at what temp do you have to push your stove hard

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Lynch

Member
Dec 13, 2010
192
northern maine
well like the title says
i know the coldest day this year where i live was -22
and i had to feed that lil bugger alot more than normal. had to keep it above 400
to keep it at 75 in the living room,
with 3 good runs to 650 stove top to keep it nice and warm in the house.

i dont think i was pushing it as hard as i could but hard enough
-30 -35 might be hard to keep up with.


what about you guys.
 
Haven't found out yet with my current stove, our temps here vary rarely dip into the negative. I think our coldest day this year was -1 or -2. This winter has been cake so far.....
 
yeah same up here hasnt really been that cold other than a few days
alot of days around 0 and -5 but nothing really cold yet, hopefully not any colder

just wondering what you guys are having to do.
 
I wont push my stove. The more you turn it up the more heat out the stack that I dont get in the house and more wood out of the pile.
At -30/-40 I will let the furnace follow in and move some air around the house. A 120 to 160 litres/35 gallons of fuel oil for the year aint gonna kill me and the cost of comfort at the low outdoor temps is worth it. Mid way on my stoves damper control is the highest I will run it after a turn down. A lazy flame is what my final hot setting would be after leaving it for the day or night.
 
Doesn't get cold enough here to have to push the stove. Only dips into -20* area a few times in the winter usually and the stove has no trouble with that.

My Mom said it was -30* a couple days ago up in northern Maine.
 
This winter has been a joke. I actually hoped to test my stove against sub zero temps.
Half the time I'm burning more for fun than necessity.

Thing is the colder it gets the better they draft and better they burn.
Of course when it gets in the teens I break out the locust, so that helps.
 
Being constructed with cast iron and furnace cement I dont know if the higher temps would effect it.

Here is what the Jotul F100 Manual says.

3. Once the stove has reached a surface temperature
range of between 400° and 600°, (204°C -316°C),
adjust the primary air control lever as necessary to
generate the heat output and burn time desired.
We re commend use of a magnetic stove top
thermometer to monitor the surface temperature
of the stove. The optimum surface temperature
range for the most efficient burn is between 400°
and 600° (204°C -316°C).
 
Lynch said:
well like the title says
i know the coldest day this year where i live was -22
and i had to feed that lil bugger alot more than normal. had to keep it above 400
to keep it at 75 in the living room,
with 3 good runs to 650 stove top to keep it nice and warm in the house.

i dont think i was pushing it as hard as i could but hard enough
-30 -35 might be hard to keep up with.


what about you guys.
I read this alot on here how people have temps in the 70's in their living space with a stove at such a cool temp. My stove almost never goes below 500 unless we aren't home or in bed and its nearing the end of its burn cycle. With the stove at 750 most of the time I rarley see room temps above 68 even when the outside temp is in the 30s. When it gets in the teens we are really pushing the stove hard just to keep the 1st floor 60 degrees. Only warm place is right next to the stove, 10 feet away I doubt its 70.
 
I think once it starts dipping into the teens my little stove has a hard time giving out that "warm blanket feel" to the room. The wind has a huge effect too, teens and windy = drafty. I have to insulate better around the windows downstairs, when it's real cold the draft air for the stove actually creates a cool draft in the room heading towards the stove.
 
For me, its not really how hard I push it, but how much wood I go through during the day. During a day where it is in the teens outside, I end up going through about 30 splits of wood. That keeps the center of the house at 72 and the perimeter around 68, with stovepipe temps averaging 500. Once it drops below about 12 degrees, I have to let the heat pump assist.
 
We've only had to push it really once, when we didn't pack it right on a really cold morning and the Cottage was in the 50's by the time we got home (single digits outside). Since then we've hit high single digits and teens and had no real problems, although when it gets that cold the VF will pop on for 20 minute or so spurts every few hours.
 
I tend to run the stove the same way all the time regardless of the temperature outside, and try to get as much heat as I can while still burning clean and efficiently. I use part wood and part electric heat, and the more wood heat the less electric heat I need. Warmer weather just means less electric heat is needed.
 
Wood Duck with a 1.6 cu. ft. box, How many sq ft you heating? Sounds interesting. My 2.1 box, I push it to the limit heating around 1900 sqft up stairs but the stove is down stairs in a 1500 sq ft basement, But I Git-R-Done!!

We ought to start a post on how to heat a house with less of a stove.
 
The FV is a bit small for our house so anytime the outside temps drop into the teens I would say that I'm pushing it to keep the house temp where we want it. When outside temps are in the single digits we start falling behind - get below zero and we'll have the back up heat turned on for some period of time.

Pushing to me means feeding the stove every 4-5 hours and keeping the air setting such that there is flame in the box the whole time. Clearly not the most efficient burn for the FV. I hope to get a PH installed and see how it does :)
 
If I keep the ashes to a minimum, at -40 I can still keep the temps up but it gets a little challenging not to build up too many coals. Now, if the power goes out and I lose the blower, all bets are off.
 
Never. Even at -35 outside the Regency keeps our 1800 sqft main floor nice n warm. At about -25 I may go downstairs and light a fire to warm up the basement as the Regency really can't heat the basement. Fortunately 2/3 of the baseent is below grade and it generally never dips below 8C. Other times I'll just turn on the furnace fan to move some air around - it tends to warm up the basement that way too.
 
When it got to -8F I just turned the fan up. I try to run it at the place where when there are still volatiles in the fire that there is lots of secondary burning. This is on a PE Summit. Of course when it gets below about 18F, I put up the insulating shutters on the windows---I have lots and lots of windows.
 
The outside temperature is not what determines how hard the stove is pushed. It is the inside temperature. If I need to heat up the house from 58 to 78 as quickly as possible I push the stove hard. Just as hard whether it is 8 or 48 degrees outside. The pushing is getting the stove from cold to hot, it takes a long time with stone.

The only difference between cruising and pushing hard is that the stove top is at 550 instead of 450. There really isn't a lot of range of output with a non-cat stone stove.

Maybe if you have poor insulation you notice the outside temps more.
 
Highbeam said:
The outside temperature is not what determines how hard the stove is pushed. It is the inside temperature. If I need to heat up the house from 58 to 78 as quickly as possible I push the stove hard. Just as hard whether it is 8 or 48 degrees outside. The pushing is getting the stove from cold to hot, it takes a long time with stone.

The only difference between cruising and pushing hard is that the stove top is at 550 instead of 450. There really isn't a lot of range of output with a non-cat stone stove.

Maybe if you have poor insulation you notice the outside temps more.

I'm not sure if you were replying to me of just replying. Obviously its the inside temps that make the difference, but the outside temps are ultimately the problem since they suck more heat away from the house when its colder outside than when its warmer. My stove is designed to operate with the stove top between 300 and about 750. Anything in that range is the normal operating temp of a PE Summit. But with the additon of the thermo controlled fan, I get more out of the stove when its needed more by simply turning the fan up to a higher speed. this causes less heat to go up the chimney(not less smoke).

But the bottom line is that no matter what your insulation level is, the colder it gets the more the temps outside will influence the inner temps. I ahve lots of windows and I need to cover them or the airflow down the front of them will really drop the room temps.
 
I run my stove the same no matter how cold it is outside Mine runs between 450 to 550. I Just turn the blower up higher the colder it get outside.

My house is well insulated so i see no need to push things in my view a stove that is pushed the lifetime of the stove components will decrease the harder you push it.
 
ever since we've put the Napoleon 1900 in the kitchen over 4 years ago, we have NEVER had to push it....I rarely pull the draft out past 'two'. On nights where it is below zero (which we've had NONE this year) I would feed it a split or two in the middle of the night, but that was before I found that my draft control was not installed correctly (another story on another post). Now that my draft control is fixed, well I would LOVE to see a week or two of sub zero weather, if not more. I wanna see how she acts now that the draft is fixed! I just don't see any sign of cold weather in the long-term forcast for central PA, so it may have to wait til next year...
 
wkpoor said:
When it gets in the teens we are really pushing the stove hard just to keep the 1st floor 60 degrees. Only warm place is right next to the stove, 10 feet away I doubt its 70.
wk, is your house insulated? I can't believe you have trouble staying at 60 degrees when it is in the teens. If no insulation, you should consider having it blown in, it would make a WORLD of difference in comfort. At least the ceilings....
 
the teens make me push it harder than normal, but only 6-650 then anyways, second floor is the only reason to push it, first floor your almost naked to tolerate it
 
My wife seemed to be heavily dressed a few days ago when it was a bit cold here so I increased the heat. I guess you could say I was pushing the stove then.
 
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