Regulating temperature using wood stove

When i need heat but not a full load I place a some smaller splits of elm or ash on the coals and then medium sized splits of oak on top. It gives sort of a 2 stage fire and has been working great for me.

 

My stove also has a rather long lag between the fire getting the stove HOT and how long it omits heat after the fire has gone out. Sometimes it's pretty sneaky but I am emotionally attached to it because we've been together since the 70's. It's a Nashua plate steel stove.

 

Can you post a photo?

 

That is pretty nice. I see doggy is enjoying the fire.

 

I had a Nashua for a while that stove was an excellent heater.

 

My house needs more BTUs than any one stove can make; when it’s cold. Mostly vaulted ceilings and windows and 7 exterior doors. IMO there is nothing wrong with cracking a bedroom window, when it gets too hot. I earned those BTUs and if I want to squander them,I can. My stove stays hot November to April

 

I have a N24 Nashua in my shop, wished i would never have taken it out of the house, people told me i should have an EPA stove, put in a smaller chimney so burnt that bridge. Great shop heater, my new stove cant even carry it's jockstrap. LOL

 

I love the old girl and the chimney is at least 30 years old and other than the T at the bottom is all original.

 

This is how I feel. Owning a old, stone drafty farmhouse I need every BTU I can get. Have been cooked out in SS, but most of the time our house is comfy. I dont worry about only burning a certain amount of wood, that's why it's there. My hard work, everyone's enjoyment.

 

This is such a great question because it applies to all of us. I read the answers and have a few thoughts too:

1. Have a big easy to read digital room thermometer close enough for you to see from where you sit. That way you'll know exactly how far you have to go to hit your temp. An indoor-outdoor digital is the tops for me.

2. Have a varied selection of wood types and split sizes handy. A load of my Grand Fir split small is way different heat output than a load of big dry Oak logs. Nothing heats faster than those small splits, but nothing produces heat more evenly than large ones.

3. Thermal mass. Can you add a brick or stone surround to your fireplace? They stabilize heat throughout the day.

4. Add insulation and find air leaks in your house.

5. Add a variable fan on the woodstove, I have mine up blowing pretty good if I'm trying to heat the place up, less when I want a stable temperature.

6. Turn the blower (just the blower) on to your central heat system (if you have one) I find this smooths out the hot and cold spots.

7. Also use a ceiling fan to distribute heat more evenly.

8. Have a thermometer on your wood stove. (I use a hand held digital thermometer, but can now guess to withing 50 degrees after having used it for a long time.)

9. Learn your air settings thoroughly. Mine are touchy! I uses a white paint pen to make the marks on my air intake controller easier to see.

10. Make sure your stove door seals tight, otherwise it's harder to control the air intake.

11. I have a glass storm door, I don't open the main door until the house is warm, after it is, I enjoy looking out the storm door.

12. I have a room we don't ordinarily heat. IF I get the house too warm, I might walk by and open that room and trade some cool air for warm.

 

Buzz Benton that's a great, post, thanks. Say, your stove and hearth is really attractive. Sorry... questions!

What stove do you have? What made you come to choose that one? (I know little about stoves.)

Your heart includes an area that looks somewhat like a huge fireplace, is it a fireplace or made for a stove?

At the back of your 'fireplace,' there are empty spots where bricks were left out, what is the purpose of that?

If I were to ever have a stove, I would want a large glass window like yours because I want to have the ambience of flames.

The box to the left of your stove, is that a wood box? Curious how you have wood with ready access and keep it clean like that.

Thanks!

 

I've been burnin' wood and coal for close to 40 years. I open the windows.

 

I'm gettin' ready to open the windows now!

 

Set the thermostat and never have the temp vary by more than a couple degrees. Blaze King is the only way to go for easy 24/7 heating. Woodstock is a close second but I’m kinda partial to the BK.

 

I thought about you as soon as Nashua was mentioned.

 

Howdy! I can answer most of those questions for you.

That is a Legacy™ Model SS260T-B, by Country Collection, since bought out by Lennox, I believe. It came with the house, built in '96, but I would replace it if I didn't like it so much, that style is known as a "T Top" and inside it has a secondary burn system using tubes. People here call them tube burners, as the tubes port fresh air to get a cleaner burn. If I replaced it, it would be with a similar steel stove with a big glass window like this one has, but with a catalytic burner system. A lot of guys here seem to like the stoves made by the Woodstock Stove Company, and they have a line of steel stoves, catalytic, with soapstone inserts. That would be my pick now-a-days. Here's a link.

The hearth was made specifically for a woodstove, and the brickwork is especially as a heat-sink, although it does not store heat to dissipate slowly as well as I would like.Yes, those empty spots you see convect cool air in through the bottom and draft warm air out at the top but are just out of sight, again, well intentioned, but not perfect.

Yes, that is my woodbox, I built it exactly for that spot. However, I am green with envy of anyone with the "pass through" system that allows them to load through their garage and then access it directly from inside. I carry wood in, every morning, in a canvas satchel that zips closed and has a shoulder strap. It is less than ideal, but clean enough to come through the front door. Hiding behind the woodbox is my little dustpan and broom, I keep it tidy most days.

Thanks for asking!


My woodbox holds about two days worth of wood most of the winter. Newspaper and kindling in the far right side.

Here's my current wood bag. It works fine, but others have much better ways to get the last 100' to the woodbox.


From this angle you can see the "chimney" is just an insulated metal flue boxed in with framing.

 

Buzz Benton
Sweet setup overall. Cool alcove stove install with a beauty home in the woods. Very nice.

 

Buzz Benton awsome hearth you have there, very cool. In our next house a alcove for a free standing stove is one of my dream projects. I say dream because I’m not a mason and I’m sure that to hire one to come and convert a regular fireplace into something like that would not be cheap. So until then it’s a insert.

 

I vary both the quantity of wood and the type of wood to control my house temperature.

COLD mornings, blow 10 deg F, are a good time to burn drier/fast burning sticks, sugar maple or rock elm below 16% moisture.

After the house warms up and warmer days are a good time to burn wetter and dense wood like white ash or red oak with 20% moisture which coal better.

Dry slippery elm and hackberry blow 18% moisture are good for 20 deg F mornings.

I save hot burning wood for very cold days and get 20% moisture wood from a row which has seasoned only one or two years.