Stove For a New Build

Yell contractor you want water line installed to it…

 

You'd probably get better response to just telling them calmly...

 

The 5 gallon one?

 

Good idea!

 

here’s another one since you going to have a basement run a few 3 inch pvc pipes in wall from 2 foot off basement floor to 2 foot from ceiling, on both ends; put helpa filters on both and a computer fan (minimal power use) run to a switch in basement stairs. Cheap AC in summer and if ya got to work in basement pop cover rotate fan drag heat down

 

Yeah the big one.

The stupid water tank is too tall to fit under any sink in my house so I have to use the kitchen sink hose faucet thinggy to fill which is a colossal hassle, and it only holds 2.5 gallons. So if you want to "fill" the humidifier you have to akwardly spend 2 mins filling the tank, go stick it inside the humidifier, wait ~an hour for it to drain into the reservoir, at which point you can then go refill it a second time which will "fill" the humidifier. This lasts around ~12 hours. In practice I just find myself filling it once every 8 hours which is an annoying winter chore.

They actually humidify extremely well. I have a large house and it's able to achieve any humidity level I want in all conditions, they are just annoying to operate.

My house is quite a bit larger than yours. You would actually enjoy an Aircare a lot more than me because you could probably get away with filling it once a day.

I have my unit located on a mezzanine above my main living room which contains the stove. I think they just need to be somewhat centrally located in an area that receives airflow.

 

I’ve been spending some time thinking and digging into stoves. Haven’t made any decisions yet but still thinking one in the basement and one on the main floor. Basement stove may just be supplemental heat or when we are enjoying the basement. We will also have natural gas forced air so if we run short on BTU’s we can make sure the gas company stays open.

 

Oh yours sounds like a different design mine are like flat rectangles and the caps are on the side so I just lay them flat across the sink and let the water flow into them. I could see how that would get annoying.

 

Or just move to western washington. Pouring down rain and 50 degrees outside. And dark, and muddy, mossy, and full of wackos. We do not have low humidity issues here!

 

Didn't know there was another design. Shame they're so pricey (for what they are) or I'd buy the style you have.

 

Theyre def expensive for some plastic, fans, and a hygrometer.

 

Not a single sheet of ply or osb in this joint.

 

I think it was in the 80's that I first learned of those.

What an haven for insects/vermin!

 

On the contrary, haven't had a mouse in the house in the 10 years since we moved in. The bales are so tightly stacked, and plastered solid inside and out, there's no entrance point for them to get into the non-existant wall cavity. Where as with a conventionally built house w/bat insulation, and holes drilled in studs for wires, you've created a rodent super highway


The 2 things most folks jump to is rodent/insect and fire concerns. Once researched, you'll find both are non issues. The only real trouble I've had w/the place is fairly regular exterior plaster repairs. That's mostly my fault though, the finish coat didn't have the proper sharpness of sand, so it's been weak, and I've had to flake off and repair various small sections.

 

You win the week. I’ve never seen a house built with bales like that! I’m sure it’s fine if it is properly waterproofed but is water intrusion a concern? Any ways to monitor that?

 

Water intrusion is bad for pretty much any wall system I know of. The best analogy out there for this wall system would be a typical stud wall with dense pack cellulose. Straw is essentially the same thing. I'm not aware of anyone monitoring their stud cavities, but we did a few things to mitigate as much as possible.

1 large overhangs (2 foot)
2 The basement stem walls poke at least 18" out of the ground, so there's no splash back onto the bales.

Other than that, just a house with 2' thick walls that takes a candle to heat. Even in a cold year like this year, I'm on target for 1.3 to 1.5 cords through the keystone.

 

Another idea: wood stove on the main floor and a pellet stove in the basement. Well, actually they are both wood stoves but hopefully the concept comes across. Pellet venting pipe is easy to install and is significantly less expensive than running two double-wall stainless chimneys. There are used Harman pellet stoves which pop up on F@ceb00k marketplace for a significant discount to retail. Dane builds a superior product. A bottom-feed pellet stove will eat poor-quality pellets and corn with nothing more than extra ash and burn pot scraping. You can keep bags of pellets in the basement, ready to use when needed. I love the Ideal Steel and can't fathom parting with it, however, feeding two of them simultaneously would be quite a challenge.

 

How about MC of the bales?

Do they retain moisture?

Leading to mold issues?

 

Good thing about straw is that if it gets wet, it can dry, given a chance...hay bales on the other hand tend to stay wet, and then mold.