I bought my house a year and a half ago, it has a ~20 year old Pacific Energy insert with a large 20x20 firebox, I believe a Summit, in the basement. I have it swept yearly, and had the broken firebricks replaced. Grew up heating exclusively with wood, so was happy to have it.
Last winter, the stove sucked, but I blamed it on me burning unseasoned wood, and didn’t use it much, just when my other heat sources broke or it was really cold (and found it woefully insufficient).
This year, I’m using 1.5 year seasoned spruce, and the stove is STILL devouring wood when I use it – I put in 5 or 6 large pieces, filling the stove with as many pieces as I can jam in, come back in 3 hours, and I’m down to barely enough embers to light paper, let alone a log. I’ve tried shutting the damper drastically (up to only 1/3 open), and I don’t find it makes much difference (maybe something wrong with the damper?).
IMO it doesn’t make a huge difference to the temperatures upstairs, just kinda warms the floors a bit no matter how many fans I use to distribute the air.
Previous owner, who hadn’t lived in the house for several years before I bought it, claimed the stove was his primary heat source, and heated the whole house easily, and he’d light it before going to work, put more wood on when he got home, which is more what I’d expect from this size of stove. Today it’s only -17C, I’m filling the stove every 2 hrs, the house is set to 63, and my boiler is on frequently.
Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot it or make it more efficient?
Last winter, the stove sucked, but I blamed it on me burning unseasoned wood, and didn’t use it much, just when my other heat sources broke or it was really cold (and found it woefully insufficient).
This year, I’m using 1.5 year seasoned spruce, and the stove is STILL devouring wood when I use it – I put in 5 or 6 large pieces, filling the stove with as many pieces as I can jam in, come back in 3 hours, and I’m down to barely enough embers to light paper, let alone a log. I’ve tried shutting the damper drastically (up to only 1/3 open), and I don’t find it makes much difference (maybe something wrong with the damper?).
IMO it doesn’t make a huge difference to the temperatures upstairs, just kinda warms the floors a bit no matter how many fans I use to distribute the air.
Previous owner, who hadn’t lived in the house for several years before I bought it, claimed the stove was his primary heat source, and heated the whole house easily, and he’d light it before going to work, put more wood on when he got home, which is more what I’d expect from this size of stove. Today it’s only -17C, I’m filling the stove every 2 hrs, the house is set to 63, and my boiler is on frequently.
Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot it or make it more efficient?
