TN20 minimal heat output

[Fletcher2003]

I posted a couple weeks back about my stove top temps getting too hot and took the advice of shutting the stove down a little sooner and I haven't seen those high temps since. Now I have a new problem. Haha. I have been shutting it down in small increments rather than all at once. I would say once the stove reaches about 400 I am 75% closed down. My new problem is that the stove seems to be putting out very little heat. Unless it's 600+ it doesn't seem to be doing very much. It's has gotten close to 600 a couple times these past 2 weeks but even then it's not the heat output that I expected when I bought this stove. Outside temps are only 30s-40s and I feel the stove is barely helping the central unit. It is an alcove set up and I know that's not ideal but it's the only way I could make it work. I have read my fair share on this website and I see people saying that stoves similar to mine will heat their entire house in sub freezing temps. I can barely get it to assist in heating my 1580sf home in South Georgia. Here are a few things that may help....
I'm burning "iron oak" I cut and split 2 years ago when I purchased stove. Moisture content is around 15-17.

When burning from a cold start I get smoke for 15-20 min, once it's going great I start shutting down until desired stove top temp. I get what I believe to be a good secondary burn. After initial start up a have zero smoke throughout my burn cycle.
I have removed a wall and I run a fan on the floor in adjacent room blowing towards the room the stove is in to try and get better circulation of heat.
Other than temps and burn times is there any way to measure the heat output to make sure the stove is operating correctly? I'm not sure if I'm expecting too much but I don't see how folks up north in much colder temps seem to be getting much better results and best I can tell this stove seems to be operating like its suppose to. Here is my setup

 

[begreen]

I'm wondering how much heat is getting trapped above. Have you taken a temperature up at the ceiling of the alcove, behind the arched transom?

When you checked the moisture content, did you bring in a thick split the day before and let it get up to temperature, then resplit it, then test the moisture by pressing in the probes hard into the freshly exposed face of wood on the split?

Tell us more about the house. How many sq ft and how well insulated is it?

And last, does the stove have the blower option?

 

[Fletcher2003]

I'm wondering how much heat is getting trapped above. Have you taken a temperature up at the ceiling of the alcove, behind the arched transom?

When you checked the moisture content, did you bring in a thick split the day before and let it get up to temperature, then resplit it, then test the moisture by pressing in the probes hard into the freshly exposed face of wood on the split?

Tell us more about the house. How many sq ft and how well insulated is it?

And last, does the stove have the blower option?

I have not checked the ceiling above the stove. I did check the tile about 3ft above the stove a few days ago and it was 110 degrees. I didn't bring the split in inside for 24hrs the day I checked it. I have one in here now and will split and check tomorrow. We don't know when the house was built but believe it was built 1930s or 40s maybe. I Completely gutted and remodeled the house 12 years ago. I had insulation blown in all the exterior walls and I installed insulation in the attic myself. The main issue I have is the floor. There is no "sub floor". Tung and groove hardwood flooring in 60% of the house and it's mounted directly on top of the floor joist. When I remodeled the house they had carpet covering the hardwood and I had it refinished because the floors were still in very good condition. The house is 1580sq and it's not an open floor plan. I know getting heat to the back rooms is the idea here but the stove is in the living room where I am sitting now watching tv and it's just a little warmer than normal in here. Even if the heat isn't getting transferred to the rear of the house I would think it would be cooking me out of here when it's up around 500-600 and it's not. Also I have 8ft ceilings in the house. The stove does have the blower on the back but I can't tell much of a difference when I run it so I usually leave it off.


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[Fletcher2003]

I'm wondering how much heat is getting trapped above. Have you taken a temperature up at the ceiling of the alcove, behind the arched transom?

When you checked the moisture content, did you bring in a thick split the day before and let it get up to temperature, then resplit it, then test the moisture by pressing in the probes hard into the freshly exposed face of wood on the split?

Tell us more about the house. How many sq ft and how well insulated is it?

And last, does the stove have the blower option?

Floor plan

 

[begreen]

Yes, I agree it should be heating the front part from kitchen to living room. Check the wood and the temp up at the top of the ceiling behind the transom. That looks like a heat trap. The stove should be cruising around 650F for a few hours, but 700F is ok for a peak temp.

 

[Fletcher2003]

Yes, I agree it should be heating the front part from kitchen to living room. Check the wood and the temp up at the top of the ceiling behind the transom. That looks like a heat trap. The stove should be cruising around 650F for a few hours, but 700F is ok for a peak temp.

I checked the piece of wood I brought in yesterday. It's 12-14%, it was about as big of a split as I use so I'm assuming my average split would be even less than that. I checked it with the grain and across the grain because I wasn't sure which was the correct way, couldn't tell a difference, both read the same. The temp on the ceiling above the stove is 115-125, I would say it's about 6ft above the stove top. I reloaded on coals from this morning about 5:00pm and it cruised right around 600 from 5:15pm until 6:15pm and now seems to be creeping back down. It's right at 500 now(6:30pm). For some reason I haven't thought of this until now but my ceiling is the durock concrete board just mounted to some studs. Could I be losing heat through the durock? I wasn't sure if I was suppose to insulate that close to the chimney pipe so I didn't put any insilation on the durock.


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[begreen]

The stove is putting out heat. You could push it a little harder up to 650 or even 700F on cold days. Some of the heat is getting trapped up at the alcove ceiling, but the rest is going somewhere. Is the furnace fan running while burning?

 

[Fletcher2003]

The stove is putting out heat. You could push it a little harder up to 650 or even 700F on cold days. Some of the heat is getting trapped up at the alcove ceiling, but the rest is going somewhere. Is the furnace fan running while burning?

I do run the fan on the central unit sometimes but I wasn't sure if it was helping much. The duct work is under the house so I wasn't sure if the cold duct would cool the warm air before it makes it to the vents.


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[begreen]

Yes, the heat loss through the ductwork would be excessive. That's why I asked. Somewhere the house is leaking heat. If you put your hand over the floor vents for the hot air heat do you feel cold air being pulled in from them?

 

[Fletcher2003]

Yes, the heat loss through the ductwork would be excessive. That's why I asked. Somewhere the house is leaking heat. If you put your hand over the floor vents for the hot air heat do you feel cold air being pulled in from them?

I just checked the vents, I can't feel any cold air at all.


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[begreen]

Is there an attic fan grille or vent? Leaky attic doorway?

How much insulation is there in the house?

 

[Fletcher2003]

Is there an attic fan grille or vent? Leaky attic doorway?

How much insulation is there in the house?

The attic doorway is a little leaky. I never completely finished it when I remodeled the house. I'm going to work on getting that fixed. As far as insulation I have the 6" thick slats in the attic that me and my dad installed. The walls were old wood that I covered with Sheetrock. I had a company come in and insulate and they drilled holes in the wood walls every 24" and sprayed cellulose insulation in all the exterior walls.


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