When it become too cold to keep up...

We experience the same problem in the teens. It's frustrating, but it is what it is.

I don't have the luxury of a tipping point since the only thing that's going to heat my house at low temperatures is my wood stove, however with my previous stove the Dutchwest XL I found at about anything below 0°F I had to push it pretty hard and it would start struggling. I will say though that even when it was -20 on occasion the house was still 66° upstairs and 72° downstairsbut the burn times were a lot shorter than I liked.

Have you thought about replacing the NC13 with a 30?

Unless we see weather with highs in the teen's and lows below zero, I can get away with three full loads per day (but, I have a larger firebox and typically fit 9-11 splits per load), when the temps drop, I go to four loads per day to keep up - raking the coals and burning them down early to get the fourth loads heat. Sounds like the 30 might be a good idea. How often are you loading to keep the stove top at those high temps? Cheers!

Below 0 with a strong south wind it's a struggle, same temp north wind it plays with it.

If it gets below zero, I burn a load in the upstairs insert, which supplements the three loads per day in
the stove.

I just have to increase from 3 loads to 4 when it gets real cold. Oh and I also have a small electric oil filled jobby in the bedroom, for the wifey to get ready for work. She gets cold wayyyyyyyy sooner than I.

Like Certified, I'm heating with wood, so when the weather pushes, I have to push back. For me that doesn't mean burning the stove hotter so much as it does burning it longer; stove is actively heating the house 'round the clock. For example, it's probably around 0 to 10F right now, and our fire has been out for awhile, but I have a top-down loaded and ready to ignite before I leave for work in the morning. At -30, that stove would be burning. OTOH, if it were 20, we wouldn't light the stove until my son got home from school in the afternoon, counting on residual heat and sunlight through the windows to keep the place at or above 60. If it gets colder than that inside, it takes longer to warm up, as the thermal mass of stove/hearth/furniture/walls has started to cool.

I usually run my stove between 350 and 450 measured by the stove-top thermometer; sometimes it gets up in the 500F range.

When it gets down to -25 or -30 outside, we like to plug in an electric heater in the evening to help keep the bedrooms warm. At -40, supplemental heat in the kitchen is good, but we don't see those temps often, thankfully. I've never seen it colder than -45 here, and I'm not sure what we'd do if it got past that and our power went out. Something.

Before the boiler died, I made a point of running it at least every couple of days to keep the floor downstairs warm.

I'm wondering how much could be changed for you with either more insulation/site protection (tree plantings, etc.) and a larger stove.

Below 25F or so and we struggle to have the 17-VL be the only heat source in our 1,250 sq ft home - but it sure does cut the oil consumption!

I'm just glad I have 2 stoves now and don't have to worry about 1 stove keeping up. I've been burning 3 loads per day with my basement stove and it keeps up pretty much til the overnight lows dip into the single digits or if we have strong easterly winds then the other stove gets fired up.

Like certified, the wood stove is our only heat. When the weather turns cold we usually reload around 300-350. This time of year we usually put in anywhere from 1 to 3 splits. Sometimes 4 when we go to bed. Have yet to burn a full load this year.

Like a few others, wood only here (and wood products). The stove had trouble keeping up when it would get below -10C (14F). Our solution was to add a pellet stove on the upper level of our bungalow. Before retiring for the night on those frigid evenings, I'll load up the PE, set the Enviro on medium - house still 21-22C (70F) in the morning.
I've found the wood/pellet tandem works great.

Backwoods Savage said:

Like certified, the wood stove is our only heat. When the weather turns cold we usually reload around 300-350. This time of year we usually put in anywhere from 1 to 3 splits. Sometimes 4 when we go to bed. Have yet to burn a full load this year.

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You need the cold we have now, maybe it is headed your way. :lol:

I do the same thing I always do regardless of the temps . . . I just tend to load the stove up with my better BTU wood and reload a little sooner in the coaling stage to keep the heat up which means more reloading . . . so I guess in hindsight . . . I don't do the same thing as I always do regardless of temps.

Yesterday day we never broke out of the 20s and that seemed to be the tipping point for us... heat pump kept kicking on throughout the day and ran most all night. I was hoping to avoid that scenario this season by having more seasoned wood but that doesn't seem to be the case. Seems like when it gets into the 20s or lower for more than a day or so then the stove just can't keep up. Thought about also using the old insert in the other room but I just don't have enough wood to feed both stoves. We're already burning 20-30 splits a day in the mansfield, which seems like a lot.

Makes me cringe when I go to my father and law's and it's so hot in his living room I start sweating. Somehow he keeps their house almost uncomfortably hot all winter long with his masonry fireplace and about 12 splits per 24hr period.

0 degrees seems to be the tipping point of the Fire view for my home. Then I load up the coal stove in the basement for overnight when it drops below 0

When it becomes too cold to keep up it's time to bake bread--and if you are too challenged for that--potatoes.

Doesn't get to 0 around here (fingers crossed) But did get into the twenties last night. Had to stop tipping my beer and close some windows.

The so called tippinp point is why I went to a much larger stove and one that is what I would term a hybrid. I need the raw heat of a smoke dragon but the long burn times of an epa stove with plenty of room to manage coals for a continuous 500 degree stove top. I'm asking one stove to heat 2800sqft of which 1000 is an uninsulated walkout basement and the house has 40 windows with an 18' ceiling in the great room plus a 2nd floor with a loft and bedroom. I suspect mid 20s and blowing wind is where I will suffer a little on the first and second floor. Basement insulation and a second stove is in my future.

wkpoor said:

Basement insulation and a second stove is in my future.

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Try the insulation first. You will be very pleasantly surprised. Experiments with arrays of temperature sensors have demonstrated that even insulating just the upper four feet (the part above the frost line) will make a huge difference in heat loss from a basement.

Battenkiller said:

wkpoor said:

Basement insulation and a second stove is in my future.

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Try the insulation first. You will be very pleasantly surprised. Experiments with arrays of temperature sensors have demonstrated that even insulating just the upper four feet (the part above the frost line) will make a huge difference in heat loss from a basement.

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Yeh that is definitely on the short list to insulate first. Just moving from the stove side to the walkout side you can feel the cold that comes through the block wall. Doesn't take much technology to figure this one out. Its time and cleaning out the basement so I can work.

Second that motion about basement insulation - especially exposed portion of the wall (not that you wouldn't do the whole wall) can make a big difference. A couple inches of pink board will help alot.

Glad this was posted. Once the weather got below the teens the wood stove couldn't keep up. We dipped to -15F and was surprised how few times the furnace did kick on though.

When it gets to 27° it becomes a struggle for the VC - Encore #2550. It's more to do with house insulation than anything else.

Todd said:

I'm just glad I have 2 stoves now and don't have to worry about 1 stove keeping up. I've been burning 3 loads per day with my basement stove and it keeps up pretty much til the overnight lows dip into the single digits or if we have strong easterly winds then the other stove gets fired up.

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Todd, I have to agree having two stoves is sweet. Just got the Esse this year and also have the Quad 5700. So I'm letting them fight it out. What a nicer soothing heat having two stoves going. I thought it might be a situation where all that heat would drive you out but it's just the opposite. The Esse being off our kitchen gets things up to 78 no problem not running her hard at all. Before, the Quad alone would keep that room about 69-70 max. Now I can run both stoves at a slower burn. Someday I hope the Esse gets to fight it out with a Fire view or the new Hybrid. For now all good. Can't wait until it really stays cold. Does it make sense that I feel I'll barely be burning much more wood having two stoves running, as it seems like they don't have to be run as hard compared to one doing all the work? Seems I can leave the stoves in the coaling stage alot longer having two stoves, before reloading. Boy the Esse with that big cast iron top really holds the heat. Snow tonight!
Charlie

If I remember correctly, it seems like the stove starts struggling when the temps drop below 10 F. I reload sooner than normal, and this results in a big coal bed. No, the wood isn't wet.
The stove can be at 450, and it still isn't enough. Really too soon to reload, but if I wait, the house starts cooling.
Insufficient insulation.
The house is still in the mid to upper 60's when it's super cold.
Like Jim said, I'll make some bread or pie or something if needed. I can always kick on the direct vent heater in the laundry room to keep the back of the house a little warmer, since that's where it's coolest. Haven't done that for a few years, so that's a last resort.