What do the numbers mean?

[chainsawaddict]

HELP! What do the numbers mean?

how do the square foot recommendations work?

probably a silly question, but my house is 1050 square ft main level, 700 upstairs. Do I need a stove that heats 1000 square feet or 1700 square ft?

I know bigger is better, but practicallity and efficiency are nice as well.

 

[Wet1]

You want something to heat 1750+ sq ft. BUT... The numbers don't really mean much. Manufactures like to tell tall tales about what their stoves are capable of (sq ft and burn times). If I were you, I'd look for a stove with around a 2.8 to 3.2 cu ft fire-box. That should be enough to heat your home and give you reasonably long burn times.

 

[Billy_Bob]

You can only build a small fire in a small woodstove and can only place small pieces of wood in a small woodstove.

In a large woodstove, you can build a small or large fire and you can place small or large pieces of wood inside.

So large is better. More flexibility with cutting wood. All sorts of sizes will fit. Longer pieces of wood will fit. And large monster pieces will burn all night with damper closed, there will still be a few glowing embers in the morning.

 

[1savagehunter]

I second that

 

[Butch(OH)]

I don't think they mean dink in all truthfulness. Insulation and location are huge variables. On the same day in any February I would guess that the best built 1000 square house in N.D. takes more heat than a 5000 ft corncrib with the doors wide open located in Texas. If you are thinking of an OWB all the mfgs catalogs say "this stove rated for XXXX feet" but then when you start looking the dealers say ya but double your actual feet and then get the next bigger one, why not just say you need X for X???. Don't know about EPA rated wood stoves because I have never looked at new or new specs. There is probably something to say for efficiency being better for a unit that is more closely matched to demand, how much? I don't have a clue, just seems logical I guess. With an OWB the bigger units do have distinct advantages when it comes to how often a person has load it and I think that in itself is one of the attractions to them. It is my understanding that the newer EPA rated stoves cannot be shut down like my old 1970s production Arrow wood stove. The old Arrow can be shut down to pure nothing with dry fuel and will stay luke warm for 24 hours. If the EPA stoves work as I understand them to work this is not possible so a larger than needed stove and a load of wood is not going to give you longer burns but just a hotter than hades house. Someone who operates one can better answer that. Of course small fires can be built as suggested but that kinda cancels out any reason for buying an oversize stove I think?

 

[John D]

Go with the biggest door size,and firebox you can afford.Like was mentioned, small stove means more work for you,more splitting and cutting,and loading more often.A large stove is the best investment you can make,also larger rounds fit in it,and they burn nice and slow,and long burn times.Smal stoves need small wood,that quickly burns up much faster with more heat going up the chimney than the larger slower burning rounds.My poor brother lives in an old drafty 2 story house,with a smaller stove,with this cold snap,he needs to get up every 2-3 hrs at night and reload it or the oil furnace needs to kick on.Splitting is very time consuming as well,because you cant get anything bigger around than 6" thru the door.