Well, either I found the limit of my stove, or I wimped/chickened out last week.
Here is the setup - my folks were visiting for the holiday week. I've been heating exclusively with the stove all winter as long as we were in town (i.e. not having someone come house sit to feed the stove). So far we've had some cold nights in the teens and touched in the single digits. I'm heating somewhere between 2200 and 2400 sq ft with a stove officially rated for 1600 sq ft. My insulation is perhaps a bit better than "normal average" but I have no idea what that really is so... whatever. House is only 10 years old and has been upgraded so it isn't half bad. We like to have the house in the mid 60's during the day and for my family I've had the thermostats (multiple zones) set to 55 as the backup temp and never gotten close to it.
While the folks were here we had one day where the temps dropped to 9* in the evening, then down to 3* that night. That night before going to bed I decided I didn't want my parents to get cold so I set the thermostats to 59 and 60 (down/upstairs zones) this was partially due to the fact they were in the room that gets the least amount of heat from the stove. Went to bed at about 9p after loading the stove full and having it running good and hot. House temps were only about 62 at the time since we had been out for the evening and I missed a load opportunity as the temps were falling. Ug. Went to bed early because I've been ill. Fun week. Anyway, woke up at 3:30a (see ill statement) and central heat was on, stove was ready for a load (of course - was running it hot) so I loaded it up full. Got up again at 7:30 and thermostats still had same temp but central heat wasn't running at that moment - (outside temp was 9.3* at that time), loaded stove up and an hour later house was warming up - got up to comfortable without having to change central heat thermostat. Was a 5 load day for the fireview though which was a first for me.
So my conclusion is that for extended single digit periods of time (near zero nights) I'm going to have to be sure and have the house good and warm before bed (duh) and may well have to either accept the central heat kicking in or plan to feed the stove every 4-4.5 hours with the wood I'm burning now. Perhaps once I am burning wood that fills the box better (all this is a bit on the short side) I will do better, also having less punk and unknown "mixed hardwood" would help too.
Thought I'd share this 'reality' with folks. I know others are looking to take their Fireview to the extremes and want to know what those may be. I wouldn't take my one experience as gospel (either good or bad) but as a single data point to ponder and build on. Anyone want more specific data let me know what you are interested in as I might just have it in my logs (don't want to clutter up the post with unwanted data).
Here is the setup - my folks were visiting for the holiday week. I've been heating exclusively with the stove all winter as long as we were in town (i.e. not having someone come house sit to feed the stove). So far we've had some cold nights in the teens and touched in the single digits. I'm heating somewhere between 2200 and 2400 sq ft with a stove officially rated for 1600 sq ft. My insulation is perhaps a bit better than "normal average" but I have no idea what that really is so... whatever. House is only 10 years old and has been upgraded so it isn't half bad. We like to have the house in the mid 60's during the day and for my family I've had the thermostats (multiple zones) set to 55 as the backup temp and never gotten close to it.
While the folks were here we had one day where the temps dropped to 9* in the evening, then down to 3* that night. That night before going to bed I decided I didn't want my parents to get cold so I set the thermostats to 59 and 60 (down/upstairs zones) this was partially due to the fact they were in the room that gets the least amount of heat from the stove. Went to bed at about 9p after loading the stove full and having it running good and hot. House temps were only about 62 at the time since we had been out for the evening and I missed a load opportunity as the temps were falling. Ug. Went to bed early because I've been ill. Fun week. Anyway, woke up at 3:30a (see ill statement) and central heat was on, stove was ready for a load (of course - was running it hot) so I loaded it up full. Got up again at 7:30 and thermostats still had same temp but central heat wasn't running at that moment - (outside temp was 9.3* at that time), loaded stove up and an hour later house was warming up - got up to comfortable without having to change central heat thermostat. Was a 5 load day for the fireview though which was a first for me.
So my conclusion is that for extended single digit periods of time (near zero nights) I'm going to have to be sure and have the house good and warm before bed (duh) and may well have to either accept the central heat kicking in or plan to feed the stove every 4-4.5 hours with the wood I'm burning now. Perhaps once I am burning wood that fills the box better (all this is a bit on the short side) I will do better, also having less punk and unknown "mixed hardwood" would help too.
Thought I'd share this 'reality' with folks. I know others are looking to take their Fireview to the extremes and want to know what those may be. I wouldn't take my one experience as gospel (either good or bad) but as a single data point to ponder and build on. Anyone want more specific data let me know what you are interested in as I might just have it in my logs (don't want to clutter up the post with unwanted data).