Stove help needed----its cold here

[rocheck]

WE have just moved to a new house at 7800 asl and have had new Hearthstone Homestead stove installed. We went with this model of stove because we wanted to set the stove on the fireplace hearth and use the rear vent into an existing fireplace. Installataion was professionally done and front of the fireplace is sealed off to prevent heat loss. Home is very tight and well insulated and about 1700 square feet. We started using stove this past week when the weather really turned cold.

The stove has been running 24/7 and seems to be unable to heat the house. We are burning a combination of oak and mesquite that was cut and split two years ago so it should be well seasoned and ready to use. Outside temp right now is 15 degrees with no wind, snow is about 10-12" deep and we are unable to get inside temperature above 67-68 F.

At our previous home about 15 miles away, we had a different brand of stove heating about the same size area, my wife was constantly asking me to shut the stove down, open a window, and not put any more wood in the stove. Not the same at the new place. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[raygard]

Wood & Insulation.

Is the wood dry (you have said so, that's good, whats the MC and the operating temps of the stove) and is the insulation sufficient (no necessarily the stuff in the roof). have all drafts been plugged. Our house just got a lot warmer when we found a culprit hole in the kitchen and taped over it.

 

[maxed_out]

whats your stovetop temps running? whats your stack temp?

 

[blades]

How big are your splits? second, on split, RE- split and check its moisture content in the middle, sometimes 2 seasons isn't enough to get the moisture content under 20% on oak, hickory, locust ect. ( new style EPA stoves have to have dry, drier, driest wood to really work properly. If you are using big splits, try a bunch of smaller ones, I know they won't last as long but they will burn hotter. Dryer vents are a nasty loop hole for air infiltration as the flapper outside gets bound up with lint. Seen bathroom fans have the same problem, due to ice build up on them, Kitchen exhaust fan another culprit. what about your hot water heater? If it is not electric and vents through the side wall but is not a totally sealed combustion type thats another source of cold air when it is idle. Is the basement constructed of block walls(if you have a basement) if so are the top of the blocks sealed at the sill junction? Does the homestead have the ability to use an OAK? if so,is it hooked up? Stove has to get combustion air from somewhere.
Some of this could depend on the layout of the home also.

 

[Chettt]

It has to be the stove or the house insulation. Wood is always dry in the land of enchantment. Have you tried bringing the temperature up by using the furnace and then seeing if the stove can hold it above 70?

 

[agartner]

Where's the stove located in the house relative to the areas you are trying to heat? Is that the temp in the stove room or somewhere else. Hearthstone's are thermal "banks". They do get hot, but they also like to hold onto that heat and let it go over the long term. They're a little more gentle heat wise than a steel-box stove. Same goes for the masonry fireplace you have it installed in. It's a thermal "bank" too, but you first have to get it warmed up and that takes some time too. I won't rehash all the other excellent suggestions (wood, airleaks, etc...). Just keep it going 24x7, and after a few days, see if the overall temp starts to climb a bit.

 

[BrowningBAR]

whats your stovetop temps running? whats your stack temp?

This is the important info we need before we can offer any solutions.

 

[BrowningBAR]

WE have just moved to a new house at 7800 asl and have had new Hearthstone Homestead stove installed. We went with this model of stove because we wanted to set the stove on the fireplace hearth and use the rear vent into an existing fireplace. Installataion was professionally done and front of the fireplace is sealed off to prevent heat loss. Home is very tight and well insulated and about 1700 square feet. We started using stove this past week when the weather really turned cold.

The stove has been running 24/7 and seems to be unable to heat the house. We are burning a combination of oak and mesquite that was cut and split two years ago so it should be well seasoned and ready to use. Outside temp right now is 15 degrees with no wind, snow is about 10-12" deep and we are unable to get inside temperature above 67-68 F.

At our previous home about 15 miles away, we had a different brand of stove heating about the same size area, my wife was constantly asking me to shut the stove down, open a window, and not put any more wood in the stove. Not the same at the new place. Any ideas or suggestions?

What is the stove top temps you are getting?
What are your air controls set at?
What was your previous stove?
How big are your splits?

 

[BrotherBart]

Wood is always dry in the land of enchantment.

Not if you cut it last Thursday. :lol:

Carry on.

 

[firefighterjake]

If it isn't the wood (oak takes a long time to truly season . . . mesquite . . . I have no idea) my money would be on these folks not running the stove correctly in terms of bringing it up to temp and then shutting down the air to get the secondary burn . . . and is instead running the stove like an older pre-EPA stove where you only shut down the air at night for the long, smoldering burn . . . of course I could be wrong . . .

 

[rocheck]

Thanks for all the great replies. I will try to answer all the questions so we can get to the root of the problem.

The area of the house we are trying to heat is upstairs, we have a 1700 sq foot area below that is about 80% built into the side of a hill so it is mostly underground. We will deal with the heat issue "downstairs" in a separate posting. The upstairs area of about 1700 square feet has R-36 insulation in the ceilings and the house has a metal roof. House construction is 2x4 insulated walls that were then Tyvek wrapped, covered with foam insulation board, and then that is covered with concrete HardyBoard siding. All windows and doors are high efficiency double pane installed this past summer.

I do not have a way to measure stove top or stack temp, will get the stuff to do this on the next trip to town.

The oak and mesquite we are using was cut two summers ago in central Texas. It has sat outside for two summers in 100+ temp and low humidity. I don't think it could get much better. Most of the splits are 4-5". As soon as snow melts, I am going to resplit some of the wood into smaller splits to see how it works.

WE have no exhaust fans in the kitchen or bathrooms, the water heater is electric.

Temps is being measured in the same room with the stove, which is about 600 sq ft open area with 12 foot ceiling. Ceiling fans are being run in reverse mode to push the hot air back down.

Temp in stove room was 67 deg and I turned on the gas furnace set at 72 deg. It took six minutes for furnace to bring temp up to 72 deg and then shut off. Temp continued to rise and went up to 74. Furnace has now been off for 25 minutes and temp is still holding at 73 deg.

The air control on the Homestead is ata the maximum opening, stove has a good flame and large bed of glowing coals. Fire is easily ignited and seems to be getting adequate air for a good burn.

The previous stove we had at the old house was a Regency 2400. We would like to have gone with the same model in the new house but needed something with a rear flue opening so we could vent it into an existing fireplace and have the stove set on the fireplace heath.

If anyone has more questions, let me know. I have already learned there are a bunch of folks out there that "know some stuff"

Thanks again

 

[BrowningBAR]

Thanks for all the great replies. I will try to answer all the questions so we can get to the root of the problem.

The area of the house we are trying to heat is upstairs, we have a 1700 sq foot area below that is about 80% built into the side of a hill so it is mostly underground. We will deal with the heat issue "downstairs" in a separate posting. The upstairs area of about 1700 square feet has R-36 insulation in the ceilings and the house has a metal roof. House construction is 2x4 insulated walls that were then Tyvek wrapped, covered with foam insulation board, and then that is covered with concrete HardyBoard siding. All windows and doors are high efficiency double pane installed this past summer.

I do not have a way to measure stove top or stack temp, will get the stuff to do this on the next trip to town.

The oak and mesquite we are using was cut two summers ago in central Texas. It has sat outside for two summers in 100+ temp and low humidity. I don't think it could get much better. Most of the splits are 4-5". As soon as snow melts, I am going to resplit some of the wood into smaller splits to see how it works.

WE have no exhaust fans in the kitchen or bathrooms, the water heater is electric.

Temps is being measured in the same room with the stove, which is about 600 sq ft open area with 12 foot ceiling. Ceiling fans are being run in reverse mode to push the hot air back down.

Temp in stove room was 67 deg and I turned on the gas furnace set at 72 deg. It took six minutes for furnace to bring temp up to 72 deg and then shut off. Temp continued to rise and went up to 74. Furnace has now been off for 25 minutes and temp is still holding at 73 deg.

The air control on the Homestead is ata the maximum opening, stove has a good flame and large bed of glowing coals. Fire is easily ignited and seems to be getting adequate air for a good burn.

The previous stove we had at the old house was a Regency 2400. We would like to have gone with the same model in the new house but needed something with a rear flue opening so we could vent it into an existing fireplace and have the stove set on the fireplace heath.

If anyone has more questions, let me know. I have already learned there are a bunch of folks out there that "know some stuff"

Thanks again

There's your problem. Doing it this way will give you a toasty chimney and a cold room.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Here is how I get the Heritage up to temp. Whether or not you have a pipe damper does not matter. The air controls should work the same way.

Getting a Hearthstone up to 600°:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/83823/

And get yourself a stove top thermometer.

 

[rocheck]

Stove now has a good bed of coals and I just reloaded with medium size splits. As soon as they have a good flame going, I will reduce the air input control to about 15% snd we will see what happens.

It has now been 50 minutes since the gas furnace shut down and temp is still 71 deg,

Thanks

 

[BrowningBAR]

Stove now has a good bed of coals and I just reloaded with medium size splits. As soon as they have a good flame going, I will reduce the air input control to about 15% snd we will see what happens.

It has now been 50 minutes since the gas furnace shut down and temp is still 71 deg,

Thanks

It must be done in stages. Going from full open to 15% open will smother the flames. Do it in stages.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks for all the great replies. I will try to answer all the questions so we can get to the root of the problem.

The area of the house we are trying to heat is upstairs, we have a 1700 sq foot area below that is about 80% built into the side of a hill so it is mostly underground. We will deal with the heat issue "downstairs" in a separate posting. The upstairs area of about 1700 square feet has R-36 insulation in the ceilings and the house has a metal roof. House construction is 2x4 insulated walls that were then Tyvek wrapped, covered with foam insulation board, and then that is covered with concrete HardyBoard siding. All windows and doors are high efficiency double pane installed this past summer.

I do not have a way to measure stove top or stack temp, will get the stuff to do this on the next trip to town.

The oak and mesquite we are using was cut two summers ago in central Texas. It has sat outside for two summers in 100+ temp and low humidity. I don't think it could get much better. Most of the splits are 4-5". As soon as snow melts, I am going to resplit some of the wood into smaller splits to see how it works.

WE have no exhaust fans in the kitchen or bathrooms, the water heater is electric.

Temps is being measured in the same room with the stove, which is about 600 sq ft open area with 12 foot ceiling. Ceiling fans are being run in reverse mode to push the hot air back down.

Temp in stove room was 67 deg and I turned on the gas furnace set at 72 deg. It took six minutes for furnace to bring temp up to 72 deg and then shut off. Temp continued to rise and went up to 74. Furnace has now been off for 25 minutes and temp is still holding at 73 deg.

The air control on the Homestead is ata the maximum opening, stove has a good flame and large bed of glowing coals. Fire is easily ignited and seems to be getting adequate air for a good burn.
The previous stove we had at the old house was a Regency 2400. We would like to have gone with the same model in the new house but needed something with a rear flue opening so we could vent it into an existing fireplace and have the stove set on the fireplace heath.

If anyone has more questions, let me know. I have already learned there are a bunch of folks out there that "know some stuff"

Thanks again

As I thought . . .

Getting a stove thermo would be good . . . if possible getting a stove thermo and flue thermo would be even better . . . it will let you know at which point you can start shutting down your air.

Leaving the air control open all the way will result in lots of flame . . . but a good amount of that heat will go right up the chimney and will not heat up the stove . . . and you will not get a secondary combustion which is where you can really see a lot of heat gain.

What you need to do is get the stove cooking . . . and then start turning down the air control . . . start by turning it down 3/4 . . . and then waiting 10 minutes . . . the fire may die down a bit . . . but give it time to "catch its breath" and get roaring again . . . and then turn down the air 1/2 . . . and wait again . . . usually if the wood is seasoned and the stove is at the right temp (here's where having those thermos helps a lot since it's sometimes hard to tell just how hot or cool a fire is just by the look) . . .but if everything is right you may start seeing the secondary burn . . . you may see the fire on the wood start to die down a bit or more likely get "lazy" while the flames at the top of the firebox will either "explode" like silent fireworks or Northern Lights . . . or maybe even it may seem like a Portal to Hell has opened up if the flames at the top are really intense . . . some folks also get what looks like a BBQ grill blue jets shooting out of the secondary burn tubes . . . eventually you will want to turn down the air to 1/4 for more heat, an even cleaner burn and oftentimes more intense secondaries.

A key here is to have good, dry wood . . . dry meaning seasoned . . . if the fire starts to die out and there are no flames, open the air up, let the fire get going again and then start shutting down again . . . it is only by shutting the air that you get longer burns and more heat.

Good luck and ask questions. We're here for you.

 

[firefighterjake]

+1 to Browning Bar . . . gotta do it slowly in stages . . . try a quarter turn, push, pull or slide (depending on your air control) at a time . . . and give it 10-15 minutes at each stage . . . again, having a thermo helps a lot.

 

[firecracker_77]

Browning Bar. I have a Hearthstone Heritage, and the article you posted will be invaluable. I got my stove hot by burning all day and getting massive coals. I never really understood how to use the air control other than that opening it up gave me alot more air to stoke my fire or get it going from coals in the morning.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Browning Bar. I have a Hearthstone Heritage, and the article you posted will be invaluable. I got my stove hot by burning all day and getting massive coals. I never really understood how to use the air control other than that opening it up gave me alot more air to stoke my fire or get it going from coals in the morning.

Glad I could help.

 

[rwhite]

I never worried about fuel moisture when we lived in S. AZ. 20% humidity was sweltering to us. The heat and low humidities green wood could be ready to burn after a summer. Moisture content was never an issue unless you burned it the same day it was cut.

 

[jotul8e2]

I believe some of the suggestions above will help dramatically, but I wonder if your stove is bit undersized for your build and climate.

My house is very similarly constructed, but...

We live in a far more benign climate (S.W. Missouri)
I built with 2X6 walls, and used 1" foam over OSB sheeting.
I have R70 in the attic.
I deliberately reduced the size and number of windows to minimize heat loss, and use cellular shades.

Now, mine is a bit larger - I think about 2200 sq. ft. on the main level, but again, we have much milder winters.
With these conditions I have to stay on top of the loading with my Jotul Oslo when the outside temps drop down toward +10 deg. f. I have heated the house when it dropped down to -10 f., but I had to load faithfully every three hours or so with well seasoned white oak and hickory, and I was barely able to maintain the house in the upper 60's.

I could be wrong, but I think the Equinox is a little smaller firebox than the Oslo.

 

[rwhite]

I think it may have a lot to do with wood but not moisture content. If your burning mesquite I would assume that the oak your burning is mexican blue, or silver leaf. Either way all desert trees have adapted for a lack of moisture. They are very dry, small diameter, and have a very tight grain. They do not Flame well, and though the BTU's may be high but it takes a while to get them. Mesquite especially likes to smolder forever. I would get some juniper, fir and pinion to get the stove cranking and save the hard stuff for the overnight burns. I did alot off cooking with mesquite and it's tough to burn in an open pit. Once you get a bed of coals though it's gonna be there a while.