Couple of wood burner questions

GoldenMom · #1 04/03/08, 06:51 PM

DH and I are going to be undertaking a bit of remodeling this summer (taking down the plaster and putting up insulation, new electric, and drywall in most of the downstairs). We are seriously considering adding a wood stove for heat. We will still have the propane furance to use as backup, etc. I have two major questions about heating with a wood stove:

1. The wood stove would be on the main level of our home. Will the basement get/stay too cold without the heat from the furance (which is in the basement)? I don't relish having pipes freeze (we live in central Iowa)!

2. Is placement of the stove a big factor? We would put the stove in the dining room (our house is basically 4 rooms down-the dining room is the Northwest room). Our house is pretty open, so I think air would circulate OK. We have 2 places in the dining room where the stove could go:

-My DH would like to put it in the very NW corner of the room (FYI: this is the farthest away point of all other rooms in the house). With this configuration, the stove pipe would exit out the wall and go up the outside of the house. We do have a pretty tall roof and with this configuration there would be A LOT of pipe above the roofline. There is also a window that would be within about 3 feet of the stove in this configuration.

-I would like to put the stove on the wall between the NW (dining room) and SW (kitchen) rooms. The stove pipe would go straight up, through a closet, and thru pretty much the peak of the roof. The stove would not only be more centrally located, but be very near the stairway, so I think more heat would go to the upstairs (we don't have any ducts to the upstairs, so we're used to passive heating anyway!).

Please tell me if one of these configurations is preferable as far as cleaning, safety, longevity, etc goes!

heather · #2 04/03/08, 07:03 PM

we heat with a soapstone stove on the main level of our home -
our basement is a walkout basement with 3/4 under ground
it does not get freezing cold in the basement but goes down into the 40s
we have an electric furnace with all duct work, etc
So we can turn on our furnace fan (not using the heat) to suck warm air from upstairs through the cold air returns & throughout the rest of the house (including the basement)
It doesn't make the basement WARM but keeps it warm enough

as far as placement of the stove & stove pipe - it depends on your local code (if you care about your local code)
our insurance company came to inspect our installation also
most stoves also come with recommendations on how far to place the stove from walls and how much room the pipe needs when going through walls & roof

I'm not sure I've been too helpful, but given you things to think about - some of it will depend on the type of stove you get - they make them to heat all different sq ft

We love our wood heat

neolady · #3 04/03/08, 08:30 PM

Check out the bylaws - a stove pipe within three feet of an opening (ie. window) may not meet the bylaw - or be acceptable to your insurer. Same with "through a closet". Although more desirable to have a chimney inside the house, I bet from your description that the selkirk chimney on an exterior wall will be loads less work. There again, you are going to have to check out the bylaws, because in some locations, you will have to "box" the prefabricated chimney in.

Your basement may or may not freeze. We have no heat whatsoever in our basement, live in a cold, windy east coast climate, and the temperature on the coldest days never drops below 50 degrees. In the summer it usually is around 60 degrees.

**Ross** · #4 04/03/08, 09:09 PM

Running the furnace fan is a good idea. Is the basement insulated? You can get a basement insulation "bag" that wraps around the top four feet of basement wall that has vapour barrier built in. You can insulate your pipes and even hang a heat lamp over things like the pump. Exterior chimneys are easier to sweep in some ways, the interior chimney exiting near the peak less prone to down drafting. Wood stoves near the exterior wall are easier to provide combustion air to, centrally located stoves generally distribute heat better. I'd put the stove where it would be easy to clean and keep stocked with wood.

NEOhioSmiths · #5 04/04/08, 07:10 AM

First-off, get the stove. Wood heat is wonderful.

Next, I would post your question on www.hearth.com - they have a great forum (like here) and many extremely knowledgable folks who give great advice.

Regarding basement - will not freeze. Our basement (we live in NE Ohio) stays a fairly constant temperature in the 50's when heat is not running.

Regarding stove placement, the most central location is best. You will get the pretty much all of the heat out of the stove, not the pipe (which will be double wall pipe with insulation between the tubes) so go with the location that provides the most central location of the stove. The folks on hearth.com will tell you that it's always better to go straight up and out rather than out the side, then 90 degree turn, then up due to conductance and optimal stove draft. I would try for straight up and out for the that reason. That said, if the run is extremely long, you might have to go out the side. Best thing to do is consult a reputable local installer (several of them if you can) and see what they recommend.

Whatever you decide, DO NOT skimp on installation. Safety must come first. Get the stove professionally installed with top-grade materials.

Let us know what you decide and happy burning!!!

jross · #6 04/04/08, 08:10 AM

Bear in mind the prevailing wind direction. If your chimney isn't high enough, a NW wind passing over the roof will create a slight negative pressure on the S E side of the house. Smoke will crawl over the roof and into the low pressure area, and possibly into the house.

**Cabin Fever** · #7 04/04/08, 08:10 AM

Our woodstove is on the main floor. We do not heat our basement. The basement walls are insulated. The basement temps rarely drop below 50ºF and never less than 45ºF. I’d say that 80% or more of the winter the basement is at 55ºF.

My opinion would be to place the stove is a location where the chimney has the least high above the roof. This location will result in less creosote production because the chimney will stay warmer since much of it is inside the house and it will make sweeping from above much easier.

GoldenMom · #8 04/04/08, 11:46 AM

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like we'll have a bit of homework to do before deciding exactly where to put it. Not to mention we have to pick the brand, etc (I've perused the sticky a few times, now just have to DH to do the same).

I guess I shouldn't have worried too much about the basement (though I really like the tip of running the furnace fan!), I remembered after I posted that we lost power for 3 days a couple of winters ago and were just heating with a couple of propane wall heaters. The basement never froze then.

Gary in ohio · #9 04/04/08, 11:50 AM

check your home owner insurance, some dont cover wood burners.

Barn Builder · #10 04/04/08, 02:00 PM

Going streight up with your pipe,it will draw better that way, one layer pipe on inside,that way you get some heat from your pipe,but" be sure double insulated,going through the sealing.Make sure you get good height above your roof for good draw of air,so you dont have the heater smoking up your house.

Hooligan · #11 04/04/08, 02:14 PM

Our unheated, uninsulated basement doesn't get anywhere near freezing here in northern Vermont.

Stove placement depends on the ease (or lack of) of running your stack, proximity to the areas where you really want your heat to be and how easy/hard will it be to access the stack for cleaning.

I don't mean to be contradictory to those that feel otherwise but it has been my experience that running a stack straight out the wall and up the outside of the house is a perfectly acceptable option in many cases. That is the way I have my current stove set up and it works just fine.

One big advantage of this sort of set up is it allows you to put a clean-out trap in the elbow which makes sweeping the stack A LOT less messy.

Good luck.

NEOhioSmiths · #12 04/07/08, 03:07 PM

"One big advantage of this sort of set up is it allows you to put a clean-out trap in the elbow which makes sweeping the stack A LOT less messy."

I'm one of the folks that said straight up and out was best, but that's based on what I read and what folks on hearth.com recommended. That said, I had never thought of a cleanout trap! That's an idea. I may reconsider the venting of a new stove we're installing b/c of this - great point!

**Ross** · #13 04/07/08, 05:52 PM

As far as chimney fires are concerned the least obstruction or bend in the chimney the better....... so goes the theory. In a chimney fire situation there might be science (maybe not) to prove its better to have a straight run back to the stove so molten creosote runs back into the firepot to burn safely. I'd rather have an outside cleanout "trap" to catch this flamable goo outside my house so the fire can be fought outside my house! Basically where-ever its put clean the chimney more often than recomeneded. I still say put it where you'll use it but I lean towards the outside pipe despite the potential draft issues. If it down drafts you can always add a section of chimney to get it above turbulence from the roof peak.

**Cabin Fever** · #14 04/08/08, 08:49 AM

The only disadvantage that I can think of for an outside chimney is that the chimny temps are always going to be cooler inside the chimney making it possible for greater creosote production. This is probably not a big deal if the majority of your fires are hot. But if you do a lot of "all-night" damped down "cool" fires in an airtight stove, maintaining optimum chimney temperatures will be difficult with an outdoor chimney.

With that said, I would recommend sweeping an outdoor chimney more often than an indoor chimney.