Had to turn on the propane...

[Beetle-Kill]

Like pulling teeth for me, but had to do it.
We have various areas of old carpet pulled up, in prep. for the new flooring, and of course, the temps. drop. The King couldn't get the indoor temps. above 66, so had to resort to the furnace.
Furnace ramped everything up to 72, and hasn't kicked in since, the stove has carried that temp..
I should have timed this better, new flooring in the spring? That temp. bump is interesting though.

 

[begreen]

Wow, the carpet is insulating things that well? Is this windblow air leakage that is being blocked or actual insulation?

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Honestly don't know. I have too many interior projects going on at the same time to isolate any one thing as a cause.
To be fair, the King has always had to work when our temps. get this cold (well below -0), hence the NC-13 to supplement the heat.
Wife wants a more radiant stove, but she'll wait for the 13 to be installed.
In this place, the King works great, outside of about 6 weeks a season. That's when the 13 should come into play.

 

[jdp1152]

what is your sq footage and foundation like? Slab, basement, crawlspace?

 

[begreen]

Honestly don't know. I have too many interior projects going on at the same time to isolate any one thing as a cause.
To be fair, the King has always had to work when our temps. get this cold (well below -0), hence the NC-13 to supplement the heat.
Wife wants a more radiant stove, but she'll wait for the 13 to be installed.
In this place, the King works great, outside of about 6 weeks a season. That's when the 13 should come into play.

Indeed, there's a world of difference between heating at 25 outside vs -5.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

what is your sq footage and foundation like? Slab, basement, crawlspace?

3 levels, -
Low is about 380 sq./ft, that's where the NC-13 will go in, CMU and concrete wall foundation, Concrete wall barrier to the crawl space.-
Mid.- about 1200 sq./ft. very open, has a front room with over 142 sq./ft. of window area. Old dbl. pn. windows. That's where the King resides.
Upper- about 800 sq./ft, hallway and 2 bedrooms. Adding another R-38 of blow-in soon.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Indeed, there's a world of difference between heating at 25 outside vs -5.

Yes there is. A few years ago I posted about this, when it was -34 here.

 

[jdp1152]

3 levels, -
Low is about 380 sq./ft, that's where the NC-13 will go in, CMU and concrete wall foundation, Concrete wall barrier to the crawl space.-
Mid.- about 1200 sq./ft. very open, has a front room with over 142 sq./ft. of window area. Old dbl. pn. windows. That's where the King resides.
Upper- about 800 sq./ft, hallway and 2 bedrooms. Adding another R-38 of blow-in soon.

that added insulation will help a lot. When we moved in last year, we had major shock over the cost of heating our home with oil in a very mild winter. Only thing that has changed from last year to this is we put in additional insulation through the mass save program. Huge difference and it's been much colder this year. I'd like to add more in the coming months, but not sure what the best plan of attack is. I've got batt with blown in on top of it up there right now, but every time I go up to change the air filter on the air handler, I bring down a mess of it with me.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

I bet more importantly than the carpet the pad added a few R's of insulation, a nice foam pad would have to be slightly insulating.

 

[jdp1152]

Would also impede air from leaking at the sill if its not air sealed and insulated.

 

[sblat]

so had to resort to the furnace​

I also had to turn on the furnace a couple mornings this week. Finally got some pretty cold over nght temps, down to this single digits her in MI. My T5 just can't quit keep up with the little insulation I have. Only ran about 30 mins for two mornings just to take a little chill out.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

I have used my propane boiler a half dozen times to take the chill out of the air. Our home is 150 years old and has very little insulation. Anything below 10 degrees and the stove has to be fed more so overnight burns might not be as hot as it takes to keep it in the high 60's low 70's throughout the house.

Last year 62 was the warmest we had it, this year that feels freezing! (because it is)

 

[begreen]

If the furnace needs to come on occasionally for 6-7 days a year it's no big deal. This probably means that the stove sized about right for the house. Improve insulation and sealing of the house envelope (include those basement walls!) and you will reap the benefits year round.

 

[bag of hammers]

If the furnace needs to come on occasionally for 6-7 days a year it's no big deal. This probably means that the stove sized about right for the house. Improve insulation and sealing of the house envelope (include those basement walls!) and you will reap the benefits year round.

That makes great sense. Also wondering if running the furnace a few days a year is a good thing anyway (kinda like taking your backup / disaster plan for a test drive once in a while). Just like you depend on your woodstove to carry you in the event of a long power outage (no furnace), if you ever (knock on wood) have a woodstove issue that takes it out of commission for a few days, you'll have a better comfort level that your oil / propane / etc is good to go that season if you run it occasionally. Just a thought....

 

[bag of hammers]

Would also impede air from leaking at the sill if its not air sealed and insulated.

was thinking the same thing. Beetle Kill this is a good opportunity to check / fix drafts as (before) the new floor goes in.

 

[ddahlgren]

If you donot run a furnace in the winter once or twice a day to get it up to full temp and dry it will turn into a ball of rust. When the 3 to 5 k replacement comes way to early you might wonder what you actually saved. Condensation is a bad thing and rust never sleeps.

 

[Gark]

if the woodstove isn't quite enough on those way cold days, you can bet that it is helping a huge amount because the fossil furnace will run far less often and only for short spurts. Our itty stove can run near full tilt during shoulder season without driving us outa here but might rely a bit on the propane unit when the arctic air blows over. Either way, the stove mostly runs near full throttle most of the time.

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

If you donot run a furnace in the winter once or twice a day to get it up to full temp and dry it will turn into a ball of rust. When the 3 to 5 k replacement comes way to early you might wonder what you actually saved. Condensation is a bad thing and rust never sleeps.

Ours is an on demand wall mounted boiler that supplies the baseboards and domestic hot water. It gets run a lot for the hot water so I'm sure it's getting a work out.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

If you donot run a furnace in the winter once or twice a day to get it up to full temp and dry it will turn into a ball of rust. When the 3 to 5 k replacement comes way to early you might wonder what you actually saved. Condensation is a bad thing and rust never sleeps.

I've considered that, but my RH is always low up here. I have checked the furnace for "issues", but it's very clean, no rust or corrosion anywhere. It's an old unit, too.
I know when the 13 is up and running, the lower room and crawl space should be in the 80's. Looking forward to the floor being heat-soaked, so are the cats and dog.

 

[begreen]

That makes great sense. Also wondering if running the furnace a few days a year is a good thing anyway (kinda like taking your backup / disaster plan for a test drive once in a while). Just like you depend on your woodstove to carry you in the event of a long power outage (no furnace), if you ever (knock on wood) have a woodstove issue that takes it out of commission for a few days, you'll have a better comfort level that your oil / propane / etc is good to go that season if you run it occasionally. Just a thought....

It's definitely a good thing for the equipment. Even when we had propane I would run the furnace at least a couple times a month. It helps dry out condensation build up and gave those spiders in the ductwork something to worry about.