We had a low of 15.5 this morning, I shut the pellet stove off and started our first fire around 10:15 in the wood stove with some of the maples and ash.
I fight the same battle... stove is plenty big enough and produces plenty of BTU'S during the day, but I lose it over night. As long as it isn't too cold or windy I can keep the electric baseboards from kicking in overnight. Air circulation is a problem. Today it was cold and I had it over 80 in the stove room, only 66 up in the LR and 63 in the bedrooms. Once the sun came out it was better.Highs in the teens and overnights around 0 the next few days. I brought in some of the good stuff to get started. Maple, red oak, and cherry ready for action:
View attachment 273040
I suspect the resistance heat will click on for the first time this year at 3 or 4 am. My stove struggles to keep the far rooms warm enough overnight when it's below 10 degrees unless I get up to feed it...the firebox just isn't big enough (1.85 cu ft for 1700 sq feet). We only see those temps on occasion here though and its the perfect size 99% of the time. I can run it efficiently and keep the house comfy (68-70 far rooms, 70-72 near rooms, 75 stove room) without any real effort. Any bigger and I'd bake us out of here and waste wood.
It's 4 degrees here right now and I burned the 7 am morning load of maple hot with the blower on high as the house was 62. Good coal bed left and still 450-500 STT so Gordon and I are hanging out while the coals burn down. I'm adding some small kindling here and there to speed it up so we can reload and avoid coal mountain. I have to run the stove hard to keep up when it gets this cold.
View attachment 273054
We use essential cookies to make this site work, and optional cookies to enhance your experience.