and 2nd floors? Based on the description and climate zone, I'd consider the T6.

What will stop basement pipes from freezing?

Look into replacing the old wood furnace with a modern high-efficiency unit from Drolet or Kuuma, especially if getting firewood to it is relatively easy.

 

[stoveliker]

The T6 has a 3 cu ft firebox, if I'm correct. The King is larger. If the efficiency is similar (and it is), I think the King can put out more heat than the T6; I think running it high is going to give a similar burn (to reload) time.
And the King certainly can run at lower BTU outputs than the T6. With the added benefit of not having to have small fires and frequent reloads, just many (more) hrs of constant low heat output.


The disadvantage is that the catalyst will need replacing every few years.


And a major difference is the looks.

 

[Treeapple]

Thanks for your thoughts.

The square footage is: main floor 950 sq feet, pretty open, 8ft ceilings. Second floor is 450 sq ft, 8ft ceilings.

We think the heat from the main floor should keep the basement from freezing--and we can also put on a space heater if need be. We don't want to invest in a wood furnace because part of having a wood stove is the aesthetics and feeling of a wood fire in the living space. And we don't want to have a furnace and a stove.

Seems like you think the T6 and King aren't too big for this sized house--I did a rough calculation using our heating consumption in KwH from last January--a very cold January--and it came out to about 15,000 BTU/hr. And this is before we've reinsulated and air sealed. That's why I was thinking the T5 was big enough.

Is it possible to hook up the T5/T6 to an 8" chimney? Or would that affect performance too much? If I can reuse the 8" chimney then maybe I can afford the Blaze King.

Cheers.

 

[stoveliker]

Ah. The King has a 14,000 ish minimum output. I would not put one in, that's too close.

I do think you'd have to get a 6" chimney, with thise BTU needs. And that opens up many possibilities for good stoves (in a style you like to look at).

 

[begreen]

We think the heat from the main floor should keep the basement from freezing--

That's not going to happen. Hot air does not go down naturally. It will go upward. You may not need to cut vents for upstairs. Convection up the stairwell may suffice, particularly if you like the bedrooms a little cooler for sleeping.

The T5 would be more than sufficient based on the description. It will work on the 8" flue, though the system would need to be reconfigured so that the outlet was on the first floor. Is the location of the chimney pipe in a good location to connect the stove? Where is this located now?

 

[stoveliker]

The only way I see getting some heat downstairs is with a floor register in the stove room, and an inline fan ducting air from the stove room down and depositing it on the basement floor. It will have the tendency to rise up thru the return path to the room (stairs?), and you'd need to have this fan as far as possible from the return path, but also from the stove (because you don't want to create low pressure near the stove and have smoke and CO problems).

This may not be worth the effort. Some electric space heat set at 45 F or so might be best for the basement. (Or if pipes freezing are the only concern, a pipe heater.)

 

[Newbie78]

https://www.drolet.ca/static/422831c08a338f79b9a5c986ba8d32f9/08f57/DB04820_Chic-Choc_H2.webp

Just to re-iterate the previous comments... Your floor will be cold and your basement will freeze.
the heat from the main floor WILL NOT put any heat whatsoever into the basement.

And, as already stated, you may not need any venting to bring heat upstairs. You will more likely find that the upstairs gets too warm after burning 24/7 in the dead of winter.

and I threw in the link to suggest a cook stove that heats....

will you be producing your own electricity? Or is that from the grid? ...

heat with hot water derived free from your wood stove. You can make that go into the basement easily.

 

[Todd]

Depends on the basement but it will be much colder. I leave my stairwell door open and while it’s 75-80 in the main living area it rarely gets below 50. I must be getting a little radiant heat from the floor.

 

[Newbie78]

When it gets really cold, my basement can freeze. Otherwise it is 45-50 degrees nearly year round. Our old farmhouse is about the same size as the OP's, tho not insulated nearly as well as the OP proposes. I like natural air exchanges and have lots of wood, so no biggy to me.

as winter sets in, our uninsulated basement surrounded by deeply frozen ground becomes vulnerable to the week-long stretches of -30 to -40 with occasional dips to -45. Unfortunately our 7 month winters can be very severe for long stretches.

I moved my thermostat to the basement and will have to have a little gas-fired forced air heat happening down there in the coldest times. Experimenting...

 

[Treeapple]

Thanks for the thoughts.

We will monitor the basement and see how the temp gets this winter. We have electric space heaters we can throw on if need be.

The current chimney is not in a good location to put a stove on the main floor. So we'll need to move it to a central location. But you don't see much performance issues going from 6" stove to 8" chimney? (Or else we buy a 6" chimney and try to sell the old one.)

I looked at the Drolet cookstoves and was tempted by some. However, the chief reason for the stove is heating and it seems cook stoves don't excel at that. We're pretty happy with the T5, seems good for our situation and a durable stove--got quotes for about $3500CDN.

At this moment we're hooked up to the grid. Solar would be nice but the cheap price of electricity in Quebec make it a hard sell.

Cheers.

 

[Bose]

Thanks for the thoughts.

We will monitor the basement and see how the temp gets this winter. We have electric space heaters we can throw on if need be.

The current chimney is not in a good location to put a stove on the main floor. So we'll need to move it to a central location. But you don't see much performance issues going from 6" stove to 8" chimney? (Or else we buy a 6" chimney and try to sell the old one.)

I looked at the Drolet cookstoves and was tempted by some. However, the chief reason for the stove is heating and it seems cook stoves don't excel at that. We're pretty happy with the T5, seems good for our situation and a durable stove--got quotes for about $3500CDN.

At this moment we're hooked up to the grid. Solar would be nice but the cheap price of electricity in Quebec make it a hard sell.

Cheers.

Just athought Drolet is made in Quebec city and service is excellent with parts ,questions, help etc a phone call away .I had a Drolet 1800 for 5 years in my two story 2000 sq ft house, using 1 convection heater for the reall cold nights, nice and toasty but got tired of the wood haulers gym membership so I went pellet, and no you will not get any heat in the basement with the stove on the main floor also made many a speg sauce , stew on the 1800 buy a blower with the stove very good investment

 

[EbS-P]

R35 walls and R60 attic. Well sealed. Buying for now or the future? I like looking at a fire. My choice would be Drolet 1800 maybe 2100 and a mini split. Now if I had the budget I’d probably consider a BK enamel Ashford 30. And hyper heat Mitsubishi.

A new wood furnace and a heatpump hot water would be tempting too. Just depends how much you want to look at the fire.

 

[marty319]

I vote an sbi product as you live in quebec. Drolet,osburn and enerzone are decent burners.i was really impressed with the looks and quality of the enerzone when I bought my osburn.door opened on the wrong side.good luck.

 

[begreen]

PE products are also Canadian and built differently from conventional tube stoves.

If putting in a new chimney it should be all 6".