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Who knows about wood stoves?

Knuckleslammer

took the red pill
Want to put one in. Have no idea about stoves. I heard that cast iron is better than steel? My downstairs is about 1500 sq ft. That's what I'm looking to heat primarily.

I want this in case we have an extended electrical outage. So I want something that possibly has a fan but can be still used if the electricity goes out.

Here's what I have to work with. I do not want an insert either. I want something that you can put a kettle on to help humidify the room or cook on if need be.

One thing I'm not certain about is the brick on the floor, if there's enough of it? If it has to be extended? Ripped out and replaced with something else?

 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,515
7,058
Colorado
With butch here. You can also look into 'remodeling' your fireplace. Iirc, a shallow fireplace with the sides facing out at a <45* angle radiates heat outwards. One of my ex's parents had this in a heat absorbing stone. It was warm across the entire main hall, and comfortably cooking up close.

You could also put a grate over it to cook, but would need more height so as to control the heat and fire height.
 

Bushwhacker

Turbo Monkey
Dec 4, 2003
1,220
0
Tar Effing River!! NC
With butch here. You can also look into 'remodeling' your fireplace. Iirc, a shallow fireplace with the sides facing out at a <45* angle radiates heat outwards. One of my ex's parents had this in a heat absorbing stone.
The fireplace you are describing is a Rumsford.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumford_fireplace

The stone you are describing is soapstone.

I don't know how much work or changes you want to make to your existing system, but the way to go is a rocket mass heater.

 

Knuckleslammer

took the red pill
You do know they make inserts that you can cook on?

Do you have a heat return in that room that can pull the warmth to other rooms?
No it's all water baseboard heating. My house is always freezing. New house, well 7 years old. Windows suck, haven't got around to putting those little insulators in the outlets. The outlets blow cold air. If it gets <0 deg my house doesn't get up past 65 if the heat is on 80.

I did not know that about the inserts. The problem is that there are too many options for stoves, but this gives me some ideas to work with.
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,494
9,525
New house, well 7 years old. Windows suck, haven't got around to putting those little insulators in the outlets. The outlets blow cold air. If it gets <0 deg my house doesn't get up past 65 if the heat is on 80. .
was this the house you built yourself?
 

Bushwhacker

Turbo Monkey
Dec 4, 2003
1,220
0
Tar Effing River!! NC
I've never seen one put into a fireplace. They're usually a bit taller than that aren't they?
Yeah...I really couldn't see one in typical home, they mostly get used in hippy cob homes like I'm planning on building next year, but there is always a first time and they truly are the way to go when it comes to efficiency.
 

Knuckleslammer

took the red pill
No, if it was, I would have had my father and I build the house. He's been a carpenter for 40 years. The builder was an idiot. We inspected the usual stuff, such as the framing, which was top notch and the other usual stuff.

Usually a house has to undergo some sort of heating inspection I assume? We're not plumbers. The main problem is a huge room over the garage. That room is always cold and the floor is insulated. There's not enough baseboard in there and it should possibly have its own zone. The other side of the upstairs is ridiculous too. 3 bedrooms. If the heat is on 70, in our bedroom we die from the heat and the other 2 bedrooms are cold.

I need to put one of them boxes over the attic door too. Just have to get the materials. I need to get my head out of my ass and start thinking about new windows and the outlets. It's all the small sh*t that ads up to heat loss.

This was the cheapest new house we could find at the time. 4 br colonial, 2 car garage for 230k.

I built a mahogany deck off the back and a farmers porch on the front with ironwood. But the builder chose shoddy subcontractors who were morons. I've had to redo a lot of stuff in the house. Replaced all the toilets, some of the wood flooring I replaced. The garage floor is the 3rd one. The first and 2nd caved in because it was poured in the dead of winter and not compacted. The 3rd time I demanded a compaction test and that the town inspector be present during the whole thing.

Actually it was the town that helped me get the floors redone. The builder said he wasn't responsible because it was over a year and his partner split.

That builder is now bankrupt. He's lucky he's not dead. Everytime I mention his name to a plumber or carpenter they go "oh that assh*le, he owes me $4000"

Next time I build a house, if there is a next time, I'm going to pitch a tent outside while it's being built and watch every single nail that's put in.

This guy was a moron. We were picking shingles out for our house in his trailer, across the street from our house. I said "uh dood, um" and pointed to our house that already had been shingled. He lived in the neighborhood for a while. Everytime he drove down the street, I'd run right up to his car and throw him the finger. I heard that one of his dump trucks and trailer had all 18 wheels slashed.

Hmm... wonder who would have done such a thing. I pushed this guy so far but he never would get in my face. Thems were fun times.

This is one of the signs I put out front. The other one after this wasn't so nice. It said "Harrington, I bought my house under the premise I would have a functional garage floor that would not cave in and crack. Fix it you ****ing dirt bag 1/2 assed poor excuse for a builder"

 
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No it's all water baseboard heating. My house is always freezing. New house, well 7 years old. Windows suck, haven't got around to putting those little insulators in the outlets. The outlets blow cold air. If it gets <0 deg my house doesn't get up past 65 if the heat is on 80.

I did not know that about the inserts. The problem is that there are too many options for stoves, but this gives me some ideas to work with.
With hot water heat you will be served better by installing a backup generator than by installing a wood stove. The famous sucker trick is it gets real cold, you get the wood stove cranking, it tricks the thermostat, pipes freeze, then it warms up and... Niagara Falls!
 

Knuckleslammer

took the red pill
I have a generator already. I'm talking about lights out for extended period of time. Now call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but I've read some stuff on solar flares in the next few years. Most of it is considered nonsense, but the fact is, if there was a big enough one, the electrical grid of the USA is way behind the times. So I want to be prepared rather than freeze to death.

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=5283

The generator is fine. I'm contemplating getting a 55 gallon drum for that, but even that is only going to last less than a week.

I'm not confident in the way things are headed. I'm not being an alarmist, but I'm being prepared, I'm not going to freeze or starve.