My house sucks!!

[mikeathens]

I was feeling pretty smug last night with my Mansfield blazing away...temps were dropping, but my house was nice and toasty at 68. I crammed a load of wood in at 11pm and went to bed at midnight, thinking that I could sleep until 6 before having to mess with the stove. It was about 15 out at that time. I woke up at 4am to the sound of the heat pump running.

The thermostat was supposed to be set at 60, but the mother in law had recently been there babysitting and we had it set at 65 for her. I thought maybe we just forgot to set it back. Nope...it was set at 60, and it was 6 outside. The stovetop was still at 300, which should have been plenty hot to keep a normal house warm.

How bad is it that I can't even heat a lousy 1800 SF with a hearthstone mansfield??

I guess that's what you get when you buy a 130 year-old log cabin...don't expect to stay warm.

 

[roac]

I was feeling pretty smug last night with my Mansfield blazing away...temps were dropping, but my house was nice and toasty at 68. I crammed a load of wood in at 11pm and went to bed at midnight, thinking that I could sleep until 6 before having to mess with the stove. It was about 15 out at that time. I woke up at 4am to the sound of the heat pump running.

The thermostat was supposed to be set at 60, but the mother in law had recently been there babysitting and we had it set at 65 for her. I thought maybe we just forgot to set it back. Nope...it was set at 60, and it was 6 outside. The stovetop was still at 300, which should have been plenty hot to keep a normal house warm.

How bad is it that I can't even heat a lousy 1800 SF with a hearthstone mansfield??

I guess that's what you get when you buy a 130 year-old log cabin...don't expect to stay warm.

Sounds like it's time to re-chink the logs. I've heard the natural chinking is better than the synthetics.

 

[smokinj]

at 6 degrees everthing is harder to heat! It was 1 degree out this a.m. my gas furance was kicking in last night as well!

 

[mikeathens]

At 15-20 degrees outside, I can easily get 6 or 7 hours. How often do you all have to reload when it's in the middle/lower single digits?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

You got leaks? I feel them when the stove is cranking on the coldest nights.

 

[smokinj]

You got leaks? I feel them when the stove is cranking on the coldest nights.

most houses will show some weakness in these temp. ( not ever seen one that didnt!)

 

[mikeathens]

You got leaks? I feel them when the stove is cranking on the coldest nights.

BAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaHAHAHAHA...whew. That hurt. "you got leaks?". Great question. I think the best way to answer that is: My whole house is a leak. 12" logs in the front, chinking between. Piss-poor insulation in the back part (R-19 in the ceiling). Top plates have air leaking past like I've never seen before. The long-term plan is to put an addition on and rip the roof off the back, relace with a gable with R-1000000 in the ceiling and R-5000 in the walls. That otta help.

So...anyone else hafta reload every 4-5 hours when it's this cold?

 

[Hogwildz]

Same here, single digits. Not to mention the damned wind.
Loaded er up about midnight, best I saw it was 72. Woke up this morning ready for reload and furnace thermo was 66.
I guess it could be worse. Furnace didn't come on, got it set at 62. Can't wait to get the addition done and the Englander going along with the Summit.
If that don't do it, nothing will.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

" .... R-1000000 in the ceiling and R-5000 in the walls."

Yup, just don't expect to be comfortable if you run that wood stove after doing that ;-) .

 

[smokinj]

" .... R-1000000 in the ceiling and R-5000 in the walls."

Yup, just don't expect to be comfortable if you run that wood stove after doing that ;-) .

Ive said that the last coulpe of years and still saying it.with the wind with that cold is just unreal (carhartt sub zero on yesterday still couldnt make it more than 20 min at a time)

 

[FireWalker]

I was feeling pretty smug last night with my Mansfield blazing away...temps were dropping, but my house was nice and toasty at 68. I crammed a load of wood in at 11pm and went to bed at midnight, thinking that I could sleep until 6 before having to mess with the stove. It was about 15 out at that time. I woke up at 4am to the sound of the heat pump running.

The thermostat was supposed to be set at 60, but the mother in law had recently been there babysitting and we had it set at 65 for her. I thought maybe we just forgot to set it back. Nope...it was set at 60, and it was 6 outside. The stovetop was still at 300, which should have been plenty hot to keep a normal house warm.

How bad is it that I can't even heat a lousy 1800 SF with a hearthstone mansfield??

I guess that's what you get when you buy a 130 year-old log cabin...don't expect to stay warm.

How bad is it that I can't even heat a lousy 1800 SF with a hearthstone Equinox??

I burned some oil last night after 4am. I didn't get up either I just let the two heaters have at it as this is what they do. I've given up thinking you can heat your whole house on cold nights with just a wood stove, it's a loosing battle as you will either get little sleep or you will burn through all your wood. Your best defence is a warm blanket!

I will say, cold in my house is anything below 70!

 

[Adios Pantalones]

My little dogs only make it so far before they stop and pick up one paw, and give me a pathetic look until I pick them up and carry them. I really am a pushover for the little bastidges.

 

[wolfkiller]

I am heating a ok insulated 1000 sq ft house, a well insulated 500 sq ft addition, and a leaky 1000 sq ft guarage. All with a blaze king clasic. It is -26 outside right now. It is 75 in the living room, 65 in the bed rooms, and 55 in the guarage. I am not burning any oil to heat my house.
I am going to mexico on vacation in a couple weeks. I am looking foward to it eccept for the oil I will be burning while I am gone ( no friends). I get a 10-12 hr burn with seasond birch.

 

[savageactor7]

My house blows more than ten thousand hurricanes...but thanks to my bladder the stove gets tended to. Mike some day you're going to miss those cold mornings...enjoy it while you can.

 

[deadon]

My house blows more than ten thousand hurricanes...but thanks to my bladder the stove gets tended to. Mike some day you're going to miss those cold mornings...enjoy it while you can.

Hey savageactor,
My bladder allows me to tend to my stove at least 3 time through the night. That must be the only benefit of getting old. As far as getting heat during this cold spell (had -5 this morning around 5am) I run the stove with wide open air and keep pushing the oak. Just like the old steam engines if you want it you have to burn it.

 

[KWillets]

R-1000000 in the ceiling and R-5000 in the walls

So you've been using that Home Depot insulation calculator too, eh?

 

[ansehnlich1]

Got down to 12 at my place last night. Loaded the Jotul with apple, BIG apple, at around 9, at 2 am I threw in 6 two inch rounds of apple and a split of ash, at 5:30 am the living room was 74 degrees.

1800+ sq. feet on ONE level, heat pump runs in the master bedroom and bath area when it gets this cold and windy.

 

[Hogwildz]

My house blows more than ten thousand hurricanes...but thanks to my bladder the stove gets tended to. Mike some day you're going to miss those cold mornings...enjoy it while you can.

Hey savageactor,
My bladder allows me to tend to my stove at least 3 time through the night. That must be the only benefit of getting old. As far as getting heat during this cold spell (had -5 this morning around 5am) I run the stove with wide open air and keep pushing the oak. Just like the old steam engines if you want it you have to burn it.

That can't be good. With wide open air no wonder your constantly feeding. All the heat is going up the stack.

 

[Todd]

I have 1800 sq ft and it was -15 this morning with -30 wind chill. My stove is in the finished basement and will keep the upstairs above 70 even if it's below 0 outside, but when that wind chill picks up like last night I need to burn the upstairs fireplace to help out. When I got up this morning the down stairs was 75 and upstairs also 75. :cheese: I've been loading the stove every 8hrs or so and burn the fireplace hot in the evening when needed.

R-19 won't cut it in the ceiling. Look into blowing insulation in the ceiling, it's cheap. I had R-19 in my ceiling and blew in 8" 2 years ago for around $500 and it made a big difference even tho I have lousy 2x4 walls.

 

[deadon]

My house blows more than ten thousand hurricanes...but thanks to my bladder the stove gets tended to. Mike some day you're going to miss those cold mornings...enjoy it while you can.

Hey savageactor,
My bladder allows me to tend to my stove at least 3 time through the night. That must be the only benefit of getting old. As far as getting heat during this cold spell (had -5 this morning around 5am) I run the stove with wide open air and keep pushing the oak. Just like the old steam engines if you want it you have to burn it.

That can't be good. With wide open air no wonder your constantly feeding. All the heat is going up the stack.

My stove runs best with more air. If I throttle it down it burns slow but with less heat. about 1/2 open it will start to charcoal the wood and secondary burn. at full throttle I get high temps but short burn times.

 

[woodjack]

And I thought I was the only one that needed my furnace to back up my woodstove.

 

[LLigetfa]

Keep in mind that some stoves use a bi-metallic thermostatic control so the term "wide open" doesn't necessarily mean the same to everyone. My stove will only run wide open when stone cold.

 

[edthedawg]

That can't be good. With wide open air no wonder your constantly feeding. All the heat is going up the stack.

My stove runs best with more air. If I throttle it down it burns slow but with less heat. about 1/2 open it will start to charcoal the wood and secondary burn. at full throttle I get high temps but short burn times.

Probably been asked and answered a dozen times, but how long after reloading and letting it burn at full bore are you throttling it down? 15-20 minutes?

 

[mikeathens]

R-19 won't cut it in the ceiling. Look into blowing insulation in the ceiling, it's cheap. I had R-19 in my ceiling and blew in 8" 2 years ago for around $500 and it made a big difference even tho I have lousy 2x4 walls.

Yup...I know this. I was absolutely disgusted when I cut through the roof/ceiling to install my chimney and saw R-19. It is a flat roof (or close to it). It is framed above to give it just a small slope (I think its around 0.75/12). I think I might be able to blow insulation in there, but the plan is to rip it off in a couple years, add a room next to it, and put a 10/12 pitch gable over it. I'm planning on 2x12 southern yellow pine rafters with dense pack insulation between a metal roof and tongue in groove ceiling.

The existing walls are 4' concrete block (yeah, not helping much either) with framing on top, R-13 in them (and not done very well). With the addition, I'm going to attach 2" EPS on the outside, and place board and batton siding over it. The new wall in the new room will be 2x6 with dense pack or possibly just build the whole thing out of SIPs.

So...don't really want to go to the effort or expense since I'm going to tear it out soon.

 

[theothersully]

That does suck...

But just take it in stride and fill in the gaps when you get a chance and add insulation where things seem the worst.

I did this on a much smaller scale (on a boat) this fall. I just kept finding where the "cold, drafty spots" were and hunted down the offending gap or area that wasn't well insulated.

For me, it was the 17 billion windows this particular place has. They all had to be insulated from the outside and then heat shrinked from the inside.

Now?

29,000 BTUs has me in a t-shirt and 9 deg F.

Not bad...