wood burning stoves

[Pete M]

my pop was thinking a wood stove would be a fun way to heat his sun room (a 300 sqft bonus room that the previous owners added to the end of the house that has 3 walls of single pane windows but only a small duct feeding it and ironically very little sunshine in it).  he asked me to do some research and so far I've not found an ideal match.  a pellet stove would be easier in the end, but there's no fun in that and so far I' haven't found a stove that does both.  stoves with an interior large enough to handle something bigger than twigs say they heat 1500+ sqft.  too big?  stoves better sized to the room have a tiny burn box, but maybe that's a good thing since it's a tiny room?  Is it worth the tradeoff of having to chop the wood into splinters?  this project won't happen until next fall so I've got time to research. 

 

thoughts?

[87MJTIM]

Vermont Casting has very good (and $$) wood burning stoves.  We have one in our basement.  When we get that thing up to temp, we have to wear shorts and tshirts in winter.  

 

They have a model that heats 600 sq ft.  http://www.vermontcastings.com/Products/Aspen-Non-Catalytic-Wood-Burning-Stove.aspx

 

Your dad can heat other rooms by putting box fan in the sun room and blowing into other rooms in the house.

[Pete M]

very nice!  and there is a dealer relatively nearby so dad can go window shop.  :yes:

[johnj92131]

Pete,

 

I don't know anything about wood burning stoves.  Here in Southern California a fireplace is just a decoration we use strictly for looks.  Then they mostly are gas fired with fake wood logs or Presto type composite logs for a bit more reality.  BUT if you want to heat a small sun room/sun porch - take a hard look at a quartz type electric heater.  Sure, I know it is no fun.  But it might make a whole bunch of economic sense - not to mention 10 times easier to install.

[DirtyComanche]

Check with your insurance company and local bylaws before getting excited.  My insurance company is decent, $50 premium for having a solids burning appliance, and no bylaw issues.  Drive 10 minutes into town and its a totally different story.  Stainless double (or triple) wall chimney pipe gets expensive in a hurry too.

 

As said, Vermont castings makes some nice little stoves.  There's also some retardedly expensive stoves out there for boats and such, which are meant for very small spaces.  The reality with burning wood is that you have to add wood on a regular basis, you can't just choke a big stove down to heat a small space for a long period, as it will smoulder and build creosote.  So if you throw a large stove in that area you will be making a lot of heat to keep it burning properly, and going through a lot of wood.

 

A space heater of some sort is much easier, and same goes for gas heaters or fireplaces.  You can't just decide you want to sit in the sun room, light your wood stove, and sit down and enjoy the fire, it takes a fair whack of time between lighting and actually getting a decent burn that will make good heat.  But, if a guy needs something to do they're a good choice.

[Wiggilez]

my pop was thinking a wood stove would be a fun way to heat his sun room (a 300 sqft bonus room that the previous owners added to the end of the house that has 3 walls of single pane windows but only a small duct feeding it and ironically very little sunshine in it).  he asked me to do some research and so far I've not found an ideal match.  a pellet stove would be easier in the end, but there's no fun in that and so far I' haven't found a stove that does both.  stoves with an interior large enough to handle something bigger than twigs say they heat 1500+ sqft.  too big?  stoves better sized to the room have a tiny burn box, but maybe that's a good thing since it's a tiny room?  Is it worth the tradeoff of having to chop the wood into splinters?  this project won't happen until next fall so I've got time to research. 

 

thoughts?

 

I might be seeing my summer boss next weekend and I know he uses a wood burning stove to heat his house, if I get the chance ill ask him what he recommends.

[glundblad]

I am about 35 miles west of Ft Wayne.  If you are in my area, if you cut it, I have free firewood.  :)

[Pete M]

 

The reality with burning wood is that you have to add wood on a regular basis, you can't just choke a big stove down to heat a small space for a long period, as it will smoulder and build creosote.  So if you throw a large stove in that area you will be making a lot of heat to keep it burning properly, and going through a lot of wood.

 

A space heater of some sort is much easier, and same goes for gas heaters or fireplaces.  You can't just decide you want to sit in the sun room, light your wood stove, and sit down and enjoy the fire, it takes a fair whack of time between lighting and actually getting a decent burn that will make good heat.  But, if a guy needs something to do they're a good choice.

 

 

 

yup.  that's why the fireplace in the living room will remain a propane burner.  instant ambiance :D  this is more or less for adding heat to the far end of the house for 2 months of the year (the house has only a heat-pump).   I've even thought about including an exhaust fan to the ceiling and piping the heat to other rooms in the house.  :yes:

who knows if it'll ever happen.  Pop also talks about adding in a stone wall behind it and some faux exposed beams on the ceiling and such.  but I like to research, so it's all fun to me. :)

[jdwillys]

Depending on the lay out, you could put Louvers through the wall to the adjacent room. Louvers would be on the wall up near the ceiling, ideally the stove would be on the opposite, exterior wall. Should be able to find, or build Louvers with a fan, controlled by a thermostat. Just don't want to dump warm air on the house thermostat in the existing room. depending on how crazy you want to get involved, you can install a firewood box, exterior to interior, dump some logs from the outside and retrieve them from the inside next to the stove. Sounds like a nice project to do.

[Pete M]

the sun room has a peaked ceiling (sorta since it has a flat spot with a tiny crawl space at the peak), but the kitchen right next to it does not so I was thinking a simple bathroom style fan plus some insulated 3" ducting could jump the heat over the kitchen (through the attic) and into the living room (also a peaked ceiling).  the thermostat is even further away down the hallway towards the bedrooms.  it's a looooog ranch house. way different than the house I grew up in (small 2 story w/basement).

[jdwillys]

That should work, maybe two of those fans/3" ducts. Don't forget about the MJ tailgate furniture and CJ grill for the fireplace.

[92XJT]

We can heat our house with 100% wood if needed, or pellet stove, or natural gas furnace.  Our woodstove would heat the main area of our home fairly quick, but we had a dual chambered wood stove with blower, and exposed chimney that heated the 1.5 stories.  Pellet stove, we have one in the basement, and if it wouldn't have came with the home when we bought, I would never buy one.  It was fine as a backup heat but to maintain a nice temp it went through a bag per 12hours, and at $4.00 something a bag added up quick. 

 

There should be smaller, like a pot belly stove / camp stove that should be more suited for smaller square foot areas like you have. 

 

Do you have a good supply of wood to cut or would you be buying it?  You can use full size logs as mentioned in the initial post, but they are better suited for once the fire is good and hot.  We used to load our woodstove up at night with larger logs and there would still be hot coals in the morning to restart the fire.  Our stove seems to take only a very short time to heat our main living area it sits in.  Figure the area is 30x30 with 22' ceilings. 

 

I didn't notice is your dad planning on using this to heat all the time, or just on occasion to get the chill out when in the room?

[Pete M]

they live in a forest so trees are plentiful... buuuut they also like said trees so it'll likely be more bought than dropped.  :)  (plus they are pushing 70 and I just don't see my dad slicing-n-dicing up a sweet gum each year)  The sunroom is horribly insulated (single pane windows with no real attic) and freaking cold 20 hrs a day from nov-march so this stove would be bring up the temp of that room plus the kitchen (which gets cold because the window and double doors to the sunroom need to be open all the time to keep it tolerable). 

 

this one is the current frontrunner (though this project won't be happening til next summer at the earliest so there's plenty of time for new discoveries). 

smaller in size, but not tiny.  and with a window and a place to warm their tea.

 

http://www.vermontcastings.com/Products/Aspen-Non-Catalytic-Wood-Burning-Stove.aspx

 

[Pete M]

stopped by the local-ish fireplace store today and they didn't have the little stove on property :(    oh well.