When the Outside is Zero Degrees F and the wind is 10 MPH what heat setting (or Lbs per Hr) do you u

[slls]

I just leave the thermostat on 70 and add fuel as needed. It can be -20 here with no wind and the stove will burn less then if it was +20 with the wind howling.

Same here.

Can you guys with the thermostat explain PLEASE?

If it is on Hi-Lo then what is the high setting? If On-Off then what is the Heat or Feed Rate setting??

My stat is set at 70, stove is set to medium heat, high fan, has low fan also. Have 3 heat settings , high, med, low. My runs most efficient on med, I think.
No matter how cold it shuts down and waits for heat call, like my hot air furnace, works exactly the same.

 

[jtakeman]

I should add that my stove is also run by the stat. Programmable/setback so I can set swing, away/sleeping and awake/active temps. I tried the idle method, But just didn't like the uneven temps when dummy forgot to tweak the feed rate to comp for colder temps. Too busy to baby site the controls, Just so much easier to have the stat do it for me. House is the temp I want when I want it. The key is recovery time and the thing I needed to figure out to have the house temp at the setting. Pretty much 2 to 3 degrees an hour for reaction time. So I just need to have the stove start about 2 hours ahead to raise it the 6 degrees difference from my sleep/away time to awake/active.

I do not recommend a setback programmable stat if your stove struggles to raise the house temps. Here your probably better off just trying to maintain the heat loss. Maybe just use the swing temp setting if the stove starts cycling too often.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

Well last night it was zero most of the night so I did need to have the Astoria on 3 which is 3.22 lbs per hour most of the night and then bump it up to 4 which is 3.98 lbs per hour at about 5:00 AM to keep the house up to temperature.

The key is recovery time and the thing I needed to figure out to have the house temp at the setting. Pretty much 2 to 3 degrees an hour for reaction time.

Yes, J I know exactly what you mean about recovery time. Recovery time is longer with these cold temps that is for sure!

You should be able to adjust your swing temp setting to a lower # for a faster recovery time??
Or
Maybe a higher feed rate than 2-3 for a faster recovery time?




Anyway, I added 2 layers of foam board (1.5 inches thick total) to the Gable Winter Door I built to keep old man winter from howling into my attic space and doing the what I call now - "The Heat Vacuum Effect" !!
It works !! Last night the Attic was 41 deg F for a low while it was Zero Deg F outside !! Without the Gable Winter Door it would have been less than 25 Deg F so not only does it keep the junk up there from freezing but that 15 Deg F difference keeps the living space below less drafty and warmer alot longer!! It is amazing. See door pics below

 

[Don2222]

I just leave the thermostat on 70 and add fuel as needed. It can be -20 here with no wind and the stove will burn less then if it was +20 with the wind howling.

Same here.

Can you guys with the thermostat explain PLEASE?

If it is on Hi-Lo then what is the high setting? If On-Off then what is the Heat or Feed Rate setting??

My stat is set at 70, stove is set to medium heat, high fan, has low fan also. Have 3 heat settings , high, med, low. My runs most efficient on med, I think.
No matter how cold it shuts down and waits for heat call, like my hot air furnace, works exactly the same.

Thanks slls for the info, yes medium seems to be a good setting and it also means your stove is sized correctly for your house.

I have been making more energy efficiency changes in the house like blocking the gable vents (See above pics) so
even on the very cold days I rarely need to go above feed rate 3 (3.22 lbs/hr) out of 6 which is medium for me.

 

[slls]

Watch for condensation with vents blocked.

 

[Catfishjack]

We heat our home, house built in 1888 but totally restored and insulated, approx 1750 Sq Ft with a St Croix Prescott EXl. I use a Programmable Thermostat, Swing is 1° with 3 settings programmed. Night, day and evening. Tonight we will probably go to -20° to -25°. I will set the thermostat to a flat temp of 73° ,house will stay 73°..
Pellet usage for me is one bag a day when the temps are 15° or higher and if colder approx 1 1/2 bags per 24 hour period. The St Croix has a smart stat mode so when the room reaches the programmed temp the stove burns at low, almost like our old wood stove. When it calls for heat it just kicks it up..
Pellets are the way to go for me..Otherwise we use Kerosene Monitors which are very efficient but Kerosene is now $3.54 per gallon..Curran pellets are now $208.00 per ton..Pellets it is..heats our home for about $6.50 per day on the coldest of winter days...

 

[Don2222]

Watch for condensation with vents blocked.

Hello slls

Oh yes to control the moisture and to prevent ice dams, we had the continuous strip soffit vents installed and of course a ridge vent.

See pic

 

[rickwa]

St Croix Lancaster set on 4 of 5 with corn heating 1600sq/ft.

 

[dmaclaren]

-11 last night. avg 68degrees and I went through 2 bags in 17 hours. most bag usage to date
3600 sqft where 1/3 is unfinished basement.

 

[jtakeman]

Hello

Well last night it was zero most of the night so I did need to have the Astoria on 3 which is 3.22 lbs per hour most of the night and then bump it up to 4 which is 3.98 lbs per hour at about 5:00 AM to keep the house up to temperature.

The key is recovery time and the thing I needed to figure out to have the house temp at the setting. Pretty much 2 to 3 degrees an hour for reaction time.

Yes, J I know exactly what you mean about recovery time. Recovery time is longer with these cold temps that is for sure!

You should be able to adjust your swing temp setting to a lower # for a faster recovery time??
Or
Maybe a higher feed rate than 2-3 for a faster recovery time?

Both might workl and with a programmable stat you could also set the start time sooner.

I had -14ºF last night. I left my settings same as normal which worded good to about 0ºF. Woke up this morning expecting the temp in the house to be close to the shutdown setting of 72ºF, But I only got to 70ºF. So my reaction time of 2 to 3 degrees an hour was more like 1 degree an hour. I start the temp rise at 3.00 AM and at 5.00 AM usually see the 6 degree total rise. So if it gets below -10º again I had better start the rise earlier say 1:00 AM. Or Sert the High on the stove 1 notch higher to 4.

The swing would take more though and gadgets to work with, I have my swing at 1.5º so my low of 68º could actually be 66.5ºF depending on where I caught it on the time to raise the temp. Was my start temp at 66.5ºF or 68ºF, IDK as I was sleeping. I would need a data logger to find out for sure. So I think raising the heat setting on the stove or extending the recovery time would be easier to tweak.

Even though I was not as close with the likable temp when I awoke, I was much better of then in years past at this below normal outside temp. 70ºF was still in my confort zone. If it was 68ºF? I would definetly work at fixing that pronto! I can live with close.

 

[Taperbill]

We've had several nights of actual temps below -30 with a 15 mph wind. Wind chills near 50 below.
I used 60/40 mix with corn..set the furnace thermo at 70 and pellet stove at 3-4 ..3 mostly
I need to open my sink cupboard in the NW corner of the house ..most exposed to wind and put a small electric heater and fan blowing on the open area under the sink.
When temps approach -50 it is just common sense to have a plan.

We sent a batch east for you guys.