Stove and quick cabin heat

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yankeesouth

yankeesouth

Member
Feb 9, 2011
61
Southwestern PA
Here are the facts:

I do this routine 6-10 times from October –March. (When it’s cold enough to burn.)

Arrive at the cabin around 6:00pm on a Friday planning to stay until Sunday and its 23 degrees outside. Cabin has auxiliary propane insert for quick heat, but no heat is left on in the cabin just electric. Translation….it’s also 23 degrees inside the cabin!

Cabin is 1200-ish(sqf) moderately insulated- R-19 roof R-10/12 at best for walls. Floor….sorry but you need to wear socks! Oh, did I mention I also bring along “management†and the two kids for the weekend. The kids are fine but “management†gets pissed when she has to wait for heat!

I am trying to figure out a few things. Will the Mid-moe (I have a blower for it) I bought do the trick for heating up the place fast or should look for modern EPS model? Also, any suggestions on getting heat fast? There has to be someone out there with a similar situation….what do you do for fast heat? Yes the propane insert gets turned on but that just doesn’t cut it.
 
We used a small steel stove in our cabin in the Adirondacks. Sometimes it'd be negative degrees in the cabin when we arrived. The steel throws off heat a lot faster than a cast or stone stove will. Along with a few electric heaters, the place would heat up within an hour, but wouldnt get toasty for a few hours. When it's that cold, its going to take a while to heat up not just the space, but the walls, floors, etc. Best of luck.
 
Try the mid-moe and see how it works out. And get some fleece or wool lined cabin slippers for the family and guests.
 
For eleven years, I lived in an old, small miner's cabin in the trees. The insulation consisted of old sawdust/wood chips poured into the walls decades ago. Better than nothing, but not much. Wood stove for heat. When I'd be gone for a day, the cabin would freeze inside [potatoes and etc. had to be stored inside the fridge...only place insulated well enough to protect them].

When I'd come home, the inside of the cabin heated up fast with my steel stove. But even two or three days later, with the stove going all the time, I could open a drawer and stick my hand in behind the sock and it was COLD in there. Same deal for closets, etc.

There is just no way I can think of to arrive at an abode and get it all toasty everywhere inside in two days. The air in the living space will heat up in a matter of a couple hours...the floor never in two days and much of the rest of it, too. Better pull those bed covers back, too, to let the mattress attempt to warm up or crawling into bed at night will always be a shock.
 
I think the only effective thing you can do is to hire a local to come on Thursday and turn on your propane heat so that cabin is 50s when you get there. Then the wood stove will heat it up real quick. If your cabin is in a vacation area there are plenty of local caretakers you can hire.
 
SteveKG said:
For eleven years, I lived in an old, small miner's cabin in the trees. The insulation consisted of old sawdust/wood chips poured into the walls decades ago. Better than nothing, but not much. Wood stove for heat. When I'd be gone for a day, the cabin would freeze inside [potatoes and etc. had to be stored inside the fridge...only place insulated well enough to protect them].

When I'd come home, the inside of the cabin heated up fast with my steel stove. But even two or three days later, with the stove going all the time, I could open a drawer and stick my hand in behind the sock and it was COLD in there. Same deal for closets, etc.

There is just no way I can think of to arrive at an abode and get it all toasty everywhere inside in two days. The air in the living space will heat up in a matter of a couple hours...the floor never in two days and much of the rest of it, too. Better pull those bed covers back, too, to let the mattress attempt to warm up or crawling into bed at night will always be a shock.
Click to expand...
Wow sounds like you were roughing it pretty good, must of had just a outhouse and no running water, I agree on it taking a long time to warm up the objects in the cabin and crawling into a cold bed would be like a polar bear plunge in the frozen lake.
 
OldSpark,
You just described our first cabin in the Adirondacks.
 
I do have some good neighbors…never thought about having them kick start the place before I arrive. Actually the reason I bought the mid-moe, other than getting it for cheap, was because it is steel and my hope is to get it hot fast so it can radiate heat. I have a loft and open ceiling with a ceiling fan. My hope is that I can also harness the heat that goes up and bring it back down with the fan. I’ll keep you posted!
 
Get yourself a decent steel plate stove. We used to hang out in my buddies barn. It wasn't insulated at all, about 900 sq ft and a small steel plate stove gave off very quick heat. I would say within 20-30 minutes it was warm enough to take our jackets off. 45 minutes we were down to t-shirts. Plus, management can sit by the stove which lessens the complaining
 
If you have a thermostat on that aux insert (possible?) and a phone line you can get yourself a freezealarm unit. controls 2 thermostats overa phone line for your "comfort" stat and your "away" stat. Leave the comfort stat on high and the unit running on the away stat - or no stat for that matter and dial into it on your way to the cabin. Of course all predicated on the phone line. I am currently using one and it works very well ... after a few wiring hiccups. If it's a throw switch to turn the aux insert on you can also control it via the freeze alarm.

I agree with logger's comment, it's not so much getting to the comfotable zone but all the entire building sucking up the heat before you really start to fell warm.
 
-Plug in timer and electric heaters.
-Bring along a big buddy heater. I have one of those and it puts off 19,000 BTUs for a couple of hours on two small 1lb propane tanks and can really help get up to temp. Then shut it down when you have a fire roaring and the big stove is throwing some heat.
-have neighbors help ya out.
-get thermostatically controlled baseboard heat and get a nice 7-Day thermostat to keep temps at whatever you want.
 
Try burning wood that gets hot and burns fast like popler or scrap lumber or pallets that is a good way to make fast heat use the small stuff the once up to temp use the bigger wood.
 
Word - electric blankets. Preheat the beds when you start the fire. I don't like sleeping under them, but you can turn the blankets off when you go to bed if you like it cool when you sleep.
 
Mick-Fish said:
How-Bout.....Build fire turn heat on ,and get out of their for two hours....Go food shopping ,go to a bar ,out to dinner
Click to expand...

They don't drink in SW Pennsylvania... :)
 
YOu can buy a propane convection heater for $99 that works with a gas grill tank 20 Lb size. Heater puts out 80000 btu for hours. If thats not enough they make a slightly larger one the puts out 250,000 BTUS For about $125 but that i think is overkill.
 
I'm not a fan of unvented propane heaters. They produce too much moisture and I always worry about CO.
 
Wow. Sounds like a canvas tent might be better ;-)

I've got a 12x12 canvas tent that I heat with a 16 gauge steel stove. Down to t-shirts and shorts in minutes.
 
Ya...My routine has been: put the fireplace on, (I do have a heatalater sort of thing in it), through the propane on and find a watering hole for a while. But it's hard to drag management and the kids to the Fish-n-game club!
 
We use electric blankets too, well sort of, we upgraded to an electric matress pad so the heat is beneath you and preheat every night before bed. On cold nights shut down the stat (blanket has a stat) to 40% but most nights just 20%. They use very little electricity and are quite safe.
 
high beam is spot on- electric mattress pad. the commissioner bought one for our log cabin here and one for the cottage in canada. best cold weather item i've ever seen. heats the bed in about 30 minutes and you don't even need an electric blanket-just flannel sheets and a few heavy wool blankets. kentucky art
 
yankeesouth said:
Ya...My routine has been: put the fireplace on, (I do have a heatalater sort of thing in it), through the propane on and find a watering hole for a while. But it's hard to drag management and the kids to the Fish-n-game club!
Click to expand...
Thats the first time i even heard that term to describe the better half "management" very accurate though. Iv used the commander,general commendant,The furer, The supreme ruler is the most often term i use. Now the 5 year old is the big boss.
 
I think there is no way to heat the cabin fast enough for the management. A wood stove is probably the best appliance you can get to throw a lot of heat quickly, but it still will take 12 hours to heat the solid objects in the house up to a temperature similar to what you'd expect in a house that is heated full time. You may have the air heated up in a few hours, but the cabin and other contents will take longer.
 
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