Stove Room Temps

[brakatak]

just wondering what your typical temps are in your stove rooms?

I'm putting Lopi Freedom Insert in a 500sq ft room, with total floor being 1700 sq ft. Wondering what i should expect for stove room temps.

 

[begreen]

How open is the floorplan and how is the stove room connected to the rest of the house? That will have a direct effect. We have our T6 in a smaller area, but with a very open floorplan. Normal winter temps in the LR are around 72F. You have control over this by the way you run the fire.

 

[Ashful]

Being only years into this endeavor of heating almost entirely by wood stove, I can tell you where I was and where I am now. I would hear folks talk about keeping their houses at 75F or warmer, and think that was just nuts. Stifling hot, for a home in winter. People would say that's because wood heat felt different, and I'd say, "BS, heat is heat, to this engineer."

Well, now I've lived on the other side of that for a while. I've started keeping my house warmer than I ever did with the thermostat and boiler. For some reason, I now feel it's too cool in the house at my former 68F, and I have some theories on why. In any case, I now keep the stove room WELL above 70F, so that adjacent rooms stay comfortable. My house is very old and very segmented, so heating from only two wood stoves is not entirely practical, but we make it work with minimal help from the boiler. I enjoy walking into the living room to cool off a few degrees, or walking into the den (original kitchen) or family room (original summer kitchen) to warm up by the fire. Our kitchen is the coolest, which is fine, since we're usually working (cooking / doing dishes) when we're in there. Bedrooms are also cooler, which makes for good sleeping, although they're warmer than we kept them when relying on the boiler.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

My montpelier, a medium insert is in a room that is around 500-550 sq ft, it is in an uninsulated, a lot of windows, older style home, built 1943 with wind whipping in its direction. That being said, I love getting the room up over 75 degrees. I'm one of those that says fire heated rooms feel different then say a forced air heated room, meaning forced air, feels hot and uncomfortable vs the fire room feeling comfy. You will love it, I don't know much about the lopi freedom, but I do know a lopi dealer told me the Lopis he had would overheat my room. So if you plan to heat only 500 sq ft. Make that a priority when you are searching for a stove, a large unit may be too big. Mine is a medium,it is not a house heater and it performs to my expectations. There are many great stoves out there, gl

 

[begreen]

The dealer was blowing smoke. It's often not the stove that will overheat the room. It's the person running it. If it's getting too warm, let the stove die down. And next time load less wood.

 

[teutonicking]

Being only years into this endeavor of heating almost entirely by wood stove, I can tell you where I was and where I am now. I would hear folks talk about keeping their houses at 75F or warmer, and think that was just nuts. Stifling hot, for a home in winter. People would say that's because wood heat felt different, and I'd say, "BS, heat is heat, to this engineer."

Well, now I've lived on the other side of that for a while. I've started keeping my house warmer than I ever did with the thermostat and boiler. For some reason, I now feel it's too cool in the house at my former 68F, and I have some theories on why. In any case, I now keep the stove room WELL above 70F, so that adjacent rooms stay comfortable. My house is very old and very segmented, so heating from only two wood stoves is not entirely practical, but we make it work with minimal help from the boiler. I enjoy walking into the living room to cool off a few degrees, or walking into the den (original kitchen) or family room (original summer kitchen) to warm up by the fire. Our kitchen is the coolest, which is fine, since we're usually working (cooking / doing dishes) when we're in there. Bedrooms are also cooler, which makes for good sleeping, although they're warmer than we kept them when relying on the boiler.

Joful,

What are your theories on why?

-TK

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

The dealer was blowing smoke. It's often not the stove that will overheat the room. It's the person running it. If it's getting too warm, let the stove die down. And next time load less wood.

The dealer lost a sale from me, I was buying something no matter what, his prices were high too, he was like $5500 out the door and installed, I ended up installing it with a friend, came in at 4g with the enamel upgraded surround. Also I have amazing fires, I don't have to baby the flame. So to me it's worth not having bigger then I need

 

[Augie]

My layout allows for great heat distribution, stove room is 40% of my 1100 sq ft. it is an open area that has the Living room, dining room, kitchen. About 75-78 with the rest of the house 2-4 degrees cooler.

 

[Sprinter]

just wondering what your typical temps are in your stove rooms?

I'm putting Lopi Freedom Insert in a 500sq ft room, with total floor being 1700 sq ft. Wondering what i should expect for stove room temps.

I don't know how cold your climate is or how well insulated your house is, but at 3 cf, that insert will probably heat your house as hot as you want it. My house is a similar size and I have to keep my fires moderately small to avoid overheating except in the coldest parts of the year. My stove is 2 cf.

I keep my house at around 74F when burning. I never would have kept a furnace thermostat that warm, but that is a bonus with wood burning. There is a learning curve, but you will learn how to control the stove depending on conditions. You can make small fires but be sure that they are hot enough to keep the secondaries firing and the flue temp above creosote levels. I do it all the time.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

just wondering what your typical temps are in your stove rooms?

I'm putting Lopi Freedom Insert in a 500sq ft room, with total floor being 1700 sq ft. Wondering what i should expect for stove room temps.

Around our house we don't worry about being too warm. Most folks can't understand why we keep it so warm but there are reasons. With that in mind, we keep not our stove room, but the entire house at 80 or above all winter long and love it.

In many homes the stove room can get a bit hot but two things will take care of that problem. A ceiling fan, with the fan so that it is not blowing down, but blowing up. Also a very small desktop fan sitting in a doorway and blowing air into the stove room with the setting on the lowest speed. This will move the hot air out of the stove room to be replaced with cooler air. So it will both cool the stove room and you'll be amazed at how much the rest of the home warms up doing this.

 

[lumbering on]

Our 250 sq ft living room easily got to 80 degrees without even trying hard, and often warmer, with our 70,000 BTU Lopi.

Which is why I'm nervous about replacing it with the 70,000 BTU Oslo.

My trusted hearth.com guides go back and forth whether I can move enough air to heat the rest of the house with the oslo by moving air, or drop down to the 50,000 BTU Castine.

The Lopi Freedom is also 70,000 BTU, I think.

 

[Augie]

So here is how I solved the stove room too hot issue, No fans in stove room, no fans blowing air down on the floor back to the stove in the hallway . Just one fan in the furthest room from the Stove on the ceiling blowing down, and removing a 8inx16in section above the door to that room. The hot air from the stove rises and spreads. This rising heat from the stove will naturally draw in air from the floor in the stove room as the stove heats it, it will rise. In the room furthest from the stove the air is cooler. When the fan blows air down it is replaced by warmer air moving down the ceiling in the hallway. as the air cools and spreads out along the floor it travels naturally along the floor back to the stove to be heated and then move along the ceiling back away from the stove.

I have created conditions where I can encourage a convection loop with one fan. I usually leave this fan on for 35-45 min to get the loop going and then I can shut it off for the rest of the burn cycle 8-12 hrs till I reload. Once the loop is established it is self sustaining, No blower on my stove no fans on in the house just a gentle movement of air, you can feel it move along the floor when you put your hand on the ground 6ft away from the stove and I have threads taped on the ceiling so that I can be a nerd and watch my invention

 

[Sprinter]

The dealer was blowing smoke. It's often not the stove that will overheat the room. It's the person running it. If it's getting too warm, let the stove die down. And next time load less wood.

This bears repeating. You can burn small loads. Just make sure the fires are hot enough to keep the secondaries going and the flue above creosote levels. I do this all the time in the shoulder seasons. I could have gotten away with a smaller stove but small fires work fine.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Our 250 sq ft living room easily got to 80 degrees without even trying hard, and often warmer, with our 70,000 BTU Lopi.

Which is why I'm nervous about replacing it with the 70,000 BTU Oslo.

My trusted hearth.com guides go back and forth whether I can move enough air to heat the rest of the house with the oslo by moving air, or drop down to the 50,000 BTU Castine.

The Lopi Freedom is also 70,000 BTU, I think.

If you only care about heating the one room, you may want to go smaller... If you want more, go bigger....IMHO

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Gets into the 90s on a regular basis in a 400SQft room with a 300CFM fan blowing across the top of the stove to blow the heat into the adjoining finished Bsmt. which gets about 85. Thats with the harman at the lowest air setting.

 

[n3pro]

With the Englander 30, our stove room runs from lower 80's to lower 90's depending upon where in the burn cycle it is. Our stove is centrally located in a room we don't use for anything else. 80's and 90's in the stove room usually means mid 70's in the living room where we spend most of the time and using the door for temperature control the bed room stays the same or a little higher.

 

[Huntindog1]

One of the reasons for a soap stone stove is its a more even gentler heat as soap stone is one of the best stones for storing heat. It takes away the peaks of heat from the stove and lets the stove heat more evenly and gently over a longer period of time. When the coals are getting to the end of their heat the soap stone is still radiating heat into the house. As an important part of keeping your whole house warm is keeping the heat going 24 / 7 and having a soap stone or any other stove with lots of mass, that stores heat makes the heat more comfortable. For some reason like backwoods savage speaks about his soap stone stove does a better job of getting the heat to the other ends of the house. Not sure why thats so, but lots of testimonials that it does. I suspect his stove being a cat stove with longer burns at lower heat settings add to that the soap stone storing heat releasing it in a more even fashion makes for heat getting to the other ends of your house much better. Not sure about this but maybe its the higher peaks and shorter burn cycles that make for a drafty house. Differences in temperatures is key here as I suspect heat loss is more at peak heating times as the difference in temperatures is greater making for more heat loss. Slow, low and constant I would say is better for keeping the whole house warm even at the other ends of the house.

 

[begreen]

I don't think so. Soapstone is nice, but not magical. Heat is convecting, with help. It might be that remodeling insulation/sealing/new windows has improved heat retention and someone has discovered the fan blowing cool air toward the stove trick?

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/thru-wall-fans.110061/#post-1455081

 

[Highbeam]

I had a lopi freedom insert in my 1700 SF home in the 500 SF (probably smaller) living room when I bought this home. It was not too much heat. Being an insert, there is just not much heat to be had and it is very easy to adjust output with the noisy blower. I would be sure to get the biggest insert that you can. I don't know if anybody ever wished that they had chosen a smaller insert.

I now heat the same space from the same location but with a freestanding stove, no masonry chimney, and much less wood consumption. We shoot for mid to upper 70s in the stove room which puts the bedrooms into the high 60s.

 

[Woody Stover]

Soapstone is nice, but not magical. Heat is convecting, with help. It might be that remodeling insulation/sealing/new windows has improved heat retention and someone has discovered the fan blowing cool air toward the stove trick?

The radiant soapstone stoves work great here since we are basically heating one large room (to around 72) with some heat making it's was out to the bedroom, which stays about seven degrees cooler. Cranking the stove like Dennis does to get to 80 room temp, and augmenting it with a fan, is going to create a strong convection loop that will warm even the far reaches of the house.

 

[begreen]

FWIW, we have a convective stove and are getting much more even heat through the house with it than we did with the radiant Castine. Go figure.

 

[Tenn Dave]

Around our house we don't worry about being too warm. Most folks can't understand why we keep it so warm but there are reasons. With that in mind, we keep not our stove room, but the entire house at 80 or above all winter long and love it.

In many homes the stove room can get a bit hot but two things will take care of that problem. A ceiling fan, with the fan so that it is not blowing down, but blowing up. Also a very small desktop fan sitting in a doorway and blowing air into the stove room with the setting on the lowest speed. This will move the hot air out of the stove room to be replaced with cooler air. So it will both cool the stove room and you'll be amazed at how much the rest of the home warms up doing this.

Dennis, do you put the small fan in the hallway right outside the stove room and have it blowing into the stove room, or do you put the fan at the far end of the hallway and have it blow down the hallway toward the stove room?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Gets into the 90s on a regular basis in a 400SQft room with a 300CFM fan blowing across the top of the stove to blow the heat into the adjoining finished Bsmt. which gets about 85. Thats with the harman at the lowest air setting.

You are doing it backwards and that is why it gets so hot. Blow the cool toward the hot and it just works so much better and you run the fan on low speed. You also can use a much smaller fan; in fact, it is necessary to use a small one. Sounds backward but it simply works.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Dennis, do you put the small fan in the hallway right outside the stove room and have it blowing into the stove room, or do you put the fan at the far end of the hallway and have it blow down the hallway toward the stove room?

Dave, we thankfully have not needed to do this for quite some time now thanks to some remodeling and adding lots of insulation plus new windows. However when we did, we sat the fan (about 3 or 4" blades) on the floor at the entry of the hallway. The fan was run on the lowest speed.

One could call the kitchen and the stove room as all one room but that fan was a good distance from the stove. So the fan was at the start of the hallway and down the hall are 3 rooms.

I have to admit that we never tried setting the fan in the far or near the far end of the hallway as there was no need. The back part of the house warmed so quickly we never even gave thought to moving the fan.

When we heard about doing this I thought it was crazy. However, being the crazy guy that I am, it had to be tested. Amazingly it took only about 10 minutes to warm the far rooms to within a couple degrees of the stove room.

 

[Tenn Dave]

Dave, we thankfully have not needed to do this for quite some time now thanks to some remodeling and adding lots of insulation plus new windows. However when we did, we sat the fan (about 3 or 4" blades) on the floor at the entry of the hallway. The fan was run on the lowest speed.

One could call the kitchen and the stove room as all one room but that fan was a good distance from the stove. So the fan was at the start of the hallway and down the hall are 3 rooms.

I have to admit that we never tried setting the fan in the far or near the far end of the hallway as there was no need. The back part of the house warmed so quickly we never even gave thought to moving the fan.

When we heard about doing this I thought it was crazy. However, being the crazy guy that I am, it had to be tested. Amazingly it took only about 10 minutes to warm the far rooms to within a couple degrees of the stove room.

Thanks Dennis, As always you have been very helpful.