Heating the whole house...

[sharky300]

OK- since you guys did so good on my last question, I am going to throw another out... I am sure this has been discussed several times, so if there are previous threads on this just point me that direction- I just couldn't find any.

I know there are many factors and there is no "blanket" answer to the question, but can I realisticly expect to heat my home with a stove, without having huge temp differences all over the house?? I seem to have the right set up, but I will throw it out to ya'll to see what you think...

My house was built in 2000 - Fairly well insulated I think - The main living area that I will be heating is 1850 +/- sq ft. About 1100 sq ft of that is all one big open room- Kithchen/Dining/Living/Foryer - all 4 bedrooms and 1 bath connect directly to this space with no hallways- The only room not directly connected would be the master bath...

I would ideally like to set the stove up in the living room to get viewing pleasure as well as heat, but I don't want to have to burn myself out of that side of the house to heat the other side???


What says the experts???

 

[Steve NW WI]

It should be no problem at all. It sounds like your house was almost designed for wood heat. Single level, mostly open, will be relatively easy to keep warm, I'd try to locate the stove as close to the center of the house as you can, but even put in one corner, a ceiling fan or two will circulate the heat really well.

 

[MishMouse]

Since you want a more even heat I would suggest something in soapstone that has cat.

 

[sharky300]

OK- I am going to show my "green" here... but what is "soapstone with cat"

 

[kd460]

My home is well insulated 2 levels not counting the basement (colonial) and the insert is on the opposite side of the house from the stairway to the upper floor. Passive heat flow does not happen in my layout.

What I find works the best to get the heat up to the bedrooms where I want it, is I use those small 8 or 9 inch wally world fans on the floor to push the cool air out of the bedrooms and down the hall towards the stairs. The cool air then flows on it's own down the stairs to the main level where the wood burner is.

Moving the cool air out of the rooms lets the warm air replace it (just like pouring water out of a bottle-gotta let air in for the water to flow out). It works great, and I can really feel the heat flow up the stairs when I have the fans on. I run one at the doorway of each bedroom (two fans total) and they only use a few watts each.

Most people try to move the warm air with mixed results. Moving the cool air out of each room definitely works.

My setup may be worse than others, but the fans work and work well. Hope this info help others.

 

[brenndatomu]

OK- I am going to show my "green" here... but what is "soapstone with cat"

Haven't you ever tried to bathe a cat? A guy can work up a real sweat! Nah, it's a stove made from soapstone (real heavy, good residual heating after the fire dies down) and has a "cat"alytic converter that will, once hot enough, burn most of the unburnt gasses that would otherwise be lost up the stack (more BTUs). Like your car, only most newer cars have 4 cats now. Supposed to mean higher efficiency, I dunno, :dunno: never owned one. Most people that have them seem to like 'em, a few don't. FYI, the "cat" has to be replaced every few years.

 

[Marc]

Hmm... maybe I'm in the minority here, but I like the uneven heat in my house a woodstove produces. My bedrooms stay cool and my living areas stay warm, the way it should be.

 

[chadsailors]

You should have no problem heating that with a central placed stove. That is depending mainly on the stove. That new and open plus well insulated you probly wont need an overly big stove but its always better to have to much than not enough in my opinion. you can slow a big one down but cant make a small stove burn more. I would strongly suggest a cast iron stove. There worth it in my opinion as far as life span. Also dont take just take the number on there so called sq ft ratings on what a stove will heat, i have not seen one that will do what the company says it will.

Thats a reason i went over sized for my application and am very happy i did.

My house is 120+ years old and was remodeled back in the mid 80s so it isnt to warm. Only has new windows. Approx 2000sq ft. Two story mostly open up and down with an open stairway. My stove is a Vermont Castings cast iron stove with the reburn option which i rarely use (for reasons we wont go into now) Its in the dining room which is the central room, ceilings fans in every room but bathrooms i can keep the dining room between 74-80 and the rest of the downstairs within a 2 degrees of that room. The heat does not travel upstairs much so its maybe 5-7 degrees cooler up there but that makes it alot nicer for sleeping so i dont worry about that.

 

[greenskeeper]

My first house was a raised rancher with the living room & kitchen in the front, 3 bedrooms in the back divided by the hallway. Fireplace insert at one end.

1st winter the front of the house was toasty, rear was noticably cooler.

What I did was put a 2x2 duct directly above the fireplace insert. I then ran insulated HVAC pipe to a "distribution box" in the attic. Each run from the box to bedroom had a fan in-line. I also had a fan pulling from above the stove going into the box.

I set this all up on a timer so I could let it run and shut off at night when the stove cooled down.

This setup circulated and evenly heated the house, for less than $500

Of course if you have central air, you could run just the fan and get a similar effect.


*My current home is perfect for heating with a fireplace insert. 2 story w/ center staircase.

 

[Encore]

My house is fairly similar to yours except we have a basement. The basement got pretty cold in the winter but we hardly used it at the time so it wasn't much of an issue.

We have a wood stove at one end of the house and were quite happy with the heat output. Like others have said, get one that is rated above your given sq ft so that even in the coldest of temps you are still comfortable, plus you can put more wood in there.

 

[Encore]

Just noticed your location, I would imagine it'd be very easy to heat with a wood stove in Alabama. Does it really get very cold there anyways?

 

[sharky300]

Great news....

My central unit does have returns on the ceiling so I could run the fan to help it out if need be. Just hoping not to need to run anything... I'm like you guys, I like the cooler bedroom, just don't want to freeze the kids out. and I don't want to have sunburn if I am sitting on the couch 5 feet away from it...

Thanks again- you all are making me want to jump out and go get one now!!!!

 

[sharky300]

Hey Encore - It doesn't get to cold down here. We start cooling off in mid november, and start warming back up in late Febuary- When I say cooling off I mean high 40's during the day and 30's at night. We might have a two or three week stretch where it dips into the low 30's for highs and 20's at night- every once in a while we'll hit the teens, but it's rare- NOTHING like what you have to deal with!!!!

 

[tbow388]

Cold

Just noticed your location, I would imagine it'd be very easy to heat with a wood stove in Alabama. Does it really get very cold there anyways?

Encore. It doesnt get nearly as cold here as it does up north. I am in NorthEast Mississippi. I does get rather chilly though. Our humidity in the middle south sucks!!!! That being said our cold is a very wet cold. January is normal 40's and 50's high and 20's and 30's low.

We usually have a month of 30's during the day and teens at night. During some bad years we have not been much above freezing for weeks at a time.

 

[Garmins dad]

Hey Encore - It doesn't get to cold down here. We start cooling off in mid november, and start warming back up in late Febuary- When I say cooling off I mean high 40's during the day and 30's at night. We might have a two or three week stretch where it dips into the low 30's for highs and 20's at night- every once in a while we'll hit the teens, but it's rare- NOTHING like what you have to deal with!!!!

Sounds like a good pot of chilli is all you need for heat for your winter months..

On a serious note. The biggest stove you can afford is the way to go.. Fans in line are the way to go. lots of little simple things to do for heat from a stove. If the room your heater will be in is not a vault then your heat will go to each room on its own. You just need a fan in each room to move the air around a big. Like mentioned a fan along the floor will drastically help with moving out the cold air and making space for the warm air to move in. You will have no problems keeping your home warm. Sounds like we have a very familiar set up only I'm already in your coldest part of the year temps..

 

[slowp]

Our climate is mild. Just cool for 9 months out of the year. I have a house with no hallway--center living area--bedrooms on either side. A ceiling fan moves the heat. The stove is in the center of the house. Bedrooms are cooler, but since my house gets too hot, I open doors to two of the bedrooms to cool it down and usually let the stove go out or I'll roast.

The stove is a steel, 2008 model with all the epa and Warshington state that is required.

If you have a high ceiling, a ceiling fan is a good thing to have.

 

[darkbyrd]

I hang a window fan from the ceiling of the hallway off the living area (that has the stove) blowing the warm air toward the back of the house. It hits the kid's bedroom right away, the master is further back. Does a good job without cooking us in the living room.

 

[Arbonaut]

Try reversing your ceiling fans. A room heats to the top threshold of a doorway from the ceiling down, as it gradually fills the space above the header, it moves down till it begins filling the next room. Use the fans on the winter setting to force more air to the floor.

 

[dparkguy]

I have been heating my whole house with a Morso 3610 for 4 years. Very similar to your house: 1800 square feet, one level, 3 bedrooms, stove is in center of house in our family room. I can easily heat my house if the temps stay above 20 degrees outside. Below 20 degrees and our master bath at the far corner of the house drops into the low 50's. We dont spent much time in there and the wife doesnt complain. We have a ceiling fan in the room with the stove running in reverse. That room can get pretty warm if the temps outside get warm and we forget to shut the stove down soon enough. The morso can put out up to 60,000btu. Highly doubt it produces that much heat. Over firing a stove is bad news. Box fans in the right spot do help spread the warmth. Kids love having a campout by the stove in the winter. I did put an A/C return over the stove. It is 12"x12". I've found that the blower in the A/C unit moves too much air and even though the air going into the register is warm/hot, by the time it blows out it is very cool. Still working on that piece of the puzzle. Hope this helps ya out.

 

[woodlot30]

I do the same thing by blowing cold air at my wood stove down by the floor. I feel the warm air going up the stairs as a result.

My home is well insulated 2 levels not counting the basement (colonial) and the insert is on the opposite side of the house from the stairway to the upper floor. Passive heat flow does not happen in my layout.

What I find works the best to get the heat up to the bedrooms where I want it, is I use those small 8 or 9 inch wally world fans on the floor to push the cool air out of the bedrooms and down the hall towards the stairs. The cool air then flows on it's own down the stairs to the main level where the wood burner is.

Moving the cool air out of the rooms lets the warm air replace it (just like pouring water out of a bottle-gotta let air in for the water to flow out). It works great, and I can really feel the heat flow up the stairs when I have the fans on. I run one at the doorway of each bedroom (two fans total) and they only use a few watts each.

Most people try to move the warm air with mixed results. Moving the cool air out of each room definitely works.

My setup may be worse than others, but the fans work and work well. Hope this info help others.