Magic Heat & Stove heating issuses

[brenndatomu]

Is that 2200 sq. ft. including the basement footage? The formula that the county auditor uses to figure sq ftg. may or may not have included your basement, depending on how "finished" the basement is (was)
If you have 2200 ft. ground floor, plus 2200 basement, then your stove is heating like a boss, just too small.
I hate to make assumptions, then get bit in the rear when it is realized, oops, didn't cover the basics.

If the upstairs and down are 4 degrees apart, sounds like you are getting the heat that you have distributed pretty well. I would think the heat loss to the duct work would be minimal once it warms up, unless it runs through uninsulated spaces.
Also, you said you can't install a wood furnace due to no chimney. Is it possible to put a wood furnace in the living space (where you could put a chimney) if you used one of the several that have glass doors. Treat it like a wood stove, part of the deco. The PSG Caddy and the Drolet Tundra/Heatmax (there are others too) look good enough to not have to be tucked into the mechanicals room. You could maybe add some minimal stand alone duct work to move the heat upstairs, again just treat the duct work as part of the view, just like some offices and restaurants do. Just throwin out ideas here...

 

[JA600L]

What are the usual temperature readings on your stove during operation? In most cases I need to see atleast 350 degrees stove top to keep my heat pump from kicking on. But if I run the stove at 500 degrees it heats my house tremendously well. 1800 sq ft. I have found that good circulation is the key.

There is a constant loop in my house. The stove is in the basement next to my staircase (rancher house). It enters this loop cycle where the hot air reaches to the opposing bedrooms then hits the floor and comes down the stairs. You can see this with toilet paper at the door frames. Once I enter this cycle it continues the whole way through the coal stage until the stove top temperature drops to approx 200 degrees.

Regardless of the capacity of your stove, you need to find a way to develop this cycle. Direct the heat up the staircase and it will do the rest from there. Try hanging the toilet paper and monitor your air movement up the stairs.

 

[Matt KH]

The family member that I'm getting the wood from has had it for 4 years and they all have the old stoves. I'm the only one in the family that has a EPA stove. I also have a moisture meeter and all of my wood is 17% to 19.8%

 

[ddahlgren]

The family member that I'm getting the wood from has had it for 4 years and they all have the old stoves. I'm the only one in the family that has a EPA stove. I also have a moisture meeter and all of my wood is 17% to 19.8%

re-split a piece and see what it reads there. I will bet if 19.8 on the surface then 25+ internal and way too wet.

 

[Matt KH]

What are the usual temperature readings on your stove during operation? In most cases I need to see atleast 350 degrees stove top to keep my heat pump from kicking on. But if I run the stove at 500 degrees it heats my house tremendously well. 1800 sq ft. I have found that good circulation is the key.

There is a constant loop in my house. The stove is in the basement next to my staircase (rancher house). It enters this loop cycle where the hot air reaches to the opposing bedrooms then hits the floor and comes down the stairs. You can see this with toilet paper at the door frames. Once I enter this cycle it continues the whole way through the coal stage until the stove top temperature drops to approx 200 degrees.

Regardless of the capacity of your stove, you need to find a way to develop this cycle. Direct the heat up the staircase and it will do the rest from there. Try hanging the toilet paper and monitor your air movement up the stairs.

I keep the stove top at 450 to 500 and the flue is only 25 higher than the stove top.

 

[Matt KH]

The house is 2200sq total