New PE Summit Insert

[usmc96]

Good evening,

Well i recently purchased a PE Summit Insert and am just learning how to use this wood eating machine.

I am running into problems with airflow in my house and was looking for suggestions. I am burning purchased cords of wood (hard woods unknown what type).

First I am going to explain my house its close to 3000 sq and not so good insulation 100 year old stone colonial (new windows). The insert is in the family room which breaks off into a hall way that goes into the dinning room and upstairs to the 2nd floor. The living room then leads into a kitchen and then den area in the back of my house. If you go upstairs there is hallway where 4 bedrooms break off and a bathroom and then a stairway that leads to the third floor (not concerned about heating that area so door stays closed).

My problem is my living room probably gets high 70's and my thermostat which is on the exterior wall of the living room in the hallway reads 75 if I have a good burn going. As I entered the dinning room it gets a little cooler and then into the kitchen a thermometer read 65ish and then den is a little colder. As I go upstairs the temp at the top of the stairs reads 71ish however in the bedrooms its alot colder 64ish.

I have ceiling fans in the kitchen and bedrooms upstairs that I tried turning on reverse and it just seems to get colder.

In the living room with the stove I put a fan blowing on the ceiling pushing air towards the large doorway leading into the hallway and dinning room. On the door frames I have entree air fans mounted up high to push the hot air out. I have also tried pushing air into the living room from the dinning room with a box fan on the floor but it didnt seam to help at all.

I am just seeking suggestions to learn how to efficiently use this stove to heat my house. The outside temps are 20s right now and maybe a little lower. I am also trying to understand the burning cycles. It seems when i load my box at night and wake up 6-8 hours later I am waking up to a cold house with ashes in the box however am able to restart with coals buried in the ash. It also seems when I am home trying to get the house heating I am loading the box every 4 hours or so with a couple of logs to keep it going (but I just learned that I should load it up all the way and run it in cycles instead of adding wood every couple hours right?).

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[shawneyboy]

Good evening,

Well i recently purchased a PE Summit Insert and am just learning how to use this wood eating machine.

I am not familiar with this specific insert but there are those on the forum who are. they will chime in with specific suggestions on the insert. I think I am pretty safe though in saying you may be asking alot of this insert to heat up 3000 square feet.

I am running into problems with airflow in my house and was looking for suggestions. I am burning purchased cords of wood (hard woods unknown what type).


First I am going to explain my house its close to 3000 sq and not so good insulation 100 year old stone colonial (new windows).

The best investment you can make to make your house more energy efficient and to make that insert more able to heat it is to insulate the building. Look for the leaks, if you have an IR thermometer they are a great help to find your colder areas and where the cold is getting in. You may also look into an energy audit that some times the electric or gas company may help you pay for, or even cover.

The insert is in the family room which breaks off into a hall way that goes into the dinning room and upstairs to the 2nd floor. The living room then leads into a kitchen and then den area in the back of my house. If you go upstairs there is hallway where 4 bedrooms break off and a bathroom and then a stairway that leads to the third floor (not concerned about heating that area so door stays closed).

My problem is my living room probably gets high 70's and my thermostat which is on the exterior wall of the living room in the hallway reads 75 if I have a good burn going. As I entered the dinning room it gets a little cooler and then into the kitchen a thermometer read 65ish and then den is a little colder. As I go upstairs the temp at the top of the stairs reads 71ish however in the bedrooms its alot colder 64ish.

I have ceiling fans in the kitchen and bedrooms upstairs that I tried turning on reverse and it just seems to get colder.

In the living room with the stove I put a fan blowing on the ceiling pushing air towards the large doorway leading into the hallway and dinning room. On the door frames I have entree air fans mounted up high to push the hot air out. I have also tried pushing air into the living room from the dinning room with a box fan on the floor but it didnt seam to help at all.

OK now for the air circulation, I would use all the fans you mentioned. The ceiling fans blowing up, this is to move the warm ceiling air to the walls and down. Warm air blowing on your skin will still give you a cooling effect. You want these fans blowing up. The entree fans are ok, but as someone on this forum explained, just pushing the warm air is like pushing a brick with a marshmallow, because cold air is more dense and heavier than warm air. The key is to use the box fan/s. If you have 2, what I would do is, use one upstairs pushing the cold air towards the stairs and one at the base of the stairs pushing the cold air towards the stove. The 2 box fans, along with the entree fans, you should get some decent air movement, and with it temp movement. Will it heat the entire place? I doubt it, but it will help offset the work your other heating unit needs to do

I am just seeking suggestions to learn how to efficiently use this stove to heat my house. The outside temps are 20s right now and maybe a little lower. I am also trying to understand the burning cycles. It seems when i load my box at night and wake up 6-8 hours later I am waking up to a cold house with ashes in the box however am able to restart with coals buried in the ash. It also seems when I am home trying to get the house heating I am loading the box every 4 hours or so with a couple of logs to keep it going (but I just learned that I should load it up all the way and run it in cycles instead of adding wood every couple hours right?).

Thanks for any suggestions.

You may be asking a lot of this insert. Remember high quality fuel, good air circulation, and oh yeah high quality fuel. As far as the cycle thing, for many freestanding stoves and inserts this is the most effective way to burn, as for this insert I am unsure.

BTW where in PA?

Welcome, I hope this helps a little, and spend some time here, learn a ton, this is a great forum and everyone is more than happy to help.

Shawn

 

[usmc96]

Thanks for the reply,

My house is 3000 but I am only trying to heat the first floor and 2nd floor not the 3rd or basement. I am just trying to learn the art of wood burning.

 

[BrotherBart]

Small box fans on the floor at doorways moving the cold air back toward the stove has been proven so many times here as the way to equalize heat in a house that it isn't even up for argument anymore.

Try it. It works.

 

[shawneyboy]

Thanks for the reply,

My house is 3000 but I am only trying to heat the first floor and 2nd floor not the 3rd or basement. I am just trying to learn the art of wood burning.

You have come to the right place. There are so many "artists" here, get ready to learn.

 

[shawneyboy]

One other thing I forgot to mention. You said you are buying your wood. So you know, most, more than 90% or the wood sellers call it seasoned when it really isn't. For instance, wood should have a moisture content of no more than 20 % if you are going to call it seasoned. A guy I know just bought a cord of seasoned wood, when I was at his house, and saw his wife fighting the fire, I ran home and got some truely seasoned wood. Since then I have given them near 1/4 cord, and they are getting ready to "deliver" their unseasoned 32% (sold as seasoned) wood to me and I am trading them it for seasoned wood that I have.

You want to get a year or 2 ahead of what you will need. So if you are buying your wood, and plan to buy it next year, you should be buying it now and stacking it (if you have room) where it will get sunlight and wind.

 

[begreen]

Turn off the ceiling fans. Follow BB's advice. Try a box or table fan on the floor, blowing the cold air from the dining room, towards the stove room. Low speed will work fine.

You still may get only part of the house warm this way. Until the leaks are sealed and the insulation improved the house is going to take more heat. A second stove in the living room or running the furnace a couple times a day could be the alternative.

 

[usmc96]

I have been thinking about insulating however plaster is going to be a pain in the @## to take down and replace with drywall or even cutting a hole and blowing in insulation. I am going to start looking for a IR thermometer to test my house for leaks and see if I can keep some of the heat in. I was hoping to just be able to run the stove instead of my old gas steam furnace since it is super expensive to run that thing but I might have to run both like you suggested and move my thermostat to a different location.

Thanks again for all the help and comments.

 

[KB007]

+1 for floor fans - 1 fan at the right spot blowing into our LR makes a huge difference for us. +2 for insulation / sealing things up. Even a bead of caulking around the window, I use the peelable silicone Draft Stop stuff on every window except a couple and it stops the nasty hot air leakage. put it on in the fall, peel it off in the spring if you want to be able to open the windows. Attic insulation is also a major factor too. We added a bunch (R20 to R50) a couple of years ago and felt the difference right away.

The Summit's a nice big insert, you should be able to get huge amounts of heat out of it.

 

[begreen]

High pressure blown-in insulation or foam does not require a big entry hole. It's not hard to patch. However, if there is old wiring in the walls, maybe it's time to open these areas up and address that first before insulation.

 

[usmc96]

Alright,

Taking in all the advice from above I placed a box fan in the dinning room blowing cold air into the living room on the floor. I also have the entree air fans mounted up high on the door frames sucking air from high blowing out into the hallway and dinning room.

My next question is this should i have a fan blowing in my living room facing the ceiling in attempt to push the hot air towards the hallway/dinning room?

Also when running my stove I get a fire going then load the stove with wood. I leave the damper all the way open until it reaches 550 then shut it all the way to the right closing it putting it on low. ( I think this is what your supposed to do right?). The stove then reaches temps around 600-700.

My next question would be when should i reload the wood. I have read that it goes into cycles and you should let the temp get to around 200-300 when most of the coals are out then reload. I have been just adding wood onto the coals every two-three hours and it has put out more heat this way then using the cycle method (not sure if i am doing something wrong).

Thanks again...

 

[begreen]

Try just a single fan or at the most two at first. Otherwise you may just end up chasing your tail. If you can post a sketch of the floor plan that also shows ceiling heights, we may be able to make more suggestions.

Instead of waiting until 550 on the stove top, take it down in a couple phases. When it reaches 400, take it down about halfway, or when the flames start to get lazy. The stove top temp will increase. When it reaches about 500 close as far as possible, without snuffing out the fire. On our stove this is all the way usually. But sometime with locust & cherry I have to leave it open a little bit more.

Once the house is up to temperature, we don't do full reloads unless it is very cold outside. To maintain temps we might just put on 2-3 splits. At night, about an hour before I go to bed I will put in a larger load, and go to bed once the air can be closed off. You'll find that you load and burn at different rates and methods depending on the heating needs.

In very cold weather we are running full loads of wood with each cycle. Then coals will build up and we want the stove to at least at 400F. So I move the coals front and center and open up the air at least to 50% open, maybe more. I may also put a single 3" split on top to accelerate their burn down. Softwood is good for this if you have any pine, alder, etc on hand.