Techniques for heating a cold cabin more quickly?

[hansenjw]

Are there any techniques for getting more initial heat out of a small cat stove? We have a 550 square foot cabin. It has a short loft over one side and cathedral ceiling over the other. When I factor those in, it’s the cubic equivalent of 750 square feet. It’s new construction, pretty well sealed and insulated. It is unheated when unoccupied, and it generally takes about eight hours to heat from 25f to 65f. I’m looking for any tips to get more initial heat out of my stove to get it comfortable more quickly.

I have a little VC Intrepid 2. After learning how to make the cat happy (i.e., not thermo-nuclear), I think I have a handle on running it pretty well. I can generally maintain about a 500-650 stovetop temperature if I’m paying attention. The cat is generally in the 1100-1450 range at those stovetop temperatures. It has a double walled stove pipe straight up to the chimney. Draft is good. I have been running a box fan to move air around, and next week we will have ceiling fans installed that can move the hot air down from the ceiling.

Is there anything else I can do get more heat out of the stove initially? For example, would it produce more heat (at the expense of less efficiency), if I ran it with the doors open and bypass open for the first hour? I have the screen for it. Better wood perhaps? I’ve been burning low quality wood, but can I actually do much more than 650 stovetop without damaging the stove? Any other tricks?

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

Not really, you need a much bigger stove to put out more heat. It takes a huge amount of BTUs to take an ice cold building up to 72º. The stove is not just heating up the air. All the mass of the building interior, walls, doors, shelves, furniture etc. have to be warmed up too. That takes a lot of heat. For that volume I would use at least a 2-2.5 cu ft stove. Or, install a propane heater or backup electric heat to assist the stove until the interior is warmed.

 

[ki25]

Are there any techniques for getting more initial heat out of a small cat stove? We have a 550 square foot cabin. It has a short loft over one side and cathedral ceiling over the other. When I factor those in, it’s the cubic equivalent of 750 square feet. It’s new construction, pretty well sealed and insulated. It is unheated when unoccupied, and it generally takes about eight hours to heat from 25f to 65f. I’m looking for any tips to get more initial heat out of my stove to get it comfortable more quickly.

I have a little VC Intrepid 2. After learning how to make the cat happy (i.e., not thermo-nuclear), I think I have a handle on running it pretty well. I can generally maintain about a 500-650 stovetop temperature if I’m paying attention. The cat is generally in the 1100-1450 range at those stovetop temperatures. It has a double walled stove pipe straight up to the chimney. Draft is good. I have been running a box fan to move air around, and next week we will have ceiling fans installed that can move the hot air down from the ceiling.

Is there anything else I can do get more heat out of the stove initially? For example, would it produce more heat (at the expense of less efficiency), if I ran it with the doors open and bypass closed for the first hour? I have the screen for it. Better wood perhaps? I’ve been burning low quality wood, but can I actually do much more than 650 stovetop without damaging the stove? Any other tricks?

Thanks!

Hello!
Oddly enough I have the same exact layout cabin in the woods up in NH. I use a Harmon Pellet stove up there to bring the heat up but I also have a Renai wall heater hooked up to propane. I leave it on low (48F) when we're not using the cabin and then when we arrive I fire up the pellet stove to get it roaring. It only takes about two hours or so to get the cabin tropical at this point. It doesn't cost me much in propane to run at low either. Just an option, not sure how often you use your cabin to make the investment worth it or not.

 

[xman23]

Do you have any other heat source. If so hook it up to a 7 day programmable thermostat. If you know the day you will be coming, you can have it bring the heat on 8 hours before you arrive. I've done this for years. What a difference this makes.

 

[rosem]

I heat our cold main floor in the morning much faster with the ceiling fan cranked on high.

 

[peakbagger]

A fan may help distribute the heat quicker. The other options are some sort of other heater like a vented kerosene heater on timer or that can be turned on remotely to preheat the place.

 

[begreen]

I heat our cold main floor in the morning much faster with the ceiling fan cranked on high.

Indeed, with a cathedral ceiling, this would be a necessity.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I have a log cabin in northern Michigan with a similar layout. 850sqft of main floor with a loft and we are heating with a VC defiant. Which on paper you think I’m crazy for putting in such a big stove in such a small place. However, it’s drafty, it can get really cold here, and walking into a cabin that is about the same temps as outside is no fun. It can still heat us out of here no doubt but I just build smaller fires in mild weather. We now have a small furnace installed in the crawl space that is set at 50 degrees when we are not here. So things are a little easier now. Beforehand though we would just get the stove burning good and head into town for a burger and a beer...or three while the cabin warmed up some.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Ohhh and bypass closed doors open will smoke out the joint. Don’t do that. Even doors open bypass open won’t do anything for you. Best bet with what you have is run it at 700 stovetop (griddle top) and keep feeding it.

 

[begreen]

Ohhh and bypass closed doors open will smoke out the joint. Don’t do that. Even doors open bypass open won’t do anything for you. Best bet with what you have is run it at 700 stovetop (griddle top) and keep feeding it.

That's an indication of another problem. With proper draft the bypass should be able to be engaged as soon as the Intrepid's cat is active and above 5-600º.

 

[hansenjw]

That's an indication of another problem. With proper draft the bypass should be able to be engaged as soon as the Intrepid's cat is active and above 5-600º.

Oops, that was a typo on my part. I meant open, not closed. I just edited and corrected my original post.

 

[hansenjw]

Indeed, with a cathedral ceiling, this would be a necessity.

Yup, I have two ceiling fans in the main room with the fireplace to circulate air. I’m going to play around with which directions to run them. I could either run them both upward, creating circular currents up the closer walls of the cabin, but I’m also considering running one upward and one downward, to create a bigger current which will also spill over into the loft area. It will be fun to experiment.

I also have a pretty good whole house air circulation system. The cabin is 14x39 interior, with the wood stove at one end and the bedroom at the other. The loft is over the bedroom side and acts as a big air duct. At the end of the loft I have a floor to floor ventilation fan that sucks the warm air out of the loft and blows it down into the cold bedroom. Then in the bedroom I have a room to room ventilation fan that sucks air from the bedroom and blows it into the hallway, and from there it goes back to the main room. So I have a full circulation loop to the end of the cabin without any actual ducts. So far it seems to work pretty well! I’m hoping that as soon as the ceiling fans are installed in the main room that it will work even better.

 

[begreen]

Is there a primary heating system in the place to prevent pipes from freezing?

 

[hansenjw]

Hello!
Oddly enough I have the same exact layout cabin in the woods up in NH. I use a Harmon Pellet stove up there to bring the heat up but I also have a Renai wall heater hooked up to propane. I leave it on low (48F) when we're not using the cabin and then when we arrive I fire up the pellet stove to get it roaring. It only takes about two hours or so to get the cabin tropical at this point. It doesn't cost me much in propane to run at low either. Just an option, not sure how often you use your cabin to make the investment worth it or not.

I was actually looking at that same heater! The Renai that is. I like how simple the install is, just a 3” hole in the wall. I’m also considering a small conventional furnace with an exposed air duct along the short side of the ceiling. I really like the idea of not having to winterize after every winter visit. Do you have an estimate of how much it costs you to maintain 48f all winter with your cabin?

 

[hansenjw]

Is there a primary heating system in the place to prevent pipes from freezing?

Nope, we winterize every time we leave. We designed the whole place to be easy to winterize, although it’s still extra effort that we may decide we don‘t want to do in a couple years.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

That's an indication of another problem. With proper draft the bypass should be able to be engaged as soon as the Intrepid's cat is active and above 5-600º.

Yes I agree. The OP was trying to ask in his original post if he could heat faster with the doors open bypass closed. (A typo he meant doors open bypass open).

 

[hansenjw]

Yes I agree. The OP was trying to ask in his original post if he could heat faster with the doors open bypass closed. (A typo he meant doors open bypass open).

I think I just confused the issue. My cat is working perfectly. I was just wondering if I burned my stove like an open fireplace for a bit, whether that would heat the room faster, at the expense of going through a lot more wood. I’m guessing not, but I wasn’t sure.

 

[hansenjw]

Ohhh and bypass closed doors open will smoke out the joint. Don’t do that. Even doors open bypass open won’t do anything for you. Best bet with what you have is run it at 700 stovetop (griddle top) and keep feeding it.

Is it ok to run it at 700 for long? I could do that, but I’ve been trying to keep it down at around 600, which I thought was the safe cutoff. Is 700 ok as long as you’re watching it closely?

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I think I just confused the issue. My cat is working perfectly. I was just wondering if I burned my stove like an open fireplace for a bit, whether that would heat the room faster, at the expense of going through a lot more wood. I’m guessing not, but I wasn’t sure.

I understand what you were getting at. And no, running it like a fireplace with the doors open is just going to send everything up the chimney and waste wood. It will feel hot directly in front of the stove and that’s it. The whole stove is actually running cooler this way if I’m correct. Best way is run it full throttle (not over fire) in its designed way. When my folks are here at the cabin they run the stove with the doors open and the screen in the opening. Drives me crazy. All I can think about is the wasted fuel and the creosote forming in the pipe.

 

[RandyBoBandy]

Many people here on this forum run their stoves between 600-700 all the time. I personally wouldn’t go any hotter than 700 though. You probably will only be running it that hot for maybe 5 hours or so. Than I’m guessing you will start pulling it back some.

 

[begreen]

I think I just confused the issue. My cat is working perfectly. I was just wondering if I burned my stove like an open fireplace for a bit, whether that would heat the room faster, at the expense of going through a lot more wood. I’m guessing not, but I wasn’t sure.

No, it would be slower as it sucked out of the room and sent it up the flue. The stove is just too small for the task. Adding a good vented propane heater would make a nice difference. Rinnai makes good space heaters.

 

[hansenjw]

Many people here on this forum run their stoves between 600-700 all the time. I personally wouldn’t go any hotter than 700 though. You probably will only be running it that hot for maybe 5 hours or so. Than I’m guessing you will start pulling it back some.

Is that stove top or flue? I don’t have a flue thermometer.

 

[begreen]

Stove top

 

[hansenjw]

Stove top

Ok, I’ll try running it a little hotter! I’ve been pretty conservative so far.

 

[marty319]

I used to come out to an ice cold cabin for years,would be colder in the cabin then outside and I learned over the years when I first arrived i would open the windows and doors and get all the dead air out of the cabin,it really helps,