couple of stove questions

[p575]

this is my second year of using wood heat and i have a few questions. First off, the house i'm in is just over 1800 square feet, 900 upstairs, 900 downstairs with an underground basement (basement not included in footage). house was built in 1948, and i assume its insulated about like any other house built then. My stove is on the main (first) floor. The stove was my grandparents, i have no idea on the age, im gonna say a minimum of 20 years old. the only identifying marks on it, are on the doors, it says "Craft Stove" and "Pat. Pend." It came with a blower but it didn't work, so, i hooked up a bathroom exhaust fan to it thats rated at about 15 CFM. My questions are: does anybody have any other info on this stove? namely BTU rating.
How many CFM do i need to be pushing through it to get the most out of it.
Should this stove heat my whole house to 70 with an outside temp between 15-30? and how much wood would one expect to use to do so, using, say...red oak.

thanks for any advice or insights...

 

[Dok]

One stove should heat that house to way beyond 70deg no problem! Like TreeCo said, that old stove isn't very efficient. It will take a lot more wood to keep your house warm than a new efficient stove. As an example, in our previous house we also started out with a pre-EPA rated stove and used 7 cords of wood the first winter. We replaced that stove with a new Quadrafire and our wood consumption went down to 3 cords.

If you get a new stove get it professionally installed. The installers will make sure everything is safe and that the chimney draws correctly. This will also make your insurance company happy.

Dok

 

[p575]

what about CFM on the fan?

 

[ericjeeper]

I am guessing

the fan should be around 35 to 100 CFM any faster and it will just cool off the firebox and it will cycle off and on. Yet 15 CFM is likely not moving much air. Check out Grainger for a replacement motor for your fan. or a whole new unit.

 

[fourapples]

I used a Craft Stove to heat my 1800 sq ft farm house for 30 years before upgrading to OWB this year. The last 2 years we plugged the vents on the gas forced air furnace including cold air returns (kept the house warmer but could not use the furnace) and heated only with the Craft Stove. Besides the hassle of filling 4-5 times a day and bringing wood in the home it saved me thousands over the years. I would still be using it if we had not reroofed the house and decided the wood burner should be outside. I was a well made stove, went thru about 3 fan units and a half dozen limit switches during that time.

 

[p575]

whats a limit switch? any idea where i can get a fan that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? seems like all of the "woodstove fans" are $100+ a small squirrel cage fan would work i think...

 

[fourapples]

It is temperature control switch or thermostat to be correct, mounts in the hole on back of stove. It regulates the fan by turning on the fan at given setpoint, probably 120 degrees or so. Any small electric motor shop should be able to help answer your questions. I mounted my fan cage and motor on back of stove using door rope as a gasket around the 4 mountng screws to keep metal to metal vibration noise at a minimum.
There is a website that provides OEM replacement parts for these stoves. This link has parts for them.
http://servicesales.com/woodburning/stove_parts/Craft/craft_stove_parts.html