Advice on choosing the right Wood Burning Stove size

Advice on choosing the right Wood Burning Stove size

BTU, kW.It's all just Greek to me. When it comes to heating your home you really do not want to buy the wrong heating system or something that isn't going to heat your house. Most of the time when you look at the description for a wood stove you see that it heats in BTUs. A BTU is a British Thermal Unit. This is a measure of how much heat the stove puts out. Sometimes you see the measurement in kW, Kilowatts. The output you require is dependent on the size of the room to be heated. To figure it out you need to measure the length, width, and height of the room you wish to heat. Once you have that measurement you have the cubic meters of the room. To heat a 25 cubic meter space it takes approximately 1kW if the room is well insulated. If it is not then 1kW will heat a 15 cubic meter average insulated room, of a 10 cubic meter poorly insulated room.

When you have the initial measurements you multiply them all together and divide by the insulation figures listed above. Here is an example:

If the room is 10 feet wide, 10 feet long, and 10 feet tall your cubic meter space is 1000. Let's assume the room is insulated fairly well, but not excellent meaning it falls in the average category. We'll now take 1000 and divide it by 15 cubic meters. This means it will take approximately 66.6 kW to heat that room.

Now as we have already mentioned the units may be given in BTUs for the stove you're looking at. To convert kW to BTU you'll need this conversion:

1 kW or kWh (same thing) = 3412.3 BTU/hr

So to convert this example to BTUs then take 66.6 kW and multiply it by 3412.3 BTUs and you'll get 227,259.18 BTUs.

None of this really matters though if you have a room that has a lot of windows, drafty doorways, etc. Weather proofing your home and adding more insulation will help you heat your home.

If you are buying a woodstove for looks more than the heat, make sure you do not buy a stove that will put out too much heat. If you are running that stove at lower outputs the efficiency will be poor, possibly cause flue problems including condensation and reduced visual appeal due to smaller flames and under performing airwash. You are better to have a stove that has slightly less output than you require so that the stove is working hard all the time, resulting in more flames and cleaner glass.

Before buying and installing any wood burning stoves you should have your chimney and flue inspected by a trained, certified chimney sweep. Your chimney may have a low integrity that prevents you from safely burning a fire in that stove. Also call your insurance company and talk to them about adding that a wood burning stove or fireplace to your home owner's insurance policy. www.woodstove-outlet.com carries a very nice selection of wood stoves. Check them out before you make a purchase decision.

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