Getting conflicting info from local hearth shops

I'm trying to decide what size stove to put in our house. One store owner says stay with the medium sized stoves like the Jotul F400 Castine and Hearthstone Castleton, because if we go too big, we will wind up blowing ourselves out or burning small fires and getting creosote, etc. The other says go up to the Jotul Oslo / Hearthstone Heritage / BK Ashford 20.1. Being male, I like the bigger is better ideas and also like the idea of a side door. However, the reality is, we would like the smallest stove/hearth that gets the job done and we both like keep our house on the cool side, like 58-60 F. Any real world experience or advice would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
For reference, I have attached a quick rough sketch of the layout. It's a 1 story ranch, about 10 yr old, good insulation and O.K. seal. It's supposed to be about 1500 sq. ft. We currently have an oil/forced air furnace and separate direct-vent propane fireplace (marked F on sketch). I think we would like to put the wood stove at the asterisk (*) on the right hand side.

 

Go bigger-- you can build a smaller fire safely in a big stove, but you can't put stock racks on a smaller stove to get a bigger fire (safely).

 

I'm sure you know that it will be hard to keep the rooms further away from the stove location warm.

I imagine placing it on that end would look best but you do give up something in return for not putting it in a more central location.

Kind of Captain Obvious statements there but something to understand if you haven't considered it.

I agree I would probably go bigger than not. My stove is more than enough size for our house but a bigger one would have been nice when it came to loading both e-w and n-s and not worried about using shorties.

 

I'll second (or third as the case may be) to go bigger, for the reasons stated above the biggest of which I think is the build small hot fires.

Looking at your sketch you may warm up your master bedroom a little more than you like but I suspect it'll still stay comfortable. To test this theory you could turn your oil furnace down and run the gas fireplace to bring up the temp in the living/dining/kitchen area then see what it's like in the master. Might give you an idea of the temp differential? Also, I like the proposed stove placement as long as you realize that the living room is going to be the warmest room in the house that way and those back bedrooms/bathrooms are going to be significantly cooler. This seems obvious now that I type'd it out but it probably needs to be said.

One question, since you already have two forms of heat what is the desired goal of installing a wood stove? Are you looking to go fossil-free, just offset some of the oil costs, do you like css'ing and burning wood, etc? Not that any of those aren't perfectly valid excuses (reasons when we're speaking to SWMBO) but it might help "us" to offer better advice.

 

I don't think building a smaller far in a stove like the Oslo is going to cause creosote. I do it a lot in mine. Just keep the small fires hot. Doing so helps with keeping a more even heat rather than waiting for a hot stove to cool down enough to reload and not have it go nuclear on you. And yes, the side loading door is a big plus as far as I am concerned. You sound like my wife and I in the fact that we don't need to have a sauna type heat in our home in fact we preferred a cooler bedroom for sleeping. Our Oslo is in the basement (24x48) and if we keep that at an even 70° in the basement the upstairs most generally stays around 65° which is more than fine with us. What is the bump out where you are planning on putting the stove? All ready there or is that a chase you are going to build? I say go big as you can afford.

 

Just as some have already said, go bigger. Having bigger and burning less aggressive will get you the heat you need. If you went smaller you would struggle to keep up if it wasn't quite enough.
Is this purchase going to be for the end of this heating season or for next year?
Have you considered catalyst stoves? or hybrids?

 

My experience is that catalytic based stoves are by far better regarding lower burn rates, regardless of stove size. A medium or even large cat. based stove will burn slower and produce less heat (per hour, for more hours of course) than a medium or even small non- cat. stove. The non- cat. stoves have a much higher minimum burn rate to burn cleanly and will produce too much heat for short periods of time.

And by cat. based, I mean the hybrids also, which I consider cat. based stoves.

Your house layout is pretty good for heating with a spot heater such as a wood stove in my opinion. A small fan, or better yet a small blower, sitting on the floor at the end of the hallway and directing air toward the other end of the house will go a long way to spreading the heat around. I use a medium size blower in my house and it makes about a 7 F degree difference in the back room, which is two rooms away from where the stove is located.

Brian

 

On this last stove I purchased a little bigger stove than I thought I was going to need and am I ever glad I did. You can always burn a hot small fire in a big stove for shoulder season, but there nothing you can do with too small of a stove during the middle of winter to make it produce more heat for a long period of time.

A lot of these "big" stoves run down to 13,000 to 15,000 btus during a burn, and even less during the coaling phase. If you check how many btu's your current furnace is and the approximate how many hours/ day it runs, you can guesstimate how many btu's per day your currently using. Might help in your decision making.

With your layout, your bedrooms could easily be 10 degrees cooler than the living space, something else to consider.

 

I agree with Brian 100% on his post. Get you a Cat stove if you have the money.

 

Actually, my wife is going through hot flashes these, so she sets the thermostat WAY low. However, I caught here turning on the propane fire place lately as the temps go below zero...

 

A cat stove is the way to go since you like cool temps,(well you've conditioned yourself to like low temps lol) they will burn cleaner at low temps better than a non-cat. Out of the ones like you listed the BK Ashford is the stove to go with, if you have the space I wouldn't mess with the 2.0 I'd go with the bigger 3.0. The footprint won't be much bigger for the 3.0 and the low output on the 3.0 is actually lower than the 2.0 according to the BK site.

The location looks fine to me, a small fan at the far end of the hallway blowing cold air towards the stove should work nicely.

 

Good info everyone. Here's some responses.
1) We have had to use the propane stove when the electricity goes out and it is super convenient. It can keep the living room in the mid-lower 60's and the master bedroom in mid to high 50's. Plenty enough for emergency use.
2) Goal: We have 16 acres of hardwood forest now and I love CSS'ing wood. Would love to decrease our oil/propane consumption since the pricing is so erratic. Oil prices are almost 1/2 what they were just last winter. A good looking stove is important for the 7-8 months a year we aren't burning.
3) Looking to buy for next heating season. I've got some 3-5 y.o. firewood stockpiled and I'm working on building up my wood hoard with a mixture of fast drying/standing dead Ash/Maple/Black Birch. I'll probably have to buy some dry wood for next year. I'm also starting up my 3 yr plan. I've got a bunch of beautiful red and white oak I'm working on getting CSS'd.
4) I've looked into cat stoves and I'm waffling. Like the efficiency, especially at low heat, but I like the simplicity and fireshow of a tube stove. Either way, I'll probably upgrade in 5-10 yrs.

Overall, I think that I'm overthinking this!

 

I wonder if you will get use to the higher temp wood heat so much that you will

No it sounds like you are doing a good job planning !

 

My first stove was a non-cat, I burned it for two seasons then bought my BK with a cat. I couldn't handle the roller coaster non cat ride and I don't think you will enjoy it since you don't like it hot. The swings you get with a non cat at the beginning of a new load were tough to deal with for me. A cat stove you can control with a nice flat output is nice to have.

 

This was what I was looking for in a stove, along with low/long burn ability. Very pleased.

 

Well I am going to buck the status quo here on the cat stoves. Now keep in mind that I have never owned one and the local dealers around here don't even sell them, in fact the place I bought my Oslo from said they refused to sell a stove that required that kinda maintenance, I have to wonder. When I read the forums that pertain to wood burning and stoves in general, I see a lot of folks wanting help with a cat stove that isn't working right or needs a new cat or the cat needs cleaning right in the middle of prime heating season.
I'm just a dumb azz and have always had a black box to throw wood in for some heat and I sure do like my Black Sabbath. Maybe a suggestion, if the stove dealers in yer neck of the woods are honest, maybe they could give you some referral's as to the stoves they have sold to customers. Those folks might be more than happy to let you see how their stoves perform.