Made 10.5 Hours at...

510* stack temp was about 180* - 200* all day. I was hoping to make it to 20:00 this evening as that would've been 12 hours but unfortunately that did not happen. I noticed that around the edges of the fire pot some of the coal had stopped flowing red and began to ash over. So, I took that as an indication to shake down and refill.

It never broke 29* (even though the weather said it was going to be 45*) today and to prevent my furnace from kicking on I had to run the stove around 500* all day to maintain the house at 70*-72*. I did notice that my kitchen floor and part of my living room floor (near the front door is hardwood). Kitchen has the basement below it and the living room is a crawl space.

There is a "vent" so to speak in the basement crawl space (living room side) that is open all year round. It was built into the house in 1948. I honestly have no idea what purpose this "vent" serves. I'm assuming it is too keep air moving so no mold grows? I'm not really sure though. But I figure, the basement is kind of drafty as it is that tomorrow I'm going to fill the "vent" with cement since there is no cover for it. Don't worry though, there is a window down there already that doesn't seal properly that can be opened in the summer when it truly needs to be aired out (if it ever really needs to be aired out).

My basement is also not insulated so in the coming weeks, it will be.

I'm On Fire wrote:510* stack temp was about 180* - 200* all day. I was hoping to make it to 20:00 this evening as that would've been 12 hours but unfortunately that did not happen. I noticed that around the edges of the fire pot some of the coal had stopped flowing red and began to ash over. So, I took that as an indication to shake down and refill.

Darned good burn time for that high a temp. !

dj

Don't be tempted to overfire the stove in an effort to heat the entire house. A stove can only do so much, so once it starts getting colder you will probably need to run the furnace. I don't know what the max temperature is for a Chubby, but 550-600 degrees must be getting close.

Yeah, I don't plan on over firing the stove. I know my furnace is going to run during the really cold days. I unfortunately don't have oil to run it regularly yet.

I wouldnt cement that basement vent closed just yet ....I would make a plywood insert to fit the hole and spray glue some 1/2" foam insualtion to it so ya can insert it to fill the hole in the winter but take it out in the summer?
My old Homestead surely needs ALL THE AIR IT CAN GET into the basement for proper ventilation in the summer and I get water from the street that creeps in...one open window will not do much as ya need circulation ya need at least points of entry for air to move.

Cut a 1 or 2 inch thick piece of foam board to size and spray foam that in place...
The foil covered foam works best...

That's actually a better idea. If my buddy wasn't coming over to work on my house today I'd run to Lowe's and pick a piece of foam board up. Guess I'll go after he leaves.

My furnace came on twice last night with the stove idling pretty at 400*. Guess having it run a few times during the night isn't as bad as having it run constantly through the day. The only time it didn't run when I had the wood stove was on the weekends and only because I was home to feed it every hour.

I'm experimenting right now with tossing in a lunch sack (paper of course) of stove coal on top of the nut. Probably best to mix the nut with the stove just before bed though. Its going to be 19* tonight. I'm not looking to get longer burn times, just a little more heat without having to open the air.

I'm still learning......

It sounds like the stove is in the basement?? Is that correct? if so, then you need to go get several pieces of the aluminum faced foam board ASAP and put them between the stove and the basement walls.. The stone/concrete/block walls will suck up about half of the radiant from that stove..

That type of stove is a radiant heater, with some convection off the body of the stove.. so you really should try to put it in the living spaces, where it will be most effective.. it's a shame to heat an unoccupied basement to try to heat the house above.

Greg L.

No, its in the living room. Just trying to work on getting some more drafts worked out of the house.

Well, I mixed in some stove coal last night before bed and woke up to the house sitting at 66* this morning; the furnace never kicked on. Stove looked like it was idling between 350* and 400* throughout the night. It was 19* outside throughout the night. My house is so inconsistent with numbers. Some nights it can't hold the heat at the same temps and others it can. However, it looks like I may be picking up some more stove coal to start mixing in for the real cold days and nights in the dead of winter because it appears to help somewhat. Either that or I haven't a clue as to what I'm doing...which is probably more the case.

How much wind can play a big factor in how much heat is sucked out of your house...

That is true, it was pretty windy Saturday night.

I'm sorry if I seem eccentric, I'm trying to wrap my head around the numbers; ambient out door, wind factors, draft, stove body temp, stack temp....it takes me a while to really understand things like this....especially when math is involved. But, I'm havin' fun learning and trying to heat my house with coal.

Unless you have a genius-level memory.. don't try remembering all the factors, the temp, the wind, air settings, draft etc..

Start a Log if info, write in any way you want..

I used several columns for type of coal [stove or nut or mix],, how many shovels to fill the firebox, air setting, and what the draft was, followed by the water temp through the day/night... on the far right end of the daily line,, I put the weather, temp/wind/wind direction, sunny, cloudy.

Eventually I was able to get enough info on paper that I could check the current weather, find a line similar or the same,, and match the air settings.. and soon I was able to be quite consistant with my results.. I was operating a big hand fed boiler.. but it really doesn't matter, yo need to use some 'paper memory' and refer back to it till you have it all in your head..

sounds like you are getting there,, have patience, soon you'll be a master of your stove and house heating.

Greg L

Like it was mentioned above the basement vent is to keep the moisture down in the summer/warmer days and can/should be closed during the winter/cold days to keep the cold air from coming in and cooling your house down any more then it already does.

Do you have insulation in your basement ceiling? Proper insulation would greatly help in keeping the floors from getting cold and letting the cold air in the living area.

It wouldn't hurt at some point if you either finished off the basement or at least build some walls up with a small space away from the basement walls and insulated between the two. Spray form would be great for that and only need an inch to really prevent the air from coming in and then fill in the rest with the cheap insulation to finish the job.

Yeah, that is the ultimate plan. But, as with everything, money is a key factor in it. I can only do things as I have it and lately, when I have it I have to concentrate on some of the larger projects I have going.