Wood Stove Size for NH Bungalow

[PagodaTr0n]

Greetings! I’m in the market to replace my Vermont Castings Dutch West 2479. This was my first experience with a wood stove and it was already present in the house that I bought three years ago. I’ve spent two part-time seasons and one full season burning it. I’m now living here permanently and this will be my primary heat source for the winter. In general, the DW felt a bit overkill when running normally and always seemed to blast through wood. I never felt like I could modulate the stove to find a sweet spot.

I think I’m on team cat and would like something that will maximize burn time. I am leaning very strongly towards the Blaze King Sirocco 20 or 30. I would say the Hearthstone GM 60 is probably next on the list. My big question has to do with sizing the stove. I’ve spoken to a couple dealers and read a few forum posts, but would still appreciate feedback from the team here, especially anyone with BK experience.

My house is a bungalow located in Conway, NH. It was built in the late 80s and although it may not meet the latest standards, it feels relatively well insulated. The front half is the main living area and kitchen which are open to the 16 ft pitched ceilings. It has a fair amount of windows at ground level. The back half has an open loft above the bedrooms and bathroom of the main floor. I’m curious how the 2D square footage numbers provided with stoves apply to my 3D house configuration. One of my local dealers said to double the main floor area to estimate the equivalent square footage. To me that felt too conservative as I don’t think I have a 2400 ft2 home. I then approximated the volume of the house based on the geometry and then compared that to an equivalent volume for the wood stove max area ratings by assuming 8 ft ceilings. The local stove shop also said they typically assume a 20% hit to the rated area due to the cold climate zone I’m in. This also seems to align with data I found in the Jotul brochure.

Below is a summary of the house measurements and relevant stove data. I’m not sure if I should be more concerned about the Sirocco 20 being too small, or the Sirocco 30 being too large. The local dealer recommended the 20 and felt the 30 would heat me out. Based on my volume calculations, it looks like I might be maxing out the 20. I’m looking for feedback on my assumptions to get an equivalent square footage/volume. If anyone can share their experience with their BK it would be a bonus!

Thanks!

Chris

House main floor: 775 ft2
House loft: 400 ft2
Total floor area: 1175 ft2
Doubled floor area: 2350 ft2
House Volume (accounting for roof pitch): 10320 ft3

Blaze King 20 Series
Max area: 1500 ft2
Max volume (Assumes 8 ft ceilings) 12,000 ft3
Max volume adjusted for climate zone (20% Reduction): 9600 ft3
Heat Output High: 28,355 BTU/hr
Heat Output Low: 11,342 BTU/hr

Blaze King 30 Series
Max area: 2400 ft2
Max Volume (Assumes 8 ft ceilings): 19,200 ft3
Max volume adjusted for climate zone (20% Reduction): 15360 ft3
Heat Output High: 35,980 BTU/hr
Heat Output Low: 11,993 BTU/hr

Hearthstone GM 60
Max area: 2000 ft2
Max volume (Assumes 8 ft ceilings): 16,000 ft3
Max volume adjusted for climate zone (20% Loss): 12,800 ft3
Heat output high: no rate listed, however notes up to 60,000 Btu

 

[begreen]

You are correct, the dealer is not. Get the BK 30. It's a true cat and a proven heater. The larger 30 size stove just has a larger fuel tank. It's low output is similar to the Sirocco 20. You control the output with the thermostat setting. The 30 won't overheat the place but you will see longer burn times. On those zero degree days you'll be happy to have the larger version.

 

[begreen]

Check out the BK sub-forum. There are many threads there comparing the two stove sizes.

 

[stoveliker]

The one other thing, though, is that you have tall ceilings, where heat pools. You may want a larger ceiling fan running low, pushing heat down.
Sometimes a stove that sheds a larger fraction of its heat through radiation will make you feel warmer (when in line of sight). The BK will radiate from the front but less from other sides. They shed more.via convection.

But they are awesome stoves. Begreen is right about the sizing.

Is that double wall.stovepipe?

 

[bigealta]

I'm surprised no one mentioned to check your clearances. Looks like there is hardly any in front of your current stove.

 

[stoveliker]

Very good point

 

[PagodaTr0n]

You are correct, the dealer is not. Get the BK 30. It's a true cat and a proven heater. The larger 30 size stove just has a larger fuel tank. It's low output is similar to the Sirocco 20. You control the output with the thermostat setting. The 30 won't overheat the place but you will see longer burn times. On those zero degree days you'll be happy to have the larger version.

Excellent points and I actually meant to list the heat outputs on low because they were relatively similar. I updated my original post. I'm not sure how often I will be running at high, but having the margin would be nice. If outputs start to approach each other in the middle and the 30 is just extending my burn time, this makes sense.

 

[PagodaTr0n]

The one other thing, though, is that you have tall ceilings, where heat pools. You may want a larger ceiling fan running low, pushing heat down.
Sometimes a stove that sheds a larger fraction of its heat through radiation will make you feel warmer (when in line of sight). The BK will radiate from the front but less from other sides. They shed more.via convection.

But they are awesome stoves. Begreen is right about the sizing.

Is that double wall.stovepipe?

Thanks! I was going to get the new stove and then assess the fan situation. It is double wall stovepipe.

 

[PagodaTr0n]

I'm surprised no one mentioned to check your clearances. Looks like there is hardly any in front of your current stove.

Thanks for keeping me safe! I had it serviced for the first time last summer and my chimney sweep mentioned that same thing. Since my current stove is both side and front load, he recommended against using the front load. My plan is to get a new hearth once I finalize the stove. Most of the options I have been looking at are front loaders.

 

[begreen]

Thanks! I was going to get the new stove and then assess the fan situation. It is double wall stovepipe.

If the fan reverses, it's usually more comfortable to run the fan in reverse in the winter. This creates a circular convective pattern without any cooling draft across one's skin.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for keeping me safe! I had it serviced for the first time last summer and my chimney sweep mentioned that same thing. Since my current stove is both side and front load, he recommended against using the front load. My plan is to get a new hearth once I finalize the stove. Most of the options I have been looking at are front loaders.

A 16-18" hearth pad in front of the current raised hearth would suffice. My concern is this looks like a traffic area. If that's the case, the floor protection could be as simple as a sheet of metal nailed to the floor. This could be copper, aluminum, or steel. Or tile recessed into the floor to keep it flush on the surface.

 

[PagodaTr0n]

I just realized that I mixed up some of the numbers in my initial post and using the approach of doubling the main floor area puts me at 1550 ft2, not 2350ft2 (I accidentally doubled the total floor space). If you account for a climate zone factor of 0.80 for a BK20 max area, it would still be under the estimated area of the house. I still like the 30 .

Just to close the loop, any feedback on the Hearthstone GM60? IMO it's one of the cleanest looking stoves and I love the size of that window. Spec-wise, it seems to fit right between the two Blaze Kings.

 

[Todd]

A big open floor plan like that I’d probably opt for a more radiant stove. Have you checked out Woodstock?

 

[begreen]

The Sirocco 30 will provide more control, especially at the low end. The Hearthstone will burn a bit hotter with a shorter burn time. Search for each model in their respective forums for user experiences.

Blaze King

This forum is for discussions and information regarding Blaze King Stoves

www.hearth.com

HearthStone

This forum is for discussions and information regarding Hearthstone Stoves

www.hearth.com

 

[PagodaTr0n]

A big open floor plan like that I’d probably opt for a more radiant stove. Have you checked out Woodstock?

I have looked at some of their stoves. The styles were a bit too ornate for me. The Ideal Steel caught my eye, but I thought it might be a bit too much stove. They're a few hours away, so it might be worth a road trip to see the facility.

 

[tabner]

I heated my home with a GM60 for 2 years, and now heat with an Ashford 20. I agree with you that the Green Mountain stoves are excellent to look at. I don't think this stove would over heat you.
With that said - I found it to be VERY finicky and annoying to run. I do have a horizontal section in my stove pipe - you may fair much better with your 100% vertical chimney, so you could try it. But i found the hybrid system to be poorly designed, and the giant front door creates ash and smoke rollout on reloads. Also it's an E/W loader which is inefficient.
I have found my Blaze King to be a MUCH better stove in terms of function. It is just designed well. I get zero smoke roll out, it easily keeps enough overnight coals for a kindling-free restart next morning, and the ash tray and thermostat both function very well. I think you could get by with a 20 box or a 30 box, I suspect you'd be happy with either. But I agree with the others on this thread, if you've got the space and $ for the 30 box, it's probably the right choice.
Might be worth visiting Woodstock, avoiding sales tax is a nice thing. But otherwise, i think the BK is a great idea.

 

[PagodaTr0n]

I was able to make the trip to Woodstock this past weekend and it was well worth the drive! The rep recommended the Absolute Steel for my size home and modern aesthetic. I'm not sure how I overlooked that model because it seems to fall right between the BK20 and 30. She knew everything about the stove and gave me a total walkthrough of the one set up to heat the showroom. She also uses it for her home. The Great Plain has the simple clean look I'm interested in. I love how you could finely tune the incremental damper settings and the catalytic combustor was by far the easiest that I've seen to service. She even took me out to the shop to see some of their manufacturing equipment. High quality stove, top notch customer service, and a local company! Everything just resonated with me and I pulled the trigger today. Stoked for the upcoming winter season! Thanks to all for the inputs and recommendations.

 

[Todd]

Nice! They make a great product!

 

[PagodaTr0n]

I wanted to close the loop on this thread based on everyone's helpful feedback. I revamped the entire hearth and installed the Woodstock Absolute Steel. The stone veneer is a Brooklawn Blend from Thompson Stone in a ledge form factor. I went with a one-piece 48 x 60 x 1.5 in. bluestone over a half inch of Durock, which gives me plenty of room around all sides. Demo of the old platform uncovered thin tile over plywood. The stove was just installed today and I have a small fire going to break it in. Overall, super-stoked with the finished product and it's the clean modern look I was hoping for and also much safer. Thanks again!

 

[begreen]

Nice improvement. It looks great. Keep us posted on how it works out over the winter.

 

[huauqui]

What a beautiful, clean install! Please give us some feedback on the stove after you have some time with it.

 

[bigealta]

Really like the bluestone.