So I just have to share, I am so happy!
I have a 80,000BTU of geothermal installed in my house that I built 2 years ago. Pennsylvania has had an unseasonably cold December. The weatherman is calling for it to go over freezing today, for the first time in 2 weeks or so. The result is my geothermal has run non-stop for the last two weeks.
I installed a Pacific Energy Classic in my basement, but really only ran it a few times mainly because I didn't have dry c/s/s firewood and we had a very good electric rate. Meanwhile, 2 years later I have 12 cords c/s/s and at least half is very DRY and Pennsylvania's electric rate went up 30%. I was having my basement finished the last month and have an outside air kit installed on my wood stove so it wasn't hooked up when it got cold. Also, during the construction work I had a return air duct installed almost directly above my stove with a nice 12" x 12" return directly above it.
So yesterday they reinstalled all my wood stove and by 7:00PM last night I was starting my first fire. The basement was 65 (from the geothermal). By 7:30 I had a good fire going and turned on the circulating fan in the furnace. Around 9:00 my house gets quiet. The geothermal shut off for the first time in two weeks! I went to bed at 11:30 and it was still off! The basement temperature rose to 71 by the time I went to bed. The first floor was 70 the whole time but didn't go down. When I got up this morning (at 7:00AM) the geothermal had turned back on but there was a nice bed of coals that lighted my logs up immediately. I was just thrilled to hear the geothermal shut off, it was the culmination of a lot of time and effort building a house and c/s/s 12 cords by hand basically by myself.
The intention with my wood stove is to supplement my heat. I love running the wood stove. It is not intended to replace the geothermal. I wanted the wood stove on the first floor but lost that battle (won the war, got a divorce!).
I have a 80,000BTU of geothermal installed in my house that I built 2 years ago. Pennsylvania has had an unseasonably cold December. The weatherman is calling for it to go over freezing today, for the first time in 2 weeks or so. The result is my geothermal has run non-stop for the last two weeks.
I installed a Pacific Energy Classic in my basement, but really only ran it a few times mainly because I didn't have dry c/s/s firewood and we had a very good electric rate. Meanwhile, 2 years later I have 12 cords c/s/s and at least half is very DRY and Pennsylvania's electric rate went up 30%. I was having my basement finished the last month and have an outside air kit installed on my wood stove so it wasn't hooked up when it got cold. Also, during the construction work I had a return air duct installed almost directly above my stove with a nice 12" x 12" return directly above it.
So yesterday they reinstalled all my wood stove and by 7:00PM last night I was starting my first fire. The basement was 65 (from the geothermal). By 7:30 I had a good fire going and turned on the circulating fan in the furnace. Around 9:00 my house gets quiet. The geothermal shut off for the first time in two weeks! I went to bed at 11:30 and it was still off! The basement temperature rose to 71 by the time I went to bed. The first floor was 70 the whole time but didn't go down. When I got up this morning (at 7:00AM) the geothermal had turned back on but there was a nice bed of coals that lighted my logs up immediately. I was just thrilled to hear the geothermal shut off, it was the culmination of a lot of time and effort building a house and c/s/s 12 cords by hand basically by myself.
The intention with my wood stove is to supplement my heat. I love running the wood stove. It is not intended to replace the geothermal. I wanted the wood stove on the first floor but lost that battle (won the war, got a divorce!).