Two hours later

[huauqui]

Got up this morning about 6:30 opened the air on summit all the way up and went and got some coffee. About 7:10 I went down and moved the coals to the front and loaded her up with some bigger splits of nice dry wood. Couple pieces of Chinese elm couple pieces of red elm and a nice dense large piece of mulberry heartwood. By 7:55 the air intake was down to about 15% open and I was cruzing at 650ish on the top right side while the top left was running behind at only 500. This, I believe was due to the large size of the mulberry piece that was on the left. It caused that side to have less active flames during warm up.

Now it is 9:10 about two hours after loading and as you can see in the pictures she is humming right along. Still 600+ on the right and now around 550 on the left and still climbing a bit.

I am heating our 1700 square foot ranch from the basement. Our basement is unfinished but insulated. Yesterday I loaded the stove at 6:30 am and we were gone all day so I did not load again until 9:00 last night. I had more then adequate coals to start a load even after 14 & 1/2 hours. Even though the stove top was down to around 200 degrees. For a reference it was 32 with sun yesterday here in Nebraska.

Last night when I loaded the stove it was 71 in the hall in the middle of the house and 20 degrees outside. Overnight it went from 71 to 69 in the hall with temps outside dropping to 14. The living kitchen dinning area on the main floor was down to about 66 this morning. After two hours burning the living area upstairs is at 69 and the hall is back up to 71. Man this Summitt can kick out some heat.

I have some questions about what to do with my apparent overly strong draft (almost always 200 degree higher temps in chimney as opposed to stove) but will save them for another thread. This thread is just to show how nice that Summitt heats. Zero propane burned so far this winter and a happy wife. Which of course means a happy life.

Huauqui

 

[tcassavaugh]

the summit is a good stove, when burning good dry wood. my first year, i hated mine, then i figured out my "seasoned" wood wasn't seasoned very well at all. i use mine to supplement my Jotul i have upstairs when it gets really cold. uses too much wood to heat the 2400 sq ft ranch with basement by itself. i just wish the trap door for the ash bin was bigger and/or it had grates instead.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Got up this morning about 6:30 opened the air on summit all the way up and went and got some coffee. About 7:10 I went down and moved the coals to the front and loaded her up with some bigger splits of nice dry wood. Couple pieces of Chinese elm couple pieces of red elm and a nice dense large piece of mulberry heartwood. By 7:55 the air intake was down to about 15% open and I was cruzing at 650ish on the top right side while the top left was running behind at only 500. This, I believe was due to the large size of the mulberry piece that was on the left. It caused that side to have less active flames during warm up.

Now it is 9:10 about two hours after loading and as you can see in the pictures she is humming right along. Still 600+ on the right and now around 550 on the left and still climbing a bit.

I am heating our 1700 square foot ranch from the basement. Our basement is unfinished but insulated. Yesterday I loaded the stove at 6:30 am and we were gone all day so I did not load again until 9:00 last night. I had more then adequate coals to start a load even after 14 & 1/2 hours. Even though the stove top was down to around 200 degrees. For a reference it was 32 with sun yesterday here in Nebraska.

Sounds like you need to go back to propane...you obviously don't know how to use a woodstove!

 

[huauqui]

A little over four hours now and the stove top is locked in at 425 and the chimney is at almost an identical temp. Since there is no sun today and an expected high of 20. I increased the air intake to 25 percent and expect to burn three loads instead of two in 24 hours. Which is perfect since it is my day off and I love to play with the stove.

 

[Squisher]

Looking good, do you have the blower on your stove by chance? I never got it with mine and have wondered how much it helps or not.

 

[huauqui]

No blower on mine. Have wondered about it too. Would guess it would require a slightly higher air setting to maintain clean safe burning and flue temps. Which would mean faster wood consumption too or at least I would guess.

 

[tcassavaugh]

Looking good, do you have the blower on your stove by chance? I never got it with mine and have wondered how much it helps or not.

i've got a blower on mine. i think it does more for air circulation than putting heat back into the room. i don't normally occupy the basement, where the summit is. what i think it does do is draw the colder air from upstairs and puts the heat back into the room. i have had had trouble with my thermostat on it so when the stove is going, i just put it on manual and turn it off when i load or let the stove go out. i think it works better than a box fan but thats just my humble opinion.

 

[Squisher]

Yah I've been wondering a bit because my old Lakewood had a blower and it made a hell of a difference on that stove as far as moving heat around. I've been experimenting with placement of a small fan to encourage circulation but haven't settled on the ideal set up yet. My house is very drafty and I think that makes it more difficult to move the cold air towards the stove without sucking even more cold air into the house.

 

[pen]

From the fact that your burn times are very good and your running what looks like a probe thermometer on your pipe, I don't think things sound out of line at all, and do not think you have too much draft.

 

[Mike M.]

Question for OP and others with basement stoves...what type and how did you insulate and finish your basement cement walls? I have a stove in my basement which is exposed cement walls (foam on outside) and I have no where near these results heating my home from it.

 

[huauqui]

I used inch and a half foam glued directly on the interior walls to insulate them. I am in process of framing walls and will put bat insulation in those as well. I know it's overkill but it is a very cheap addition to what is there.

 

[Mike M.]

I thought it looked like you had foam on the walls. Where did you pick that up and what type is it? Seems to be the price is all over the place for it around here. Also, is it fire resistant?