Usable heat from an insert

[Sully]

I have an insert. Last night knowing it was not going to be freezing I put loaded it up at 8 got a good fire going and raised the heat in my home. I just came down stairs and house is 62. The fan was off on insert which was surprising. A lot of coals left in insert. New load up started up in less than two min. Probably 30 seconds. All good things so far.
I know to get heat output over night I need to wait longer into the night to load insert. I'm just curious what other people have experienced with heat output times , how kind does a insert deliver heat and to have a warm house in morning what is the last load up time people are doing before they leave it for the night.

 

[etiger2007]

With our EPA tube stoves they like to run hot, with a stove like ours with a 2.0 cf firebox you will probably need to reload every 4-5 hours to maintain the highest heat output. I typically load my stove with 4-5 medium splits of ash, oak at 8pm and when I get up at 4am there are coals and the fan is still on but its not producing very much heat.

 

[Sully]

With our EPA tube stoves they like to run hot, with a stove like ours with a 2.0 cf firebox you will probably need to reload every 4-5 hours to maintain the highest heat output. I typically load my stove with 4-5 medium splits of ash, oak at 8pm and when I get up at 4am there are coals and the fan is still on but its not producing very much heat.

Ok. That's about same as mine, although I've had fan on kicking heat most mornings when I get up, I might just be asking to much from insert. In the same sense I might be only one in neighborhood who has not turned heat on starting mid October. That's a plus. I know come December and jan that's not going to be the case. Which will bring
Me to my next dilemma. The thermostat and stove are in same floor. Upstairs will be getting cold but the thermostat will be warm. I will have to figure that one out. Is It asking to much of EPA insert to be a primary heat for a home? I have about 2100 square 1960 home. Could proably use some energy efficiently work! I'm going to have energy audit here soon hopefully they can give me some good starting points to tighten home up

 

[EJL923]

inserts "usable heat" stops way before a standard wood stoves heat does. It also depends on the stove and how far it sticks out. The more it sticks out, the more radiant heat you get which warms objects around you and not just the air. With an insert your heat will drop quicker when the stove starts to die out. It is especially true in my case with a flush insert. It comes with the territory.

 

[velvetfoot]

We heated our 2000 ft2 place mostly with wood last winter, but it was a was a warm winter and our house is newer. I had the big idea of strategically using electric heaters to minimize the oil use, which worked, except for the fact that my wife has a tendency to use the electric heater in the bathroom most of the year now. Maybe you could wire a thermostat in parallel with your current one for upstairs. What kind of fuel do you use for backup?

For me, I don't want to have too many coals left in the morning for re-loading purposes and getting all the heat out of the wood before reloading, so maybe I should open the air valve a little more in the evening.

 

[firebroad]

I have come to the conclusion, that for me, my insert should be considered a substantial source of supplemental heat for the most part. My floor plan is single story, with the stove room being the largest, so when the cold isn't too bad, I can heat the house with the stove alone. BUT--
I am not going to get it up to 72 when the outside temp is in the twenties. You are right to not expect as much from your insert, the best heat will be gotten from having a stove directly in the room.
Odd thing is, there are some nights the fire will burn itself out in just 6 hours, and other nights it burns 8 or more, with glowing coals left over, like last night. Outside temps don't seem to have anything to do with that, and my wood is all pretty dry, and loads are generally uniform. Wind might be a factor, as well as air pressure.
I usually burn nights and weekends until I can retire in 6 years, as I am gone long hours, and most of that is spent under some cozy quilts.
Also, I am accustomed to cooler temps in the winter, I never set my thermostat above 67, and drop it to 62 at night.

 

[etiger2007]

I would say if I was home to load my insert it could easiley be the primary source of heat. I loaded the stove with kindling yesterday after i got home from work, the house was 67 degrees when the kindling fire burned to coals (bout an hour) and I was ready to load Ozzie up the house was 71.

 

[Bluerubi]

Maybe I'm just incredibly lucky, but I think my VC Merrimack is a very realistic source of primary heat for a 3000sqft colonial house in NH. For the past 3 seasons I spend my winters in shorts and a t-shirt, with my second floor always in the upper 60's to lower 70's. It requires work to keep the heat output steady, and I go through 6-8 cords of wood, but I'm thrilled with how well an insert meets my needs. I have a wifi thermostat setup so I can watch the house temp remotely, something I highly recommend if you want to understand how changing burning styles impacts the heat output and temperature profile of your house during the day and night.