Is it our imagination or does the stove run differently when it's really cold? plus heatpump issue

[tickbitty]

We have had a frigid couple weeks down here (for us) with temps in 20's, a couple snows, etc.
The house isn't that well insulated (I think?) and there is some weird thing we haven't quite figured out about how the heat pump works when the stove is running. (We keep the heat pump in the low 60s for when the fire gets low at night or when we are at work. - there seems to be some strange thing that happens with it, where it stays lower than it should - I don't really get it ...)

But anyway back to the stove. When it's super cold out we can't seem to get the temp up quite as high (VERY seasoned wood right now) and the coals and ash accumulate like crazy to the point we end up shoveling out a whole bucket of coals to make room for new wood to get the stove really hot again.

Our setup is: insert with no surround in interior masonry chimney, about 16' up one story, insulflex insulated liner. No problem with draft. I don't have a blockoff plate yet. Chimney is warm inside but not hot - we are losing some heat, but not too much up there.

I'm just not sure if we are honestly getting less performance out of the stove when it's very cold, OR, if we are just really focused on it, feeding it all day etc, so that we end up with a faster coal and ash accumulation or something without giving the coals time to burn out or something.

And this heat pump thing's another issue altogether. It's a retrofit, it's in the attic. I think it might be a bad setup. Last year was the first time we tried to use it much (prior to that we just used it for AC for a few yrs since we installed it) and it was so terrible that we HAD to get the stove. Now just figuring out how to use the two most efficiently in tandem. The house is only 1430 sq feet so this stove should be plenty for us in this climate if we can figure out how to make the most of it.

 

[rdust]

My Endeavor has the same firebox I believe and I'm heating just under 2k in what I assume is a much cooler climate. I find my stove runs hotter the cooler it gets due to the improved draft. When it's below 20 I do close off some rooms I don't use since the stove is a little small for the house when it gets that cold. Single digit cold I have to load the stove more frequently to keep the temp where I want it but that's not the fault of the stove.

 

[begreen]

When temps are cold and the stove is going through more fuel/day, hot coals will build up. Rake them to the front of the stove and open up the air to burn them down a bit. After they have burned down, nestle the remainder between the new load of N/S loaded wood and fire up again.

Below 32F, the heat pump may be at the end of it's range unless it is a modern, high efficiency unit. Usually there are resistance heaters in the plenum that kick on at lower temps, but not in simpler systems.

 

[krex1010]

Coal build up is probably just due to the increased amount of wood you are feeding your stove. When heating with wood the heat output isn't constant, you feed the stove and heat output goes up for a while , peaks and then drops. The colder it is the faster your house cools as the heat output slows down as you progress through a burn cycle, so you add wood sooner and coals really don't get a chance to burn down before you add wood. When its warmer your house doesn't lose heat as fast so your house can maintain a warm temp with the lower heat output of a fire in the coaling stage. This is where making your home as tight and well insulated as possible really helps out, it allows you to store all that heat the stove produces for a longer time, thus allowing you to go longer in between reloads.
As for your heat pump issue. Are you saying your heat pump can't keep the house warmed up to your thermostat setpoint? If that the case it is likely just due to the cold temps that you have been experiencing. Heat pumps really have trouble making heat when the temps start dropping into the mid 30's, especially if your house isn't well insulated or you have older windows etc.

 

[tickbitty]

Yeah, I think you guys pegged it pretty well. Thanks for the input... a lot of that was about what my thought process was, but seeing it spelled back out for me it all makes sense. Guess we just have to time the cycles better, Like right now I have half a stove box of hot embers, and I will be waiting a while on it to burn down so I can fit some more wood in there for the night time burn. If I just fit in what I can, it's not going to do as well for that next cycle.

Not sure of the exact nature of my heat pump system but I would imagine it's one of the simpler ones. Our night time temps have been in the teens last couple weeks so I guess it's just no way now how going to be able to handle that. But between the stove and the dogs and the down comforter I guess we'll make it though!

 

[ddddddden]

Howdy Neighbor(been meaning to greet you for awhile now), What Mr. Green said. . . + burning down coals quickly is a good use of pine, which is pretty much free from superstitous folk here in the land of oak. See threads on coal management.

 

[bsearcey]

Like everyone else said. Throw a couple sacrafice pieces of wood on the coals and open some air up to it. Those coals are/will get super hot. Also get that block off plate in. I bet you are losing more heat than you think by letting that hot air rise up the chimney. I know its sealed at the top with your cap, and not actually escaping, but it is still cooling down alot of hot air that should be making it's way into the house.

How's the insulation in the attic? Check your window too. May be worth putting some shrink film over them, especially in the bedrooms.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Mine runs hotter in cold weather. As said above- more reloading, more coals, less heat on later loads.

If you have a deep coal bed- rake it forward and throw in some pine. There- now your stove is HOT.

 

[tickbitty]

Yeah it makes sense about the coals and being too quick on the reloading so it piles up.
And I really do have to get to the block off plate. I have less excuse now because a friend with a forge dropped off about a 2' X 4' pc of 3" thick Kaowool on my porch today! I will have to do a two pc plate because no way am I taking the pipe out of the stove. The blockoff plate instructions here on hearth say you are to put it against the back of the steel lintel, which I think sounds weird, but will figure something out.

Next yr, we definitely need to get more insulation in this house too. The past two winters have been cooold!
Den, where are you in VA? We're in Wmsbg

 

[BrotherBart]

Next yr, we definitely need to get more insulation in this house too. The past two winters have been cooold!

Yeah all those folks that think we don't have winter in VA need to come stand in my front yard when it is 9 degrees with a thirty mile an hour wind. In freakin December! Usually doesn't happen until January except for the last two years. Looked at the weather at six and we were just as cold as anybody back up to the Canadian border in the midwest.

I would go over and kiss the 30-NC if it wasn't cruising at 600 right now. Warm night tonight. Only 21.

 

[begreen]

I would go over and kiss the 30-NC if it wasn't cruising at 600 right now. Warm night tonight. Only 21.

Good to hear you are keeping warm, but not kissing the stove. That would give a whole new meaning to hot lips.

 

[BrotherBart]

I would go over and kiss the 30-NC if it wasn't cruising at 600 right now. Warm night tonight. Only 21.

Good to hear you are keeping warm, but not kissing the stove. That would give a whole new meaning to hot lips.

May be anyway. That thing hit one of those cruises to die for on the night load. It is getting hot in this joint. Always happens when it isn't gonna make it quite to the teens tonight. Where was this burn last week?!!

 

[begreen]

Don't you just hate that. Must have had a nice load of heart wood last week.