Sizing your wood stove to suit your home

A customer asked for advice on a wood stove to heat his 1500 Square Foot home and in giving him a response I realized that this is something I have recited over and over for most of the 30 years I have been in business, so it would be a good blog article for all the people choosing a new stove. Here was my reply:I will first mention that heating a 1500 sq. ft. area is often most effectively handled by a stove that is designed to heat 1800 to 2000 sq. ft. if you want to be confident that the fire can easily be kept going for 8 hours or more. Also the convenience of having a larger fuel load for higher heat output, longer long lengths and longer burn times is often quite valuable and there is no disadvantage to sizing the stove to a larger potential area since the low burn rate on all modern wood stoves is nearly identical, so there is no threat of the stove putting out too much heat. If you plan on keeping the fire going 24 hours, 7 days a week, like most users, then these stoves should suit your needs well. The "Heritage" soapstone stove from Hearthstone– This is the most popular stove we have ever sold. It has a large firebox taking up to 21” logs, soapstone construction for holding heat long after the fire has gone low and distributing heat more evenly, a side loading door so that the user never needs to put their hand inside the stove to load fuel and can load it to the very top with no concern for ashes or coals rolling out and an ash drawer for easy ash removal thru an adjustable grate which also can serve as a quick starting technique to light logs from coals when the fire has burn down low (this is advised against by the manufacturer with concerns about liability for users leaving the ash drawer open and overheating the stove but most users find this very convenient when monitored cautiously). Here is a much more economical wood stove without as many convenient features. If you are only planning on using this stove intermittently then these smaller stoves may suit your needs as an alternative. The Hearthstone "Craftsbury" cast iron wood stove The Hearthstone "Tribute" soapstone wood stove You will find many other alternatives listed here: Hearthstone Soapstone Wood Stoves Wood Heat - Wood Stoves partial list I hope this helps you understand what is involved in choosing a wood stove for your home. Let us know what we can do to further assist you. Thanks, Bruce Bruce Beeley - owner Wood Heat Stoves & Solar 12426 N. Bloomfield Rd. Nevada City, CA 95959 530-265-8618 Fax 530-265-8656 bruce@woodheatstoves.com www.woodheatstoves.com Click here to-Watch our educational videos Click here to FOLLOW us on FACEBOOK & TWITTER