Wood stove advice wanted in Naples area (Rathdrum: hardwood floor, hotel)

[SP77]

Just bought a property with a house northwest of Naples in August. The house currently has a pellet stove which struggles just to heat the living room. 2500 square foot 2 story home. There’s also a hydronic heating system on both levels, but the boiler is broken and we’re waiting on a replacement. I’m thinking of putting in a wood stove in the meantime. I’ve never had one before so I’d like any advice you have. Best company to deal with that services Boundary county? Type or brand stove you like? Also, how important is placement? Is it necessary to be centered in the house or will a corner work? Pellet stove is against a wall and exhausting straight through wall, like a dryer vent. I assume a stove pipe needs to terminate above the roof line? How close to the stove can furniture be? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

[Cnynrat]

I'm not sure if they will come to your way, but the guys at Sagle Stove Shop are very knowledgeable. Might be worth a call.

Dave

[nm9stheham]

Here is a guide to installation and clearances. There is plenty of this info in the internet and you would be wise IMHO to go over 3-4 sites to make sure you catch it all. NASD - Wood Stove Installation and Operation

The stack for a pellet stove may be adequate but I would not presume so. The amount of heat and hot exhaust can be much greater (which is obviously what you are wanting here!).

With the softer woods out there, you need to be aware of creosote building in the stack and have a plan to clean it out or have it cleaned out. Using a ceramic lined stainless stack (rather than double walled air insulated stack) will help lower the amount of creosote buildup. But the ceramic lined stacks are pricey. https://www.hunker.com/12340975/doub...l-chimney-pipe

Make sure you have adequate incoming air to any stove of furnace combusting inside the living space. Presumably, there is enough as you have a pellet stove, but again, check.

Once you get it going, make sure you pay very close attention to it until you really know how it will behave (like for a week). Get too much draft going once things are heated up, and too hot a fire in the firebox can crack firebricks, and be a real risk.


A couple of inexpensive box fans can really move around a lot of air to where you want it.

[burbsgrrl]

I’ve had two Lopi brand wood stoves in different houses and they are great. They have the secondary burn feature which uses air tubes to return exhaust and burn it within the unit, resulting in lower emissions, and a really clean and hot burn. The first one we had in the daylight basement of a 1900 square foot home, and there was so much radiant heat that the hardwood floor upstairs was warm to your feet. The second home was a large (+4000 sq ft) modern colonial that had a two story vaulted ceiling, (25 feet at the peak) and the Lopi fireplace saved that house from freezing, even despite having to heat that large volume of space. We had a bad snowstorm that cut our power for 5 days, and the nighttime temps were well below freezing. Since our septic and water was on power, we had to stay in a hotel, but each evening would go to the house and stoke up the Lopi and get it burning hot, then close down the damper to give it a long burn and it would go all night till early morning. All of our neighbors had frozen pipes, we were the only house out of 12 that didn’t. I’d buy another Lopi unit again without question.

[SP77]

Originally Posted by DCCougar

I can't add anything to the stove info, but major congrats on your recent purchase!

Thank you. We love it here. Wish I did the move 20 years ago.

[SP77]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

I'm not sure if they will come to your way, but the guys at Sagle Stove Shop are very knowledgeable. Might be worth a call.

Dave

It says on their website they service all of Northern Idaho. I will call first thing tomorrow. Their name is the one I’ve heard most often since moving here.

[SP77]

Originally Posted by nm9stheham

Here is a guide to installation and clearances. There is plenty of this info in the internet and you would be wise IMHO to go over 3-4 sites to make sure you catch it all. NASD - Wood Stove Installation and Operation

The stack for a pellet stove may be adequate but I would not presume so. The amount of heat and hot exhaust can be much greater (which is obviously what you are wanting here!).

With the softer woods out there, you need to be aware of creosote building in the stack and have a plan to clean it out or have it cleaned out. Using a ceramic lined stainless stack (rather than double walled air insulated stack) will help lower the amount of creosote buildup. But the ceramic lined stacks are pricey. https://www.hunker.com/12340975/doub...l-chimney-pipe

Make sure you have adequate incoming air to any stove of furnace combusting inside the living space. Presumably, there is enough as you have a pellet stove, but again, check.

Once you get it going, make sure you pay very close attention to it until you really know how it will behave (like for a week). Get too much draft going once things are heated up, and too hot a fire in the firebox can crack firebricks, and be a real risk.


A couple of inexpensive box fans can really move around a lot of air to where you want it.

Thanks for the links. I’m looking them over.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

We got a Kuma stove, Ashwood model I believe, from their Rathdrum store. I think there is also a Sagle outlet. It is beyond fantastic, heating all of our 1100 sq ft place. It would be sufficient for a house twice that size. Our builder picked it up for us, so I don't know if they deliver. Our stovepipe goes through the outside wall at about 7 ft to a cinderblock chimney. It is placed close to a corner in the greatroom.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

First thought is that your pellet stove has a fan that is not working. You should get good heat out of a pellet stove, but is has three fans and they all must be working in order to produce hot heat. It's probably your blower fan that blows air directly onto the burning pellets.



If the pellet stove doesn't produce enough heat, turn the volume up and run more pellets through it.


For a wood stove, buy the largest fire box that you can afford. You'll want large logs for overnight and the large box is a lot easier to load. I prefer cast iron to the sheet metal stoves, but they cost a lot more. They do hold and radiate heat longer.


A wood stove has to be fed. If a wood stove is your only heat, you must regulate how long you can be away from the house.


I've heated two different houses over 2500 square feet with a wood stove located at one end of the house. You will need a system of low impact fans to move the hot air around.


Wood must be dry. That means you need a place to store wood while it ages. Unless you do your own cutting and splitting, fire wood is not cheap. You might price wood before you commit to a wood stove.


Seriously, your cheapest and best heat is going to be a gas forced air furnace if you are located on the gas mains. Second choice would be an electric heat pump.

[SP77]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

First thought is that your pellet stove has a fan that is not working. You should get good heat out of a pellet stove, but is has three fans and they all must be working in order to produce hot heat. It's probably your blower fan that blows air directly onto the burning pellets.



If the pellet stove doesn't produce enough heat, turn the volume up and run more pellets through it.


For a wood stove, buy the largest fire box that you can afford. You'll want large logs for overnight and the large box is a lot easier to load. I prefer cast iron to the sheet metal stoves, but they cost a lot more. They do hold and radiate heat longer.


A wood stove has to be fed. If a wood stove is your only heat, you must regulate how long you can be away from the house.


I've heated two different houses over 2500 square feet with a wood stove located at one end of the house. You will need a system of low impact fans to move the hot air around.


Wood must be dry. That means you need a place to store wood while it ages. Unless you do your own cutting and splitting, fire wood is not cheap. You might price wood before you commit to a wood stove.


Seriously, your cheapest and best heat is going to be a gas forced air furnace if you are located on the gas mains. Second choice would be an electric heat pump.

My pellet stove has only 2 blowers, a convection and an exhaust. I have replaced both of them since they had started getting weak. I can run it on high and it will use 3 or more sacks a day, which is super expensive. Even with it on high, it only really heats about half of the downstairs area. And even with both new blowers, it makes it way too loud to hear the TV in the living room.



As for forced air heat, I do not have the duct work in place for central air/heating. So the only option for forced air would be a mini split heat pump system. And we do not have natural gas service here. We have a propane tank for the stove and hydronic boiler. I've used propane to heat in the past and it would not be cost effective in a cold place like here.



My preference is to burn wood. It seems silly to me to live in this area and not use wood. I have enough available just on my own property to take care of my needs. I just don't know much about wood stoves and would like to hear from those with experience. I've always had open fireplaces where I've lived before this, along with forced air central heat. Yes, fireplaces are not the most efficient heat source, but I have always enjoyed having them.