Confessions of a Wood Burner

[soupy1957]

Temps were down in the teens most of the day yesterday. Temps were (and did) supposed to drop to the single digits during the night last night.

I had the stove crankin..........full load, clean system, dry wood, utilizing the blower in the forced hot air system, and fans for circulation.............everything that I COULD do to ensure a good burn and an effective burn, was done.

In spite of that, even after having run the wood stove all day yesterday, .......last night after supper we noted that the temps were so extreme, that we were not able to get the level of heat to the rest of the house that we would have wanted.

That being the case, and the wife and are both being sick with bronchitis, we let the fire in the wood stove go out, and ran the furnace all night. This morning we looked at each other and said, "furnace," without even having to ask each other what we were thinking.

What that says to me, and possibly to you, is that our stove is just not big enough to handle what we need in EXTREME cold. Not that it's a bad stove, or that we regret the choice of the stove or of burning wood. Just that under present circumstances, we prefer the furnace.

Will we go back to burnin wood? Of course! Probably today during the day. But it was a lesson learned, as far as I'm concerned, about our current capability.

-Soupy1957

 

[SKIN052]

Just think of the fun you are going to have deciding on a new stove! Stay healthy.

 

[SolarAndWood]

We went through that same process with our old stove except with no furnace. Definitely affects your purchase criteria.

 

[precaud]

Before investing in a larger stove, do a serious evaluation of your home's insulation. Regardless of the heat source you choose, better insulation = better heat retention.

 

[Dune]

I can see using a furnace whenever you need it, especaily being sick and all. Not sure I understand the part about not using the woodstove though. They are not mutualy exclusive.

 

[Rockey]

Adding a second stove in the basement is what did it for me. I have been through a few -10 degree nights and only used the wood stoves to keep the house around 70.

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/14241/

 

[soupy1957]

Dune,
The wood stove is located in the Living Room..........so is the Thermostat for the Furnace. If the room is 85ºF, the Furnace Thermostat would have to be set for HIGHER than that, in order to get it to kick on. I've done that before, just to warm up the downstairs..........turn the Thermostat heat requirement to say 90ºF and let it run for 15 minutes and shut it down; but I wouldn't run the Furnace that hot for a long period of time, just so I can have both going. The objective is to be as free of the oil consumption as possible. In this Thread, I'm talking about what's reasonable, and what's not.

Precaud: Absolutely a great point. We had just undergone a reconstruction last winter and I'm certain that our Insulation is up to snuff.

SKIN052 & SolarAndWood: Agree. But I don't see us buying a new stove any time soon.

-Soupy1957

 

[Stump_Branch]

Before investing in a larger stove, do a serious evaluation of your home's insulation. Regardless of the heat source you choose, better insulation = better heat retention.

I am just learning this...Small stove large one story house. Half of it is un-finished, as I have neither the time of funds to finish. cold air seemed to constantly pour from this are of the house which shares the stove rooms wall space. small amour of insulation makes huge difference. Cheap to when compared to any fuel costs.

stay warm

 

[Dune]

I see.

 

[jharkin]

Nothing wrong with it at all Soupy.. Last night was a little preview of January. For us the low hit 5F. Of course the stove is going to have to work fairly hard to keep up in this weather if its not way oversized. OTOH if you go too big you might have a hard time not overheating the place in the shoulder season.

On days like this my stove also cant keep the house toasty overnight unless I leave it running hot which means I may have to start cold in the morning. No problem, I just let the house cool and let the boiler kick on - t I don't want the house in the 70s when I sleep anyway. One 45 min cycle in the morning brings the house right back up to 68 and also evens out the temperature much better than we can ever get with the stove, and cost under a buck at current NG rates. Then the stove takes over again.

I guess I'm lucky that my central heat is steam, those hot iron radiators in every room is the second best thing to a woodstove IMO and the cost of NG this year is hard to beat.

If I had oil heat I would be thinking like you I am sure. I would definately bite the bullet and spend the $$ to rip down all the ceilinsg upstairs and re-insulate the roof. For now however we have other priorities..

 

[ColdNH]

Dune,
The wood stove is located in the Living Room..........so is the Thermostat for the Furnace. If the room is 85ºF, the Furnace Thermostat would have to be set for HIGHER than that, in order to get it to kick on. I've done that before, just to warm up the downstairs..........turn the Thermostat heat requirement to say 90ºF and let it run for 15 minutes and shut it down; but I wouldn't run the Furnace that hot for a long period of time, just so I can have both going. The objective is to be as free of the oil consumption as possible. In this Thread, I'm talking about what's reasonable, and what's not.

Precaud: Absolutely a great point. We had just undergone a reconstruction last winter and I'm certain that our Insulation is up to snuff.

SKIN052 & SolarAndWood: Agree. But I don't see us buying a new stove any time soon.

-Soupy1957

why not just buy a small electric space heater for the bedroom and run the stove. this way you still heat most of your house to a comfortable level with the stove and heat just the bedroom to a comfortable level with the space heater, saving way more money then you most likely would by heating the entire house with the furnace on one of the coldest winter nights.

We have electric heat, and while its very expensive to soley heat the entire house with it, its very nice and reasonable to use with the stove to heat up those rooms far from the stove on very cold nights.

 

[gzecc]

I have to run my 1980's (big buck) insert differently, when it gets very cold. Usually I can make a small fire and shut the damper early on (when temps are in the 30's & 40's). When the temp plumets, I need to leave the damper and air open much longer, bringing up the box temp much higher (500 degs). It obviously uses more wood, its kind of like switching gears.

 

[shawneyboy]

During these extreme cold temps. More like Jan/Feb than early Dec here. I do/will run both furnace and Stove. Now my stove is in a seperate zone than the rest of the house. Stove room temp does not have an effect on other areas calling for the furnace. I guess that is an advantage to my set up with the stove on the lower level of a raised ranch. I can run both stove and furnace, since they are as said before "not mutually exclusive" with my set-up.

 

[oldspark]

Since I have no furnace and if the Summit is not up to the task I guess the long underwear will be in order. :long:

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Hi Soupy

It sounds like it would be best to move the thermostat. That way you could get the best from both heating systems.

Billy

 

[SKIN052]

Since I have no furnace and if the Summit is not up to the task I guess the long underwear will be in order. :long:

Do not speak ill of the Summit, lol. I say again Sir, it is user error, lol.

 

[soupy1957]

Hi Soupy

It sounds like it would be best to move the thermostat. That way you could get the best from both heating systems.

Billy

I HAVE actually considered this............not sure what's stopping me. I guess I just want to think out logically.........awe heck........I COULD locate it on a KITCHEN wall, (which is adjacent to the Living Room), but I'm not sure what I would gain. I'd be even MORE tempted to run both systems at once, and THAT seems like a "Venial Sin." (lol)

-Soupy1957

 

[oldspark]

Since I have no furnace and if the Summit is not up to the task I guess the long underwear will be in order. :long:

Do not speak ill of the Summit, lol. I say again Sir, it is user error, lol.

Stove is hot, that's all I can do! :lol:

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

Get well soon Mr. and Mrs. Soupy.

I understand completely . . . woke up this morning and even though my wife had kept the fire burning all night long with the temp outside just a dite above zero it felt cool in the house . . . and it was . . . it was a freezing 68 degrees in the kitchen which usually is at the 70-72 degree mark when the stove has been chugging along. My own opinion is that on days like these you may think you should get an even bigger stove, but I think the best thing to do is figure out what are your average temps and not go by the most extreme case . . . I mean if someone is always dealing with sub zero temps then they should get a larger stove, but if the temp only goes sub-zero for a few days each winter and normally the stove handles the temps in the teens or 20s with no issues for example then they don't necessarily need to buy a bigger stove.

 

[SKIN052]

Since I have no furnace and if the Summit is not up to the task I guess the long underwear will be in order. :long:

Do not speak ill of the Summit, lol. I say again Sir, it is user error, lol.

Stove is hot, that's all I can do! :lol:

I loaded mine up early this morning (0530hrs) and I just spoke with the kids (1420hrs) who are home from school all day. House temps are still 22c with an outside temp of -2c. That is on a half load of split birch.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Since I have no furnace and if the Summit is not up to the task I guess the long underwear will be in order. :long:

Oldspark and I are alike except for the choice of stoves. We have no furnace but the Fireview will definitely keep us nice and warm.

It turns out that folks buying a stove that is a tad on the small side is quite common, so you are not alone Soupy. I hope you and the wife get over the sickness fast! That is not a good thing to have at this time of year.


Also, if you folks think this recent cold spell is bad, this next one they claim will be much worse. On the good side, it looks like some areas will be spared the snowfall, but others will be hit hard. 4-5' of lake effect is in order one more time.

 

[Jags]

I find no shame in allowing the furnace to kick on. There are those days when I drag my sorry butt home from work, look at the stove and use my last ounce of energy to walk by my stove with a weak one handed wave-off...and hit the button. Or the nights when I have finally sat down, realizing that the stove needs to be fed and can only muster enough strength to hit the button and climb the stairs. For those with no choice - I understand, but I have a choice and sometimes use it.

 

[soupy1957]

"Also, if you folks think this recent cold spell is bad, this next one they claim will be much worse."

Being a "Maine boy" from way back, I'll say it isn't the cold that bothers me......I'm used to a LOT worse. But I AM kinda ticked off that the stove doesn't gimme as much as I would like (and I thought I had intentionally bought "BIG" when I bought it! In fact, the Salesman at the time, kept asking me, "you sure you want a stove THAT big?")

Ah well..........

-Soupy1957

 

[woodchip]

I find no shame in allowing the furnace to kick on.

There is no reason why a furnace cannot supplement a woodburner, or the other way round. Our gas furnace runs central heating for the whole house, and the woodburner heats the lounge, although usually in the type of winters we get here (Southern England 2 miles from the coast) we rarely need the woodburner and furnace going together.

In extreme cold, I have known many people here to struggle to keep the house warm, usually because the furnace, or woodburner, is not designed to keep the ambient indoor temperature more than 40f above the outside temperature. If the outside temperature does drop below, say 10f for a period, people in these houses do find the houses rather chilly. Extra insulation is far cheaper than going for a new furnace or bigger woodburner. The trouble here is that bigger woodburners will give out more heat at a cost of more wood, people then try to run big ones cooler when it is milder, and then find themselves choking up the chimney with soot as they do not burn them hot enough.

 

[snowtime]

Well being a wood only guy we have no problem keeping our home 70f whether its 30f or -50f. I do not buy the creosote problem with burning a big stove in shoulder season, you just have to learn the ins and outs of your stove. Of course I am talking about the T6 as EPA stoves with a proper chimney are very efficient. We only clean once a year and could go 2 years. Its true we do not heat the basement as we have our preps for the winter stored there but that still leaves 2400' that we keep heated.