Hello
Interesting read
(broken link removed)
Well, if you read my spout 11 -Man against Nature, you know that I HATE winter.
I get very MANIC about it, call it the "Deep Dark Tunnel",
as that has always been the image in my mind when recollecting it. (or dreading it in anticipation)
Simply something to endure and get thru.
This winter 2010-2011, I did yet another experiment, I bought a small pellet Stove.
I can say that it is a LOVE~HATE relationship with that stove.
More on THAT later...
The initial cost of the stove, blew my winter heating budget, so last August, the focus was on
getting it installed, getting a cheap supply of pellets, and making winter modifications to my home.
My Home is 5600 Square Feet of floor space counting the basement(s) and garage.
2.5 stories tall. 4 car garage under (2 stored to the side-2 able to get in/out)
2nd floor master bedroom 30x30 with an office and master bath 10 x 20 each
Essentially, an addition that maxes the local building code, and wraps around the
"old" original Log Cabin Home.
The Log Cabin, is the "winter-mode" house, as currently it is finished, insulated, and heated.
It is 37x26 basement and 1st floor 1,924 Square Feet of heated space.
It has a HUGE/MASSIVE central Chimney & fireplace.
The fireplace is plugged as they are negative pressure makers, sucking heated air from the inside
which causes the outside wall perimeter to leak cold air in.
There is a 3" pipe in the floor, with an outlet in front of the hearth, that extends to the outside
to "make-up" air, for any heating appliance that I use at the hearth,
this is essential to avoid that negative pressure.
I could go deep into the reasons and negative pressure scenario, but suffice it to say, that since
the addition was built, it changed the pressure dynamics of the old central chimney and it's draft.
Even adding to the height of the chimney by 3 more tiles (2.5 feet each) 7.5 feet taller,
it is still not enough of a draft to use my old woodstove,
that previously was installed in front of the covered fireplace and plugged into a thimble above the mantel.
The draft is simply not enough and you get back drafting of combustion products into the house.
HOWEVER, the fireplace itself HAS adequate draft, and so cries out for an INSERT.
The pellet stove was installed in front, and it's exhaust put thru the fireplace plug and into a pipe/liner
that goes thru to the chimney.
That has perfect draft. I was also able to get away with a cheaper pipe than what is called for,
because it all goes into the fireplace and chimney with little interior piping,
and that caulked heavily with high temp caulk.
Pellet stove pipe is triple insulated and typically adds $300-$400 on your install cost otherwise...
DO NOT skimp on it, as fine ash and combustion products end up in the house otherwise.
Further, the fine ash can limit the interior diameter as it builds up, typical installs use a TEE
that has a cleanout at the bottom.
Cleaning that pipe is part of the weekly maintenance.
Now, I will admit that my "first" go at install, I tried to use the old woodstove thimble.
It worked for one night, the next night was rainy and a temperature inversion,
the draft was inadequate
nearly smoked me out of the house !
The second install went thru the fireplace plug and connected to a pipe that went far above the old thimble
& inside the chimney.
That has worked perfect all winter.
Thank-God, as I previously stated, I blew the winter heat budget on the stove.
The next things I did to the house I will describe in detail here as they were just as important.
All Doors have good tight weather-stripping and floor 'sweeps" essential for a good closing seal.
They shut tight, and lock.
ALL windows have interior storm windows made of plexi-glas,
with perimeter trim that allows them to be totally air sealed.
Some of them have exterior storm triple trac windows as well, I have been adding them over the years...
This year, I tried a cheap experiment.
I purchased enough of those mylar "Emergency Blankets" to cover all windows and doors.
The literature on the blankets say they reflect 80% of your body heat.
They are in fact, amazing in how something so thin, can keep you warm, but they DO.
So, since most of my oil heating registers are on the outside wall and under a window
I thumb tacked a space blanket over each window. Similar to folks who put plastic over the window.
Although these were NOT intended to air seal, (the plexi-glas-interior storm window does that)
rather, they added a heat reflecting surface, and often under the heavy winter curtains.
They are semi-see thru, but block most of the sun's light.
I was amazed, as in my office with no heat, the temp rise was a clear 2 degrees F.
so they DO in fact reflect heat back into the room.
At $1.25 each, a good, cheap, working, so I'd have to say, successful experiment !
Later on, during the after Christmas deep freeze (we hit 18 degrees below zero sustained for 2 weeks)
I also used a space blanket between 2 comforters on my bed.
The bed heated up real fast, although the crinkly sound was a bit to get used to. LOL
However, it worked great and I was toasty warm !
The final important winter modification was, closing off the front of the house.
Allow me to explain.
Years ago, I had expanded the front of the house to enclose the front porch.
Made that a super insulated space with 6 in walls filled with cellulose.
It faces east, and has a great big diamond window in the upper gable,
A full length glass panel window on the south wall. (covered with a space blanket)
The solid core door is under the diamond.
This allowed, me to put in a 10x10 kitchen on the north side with a U shaped counter,
with nice wrap around cabinets.
(The kitchen works awesome BTW, many work triangles and tons of storage)
So above the kitchen Is a flat insulated ceiling, that terminates parallel with the countertop,
creating a storage loft above.
(a Brief side note, the insulation is cellulose. Ordinarily, the insulation does nothing here, as the space is open to the
entryway, I did it in case of fire. A local fire dept had insulated the attic of the fire barn storage area.
It caught fire, and the ceiling collapsed, the cellulose insulation snuffed the fire, made them and I believers.)
See more in Link Above
Interesting read
(broken link removed)
Well, if you read my spout 11 -Man against Nature, you know that I HATE winter.
I get very MANIC about it, call it the "Deep Dark Tunnel",
as that has always been the image in my mind when recollecting it. (or dreading it in anticipation)
Simply something to endure and get thru.
This winter 2010-2011, I did yet another experiment, I bought a small pellet Stove.
I can say that it is a LOVE~HATE relationship with that stove.
More on THAT later...
The initial cost of the stove, blew my winter heating budget, so last August, the focus was on
getting it installed, getting a cheap supply of pellets, and making winter modifications to my home.
My Home is 5600 Square Feet of floor space counting the basement(s) and garage.
2.5 stories tall. 4 car garage under (2 stored to the side-2 able to get in/out)
2nd floor master bedroom 30x30 with an office and master bath 10 x 20 each
Essentially, an addition that maxes the local building code, and wraps around the
"old" original Log Cabin Home.
The Log Cabin, is the "winter-mode" house, as currently it is finished, insulated, and heated.
It is 37x26 basement and 1st floor 1,924 Square Feet of heated space.
It has a HUGE/MASSIVE central Chimney & fireplace.
The fireplace is plugged as they are negative pressure makers, sucking heated air from the inside
which causes the outside wall perimeter to leak cold air in.
There is a 3" pipe in the floor, with an outlet in front of the hearth, that extends to the outside
to "make-up" air, for any heating appliance that I use at the hearth,
this is essential to avoid that negative pressure.
I could go deep into the reasons and negative pressure scenario, but suffice it to say, that since
the addition was built, it changed the pressure dynamics of the old central chimney and it's draft.
Even adding to the height of the chimney by 3 more tiles (2.5 feet each) 7.5 feet taller,
it is still not enough of a draft to use my old woodstove,
that previously was installed in front of the covered fireplace and plugged into a thimble above the mantel.
The draft is simply not enough and you get back drafting of combustion products into the house.
HOWEVER, the fireplace itself HAS adequate draft, and so cries out for an INSERT.
The pellet stove was installed in front, and it's exhaust put thru the fireplace plug and into a pipe/liner
that goes thru to the chimney.
That has perfect draft. I was also able to get away with a cheaper pipe than what is called for,
because it all goes into the fireplace and chimney with little interior piping,
and that caulked heavily with high temp caulk.
Pellet stove pipe is triple insulated and typically adds $300-$400 on your install cost otherwise...
DO NOT skimp on it, as fine ash and combustion products end up in the house otherwise.
Further, the fine ash can limit the interior diameter as it builds up, typical installs use a TEE
that has a cleanout at the bottom.
Cleaning that pipe is part of the weekly maintenance.
Now, I will admit that my "first" go at install, I tried to use the old woodstove thimble.
It worked for one night, the next night was rainy and a temperature inversion,
the draft was inadequate
nearly smoked me out of the house !
The second install went thru the fireplace plug and connected to a pipe that went far above the old thimble
& inside the chimney.
That has worked perfect all winter.
Thank-God, as I previously stated, I blew the winter heat budget on the stove.
The next things I did to the house I will describe in detail here as they were just as important.
All Doors have good tight weather-stripping and floor 'sweeps" essential for a good closing seal.
They shut tight, and lock.
ALL windows have interior storm windows made of plexi-glas,
with perimeter trim that allows them to be totally air sealed.
Some of them have exterior storm triple trac windows as well, I have been adding them over the years...
This year, I tried a cheap experiment.
I purchased enough of those mylar "Emergency Blankets" to cover all windows and doors.
The literature on the blankets say they reflect 80% of your body heat.
They are in fact, amazing in how something so thin, can keep you warm, but they DO.
So, since most of my oil heating registers are on the outside wall and under a window
I thumb tacked a space blanket over each window. Similar to folks who put plastic over the window.
Although these were NOT intended to air seal, (the plexi-glas-interior storm window does that)
rather, they added a heat reflecting surface, and often under the heavy winter curtains.
They are semi-see thru, but block most of the sun's light.
I was amazed, as in my office with no heat, the temp rise was a clear 2 degrees F.
so they DO in fact reflect heat back into the room.
At $1.25 each, a good, cheap, working, so I'd have to say, successful experiment !
Later on, during the after Christmas deep freeze (we hit 18 degrees below zero sustained for 2 weeks)
I also used a space blanket between 2 comforters on my bed.
The bed heated up real fast, although the crinkly sound was a bit to get used to. LOL
However, it worked great and I was toasty warm !
The final important winter modification was, closing off the front of the house.
Allow me to explain.
Years ago, I had expanded the front of the house to enclose the front porch.
Made that a super insulated space with 6 in walls filled with cellulose.
It faces east, and has a great big diamond window in the upper gable,
A full length glass panel window on the south wall. (covered with a space blanket)
The solid core door is under the diamond.
This allowed, me to put in a 10x10 kitchen on the north side with a U shaped counter,
with nice wrap around cabinets.
(The kitchen works awesome BTW, many work triangles and tons of storage)
So above the kitchen Is a flat insulated ceiling, that terminates parallel with the countertop,
creating a storage loft above.
(a Brief side note, the insulation is cellulose. Ordinarily, the insulation does nothing here, as the space is open to the
entryway, I did it in case of fire. A local fire dept had insulated the attic of the fire barn storage area.
It caught fire, and the ceiling collapsed, the cellulose insulation snuffed the fire, made them and I believers.)
See more in Link Above
