Huge difference. Last year I would always feel cold air rushing into most of the rooms, especially the rooms with the Heritage and the Intrepid. No such problem this year. Right now I am heating the house with just the Heritage and the Encore, and neither of them are being run hard.
A few things I noticed:
- I don't need to over heat a room anymore... unless I want to.
- During the recent cold spell the Vigilant was always less than half full and would be run down to 200-250°. Previous years, that stove was always cranking and that room would be 85°+ degrees in the hopes to get some of the heat to the rest of the house. Not the case at this point of the year and I suspect that will remain for most of the winter.
- I actually have heat retention. No new insulation was added over the summer. I chalk it up to the whole house being heated a lot better and no areas that can build up cold air, specifically the 24" thick stone walls. Once those walls get cold, it's a pain warming them up again.
- The Heritage seems like it is throwing a lot more heat this year since there isn't a rush of cold air coming in from three different areas (gallery, dinning room, stairs).
- Upstairs is 5-10° warmer. In the morning we are waking up to 65°+ temps as oppose to sub-60° temps. During the day the upstairs is 70°+. Really makes things a lot more comfortable.
We'll see how things play out when we reach January and we have long stretches of cold. But, it's pretty promising at this point.
A few things I'm thinking about:
- I might keep the Vigilant for another year, but selling the Heritage. The Heritage was going to be moved to the Vigilant's location and a larger stove was going in the Heritage's location. But, due to the fact that the third stove is being used differently, a soapstone stove may not be the best option since it take a lot longer to heat up. I can get the Vigilant up and running in 10-20 minutes. The heritage takes a lot longer from a cold start.
-Do I need two Defiant-sized stoves? Am I finally reaching the point of overkill? I was actually hot when I would get the Vigilant going over the weekend and a Defiant is larger. And two Defiants would be a whole hell of a lot of heat, it would seem. But, I really would like longer burn times from those two stoves. Again, I have to wait and see how things go this season.
-It does look like the 30NC is probably not going to work due to it's size and lack of low burn abilities. During the storm on Saturday, I had the room that the Vigilant is located in up to 80°, and that was with the firebox less than 50% full and skimming along at 450°-500° at it's peak.
A few things I noticed:
- I don't need to over heat a room anymore... unless I want to.
- During the recent cold spell the Vigilant was always less than half full and would be run down to 200-250°. Previous years, that stove was always cranking and that room would be 85°+ degrees in the hopes to get some of the heat to the rest of the house. Not the case at this point of the year and I suspect that will remain for most of the winter.
- I actually have heat retention. No new insulation was added over the summer. I chalk it up to the whole house being heated a lot better and no areas that can build up cold air, specifically the 24" thick stone walls. Once those walls get cold, it's a pain warming them up again.
- The Heritage seems like it is throwing a lot more heat this year since there isn't a rush of cold air coming in from three different areas (gallery, dinning room, stairs).
- Upstairs is 5-10° warmer. In the morning we are waking up to 65°+ temps as oppose to sub-60° temps. During the day the upstairs is 70°+. Really makes things a lot more comfortable.
We'll see how things play out when we reach January and we have long stretches of cold. But, it's pretty promising at this point.
A few things I'm thinking about:
- I might keep the Vigilant for another year, but selling the Heritage. The Heritage was going to be moved to the Vigilant's location and a larger stove was going in the Heritage's location. But, due to the fact that the third stove is being used differently, a soapstone stove may not be the best option since it take a lot longer to heat up. I can get the Vigilant up and running in 10-20 minutes. The heritage takes a lot longer from a cold start.
-Do I need two Defiant-sized stoves? Am I finally reaching the point of overkill? I was actually hot when I would get the Vigilant going over the weekend and a Defiant is larger. And two Defiants would be a whole hell of a lot of heat, it would seem. But, I really would like longer burn times from those two stoves. Again, I have to wait and see how things go this season.
-It does look like the 30NC is probably not going to work due to it's size and lack of low burn abilities. During the storm on Saturday, I had the room that the Vigilant is located in up to 80°, and that was with the firebox less than 50% full and skimming along at 450°-500° at it's peak.