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9 Fireplaces!!
Are they all working, or closed off? Rumford? With fireplaces, how much wood do you burn? How big is your home? When was it built? 9 fireplaces makes me think a long time ago....
Did you burn any oil once you got the PH, or did it heat the whole home? When did you get delivery on your stove? Cords hardwood? Surprised at 4 cords for half a season, especailly yhe mild winter we had last year. How hot did you burn the PH last year?
We took delivery of the PH near the end of January. We might have burned a little oil after we got the PH, but not much.
The bulk of the heating was done by mid-April, but there were the inevitable fires on through well into May. This was 4 cord of primarily Red Maple, cut 18" for a different stove, CSS for 20 mo by the time we had the PH. Due to the wet Fall in 2011 and only partial covering in the woodyard before it was moved into the woodshed, it could have been drier, but not bad.
We ran the stove 24-7, and were generally in the 500-550 stovetop temp range. Only a couple of times up to 650, as I'm still getting my sea legs with this. Previous stove was a smoke-dragon, run 24-7, eating 7 to 8 cord per season, and our gauge of adequate heat from it was the flue temp up at 850 (we sent a lot of heat up the flue). PH flue temp runs right at or below 400 most of the time, based on the Condor probe.
House was built in 1790's, walls are less than a 2x4 thickness, have blown-in insulation. Two-story, two central chimneys, 4 square rooms per floor plus central hall (roughly 3,500 sq ft for the two floors), one fireplace per room, so 8 fireplaces in the living area. Haven't tried using any (have insulation in the flue, cover on the top. PH is running on a liner in the kitchen chimney - I could almost fit up that flue. Attic is marginally insulated (next project). We've replace almost all the windows and wrapped the outside in Tyvec and re-sided. Basement is a walk-out, with the exposed side uninsulated brick (another project). Nineth fireplace is a summer kitchen in the basement.
We were comfortable but not too warm when running the PH. Clearly more insulation is in order. Current dream is either a Montpelier insert or Fireview in the diagonally opposite room from the PH to be burned occasionally. This winter's wood is a final year of 18". I'm quite interested to see how our burning habits change once we get into the full-length wood next season.