How "cool" is your room?

Our stove sits in the middle of the open main floor that we keep at 75+. The stove gets filled when it is empty.

Mr. Kelly said:

I mean... un-warm?

How low do you guys let your room temps around the stove get before you throw more wood on your stove? Or, how cool does the main area of your house that you frequent get before you do the same?

My comfort level drops off when the stove area drops below about 74, but that means the rest of the main floor will be about 64 degrees.

What's your comfort level? Just curious...!

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75 for me.

My stove is in my basement workshop. The air temperature in the room it sits in is typically 84-90º when the stove has been running all day, depending on how cold and windy it is outside. Way too warm for me, but it keeps the upstairs at a nearly constant 70-72º, so I live with the excessive heat. I try to get my shop work done early in the morning so I don't have to work down there. I don't deal well with working in hot temps at my age. Temps probably peak above 90º during the height of the overnight burn, but by morning it's usually the same as upstairs, about 72º. Just about perfect for this old feller.

Not sure of the temps in the stove room, but I like to keep the main living area that we use about 70-72. This goes up as the outside temps drop, because that temp doesn't feel as warm when it's 10 degs. outside.
I keep a therm. on my desk, about 15 ft. from the stove room, and there's a therm. in the kitchen about 25 ft. from me. Those temps are usually within a couple degs. of each other, but the master bedroom in the back stays between 60-65 all winter.
The past 4 years, the house is usually around 60 when I get up (unless I reload at 3-4am), and that's not my happy place, so I crank up a fire to get the house temp up. I've said this before, it's easier to KEEP the house temp up, than it is to keep bringing the temp back up from my un-comfort zone. The latter seems to use more wood and energy (mine).

soapstone stove on main floor keeps the temp at around 70-72 and upstairs at around 65. basement heats easily with the buck and we keep that slightly warmer at about 74-75. the temps can drop down to about 60 in the winter if its windy overnight . anything under 68 feels cold to me anymore. pete

We keep our wood furnace set at between 72-74. If its 30 out we will go a degree or two higher than the set temp. When it gets colder than that we keep the house at our set temp until we reload. I wish I had the seering heat of a stove, but I do like the even temps through the home.

In the depths of winter I'll refill the stove when the area around the stove drops to about 66F. The rest of the house I keep between 55F and 60F. As I spend 90% of my time in the stove room I don't see the point in excessively heating the rest of my house as there's just me on my lonesome. I'll put the aircon/heat pump unit on in the bedroom for 1 hour before bedtime to get it up to 70F

We keep the heat pump set at 62, so it never gets cooler than that.. but.. with the stove running in the heart of winter the living room will be about 74-76, rest of the ground floor maybe 2 degrees cooler, and upstairs around 68 (thankfully). We don't see much temperature swing once the stove is up and running, just reload when the stove is empty..

I will point out that, no matter what the temperature.. if the stove isn't radiating like a nuclear pile, she may complain it's cold in the room..

I have noticed that given the flush mount design of my insert. it acts more like a monitor heater then a wood stove. without the fans going it radiates virtually no heat into the house. That being said, with the stove fans going, and the generally open floorplan of my house, there is virtually no difference between the hearth room teperature and the rest of the house. Usually my upstairs hallway temperature is the hottest.

Mr. Kelly. I have no idea at what temperature we get at our lowest because we don't usually have a thermometer in the house. However, if I or any ladies begin to put on more clothing, the stove gets stoked. Actually, we go more by how I feel because of a unique problem I have so usually my wife roasts and I am the one who gets cold really easy.

At 30 or below, we keep it crankin' and it's always too cold.

Usually the room with the insert is 69-71* F, (sometimes warmer) and the rest of the living space is close to that. Bedrooms are 66 sometimes dropping lower if we aren't diligent about keeping the doors open. We have small electric heaters in the bedrooms that we will put on for short spurts to get the room temp up. The insert does a good job of maintaining the temps where we like them. We don't like it too hot. When it's real cold we'll turn the thermostat on to help get temps up. The house is old and real drafty. This is going to be my first full year burning. I love the wood heat.

Old stove, when empty. New furnace, when empty Or 80 degrees!

When the boiler is on I set it at 68 when we are home, 65 at night and work hours.

The house is old.... narrow doorways and not much insulation so we have trouble keeping even heat throughout the house using the stove. The stove is in the living room that is open to the dining area and kitchen. The rooms in the front of the house (den, MBR) and the upstairs tend to run 10deg or so cooler. So we typically keep the stove room 75-78F so that the bedroom doesn't drop below 65.

I did a lot of air sealing and weatherstripping windows,etc this year... hoping those front rooms hold heat better and we dont have to overheat the stove room so much...

Mr. Kelly said:

I mean... un-warm?

How low do you guys let your room temps around the stove get before you throw more wood on your stove? Or, how cool does the main area of your house that you frequent get before you do the same?

My comfort level drops off when the stove area drops below about 74, but that means the rest of the main floor will be about 64 degrees.

What's your comfort level? Just curious...!

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Lopi Liberty Basement Install in a Ranch House Open Floor Plan

We get the basement temps about 78 which means the main floor will be 70-72 degrees.


zap

My system is pretty easy . . . if it's cold outside I add more wood to the coals.

If it is getting too warm inside and/or it's warming up outside I don't add more wood to the coals.

Normally, the house stays in the low 70s during the Winter . . . warmer in the room with the stove, cooler in the far master bedroom . . . where I like it cool.

I do have an oil boiler for back up heat . . . the thermostat is set at 60 degrees . . . I rarely hear that kick on unless it's in the dead of winter and we're having several days of sub-zero weather and it's close to the time when I need to wake up.

Here on the Southern shores of Lake Superior, we've been doing two small burns in our forced air wood furnace each day for the last few days. Daytime temps outside have been in low to mid 40s and night temps have been mid to high 20s. The first floor is usually around 60 when we wake up, while the sleeping rooms on the second floor are around 68. After the first fire in the morning, we're in the mid to high 60's throughout the house until early in the night, when we do another burn to knock out the chill before bed.

Anything warmer than 68 and we roast!

Room our insert is in stays between 70*-75*. Includes our family room, dining room and kitchen which all open onto each other.

Heat doesn't circulate well in our house so the rest of the rooms are about 60*-65* during the day and lower at night. Don't like it warm at night so it suits us fine. Wouldn't mind heated toilet seats though........

Thermostat kept at 58* and doesn't usually come on unless I turn it on to warm up the back of the house a bit on really cold days.

Dakotas Dad said:

We keep the heat pump set at 62, so it never gets cooler than that.. but.. with the stove running in the heart of winter the living room will be about 74-76, rest of the ground floor maybe 2 degrees cooler, and upstairs around 68 (thankfully). We don't see much temperature swing once the stove is up and running, just reload when the stove is empty..

I will point out that, no matter what the temperature.. if the stove isn't radiating like a nuclear pile, she may complain it's cold in the room..

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Hey....I checked out your pictures of your woodstove installation....absolutely BEAUTIFUL JOB! (And it's the same woodstove I have.....but my setup isn't as fancy/pretty.) With that in your livingroom, who needs TV!

We have a large house and use our little space heater to warm a lot of air. However by a quirk of the way the home happened to be built (not designed for this) the air circulates very well and for the most part the temperature stays within about 5* throughout. Of course when the house is cold and stove is just starting up the area around the stove will be noticeably warmer, but that likely has a lot to do with the radiant nature of the stove (which of course is very much appreciated).

With that said, we aim for around 65* as the peak temp during the day. Much warmer than that and it is a waste as folks start feeling uncomfortable. At night we are happy enough for temps to fall as low as 60* as we all sleep with plenty of covers and have grown to appreciate the contrast of a warm bed and cool air in the room.

I am really liking this thread. I feel like I'm learning a lot, and feel better about my house having cold spots. I'm currently ripping off the trim in one of my back bedrooms and insulating where it needs. Hopefully this should help a bit this winter.

The stove room is our living area with 23' cathedral ceiling and open kitchen design. That area can hit 80deg. when it's 20 outside when the stove is cranking.
I hope this year I can learn to tame the beast. Don't like it that hot.
The bedrooms will be cooler of course.

I have a central located Stove, and 1100sqft 1 floor ranch. My thermostat (TV room next to stove room) is set for 56F at night, 63F in the morning, 55F at work, 60F when I get home. Once I have my fire going and up to temp, my stove Room Averages 68-72F, the TV room and Kitchen Average 66-69F and the two bedrooms average 65F. By morning if the stove has basically gone out, 66F in the stove room, 63F TV room (furnace might kick on once) and 60F in the bedrooms.

This year I plan to try for more over night burns. last year what ever time I went to bed was the last time I touched the stove till the next evening when I got home from work.