Having trouble heating my cabin

[counts86]

Hi everyone, I am looking at a Vermont Castings Intrepid II that I found on CL and I have some questions. I have 600 sq ft cabin close to Vail Colorado and it is fairly well insulated but the Grandpa Bear Stove I currently have is not heating it well at all. There are some small drafts that I will be sealing but they are very minor and there is ample insulation in the walls and ceiling. I am looking to get a better stove and like the Intrepid II but I'm worried it's too small.

The Intrepid II 1308 is rated to 1000 ft^2
The Fisher Grandpa Bear is rated at 2250 ft^2 but it isn't doing much except for heating the area within 10 ft of the stove. (I'm burning 1yr old dry pine and aspen and I have a thermometer on the flue which shows about 500 degrees most of the time)

Any ideas?

 

[begreen]

Welcome again. The Fisher should drive you out of the place. Are you living in the cabin full time? How cold is the cabin when the stove is starting up?

The Intrepid would be a good stove if the place is being heated 24/7 by wood, but it will not have the oomph to bring it up from say 30F to 70F quickly. Actually, no stove will. Be wary buying a used Intrepid if it has seen a lot of use. It will likely need a rebuild.

 

[counts86]

Welcome again. The Fisher should drive you out of the place. Are you living in the cabin full time? How cold is the cabin when the stove is starting up?

The Intrepid would be a good stove if the place is being heated 24/7 by wood, but it will not have the oomph to bring it up from say 30F to 70F quickly. Actually, no stove will. Be wary buying a used Intrepid if it has seen a lot of use. It will likely need a rebuild.

The cabin is only used a few times a month. In the winter starting temperatures will be between 20 and 50 but I am going to buy a propane heater to get it up to 65 while the stove is heating. Sounds like I should just hang on to the Fisher before making any changes.

 

[DougA]

Similar answer. If you are bringing the temps from freezing to 70F, it takes forever because all the mass (wood, tools, everything) has to be heated up. They all will suck the heat until they reach the same temp. If on the other hand you have the stove top at 500 (not just the flue) for 5 hours and it is still not heating the cabin, I would guess that you have more leaks and less insulation than you think. I doubt changing to a VC is going to help and may even be worse. The other possibility is that the Grandpa Bear needs to have the air closed down a lot more. If the flue temps are 500 but the stove is well below that, I'd suggest the stove is sucking too much air in. Controlling that should make the stove hotter and will also mean less cold, fresh air coming into the cabin to make up for the air going up the chimney.

 

[Simonkenton]

It is bizarre that the big wood stove won't heat that tiny cabin. I agree with doug, you must have inadequate insulation, and some bad air leaks.

 

[begreen]

Doug has it right. There is more than just warming up the air in the cabin. It takes quite a while to get the mass of the house up to temperature. Getting the mass of the place up 50 degrees will take a lot of btus over many hours. That said I would not get the Intrepid for this situation. Instead I would get a modern, high efficiency stove that has a blower to increase convection in the cabin. That will help warm it up faster and may cost less than the Intrepid if it needs a rebuild. This is assuming there is electricity in the cabin. But maybe no?

 

[tarzan]

Man, I'm telling you if you can't heat 600sq ft with a Grandpa Bear there are some problems. I'm guessing the place is not as well insulated as you think.

If the stove you have heats the cabin as poorly as you describe I doubt anything will heat it well until you solve some issues.

How's the insulation in the floor and roof?

 

[Sprinter]

The other possibility is that the Grandpa Bear needs to have the air closed down a lot more. If the flue temps are 500 but the stove is well below that, I'd suggest the stove is sucking too much air in. Controlling that should make the stove hotter and will also mean less cold, fresh air coming into the cabin to make up for the air going up the chimney.

+1. If the pipe is single wall and the thermometer is a magnetic surface type, then the internal temps are probably more like 1000. If so, then you may be putting too much air and heat up the flue. Be doubly sure of the wood's moisture content (using a meter), and experiment some with the air control. You also may be bringing a lot more outside air through the cabin than you think, which is why we advocate outside air kit for combustion if the stove can use one.

You could also put the flue thermometer on the stove top and see just what the stove is running at.

 

[begreen]

There should also be a key damper on the flue that should get closed at least partially once the stove is burning well. That will help reduce the amount of heat going up the flue.