Wood stove size

[fordtruckin]

Planning to replace our gas fireplace with a wood stove this coming spring. Our house is only 1200sqft and the wood stove would be more for supplemental heat as we turn the electric heat up to around 65degrees where nothing will freeze and then warm it up the rest of the way with the wood stove.

Per all the climate charts, I live in zone 7/8. The stove I'm looking at is a Drolet Fox or Escape. Both are "rated" to heat up to 1200 sqft, BUT in climate zone 7/8 it says they're only "rated" up to 900 sqft. Our house is built fairly tight with spray foam insulation and we are in the process of replacing windows. It has vaulted ceiling with a great room open to a loft above the other rooms. IN reality the woodstove will only heat the great room and loft etc...

My question, would those stoves be sufficient to heat that air space or would it be better to step up to a larger stove? I'm not really limited by any space constraints, but obviously don't want to go too large. I also like the looks of the Drolet Black Stag II. I'm not necessarily one for a glass front as all the stoves I've had in the past with glass are an absolute PAIN to keep clean.

The only 3 things I'm set on are loading over depth a flat top so we can cook on it should power go out (which happens frequently) and a 6" flue.

Thanks in advance. Trying to get everything ordered over the winter so when the snow melt's I can start the install as I have to tear out a brick fireplace surround, mantle and hearth then redo the floor in tile and wall etc...

[ghfalls]

I’d suggest going a little bigger. The drolet stoves are great and with the air turned down, you can almost choke it right down to a smoulder. I run a pyropak in a 400 sq ft cabin and can gets overnight burns easily. A little bit bigger of a firebox might be good for the cold snaps. The blackomb II looks like a nice size. Not too big.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by ghfalls

I’d suggest going a little bigger. The drolet stoves are great and with the air turned down, you can almost choke it right down to a smoulder. I run a pyropak in a 400 sq ft cabin and can gets overnight burns easily. A little bit bigger of a firebox might be good for the cold snaps. The blackomb II looks like a nice size. Not too big.

Bigger is better than marginal, especially when it get's really cold.

Grizz

[Big Grey Wolf]

Ford, larger is better as can load for all night burn. Glass fronts are nice, some good quality ones have air sweep to keep clean. I find Windex very easy to wipe glass with paper towel. If you choke fire, causes most carbon build-up on front glass.

[cody j]

I would say to go larger also, longer burn time with a bigger firebox.

[Dean2]

One more vote for bigger than needed. If is very easy to damp down a larger stove, but to get enough heat out of a small one is going to mean more reloads and short burn times. Also, if coal is available in your area, especially if it is delivered, you might want to look at coal capable stoves. Coal is a lot easier to live with than cutting and hauling wood.

[YYC338]

Yup, I'm with most folks here. You can make bigger burn smaller easier than you can make smaller burn bigger.

[StiksnStrings]

Yes, as large as you can. We installed a stove good for 2000sqft in our 1200 sqft bungalow. The benefits of a larger firebox are worth it. At temps down in -30's we can keep the house toasty warm (around 23c). The main furnace tends to kick out so we turn the fan on to run and warm air circulates throughout the house.

[fordtruckin]

Guess I'll go with a larger stove then! Inlaws have a Drolet load over width and it drives me nuts. Every time they open the stove ash and coals try to roll out as there is no depth to the fire box. That is one thing I liked about the last house I had with a Blaze King King. With such a deep fire box nothing would roll out. The only thing I didn't like about the Blaze King was it was a Catalytic burner. I may have to take a look at the newer BK Princess though after a couple PM's.

Parents used to have a Napolean and while a great stove I did not care for the top as it was tiered. Made it impossible to put anything on it.

[guysmiley]

I run a jotul F500.

Love it. Simple with one air control lever, no cat and a big firebox. The side loading door is handy as well.

Old world charm too.

[silver]

I have a Drolet and am happy with it, sorry can't recall the model number off hand. I have no problem with coals or ashes rolling out the door. I love the glass door because I can keep an I on the wood situation. It also really adds to the enjoyment of the fire. If I let the fire get smoky is when the glass gets dirty. A quick spray of windex and a cloth will clean up most times. If it gets really bad, a razer blade scraper will get the worst.

[obsessed1]

We run a napoleon 1400iirc. We heat our 1600 foot home with it all winter. 800 on main 800 upstairs. It's been fantastic..we have the aluminum hot plate cook top on ours instead of the top grate.. it will boil water/ cook stew. All in all the stove has been amazing.

[MountainTi]

Go big or stay home (too keep the stove stoked)
Nice to come home after a 13-14 hour workday and just have to add wood to get fire going rather than re-lighting stove

[outofbounds]

For our off grid wood burner we use the Newmac Status, 12 hour burn time as has a large firebox and is very efficient.

Handles 20" logs with room to spare, no ash mess when loading due to door design.

Set out trapping, fishing or hunting before daylight, return after supper place is still warm and a bed of coals remains.

No waking up in the night to stoke her up, load up with birch turn it down and hit the sack.

Always had issues with glass fronts and gaskets, so opted for wood burner without this go round.

Straight chimney, no elbows or offsets so she draws well.

[KegRiver]

Another vote for larger. Or more to the point, a longer firebox.

I have an older back draft heater. I'd never buy another. The draft channel fills up with ashes far to quickly. And often ashes block the opening into the firebox even before the channel fills up.

My brother has a front draft heater. With the draft higher as his is, there are none of the issues with intake air like mine has. And with the longer firebox his heater keeps the house warm all night.

Mine is rated as an 8 hour burn but the fire dies down significantly after only four hours so the house is cold by 4:00am even though there is still fire in the firebox.

I do like the look of the Drolet's ash pan. My heater does not have a ash pan so I have to let it go completely out before I clean out the ashes.
And mine has less then two inches in which ashes can accumulate before they start causing issues.

Brother heater has a good six inches for ashes to accumulate so he only has to clean it out a couple of times during the cold part of the winter.

About using these heaters as a stove, they are only efficient for that purpose when running hot, which can mean overheating the living space.

My brother and I do use them to keep a kettle of water warm but finish heating on a proper stove is hot water is needed. Having warm water all the time speeds up the heating for tea and such and saves fuel.

I have a conventional gas stove, he has propane.

The best heater I ever used was one made by my big brother for our line shack.

It was made from a 3 foot section of six sided seeder tank. He welded a draft from an old cook stove onto one side and made a door for the front.

Something about the design resulted in the cleanest burning heater I have ever seen and it was much less prone to smoke escaping during loading then any I have ever used.

I think it was the side draft. I believe it caused the air flow inside to roll bringing the combustion gasses back into the flame and inducing a front to back flow that did not reverse as easily as other designs.

But I have never found a commercially made product with a side draft aside from some wood burning cook stoves.

I did notice though that those cook stoves seemed to heat a space a lot better then one would expect, considering the size of their fireboxes.

I grew up in a log cabin heated by a wood cook stove. The cabin was maybe 800 sq feet but the stove had a small firebox. Just 16 inches long and about a foot square. So just over a cubic foot of volume.

My present heater is about 4 cubic feet of volume and my brother's is about 6 cubic feet.

BTW we both use a lot of poplar for firewood. Which as we all know is one of the lowest heat output woods available.

On the homestead we used mostly Tamarack for the cook stove.

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by guysmiley

I run a jotul F500.

Love it. Simple with one air control lever, no cat and a big firebox. The side loading door is handy as well.

Old world charm too.

My local dealer said they can't get any Jotul products due to the "current covid environment". Either way they haven't had one for over a year in their show room and he flat out told me probably not till end of 2022.

Has anyone used Lodi? We saw the Lodi Endeavor and so far I like the looks of that one the best. Not a true flat top but you can still cook on the lower half and warm on the top half. I really like a straight pull up handle to open the door vs the standard twist 270ish degrees handle.

[fordtruckin]

Well after visiting all our local dealers the wife and I decided going with a Lopi Endeavor. (not Lodi as I previously stated). I figured the steel would be the hold up given supply chain issues but it turns out the glass is on back order. Apparently there are many completed units minus the glass waiting to ship. We've been waiting now for about 2 months for it to show up not that it matters as I don't want to remove the gas fireplace until the weather warms up and decides to stop snowing! Does anyone know if there is a market for used propane fireplaces?? Don't want to toss it out, or give it away as I figure it has to be worth at least 300-500$.

[Sprucegum]

You could put a steel plate in place of the glass if it’s still not available when you are ready to install the stove.

[daveyn]

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I had a Jotul Rangely in my camp which was about 1000 sq feet.
More than big enough to heat that very poorly insulated space with lots of single pane windows.
The stove could be loaded from the top or the front, firebox was plenty wide and deep, I could put 18 inch logs in either sideways or front to back depending on how I wanted to burn
The top of the stove had a plate specifically designed for cooking and the top load gate had a built in basket so it worked as an oven or warming tray.
Brilliant design, I sold it with the building and regret it a lot.