Found the limit of my stove?

Well, either I found the limit of my stove, or I wimped/chickened out last week.

Here is the setup - my folks were visiting for the holiday week. I've been heating exclusively with the stove all winter as long as we were in town (i.e. not having someone come house sit to feed the stove). So far we've had some cold nights in the teens and touched in the single digits. I'm heating somewhere between 2200 and 2400 sq ft with a stove officially rated for 1600 sq ft. My insulation is perhaps a bit better than "normal average" but I have no idea what that really is so... whatever. House is only 10 years old and has been upgraded so it isn't half bad. We like to have the house in the mid 60's during the day and for my family I've had the thermostats (multiple zones) set to 55 as the backup temp and never gotten close to it.

While the folks were here we had one day where the temps dropped to 9* in the evening, then down to 3* that night. That night before going to bed I decided I didn't want my parents to get cold so I set the thermostats to 59 and 60 (down/upstairs zones) this was partially due to the fact they were in the room that gets the least amount of heat from the stove. Went to bed at about 9p after loading the stove full and having it running good and hot. House temps were only about 62 at the time since we had been out for the evening and I missed a load opportunity as the temps were falling. Ug. Went to bed early because I've been ill. Fun week. Anyway, woke up at 3:30a (see ill statement) and central heat was on, stove was ready for a load (of course - was running it hot) so I loaded it up full. Got up again at 7:30 and thermostats still had same temp but central heat wasn't running at that moment - (outside temp was 9.3* at that time), loaded stove up and an hour later house was warming up - got up to comfortable without having to change central heat thermostat. Was a 5 load day for the fireview though which was a first for me.

So my conclusion is that for extended single digit periods of time (near zero nights) I'm going to have to be sure and have the house good and warm before bed (duh) and may well have to either accept the central heat kicking in or plan to feed the stove every 4-4.5 hours with the wood I'm burning now. Perhaps once I am burning wood that fills the box better (all this is a bit on the short side) I will do better, also having less punk and unknown "mixed hardwood" would help too.

Thought I'd share this 'reality' with folks. I know others are looking to take their Fireview to the extremes and want to know what those may be. I wouldn't take my one experience as gospel (either good or bad) but as a single data point to ponder and build on. Anyone want more specific data let me know what you are interested in as I might just have it in my logs (don't want to clutter up the post with unwanted data).

Shari said:

Mmmmmmmmm...... inside temps too cold for me!

Shari

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Everyone has their own preferences. Before the stove we kept the house at 63max during short periods of the day, then went down to 58 at night and piled blankets high on the bed if necessary. Perhaps it's the Norse blood in me I don't like being too hot. Although I have to admit I do like to hang out near the stove during the day where it is often 70+ and whatever the air temp is registering the radiant heat feels good.

I feel it is important to note the temps since someone else intending to try and stretch this stove in a similar climate in a home like mine can't expect 75* throughout 2400sqft unless they have some amazing insulation in their house. Then again, I've heard that those foam and concrete houses can be "heated with a candle" - dunno about that claim but I'd like to see one. I'm in a 2x4 frame home built reasonable tight but I didn't do it myself so I know it isn't as good as it could be - contractors just do it 'good enough' eh?

BeGreen - I agree with your points. The good news is that around here the single digits are not all that common and I don't anticipate many long stretches of them. IF there were an emergency (power failure etc) that lasted for several days I could (and would) be willing and able to babysit the stove and feed it far more often. For my "normal" life where I have to get up every morning and get the kids off to school before heading off to work I'll just let the central heat kick in if necessary. Last year it did so almost every cold night (there were 3 nights that it didn't as I recall as they were remarkable) so I clearly have had an improvement from my point of view.

Shari - No offense taken. My response was as much for the lurkers. We're an odd group I think - those of us who like it cooler. To make it even stranger my wife was born and raised in Texas and I spent a good amount of my life there (as they say I wasn't born there but got there as fast as I could). However it was just too hot for me so I convinced her to try New England. Original plan was Alaska but the job market was better here so here we are. However, she was in the panhandle so it wasn't exactly hot most of the winter and living on the farm I don't think they kept it all that warm every winter.

We are fortunate that although we have two stories we do have a very open layout. The stove sits in a 'room' of sorts - used to be a small dining room before we did an addition that made it into a somewhat unused 'wide hallway' between the living room and a large family room. The stove sits on the outside wall but faces the kitchen. The living room has a high ceiling that opens to a loft to the 2nd floor where the bedrooms all have doors opening to the loft. Thus the heat radiates into the three rooms on the 1st floor that we spend most of our time in and convection carries a good amount of heat on up into the second floor where it heats the bedrooms well enough (close the doors if we want them cooler). Temps in the Kitchen run the warmest and I consider this the 'stove room' temperature although it is technically an adjacent room. Here I see 70-72 during the day. The extreme end of the family room (one wall is allmost all windows btw) will be as much as 5* cooler if it is really cold outside but generally one 3-4* below. The upstairs will be about 2-5* cooler as well depending on the time of the day. The coolest part of the house are the rooms at the far end of the 1st floor that don't get much of the heat (well, the basement is cold) and they will be 9* cooler as the heat really has to work its way down to get there. I've though of putting a fan on the floor at the end of that hall to push the cold air out of there but so far nobody seems to mind much so I'm not going to bother wasting the electricity.

burntime said:

Been 0 in WI and we hum at 75 degrees, wake up to 69 or 67 if I load her up late at night before bed. Heck, if you can find a used stove that better suits your needs why not upgrade? You can always sell yours. I got a great deal on my hampton...when they were 4500 installed I got it for 3k. It has more then paid for itself in the 4 years we have had it...not to mention the 7 years before with the old insert...

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I imagine that if I were in this house in your town and liked to live at 75 degrees or higher I would not be happy, however that isn't the case here...

Heh - I'm not at all displeased with my stove. In fact I love it! It meets our needs quite well. Now, like everyone I can always find a way to be tempted so if it had a larger firebox (as the rumored next stove from Woodstock is supposed to) then I'd be even happier, but I have no immediate plans to replace this stove.

I expect that this stove will have paid for the upgrade from my last stove in this first season. Then within four years (depending on where oil prices go) it will have paid for the original stove/install that I did last year. Given how little oil we burn each year for heat that is pretty good.

Interesting note - I just realized that you cite a 6-9* differential between the temp when you go to bed and wake up. Generally we have 2-3* difference in each location - a quick scan of my logs I see only 3 cases where the difference is 4*. Of course the greater the delta between indoor and outdoor temperature the quicker things will cool off and the more heat load (BTU/hr) one will need to maintain.

Bigg_Redd said:

Slow1 said:

Well, either I found the limit of my stove, or I wimped/chickened out last week.

Here is the setup - my folks were visiting for the holiday week. I've been heating exclusively with the stove all winter as long as we were in town (i.e. not having someone come house sit to feed the stove). So far we've had some cold nights in the teens and touched in the single digits. I'm heating somewhere between 2200 and 2400 sq ft with a stove officially rated for 1600 sq ft.

Thought I'd share this 'reality' with folks. I know others are looking to take their Fireview to the extremes and want to know what those may be. I wouldn't take my one experience as gospel (either good or bad) but as a single data point to ponder and build on. Anyone want more specific data let me know what you are interested in as I might just have it in my logs (don't want to clutter up the post with unwanted data).

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Why?

You put that stove in, right?

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Why not? Old stove was a 40Kbtu/hr stove, this one is 55Kbtu/hr, all other ratings in terms of heat output also are higher for the fireview. Last winter I found that when the old stove was burning it kept the house about where we wanted it so I figure this one could do it too and it does. I know it's ratings well - look up my old posts. I put the comment in my original post so nobody would jump down my throat with that statement like it was news to me. I also am doing my best to point out that we are happy with mid 60's during the day. In fact we stop loading as often and dial it back when temps get above that in the house as they did today. It was above freezing outside so I let the stove die down to clean glass and remove ashes, no hurry to get it up to full burn, just put a few bits in to maintain coals as I am finding myself too lazy to light from scratch anymore. Don't misunderstand my original post as a complaint or any sort of put down - it is merely a factual report of what happened. I may learn my fuel can be improved or my style of burning can be optimized and next single digit temps I may find I don't kick in the central heat... this is, after all, my first season with this stove and I've barely burned a cord of wood in it!