Selecting a wood stove requires that you make consideration of three different factor: the size of the wood stove, the material of the wood stove, and the installation requirements of the wood stove. If you choose a wood stove that is too small for your home, the wood stove wont be able to provide enough heat to your living space to remain comfortable. However, if you choose a wood stove that is too large for your home, the wood stove will emit so much heat into the room that it cant distribute that heat to the remainder of the rooms in your home.
Therefore, you must choose a wood stove that best suit the size of your home. In order to choose the correct wood stove for your living space, you must calculate the volume of air in the room in which you intend to place the wood stove. While square footage is a common measurement of the size of a living space, the volume of air in a space is a more accurate measurement of the heat that will be required to effective heat that space.
How to Choose a Wood Stove
For instance, if your living space contain vaulted ceilings, the volume of air in that space will be larger than a living space with standard ceiling heights. Because heat rise, a space with a greater volume of air will require a wood stove that can emit more heat then a space with standard ceilings. Thus, you must take the volume of air in your intended space as an factor in your selection of a wood stove.
The firebox volume of the wood stove will impact the size of the logs that can be placed in the stove, as well as the length of time that the wood stove will remain burning without needing to add more wood. If the firebox volume is large, you can place logs of a large diameter within the firebox, and the wood stove will remain burning for a longer period of time. Conversely, if the firebox volume has a small capacity for the amount of logs that can be stored within it, the wood stove will need to continually add wood to that firebox in order to continue to burning steadily.
The material of the wood stove will impact the manner in which the wood stove releases heat into the space in which it is placed. For instance, if the wood stove is made of cast iron, the stove will take in a great deal of heat from the burning logs, and the cast iron will release that heat slow. Stoves made of steel will heat to high temperatures rapidly, but will release that heat at a slower rate than the cast iron stove.
Finally, wood stoves made of soapstone will heat to the same temperatures as the steel stoves, but will release that heat at a slower rate over time; the soapstone act as a “thermal battery” that stores the heat from the logs and allow it to be released slowly even after the fire in the wood stove has gone out. These different materials will impact the way in which you need the wood stove to function in your home. Finally, there are specific installation requirements and rules that you must follow when installing a wood stove into your home.
Since fire pose a threat to your home, it is essential that you install the wood stove according to the safety rules that have been established over time to protect your home from fire. Rules may require that you maintain specific distances between the wood stove and the walls or ceilings of your home, and that certain rules are followed if your wood stove use a heat shield. Additionally, a hearth pad must be installed under the wood stove; this ensure that your floor is protected from both the radiant heat that is emitted from the wood stove, as well as from any ember that may exit the wood stove.
The design of your wood stove will impact the way in which you must place the wood stove within your room. Freestanding wood stoves can be moved to various locations within the house. Inserts are built to fit within a masonry fireplace, transforming your existing fireplace into a wood stove.
Built-in wood stove are installed into your home during a remodel, and cannot be moved once installed. Finally, the climate within your home will impact the size of the stove that you choose. In areas that are extremely cold during the winter, more heat will be lost through the walls of the house.
Therefore, it is better to use a large wood stove that remains on a low heat setting than to use a small wood stove that is set to a high heat setting that may not be able to prevent the water in your pipes from freezing in the winter months.
