Found my Stove's Limit

[Jutt77]

It was -15 last night here in Denver. Even when cranking my stove the best I could get was 69 degrees in my den (wood stove resides there)...normal temp is around 74 degrees in that room. The back of my house was around 60 degrees, normal temp stays around 68-70 without having to use my gas furnace. I had to use my furnace last night for the first time since I installed my stove last month.

I think I found my stove's limit for my house: 15 below zero. My house is a 1953 built brick ranch, single level, old aluminum framed windows, uninsulated walls, older attic insulation. If I lived in Leadville CO or Northern MN or Alaska, in a similar home then I would go with larger stove.

Whats really cool though is that my power went out for 2.5 hours yesterday with high temps hovering around 0. I have a 90 gallon aquarium full of some really expensive fish in the same room as my wood stove and probably would have lost them all had it not been for the stove (picture was from last month):

 

[Adios Pantalones]

That's not too shabby. I had to stay up heating water on the stove and pouring it in my fish tank hard to heat and aerate it one time in an ice storm. That sucked. Glad to have a generator now

 

[cmonSTART]

That's not too shabby. I had to stay up heating water on the stove and pouring it in my fish tank hard to heat and aerate it one time in an ice storm. That sucked. Glad to have a generator now

Now that's dedication!

 

[Jutt77]

That's not too shabby. I had to stay up heating water on the stove and pouring it in my fish tank hard to heat and aerate it one time in an ice storm. That sucked. Glad to have a generator now

Thats exactly what I would have been doing without a stove. A generator would be nice...

 

[-PB-]

nice set up... what kind of fish are in there?

 

[GAMMA RAY]

That's a real sweet set up Enjoy!! Love the fish tank!

 

[Intheswamp]

Glad to hear you stayed warm while the power was out and -15 would be catastrophic down here in Dixie...I can't even imagine.

Something that's bugging me, though is how much clearance do you have from the front of your insert to your carpet??

Take care,
Ed

 

[szmaine]

Time to insulate!!

 

[120inna55]

That is one beautiful den. Clean simple lines without being sterile. Warm, inviting, and comfortable. Well done!

 

[ChillyGator]

Time to insulate!

+1.....couple hundred dollars in the attic will make you wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

 

[szmaine]

Time to insulate!

+1.....couple hundred dollars in the attic will make you wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

And, good golly, get some blown in the walls while your at it!!

 

[dafattkidd]

-15 is some serious temps. I think my house would collapse if it was that cold here. It was like -2 last week and I thought my walls were going to implode. Well that's an exaggeration, but -15 is some serious cold. Sounds like that insert is doing a really good job. Nice set up.

 

[DonNC]

You described my house to a T!

I put insulation in the attic two years ago..a double layer of R19....helps most in the summer I guess... but its the windows. The leaky windows and doors and the walls that dont have insulation. They kill me. My house dont have sheet-rock, it has some kind of plaster board with metal mesh at the corners. When it gets cold out that stuff wants the stay cold

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Whats really cool though is that my power went out for 2.5 hours yesterday with high temps hovering around 0. I have a 90 gallon aquarium full of some really expensive fish in the same room as my wood stove and probably would have lost them all had it not been for the stove

I highly doubt it if the power was only out for 2.5 hours. The temperature in the room might have dropped 10 degrees in that amount of time, but water holds the temperature much better than air, and the one or two degree change that might have happen to the aquarium water would have been so gradual that it wouldn't have stressed the fish much, if at all.
Now if the power was to go out for 8 or 10 hours it would be a different matter.

Nice looking stove room (and aquarium) by the way, are those real plants in the aquarium?

 

[burleymike]

I remember those cold nights in Denver. Before my dad put the insert in the glass doors on the fireplace would get about 1" of ice on them then it would melt and get the carpet all wet. The windows would get a lot of ice on them as well.

 

[dafattkidd]

Burley Mike that's nuts. 1" of ice on the fireplace glass. Man that is crazy cold.

 

[Jutt77]

nice set up... what kind of fish are in there?

Thanks. A bunch of different kinds of Tanganyikan Cichlids.

 

[Jutt77]

Glad to hear you stayed warm while the power was out and -15 would be catastrophic down here in Dixie...I can't even imagine.

Something that's bugging me, though is how much clearance do you have from the front of your insert to your carpet??

Take care,
Ed

16 inches per code Ed...Its actually a bit less than that. I'm going to build a new hearth in late spring. Good eye.

 

[Corey]

Feel sorry for you guys out there. Just got back from Denver/Georgetown/Estes last week...pine and cedar as far as the eye could see...when there were even any trees at all.

We're at 0F right now and headed down to -10 tonight. Stove is barely loping along - just an orange bed of coals right now, but still holding 75+ in the stove/family room and 68-69 in the back of the house. Makes me realize how lucky we are to have endless miles of hedge rows and the cold temperatures to really appreciate it!

 

[Jutt77]

Time to insulate!!

You got that right. Will be upgrading the attic insulation in the summer. Wall insulation next and then new windows when we can afford it.

 

[Jutt77]

You described my house to a T!

I put insulation in the attic two years ago..a double layer of R19....helps most in the summer I guess... but its the windows. The leaky windows and doors and the walls that dont have insulation. They kill me. My house dont have sheet-rock, it has some kind of plaster board with metal mesh at the corners. When it gets cold out that stuff wants the stay cold

Yeah man, the attic insulation was added back in the 70's here so I have no idea what R value what is...probably like R2.5 or something judging by how cold it can get in here (with no stove that is).

 

[Intheswamp]

Glad to hear you stayed warm while the power was out and -15 would be catastrophic down here in Dixie...I can't even imagine.

Something that's bugging me, though is how much clearance do you have from the front of your insert to your carpet??

Take care,
Ed

16 inches per code Ed

I hear ya...must be the camera messing with my eyes....or just my eyes. hh:
Nice setup...what fish do you keep?...It's been close to 20 years since I kept any...I ran a 55 tall for several years....african cichlids once, black angels (a pain) once, a pair of Oscars and a couple of Jack Dempsys another time....then the salt water era, I enjoyed live rock and critters other than fish most of all....but, when the last aquarium (30gal long) caught on fire I gave it all up. :bug:

Anyhow, looks good and sounds like the insert is taking care of things. I'm sure it's nothing compared to the weather you're having but south Alabama is under a winter weather advisory from tonight until 6pm tomorrow...we don't get a lot of those down here.

Take care,
Ed

 

[Jutt77]

Whats really cool though is that my power went out for 2.5 hours yesterday with high temps hovering around 0. I have a 90 gallon aquarium full of some really expensive fish in the same room as my wood stove and probably would have lost them all had it not been for the stove

I highly doubt it if the power was only out for 2.5 hours. The temperature in the room might have dropped 10 degrees in that amount of time, but water holds the temperature much better than air, and the one or two degree change that might have happen to the aquarium water would have been so gradual that it wouldn't have stressed the fish much, if at all.
Now if the power was to go out for 8 or 10 hours it would be a different matter.

Nice looking stove room (and aquarium) by the way, are those real plants in the aquarium?

Yeah, that's probably true but I wouldn't want to find out. Yep, the plants are real Java Fern. Easy plant to grow...does good with low light, fish don't tear it up, looks nice.

 

[Jimbob]

My house is a 1953 built brick ranch, single level, old aluminum framed windows, uninsulated walls, older attic insulation.

I can't believe there are houses out there with NO insulation!

 

[Jutt77]

Glad to hear you stayed warm while the power was out and -15 would be catastrophic down here in Dixie...I can't even imagine.

Something that's bugging me, though is how much clearance do you have from the front of your insert to your carpet??

Take care,
Ed

16 inches per code Ed

I hear ya...must be the camera messing with my eyes....or just my eyes. hh:
Nice setup...what fish do you keep?...It's been close to 20 years since I kept any...I ran a 55 tall for several years....african cichlids once, black angels (a pain) once, a pair of Oscars and a couple of Jack Dempsys another time....then the salt water era, I enjoyed live rock and critters other than fish most of all....but, when the last aquarium (30gal long) caught on fire I gave it all up. :bug:

Anyhow, looks good and sounds like the insert is taking care of things. I'm sure it's nothing compared to the weather you're having but south Alabama is under a winter weather advisory from tonight until 6pm tomorrow...we don't get a lot of those down here.

Take care,
Ed

Hey Ed - Yeah, its actually a bit shorter than 16", its like 14.5"...I'll be replacing the hearth late spring with a larger design. You have good eyes I have Tanganyika Cichlids...Black Calvus, Leleupi, Cyps, Occalatus, albino plecos (not tanganyika), Julies, synodontis catfish...probably some others I'm missing.

I grew up in SW Virginia and there with the humidity it FEELS a lot colder than it is. Here its so dry it doesn't quite feel as cold. Still, -15 is cold no matter how you cut it. But parts of the deep south have had more snow this year then we've had in Denver. Crazy weather back east!

Take it easy,
J