The deep freeze!

-10* at 7:00 a.m. here

Adirondackwoodburner said:

well, the temp dropped like a rock last night as per my wireless laCrosse weather station! Prior to bedtime, I had 3 degrees outside. When it gets that cold, I cant seem to be able to get the house about 72 degrees no matter how hard I try! Anyone else have that problem?

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Well...I got up at 6AM and it was 0 (ZERO) out...inside it was 66 upstairs and 64 downstairs. That was overnight after temps floated down with the overnite burn. We'll get back up in the high 60's to low 70's during the day and repeat the cycle. We can only crank so many BTU's out of these things, even flat out. Below Zero, I have to work at it and try to keep at least in the high 60's range. Of course, that is with no furnace kicked in too.

Not me until 10 or so below, newer construction, cape 1800 sq ft. It was 75 when I went to bed at 8:00PM, 63 when I got up at 5:00 AM, (furnace set at 59).

When I left the house at 7:00 the stove room (open floor plan) was 71 and climbing. It was 6 outside. I was ecstatic my furnace never needed to fire up.

Jotul F600 heating a 1100 square foot house. 10 degrees last night, 68 inside for overnight burn on a half load.
Love my Jotul.

"well, the temp dropped like a rock last night as per my wireless laCrosse weather station! Prior to bedtime, I had 3 degrees outside. When it gets that cold, I cant seem to be able to get the house about 72 degrees no matter how hard I try! Anyone else have that problem?"

Ya know, back in the day, if it got to 59 degrees in the house for a high we were greatful ;-P Just kidding. It's a lot of mass to heat up once it's cooled down. It takes a lot of heat and some time to warm it back up. 3F outside and 72 inside doesn't sound too bad to me...could be 68 with your furnace crankin' non stop and dollar signs flying past your eyes. Perspective.

I usually don't have any problems keeping 1800sq ft house over 70 even if it's below zero. However, I do have problems keeping the temp up when there are strong winds, especially from the east. I need to upgrade my windows and insulate my exposed concrete block walkout basement.

Oh, and last night someone didn't close a door all the way and the wind blew it open a few inches, so when I got home from work at 12am I noticed the furnace was on for the first time this year. It was a chilly 66. I let the furnace bring the temp back up, loaded the stove and went to bed.

"I usually don’t have any problems keeping 1800sq ft house over 70 even if it’s below zero. However, I do have problems keeping the temp up when there are strong winds, especially from the east."

When it's windy that's a different story. I've got a 2500sq ft log home that I know isn't as tight as a new stick house but it's not too bad to heat (other than a lot of wood) but wind can be a killer for me depending on which way it's coming from. For me, if it's single digits and the wind is from the west, i'm happy with 72 (I think the dormers are like a radiator fin). If the wind is from any other direction then 75+ is the norm. Sometimes the wind helps too. I've got a masonry chimney and sometimes the wind helps it draw better.

I'd bet any of your neighbors burning fuel oil/nat. gas/propane would LOVE to be at 72 while the outside is single digits.

when I got up at 8 am it was -5 (yes, minus 5) outside, the upstairs was 63 and the downstairs was 59 after an overnight burn-- BUT that's with a window cracked open downstairs and BIG drafts coming in from the basement into the living area (new construction and basement door isn't trimmed yet). Plus it was very gusty last night.

And I had only burned about 3 loads of wood yesterday, one in the morning before I left for work, one when I came home at night, and one before I went to bed, so the house never got above 68 or so.

My heater never kicked on (I have it set for 50!).

Firegal
Hearthstone Homestead