This Vortex is Kicking my insert's azz

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R

Richie

Burning Hunk
Aug 13, 2013
157
Central PA
I have an FPX 44 with a 4.3 cu foot firebox. It is heating two rooms. The room it is in is 20X30 with two of the walls being pretty much glass door with a glass transoms above the the doors. The other room is a ton of glass as well. Ceiling heights are around 15 feet. I have a ceiling fan running on high in that room. Been mixing locust and black birch that have seasoned for two years. Getting a ton of coals which are useless in this weather. I hate to say it, but this vortex has me feeling a little defeated. It is hard for me to get it past 67 and when I woke up this morning it was 58 in my house. That has never happened before. I was really looking forward to these cold snaps. I might have to do the unthinkable, flip the oil on for backup!!!
 
Richie how hot is the Insert getting . Or the air vents getting .. Some wood I burn will only get me up to 400 stove top and <y maple will get to 800 .. big different s / and does that insert have a blower ? if so turn it on . it helps alot ..best of luck .
 
BigBubba-Burn said:
Richie how hot is the Insert getting . Or the air vents getting .. Some wood I burn will only get me up to 400 stove top and <y maple will get to 800 .. big different s / and does that insert have a blower ? if so turn it on . it helps alot ..best of luck .
Click to expand...
Bigbubba, thanks for your input. I have a blower and it is on high turning out some great heat. The glass doors are what is killing me. I think even the best r value on glass is something like r3. It is also hard to measure temps on an insert.
 
Richie said:
I was really looking forward to these cold snaps. I might have to do the unthinkable, flip the oil on for backup!!!
Click to expand...
Thats what its for now ,just back up. ID have that oil filling in before id put up with a 58 Deg house. Look at it this way. How much oil can you possibly use to go from 58 to 70? Not much.
 
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Sometimes just because of the design or structure of a home you will have to use your oil backup.
My home is old with 2.5 ft. Thick stone walls. Tough to insulate. When it's real cold it's just too drafty
And I need oil help. Still better than all the time. Gotta love the wood heat though.
 
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You think it is bad now , just wait till next week. It is to be even colder. They have us a few nights next week to be at least 10 below. We are heating a 30 x 25 house cut up [not open]with a heck of a lot smaller firebox and it is 72 in the back rooms.
 
Point of clarification, the FPX 44 is not an insert. It's a ZC fireplace. I would invest in insulated curtains for that glass wall.
 
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Do you have curtains on the doors?

Don't feel too bad the last vortex hit us with -25 windchills and we dipped to 49 degrees in the stove room. And we don't have a furnace to turn on...and we're out of LP for the ventfree (and given the price spike, it'll stay that way). Keeping it in the 60's-low 70's this time so far with less wind.
 
It was -5 when I got up and I had to flip on the blower on the NC30. I felt chilly as it had dipped to 68 over night....:p
 
What is a ZC fireplace?
I was gonna say the same thing, insulated curtains. They dont offer alot of fancy options but...
58° is what I keep thermostats at. Oil and wood. I laughed when I read your horror.
Just call me a cheap beotch.
 
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Seasoned Oak said:
Thats what its for now ,just back up. ID have that oil filling in before id put up with a 58 Deg house. Look at it this way. How much oil can you possibly use to go from 58 to 70? Not much.
Click to expand...
Yeah, ain't no shame in some other heat kicking in when it gets real cold. And yes, glass has terrible thermal resistance (R values) and sliders are notorious for air leaks! French doors are tighter and leak less air.
 
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Yeah they are Andersons but you can still feel air. I do have the curtains closed and they are thick-ish.

To echo applesister, what is the difference between ZC fireplace and an insert. I have an airtight box and a cat, so I thought that made it an insert.

As for turning on the oil, I have never ever had to do that. It feels like now I am relying on the "system" and not myself to sustain my heating needs.
 
begreen said:
Point of clarification, the FPX 44 is not an insert. It's a ZC fireplace. I would invest in insulated curtains for that glass wall.
Click to expand...
I was wandering, a 4.3 CF insert would be something I've never seen before. I almost put a big fireplace in my house. I had it bought and all for a whopping $1300! It sat here for a few years while I was busy building the house. In that time I learned how inefficient it'd be and gave it away unused uninstalled and I put a wood stove in instead. A Lesson learned the hard way!
 
You cant really size a wood stove for this weather, otherwise it will be WAY oversized the rest of the year. If your stove is not keeping up 100% lately, its probably sized about right.
Spot heat with electric,oil, propane, fill in with whatever,in a week or two this will all be just a memory.
 
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Seasoned oak you hit the nail on the head.
 
Applesister said:
What is a ZC fireplace?
I was gonna say the same thing, insulated curtains. They dont offer alot of fancy options but...
58° is what I keep thermostats at. Oil and wood. I laughed when I read your horror.
Just call me a cheap beotch.
Click to expand...
A ZC is Zero Clearance fireplace, it is made to be able to mount into a combustible stud wall.
 
Anderson makes a good window. And there made not far from where I lived most of my life in a Minnesota. Right now I have -10F with gusts of 18. My 2.3CF wood stove is just keeping a steady 65 in a 1800 sg ft house. For a furnace they say it's properly sized if it runs constant on the coldest of nights which would be around -40F here. My furnace did run constant then but in 1st stage, 55,000 BTU. My stove will not keep up when it's between -30 to -40F
 
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