I'm pretty sure it's some old crappy rollout out sheets of R-19 insulation. That's definitely something I can beef up. We do use about half the attic space for storage though, so won't it lessen the quality of insulation if we throw plywood over the top and press it down?
And I've been asking this question, but it seems that most people say to go with the bigger box and not to be concerned about having to run smaller fires in a bigger box. The bigger box will just give longer burn times if you have the settings adjusted appropriately....
True. I don't know but there may be newer alternatives that would provide higher insulation value within the 2x6 height available...
Yes, but you can only cleanly run a non-cat so low. But you do live in a relatively harsh climate, with more full-bore burning once it gets cold than we have here. We get a lot of breaks in the nasty weather.
Calling @woodgeek.
A non-cat stove requires an exhaust gas temperature of 1100F or higher to activate the secondary burn. If you can achieve this with your small fire (burned at a higher rate), then you're good to go. The troubles to which Woody is referring is when folks try to burn a small fire at a low rate, which is the exclusive territory of a cat stove, being able to activate secondary burn below 500F.
That would depend on local dealers. The Enviro Kodiak 1700 is the rough equivalent to the PE Super, but with a .5 cu ft larger firebox. I would expect them to be close in pricing, but you never know, a dealer may be trying to move last year's stock at a discounted price. Call around.
If you are trying to move the room temp 3-5º you will be burning a decent sized fire. When temps are mild, instead of running a very low fire which would smolder you run a hotter, small fire with less splits than a full load. That keeps efficiency up without overheating the house. We do this during milder weather. For example, it was 45F yesterday morning and I made a 5 split fire instead of a full house 9-10 split fire. I let it burn to ashes and didn't refuel the firebox as the sun took over warming the house around noontime. The fire brought the LR temp up from 65F to 74F in an hour or so and the rest of the house was about 70F.
There are special construction circumstances where it is hard to insulate a house well without great expense or without altering its intrinsic character. Think log or stone houses. Your house is not that case. Get an energy audit by the state, seal up leaks aggressively, and insulate well. This will pay off 24/7, 365 days a year.
Don't know how much merit this has but I heard that if your house was built before 1978 you need special contractors to due work due to the possibility of lead paint contamination, again don't know how try that is, one of the old timers was telling me at work about how he had to pay extra for a different type of window installer to do his windows due to the house age and possible lead paint.
Yes, a cat stove burns the volatiles coming off the wood through the catalyst. Depending on the design this can be more efficient, especially if you want appliance-like low heat over a long period of time. The advantage is less when the stove is being pushed harder for real heat. Note that all cat stoves are not created equal. Burn times vary a lot. Also, there are differences in design and some are hybrids using both a cat and secondary tube.
I was thinking old houses, something built before the American Revolution. In my case, we have an un-insulated stone house, with windows and doors dating to 1770's. Some parts of the house are as old as 1738, and never messed up with modern insulation and vinyl windows. There is historical value in this that goes beyond what I'm paying in additional heating costs.
You're confusing stove temperature with house temperature. You can sit a 500F stove in your house for a short period of time, without enormous impact on indoor house temperature. That hot stove may eventually bring your house up to an uncomfortable warm temperature, but not if you keep the duration of the fire short enough, by limiting how much wood you put in the box.
Yeah, a cool breeze on the ankles is part of the charm.
Yeah, a cool breeze on the ankles is part of the charm.
What begreen was saying was that a smaller, hot fire with secondary burn is going to be more efficient than letting a big load smolder (no secondaries) in an effort to not roast yourself out. But if you have to start a lot of small fires, it's inefficient in that, during the startup period when you are getting the stove hot enough for the secondary to kick in, you are spewing some unburned smoke and volatiles out the flue. And annoying your neighbors if they are close by. Better to have a stove size close to what you need the majority of the time, then let your backup heat help in extreme conditions. With the right size stove you'll be able to load full most of the time, and let the load run its course.
