3 seasons in and a recommendation please

[MedicineMan4040]

Doubt you guys/gals will remember me but we are now 3 seasons into using the Osburn Matrix free-standing woodstove to augment heat in our home. I heat all day long but don't super load the stove before bed. Sometime in the middle of the night the propane furnace kicks in and when I get up at 0500 I build the fire back up. Last winter we used 200 gallons of propane; so 75% of my heating comes from wood.

Last winter we used just a bit under 2 cords of wood. Luckily here in the boonies wood is free if I work it....and I do Our home is 1975 era construction/lightly insulated on the 2cd and 3rd floot (r19 walls, r30 ceiling on the top floor). It's a small house, roughly 2200 square feet, but the Matrix will and does heat the whole home, that is if you are patient and run it all day, which being old/retired I do.

The basement, though 'finished' is not insulated. I mean it looks good to us but behind the sheet rock is nothing but air. 2x4's were put on the wall sideways, so there is an air gap of what? an inch, maybe 1.5 inches. The foundation walls are solid concrete, poured concrete, not block that was filled with concrete. Even so my r-value of the basement walls is at best 1-1.5. Yet with the Matrix it is easy to be at 76.5F (current temp as I type and it is 26F outside).

I also don't remember if I ever posted pictures of our chase on the second floor. I'd posted here quizzing about chases/my wife's concern over what it might look like in her dining room/living room. So I'm posting a couple of images of how the chase turned out. Through the metal grills it does add a little heat to the second floor but most of the heat on the floors above the basement where the Matrix lives comes from radiation....and a little from convection as air goes up the stairs. But for the 'look' my wife ended up pleased especially with the pantry and cabinet on the sides. Wives love storage We are not carpenters but did the chase ourselves over 3 weekends. We bought the pantry and cabinet from Home Depot. Inside the chase we are well beyond the required air gap and at the bottom there is a 'clean-out' for a hand or a vacuum nozzle for the inevitable dust build up.

What wood do we use. This past summer my 82 year old neighbor and I were gifted a Pin Oak. The whole tree. 80+ feet tall. It took he and I 6 weeks to cut/split/stack/deliver it (enough wood for him, his son, me and two neighbors). But currently I'm burning Black Walnut that has seasoned for 2+ years and Sycamore. The Sycamore would not be my first choice in firewood but like the Pin Oak it was free and a massive amount of it. I'll get to the Pin Oak in late January, February and March.

Now the recommendation. No concerns of pyrolysis. The wall temps behind the Mattrix have never exceeded 107F/we are an inch beyond the required offset for this stove. But lately I've been thinking of placing metal on the walls for reflection of heat. I don't need an air gap but I could put one in place with spacers if I can find decorative metal pieces that would please the wife's eye. Our stove as you'll see sits catycorner so I'd place metal on the two walls on the corner.

If any can suggest metal reflective covers for these walls please do! And again behind the sheet rock there is no insulation, just a thin air gap and then solid concrete. There are two maps that would have to move elsewhere but that's OK.

 

[all night moe]

You could use some wall ties screwed into the studs, leave a 1'' air gap, and use field stone and mortar. A ''free standing'' stone backer. The stone can be cut down to make thinner wall and not take up so much space. Thinking of field or blue stone here.
A benefit would include it will heat soak most heat before it radiates through the foundation.

That and wives love stone.

 

[kborndale]

The oak will not be ready to burn in January 26. It may not be ready by January 27.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Understood on the Pin Oak. I'll put the moisture meter on it in late January. If not good not a problem. Like many here I try to stay 2 years ahead.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

You could use some wall ties screwed into the studs, leave a 1'' air gap, and use field stone and mortar. A ''free standing'' stone backer. The stone can be cut down to make thinner wall and not take up so much space. Thinking of field or blue stone here.
A benefit would include it will heat soak most heat before it radiates through the foundation.

That and wives love stone.

That is a lot of work for a 70 year old me who just came in from splitting wood....with a maul! Yeah I had one small rick that needed splitting. Not enough really to fire up the splitter which I winterized already. I was thinking black aluminum sheet. I can order it already cut to size. Though a spacer is not needed with my clearances I'd put spacers in anyway. I really just want reflection of heat.

Just for curiousity I just went outside and shot with my thermometer the concrete wall opposite the wood stove. 36F outside surface temp (air temp 31F), inside wall 8 inches from the woodstove 97F. I'm probably wasting my time even thinking about this project.

 

[stoveliker]

If you want reflective, black is not ideal. Shiny metal is better.
A spacer will help convect out heat and leads to less radiative load on the wall behind the metal. But I think this (spacers) is going to be marginally useful; right now it works. Adding some reflective material to lessen the radiative load will improve things by a bit. Improving that improvement by another 20% with a spacer - is a thing of diminishing returns imo. For the worse looks it'll get (looking from the side you'll see the offset), I would not bother with a spacer.

Regarding the measurements: the 36 F could mean it's shedding a lot of heat to the cold air (i.e. it cools down fast, meaning the heat flow is high). So that doesn't tell me much. The wall could be 100 F if you did not do anything but 40 F if you spray cold water on it. That 40 F does not mean "nothing is happening", it means that the heat shedding of that wall to the outside (water/air) is fast enough to not let it reach a steady state temperature that is high. And that fast shedding means a large heat flow through the wall.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Good info share thanks. Now if I wasn't married I'd go around the whole outside foundation (3 sides of the basement is open, only 1 side is bermed) with closed cell foam and turn all that concrete into heat storage. Speaking of marriage....she'd want black even though not as reflective....but reality is that heat is going out that wall, well both walls since it is a corner and just a little effort would reflect some back my way.

 

[Murray01]

Along with what ever you decide have you considered a small fan behind or one of those eco fans on top of the stove? That will push some heat outward.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

Along with what ever you decide have you considered a small fan behind or one of those eco fans on top of the stove? That will push some heat outward.

Murray thanks. The Matrix has an electric blower which move a lot of heat. Surprise me how good it is. Loud? Maybe but I'm going deaf so don't notice

 

[begreen]

This is a convective stove. It doesn't radiate a lot of heat from the sides or back. I suspect the effect will be mostly visual with little functional gain. Seems like much ado for little gain but stainless panels would be an ok choice.

 

[MedicineMan4040]

This is a convective stove. It doesn't radiate a lot of heat from the sides or back. I suspect the effect will be mostly visual with little functional gain. Seems like much ado for little gain but stainless panels would be an ok choice.

Begreen thanks so much. I remember you helping/suggesting when I began going down this road. I think you're right=little gain/leave well enough alone.