Maybe it's the boy scout in me but times like these make it all worthwhile.

Backwoods Savage said:

But that is the fun part

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I like the stacking the most! Like putting together a puzzle. Knowing that you want it to stand there for 3 or 4 years or more, without falling over.

Sinngetreu said:

This is a heck of a year for my first year of burning. I'm still working out how to distribute the heat around our old 4-square farmhouse. Even still, its better than the propane bill.

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Wow, this year will be a crash-course for you for sure! I'm sure you'll figure it out quickly. I've got the same house layout & it can be a challenge to get the heat where you want it. Good luck!!

ailanthus said:

Wow, this year will be a crash-course for you for sure! I'm sure you'll figure it out quickly. I've got the same house layout & it can be a challenge to get the heat where you want it. Good luck!!

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Thanks, it has been a trick.
I would have bet money that the top floor would have been the hardest to heat, but it actually is the main floor that causes the most challenges. The chimney is central to the layout and is closest to the walls on the top floor. It was a trip feeling the walls warm for the first time. But it heats the bedrooms nicely.
I did cut a hole in the floor and cover it with a grate on New Years Day to try to get the hot air rising to the main floor. It helps, but not totally the solution.
If you have any tips, I'm all ears!

D8Chumley said:

I came in from my haul today after the 2nd load to check on the fire and my lazyass 16 yr old son was playing with his phone while watching TV and the fire was almost out. I was like really, you can't be bothered to walk 5 feet to put another piece in the stove???

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I hear cellphones and couches make GREAT fuel.

metrowlogger said:

Very cold in MA. to and I got some lazy family members taking all the heat i worked hard for!

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I hear you, my 2 dogs have been spooning for 2 days now.

Sinngetreu said:

Thanks, it has been a trick.
I would have bet money that the top floor would have been the hardest to heat, but it actually is the main floor that causes the most challenges. The chimney is central to the layout and is closest to the walls on the top floor. It was a trip feeling the walls warm for the first time. But it heats the bedrooms nicely.
I did cut a hole in the floor and cover it with a grate on New Years Day to try to get the hot air rising to the main floor. It helps, but not totally the solution.
If you have any tips, I'm all ears!

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Have you tried any of the fan tricks? Like blowing the cool toward the stove. If the stove is down, then sitting a fan blowing down the stairs. You don't need a big fan and also run it on low speed. It can work wonders in most situations. Also with ceiling fans, blowing up rather than down.

A coworker out of Tennesee gets a kick out my lifestyle in northern NH.. He asked me a while back if I was prepper. He just cant understand, that I have an oil heating system, a wood boiler, a wood stove and minisplit heat pump for heat and solar system to generate power and a spare shallow well if the power goes out for the deep well. I told him I am not a prepper but downright cheap. My solar is on gird so I would need to buy some batteries and lots more guns I guess to be a prepper.

I think you said it all Bassman.

Backwoods Savage said:

Have you tried any of the fan tricks? Like blowing the cool toward the stove. If the stove is down, then sitting a fan blowing down the stairs. You don't need a big fan and also run it on low speed. It can work wonders in most situations. Also with ceiling fans, blowing up rather than down.

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I have a small fan at the base of the stairs blowing at the stove. It did seem to help upset the strat a little, but the outside door is at the top of the stairs, so sometimes I feel like it just pulls cold air from there instead. I will try the ceiling fan, but it is on the main floor and I'm not sure how much it will pull from the stove in the basement. I'm sure its more about mixing air at that point than pulling air. I was thinking of putting a small fan in the hole that I just put in to pull hot air from above the stove into the main floor. I don't know if that will work or not.
I'm trying things slowly to see what exactly makes the difference instead of doing a bunch of things and hoping that something works but not being sure what it was.

Sinngetreu said:

I have a small fan at the base of the stairs blowing at the stove. It did seem to help upset the strat a little, but the outside door is at the top of the stairs, so sometimes I feel like it just pulls cold air from there instead. I will try the ceiling fan, but it is on the main floor and I'm not sure how much it will pull from the stove in the basement. I'm sure its more about mixing air at that point than pulling air. I was thinking of putting a small fan in the hole that I just put in to pull hot air from above the stove into the main floor. I don't know if that will work or not.
I'm trying things slowly to see what exactly makes the difference instead of doing a bunch of things and hoping that something works but not being sure what it was.

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I'm in a similar position. I started with a box fan at the top of the stairs, but the space constraints make that difficult to live with. As I play with things, I figure out how and why the previous owners of this house did what they did. When I open the door to the bedroom in the basement, the heat downstairs evens out and the upstairs bedrooms warm up enough. I'm thinking about installing a pocket door between the bedroom area upstairs and the main living room so I can partition off the heat to warm up all of us at night. Then there's the matter of installing a dutch door at the top of the stairs so I can keep the toddlers out of the basement while allowing for some convection between upstairs and downstairs. I might even install a fan in the bottom half of the dutch door blowing down, that would kill at least one bird and maybe two.

At the same time I'm looking at how the HVAC system works so I can upgrade the existing grates with fans or something that will block airflow when needed. It's funny how much money I'm planning on spending in order to save a little money over the long haul. I'd rather spend it now when the kids are so little, they're probably going to be here for another 20 years. I hope.

area_man said:

I'm in a similar position. I started with a box fan at the top of the stairs, but the space constraints make that difficult to live with. As I play with things, I figure out how and why the previous owners of this house did what they did. When I open the door to the bedroom in the basement, the heat downstairs evens out and the upstairs bedrooms warm up enough. I'm thinking about installing a pocket door between the bedroom area upstairs and the main living room so I can partition off the heat to warm up all of us at night. Then there's the matter of installing a dutch door at the top of the stairs so I can keep the toddlers out of the basement while allowing for some convection between upstairs and downstairs. I might even install a fan in the bottom half of the dutch door blowing down, that would kill at least one bird and maybe two.

At the same time I'm looking at how the HVAC system works so I can upgrade the existing grates with fans or something that will block airflow when needed. It's funny how much money I'm planning on spending in order to save a little money over the long haul. I'd rather spend it now when the kids are so little, they're probably going to be here for another 20 years. I hope.

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I put a baby gate at the top of the stairs to allow for almost full air flow while restricting my dogs and kiddo from getting into trouble. Its the kind that is hooked to eyelet screws and "hinges" so you don't have the compression bar that is a PITA. You could probably find one of those at a thrift store for a couple bucks.
Good luck on the HVAC idea! I think there has to be something there.
We have a boiler unit (and no HVAC ducts) and I keep thinking of ways to have the stove heat the boiler water and bypass the boiler unit. The circulation pumps are separate from the boiler and controlled by the thermostats, so there has to be an inexpensive way to do it.