We just bought a small 950 sg ft. home which we will use as a guest house innorthern Michigan. Its a little bunglelow type, 1 story, basement, 1 bd. rm., bath open kitchen living area, 2×4 construction, new insulation(fiberglass). It had a piece of crap space heater(natural gas) and we are thinking about buying a Gas Stove and locateing it in the center of the open kitchen /living area as the main sorce of heat for the house. I figure with installing a direct vent unit myself the cost of going this way will be far less that going forced air or boiler.
Anyone have any negative concerns about a good 18,000-26,000btu stove keeping people comfortable?
rk
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Engineered materials and vacuum-press laminations prevent warping and keep a tall, flush-panel door from being excessively heavy.
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
Absolutely not!
Stoves are not intended for heating or the sorts of cycling heating systems utilize.
If the people open the oven to "maximize" the heat output, they are also maximizing the relatively low temp conditions which lead to higest carbon monoxide production.
Why do we allow unvented gas stoves in houses?
Beats me. Most of the emergency CO calls I go out on are stove related.
One of the big retailers used to offer free CO testing of their ovens. Reportedly, they stopped doing it because the ovens they sold could not be brought down to acceptable levels of CO production.
View Image
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Bob, He may mean the Jotul type of stove not a kitchen stove. I hope.
yes of course I'm talking about the home heating type gas stove as opposed to a cooking stove.
rk
Ahhh!Neber mine!
Of course, there might be issues with heat distribution with separate rooms. Bring a fan! Install an electrically warmed toilet seat! {G}
View Image
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Edited 1/7/2005 9:52 am ET by Bob Walker
I mentioned the Jotul brand because they are one of the nicer ones out there. The price reflects that also.
I'm not exactly sure what the direct vent means. I kind of thought they went horizontaly through a wall not up through the roof.
Whatever you do, don't buy the vent free ones. They still dump CO in the air.
Some pull combustion air in from the outer liner of the flue.
I would think you could easily heat the space with the right one. One nice thing is they run without electricity.
J.
The ability to run without electricity is a major plus. One of my friends in southern Minnesota is at the end of the powerline. Every time there is a power outage in the heating season he is thankful that he has some heat. If I remember right it is about 80-85% efficient. Having a plan B for heat is always a good thing.
rkman,
I would never use a ventless gas unit for main heating. I had an 18000 BTU Blue Flame heater in my garage. It ran constantly through the winter to keep my big shop above freezing. This wasn't the problem though. Every 100,000 BTUs of output puts 1 gallon of water in the air. With the unit running almost 24/7 I was putting 5 gallons of water in the air each day. Anywhere the insulation was not perfect was soaking wet. As well as all my kiln dried lumber wasn't so dry anymore.
Ventless gas heaters or fireplaces should only be used for short times or for ascetics. Using them for main heating should not be done in my opinion. Not only because of the CO2 and other garbage put into the air but also the moisture, which of course over time can lead to black mold.
Tim
I installed a Vermont Castings natural gas stove in my 2300 square foot well insulated house. A photo is attached. I had not yet installed stone on the wall behind the stove nor the carpet around the hearth. Stone was not required for the heat, it was to be merely decorative. It has a double walled flue, drawing outside air in the outer ring and exhausting the combustion through the inner duct.
I'm very happy with the stove, and it's a hit with guests. It requires no electricity to operate, though it's available with an optional fan. I hooked it up to a millivolt thermostat so if the furnace ever kicked off and the house dropped to 55° the stove would come on and heat the house without needing electricity.
One night my furnace did kick off because of unusual winds which drove a drift of show against the air intake for the furnace. I ran the stove and it heated the entire 2300 square foot house in weather in the low 30s just fine for a night and a day.
I find that the Vermont Castings styling is to my taste, and the logs and flames are the most realistic of the several brands I looked at. Certainly better than Heat N' Glo.
I've got a direct vent 'Hearthstone' as sole heat source for about 960 sf on the east side of our house - gets the job done - the integral fan makes way too much noise - I usually have a box fan on the floor on 'low' to stir the air a bit - easy to get stratified air with a cold floor and lots of hot air near the ceiling...
the stove is set up for LP. and claims 80%+ effeciency....I have a hard time believing it...
it's on a thermostat...needs no electric hookup to operate, is a handsome unit - it has operated flawlessly for several years...I like it fine till they have to fill the tank..
having a radiant warm stove in an area makes for comfort at a lower air temperature...