Small House does not warm up.

[dgf65]

Hi Everyone
I have a small 24'x24' cabin with a small up stairs & I'm having a problem with trying to heat this building.I tried a Hearthstone Homestead p& the best I could get out of this stove was about 64 degrees & that was when it was 35 degrees out side.
Now this cabin has house wrap on the out side & 6" studed walls with the insulation to go with it.The chimney is stright through the ceiling & through the roof.The chimney is tripple wall the down to double wall in the living room & at the stove a short single wall with a damper this pipe is 6" SS .
I have sold the soapstone & now have tried a coal stove it works a little better but not much the best it did was 66 degrees & about 59 degrees up stairs.
Now my brother in law has one of those low cost $99.00 wood stoves from the tractor store he loads it up & in about 45 minutes he said it was about 50 degrees with in 2 hours he is taking his sweat shirt off.This shed has no insulation
What am I doing wrong.
Thank you
dgf65

 

[Stevebass4]

how seasoned is your wood? err you say that you're using coal now - any idea of the stove top temp??

 

[Dune]

What size is your coal stove? Are you sure you are operating it correctly? What type of floor do you have? Is it open to the weather underneath somehow, and uninsulated? What do you have for ceiling insulation?

 

[savageactor7]

Hard to believe you couldn't over heat a place that size...I'm of the opinion that despite what you were told that you have a some kind of insulation issue going on. I've heated an area bigger than that with a simple Kerosun heater.

 

[dgf65]

The floor was cement but I went over top with 2x4 studs & used insulation between the studs.I had a springfield stove at my house & it heated me out where I had to open the doors.Over 100 degrees about 5' from the stove & about 85 degrees at 18' away.
This cabin has new windows,doors ,8' ceilings storm doors.I did try a small 3 panel propane heater no luck with that.
Thank you

 

[KeithO]

Is the roof insulated ? Also, what type of insulation do you have ? Remember that fiberglass or cellulose insulation has an insulation value of 0 if the wind penetrates through it. The exterior sheathing may have enough gaps that when added together make an opening the size of a window. If the inside is already drywalled, the first thing may be to go around the outside and plug all gaps with caulk or expanding foam. Bottom & top sill plates first. If the inside is not yet drywalled, I'd advise removing batt insulation and sealing all joints with expanding foam, before putting the batts back in.

How do the ceiling/wall joints look like ? Gaps where the walls meet the ceiling are bad for heat loss. Are all wall outlets sealed up good ? Can air get underneath the floor ?

 

[JustWood]

Does your coal stove have grates?

 

[theora55]

Do you have a stove thermometer? If the stove is not getting hot, then it's the stove, airflow or fuel. If the stove gets hot, but the house doesn't, then it's the house. Light an incense stick and watch the smoke to check for drafts.

I have a small house, @ 1,000 sf, sounds similarly sized to yours, and my small stove gets it warm.

 

[dgf65]

The thermastat on the stove which is on the pipe when the stove is opened up reads about 425 degrees when stove is half banked down about 200 degrees.This is a coal stove.All windows & doors have been caulked I'm sure there is some air leaks but it should heat better then 66 degrees.IF I run the fan 70 degrees but I have to run the generator which I do not want to do.
Thank you

 

[savageactor7]

dgf65 if you have a REAL coal stove that should blow you out of that cabin. It's been a million years since I burned coal so I recommend that you go to nepa ...they're the subject matter experts on coal.

http://nepacrossroads.com/

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Two stoves, and neither of them works? I don't believe this has anything to do with the cabin itself. This is something to do with how the stove is being operated.

Also, it is not been state how tall that chimney is.

 

[Chettt]

If it is 35 degrees outside a can of sterno should be able to heat your house. Is the house not finished yet? How thick or what R value is your ceiling insulation. If you think it is the stove, get two 1500 watt electric heaters and for a day try heating with just them, placed near your coal stove. If the electrics heat your home, it is your stove/flue that is the problem.

 

[Henz]

insulate insulate insulate....caulk caulk caulk!

 

[Bone1099]

Stove top temp? Think the house is too tight? I read That an average size wood stove can evacuate the entire volume of air from a 1000 sq Ft house every 15 minutes maybe the house is choking the stove maybe im stupid (50/50 chance) Crack a window this should shed some light on one option

 

[woodjack]

You can heat a house that size burning toothpicks. Stop cold air infiltration.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

If no serious air leaks, then I'd look at ceiling/roof insulation.

 

[woodjack]

You're not heating your house. You're heating the great outdoors. Trust me, I know from experience.

Arm yourself with caulk, weather stripping, foam insulation. It's war. Heat vs. cold! They drew first blood!

 

[woodsman23]

Are you using an OAK? outside air to the stove??. I have a 26x26 cabin in the woods with an upstairs and i use a pellet stove and can get it up and over 85 without a problem...

 

[NHenergy]

I work at a hearthstone dealer and that Homestead should have done the trick. Switching to coal only reinforces that. Your cabin must leak like a siv. Did you do the work yourself? Is it done right?

 

[dgf65]

Hey
Everyone I've read all of your post & like most of you said it sounds like air leakage so I'm going to check this out.I see one of you said to use an incense stick but is there a better way like an air meter & is there a way to tell if its not getting enought air to the stove.I see there is a probe that can be installed in the chimney to tell if its is getting the wright amount of air flow dose this work & where do you get this from.
I did like that Soapstone it did burn clean but I think my wood was too dry I could only get about 3-5 hours of burn time.
I thank you guys for all of your help.
Dale g.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

dgf65, one way to see if the stove is getting enough air is to crack open a window or door. If the fire takes off, you know your cabin is too tight and you need an outside air kit.

For the life of me, I do not understand how your wood could have been too dry!! I've burned 12 year old wood and for sure it was dry, but too dry? Methinks the problem was something else. btw, our soapstone burns dry wood very well indeed!

 

[Henz]

trust me, crawl around your walls and fel for cold air leakage. Go up to the wall/ceailing area and do the same..Run your had aroudn the windows and doors..I ahve been in my house for 3 winters and am still sealing off air leakage. Cold air infiltration is more than not having enough insulation in your walls in my opinion!

 

[oconnor]

Stove top temp? Think the house is too tight? I read That an average size wood stove can evacuate the entire volume of air from a 1000 sq Ft house every 15 minutes maybe the house is choking the stove maybe im stupid (50/50 chance) Crack a window this should shed some light on one option

Strange, I read that an EPA stove uses 10-25 cfm of air - not much at all. To empty a 1000sqft house every 15mins, thats 533cfm (eight foot ceilings), or about 5 good bathroom exhaust fans.

 

[oconnor]

Without knowing how hot the stove gets, we will never have any idea why the cabin is cold.

Can you get the stove hot enough that you can't leave your hand near it for long? I did some math in another post today - turn out that an item (like a stove) at 600 Kelvin (533F) gives of 16 times more heat than the same item at 300K (233F). Getting the stove hot is the key, and if you can't tell us how hot it gets, everything else is good ideas, but may not be relevant.