Will your heat keep up?

[r.man]

I am getting the kind or temps that the stove rating is made for and mine isn't big enough for my house. My place is older, not well insulated and still has spots that are drafty. Normally my owb keeps it a very pleasant 69 or 70 degrees but today it was 58 when I got up. I had been to it 7 hrs earlier, since I was out late and knew it would be very cold, but it won't keep up with this temp outside. I know most of the members of the forum are not conversant with Celcius but it doesn't matter today because it was -39 and at -40 Celcius and Fahrenheit match. I felt better when I talked to my friend up the road who has a fairly new good large owb and found out his living room was 56 F. His has trouble keeping up at these temps as well but he is heating an old barn of a place and didn't load enough wood in besides. How many of you have been through -40 with your owbs or others and did they keep up to the need?

[upsnake]

Umm I don't think i would keep up in -40.

It as neg 6f here, not problems keeping up. It really doesn't get much colder than that here though.

[beenthere]

At those temps, I wouldn't expect an OWB to keep up. If it did at those temps, then it would be oversized for the more normal temps and become inefficient.

We had negative F temps the last couple days, and my indoor boiler was maxed out and just keeping up in this 40+ yr old house (but new windows). Temp inside didn't dip below 68° F at the coldest.
I go through about 1 wheelbarrow full of wood in 24 hours.
The boiler has a 9 gallon water capacity and does very well for its 30+ yr age and all baseboard hot water runs.

For those extra cold temps, maybe an indoor woodstove would add enough extra kick to bring at least one room up to temp. 

[tyb525]

Or one of the fancy edenpure heaters, we have a knock-off and it is nice for warming up one room if you need it.

[thecfarm]

I brought a big OWB,Heatmor,take a 54 inch stick.I brought it thinking that I will have a "working garage" someday. I kinda doubt that will happen now. But I kinda doubt we will see any -30 or -40,but never know either. It has happen.My white pine is keeping me nice and warm. Even If I would of brought a smaller I think it still would keep up. Maybe i would have to fill it 4-5 times,but I think it would keep me warm. I do have 85,000 BTU heat exchangers too. I have a stand alone unit in the basement and one was put into my plumtam of my hot air furnace. I can bring the temp up much quicker in the basement than I can with the Hot air furnace heat exchanger. I made the mistake of buying a just about big enough Monitor for my Mother's house. Did fine at about 14 above,but anything less I would have to go over and start a fire for her. The sales person said that will do it easy.  :  Quess I should of had him come over and start the fire for her. Did not make that mistake with the OWB.
beenthere you sound like that saleman that I was dumb enough to listen too. When it's kinda warm my furnace just don't take as much wood. I have no idea how inefficent that can be.Have to remember a OWB works with forced draft. If the water temp is at the high point the fans don't come on. I heat my hot water in the summer and it just sits there waiting for the water temp to drop to turn the fans on.

[chevytaHOE5674]

It was -22* and 25-30mph winds here the other night and my OWB kept this 100 year old farm house a comfortable 70* inside. Granted the blower on the stove was running continuously and the blower in my forced air furnace was as well. So given that I don't think mine would keep up at -40*. Thankfully we rarely get that cold as my other half would be upset if it was cold in the morning when she gets up for work...

[doctorb]

Couple of thoughts -

1.  The phrase, "keeping up", needs further description.  I presume that you mean that the water temp returning to the OWB is cool enough that the boiler can never increase the temp of the water in its jacket to the point that it will shut off (no idle period).   Have you watched the boiler and seen whether, under these extreme conditions, any increase in temperature is possible in the boiler?  Your OWB must be running constantly, without rest period, I assume.  Is the temp of the OWB slowly decreasing over hours and days?

2.  You mentioned that your neighbor doesn't load enough wood in his OWB.  I am not sure we know the optimal load point for each individual OWB.  Under these conditions, you are going to burn a lot more wood and will need to fill more often, but I am not sure that the size of the restocked wood load is that important to stove efficiency.  Placing a large amount of very, very cold fuel into the firebox may deter combustion for a while, but I don't know if that would that make a huge difference over a 24 hour period?

3.  I am no plumber, but larger diameter lines connecting to your OWB with larger flow pumps may help in these extreme conditions, as water moving quicker through your heat exchange system cools less and thus returns to the OWB with a higher temp, making it work less hard to "keep up"!

Interesting topic.  Want to hear what others think.

[stumper]

Mine has done fine with temps to abot -15 F.  When the temps are predicted to be below 0 I bump the temps to 190 from 185 to allow more heat to be transported with the same volume of water.  Temps are predicted to be 0 to -10 for the next couple of nights and as the bank I passed this afternoon said the temp then was -2 I do not think -15 to -20 is out of the question.  I'll load her heavy and let her go.

[r.man]

A bit more detail. I watch three thermometers at my house, the one on the boiler, one on a hot air vent and one for the main room itself. As long as the room stays within 2 degrees of its set I am happy but I prefer the vent air to be above 95 F when the inside blower is running. When it is very cold outside, below -25 F, the vent air needs to be 100 F or more or the house will start to cool. When it gets to be -40 my water temp will not hold unless I am at the stove every few hrs since my house takes too much out. Since I am not willing to go out to it in the middle of the night by morning I am playing catch-up. This problem with my system comes down to the fact that my firebox is too small. I normally fill the firebox for the night unless it is a warm winter night and if it a very cold night my firebox is just too small for the house it is heating.

[ely]

the temps you folks are talking is crazy, im pretty sure if it gets near that here im heading for fiji or someplace nicer.

[doctorb]

What make / model OWB do you have?

[Holmes]

For most of us our heat loss is figured for the coldest day being 0 and keeping the house 70 degrees.  When you go to 40 below it actually doubles the amount of heat required to keep your house at 70 degrees. It could be that your boiler is not large enough.

[stratford 50]

I heat 3300 sq ft, it is well insulated, the furnace is an e- classic 2300 and has heated my home and garage down to -33 F. Purchased in 2008 and am very happy with its performance.

[boilerman101]

This kind of weather will certainly prove if you have a large enough OWF or not. If your firebox is so small you run out of wood before morning, that will certainly cause heating problems and make catch up difficult. A small firebox also means a smaller heat transfer area to the water in the water jacket, so if OWF can't maintain normal operating temps, your home is simply pulling the heat out of the OWF water faster than it can put the heat back in. In either case, the furnace is too small. This is what irritates me by OWF companies claiming their furnace heats 5,000 (or whatever) square feet......At what outdoor temperatures? How do they know age or insulation value of that home? Ceiling heights? Amount of glass? I feel many of the new start up companies have over promised and now will be under delivering with some real winter temps we have not seen over the last 2 warm winters. I'm still able to get a 24 hour burn time at -27F with my Eclassic 2400 and a nice warm 73F inside. Yup a bit oversized fore my 2,300 sq ft. but I have seen no down side. If you can keep wood in your furnace and maintain within your normal OWF operating temps and your house is cold, then you don't have enough exchange to keep up with the homes btu needs. Bumping OWF water temp up to 190-195F, a larger exchanger or some additional radiant heat in cold rooms may be options. I see the National Weather Service is now forcasting cold below nomal temps for much of U.S. from Western ND down into southern OH and throughout the Northeast states for the month of February. Glad I'm not paying the oil man!

[beenthere]

No mention here if the wood was dry, or at least seasoned for a year or two. Unseasoned wood will burn but not produce much heat into the water.
But as DrB eluded to too, is it the OWB, the supply line, or the heat exchanger in the home that isn't doing the job expected.

[tyb525]

I think as it was stated, OWB's are sized based on 0F deg temps, not -40F deg. Sounds to me it just plain isn't big enough for a temperature that cold, if temps get that cold often it sounds like a bigger OWB is needed.

Of course larger/better insulated pipes to/from the house would be an improvement. And burning dry wood is too, if the OP wasn't burning dry wood.

[r.man]

The stove I had was made by a local company for about 10 yrs. They went out of business about 8 yrs ago when a sister company pulled them under. Everything that has been said is very true, if my lines lost less, my house was better insulated and if my wood had better BTUs then it would help but ultimately I cannot put enough wood in the stove at one time. I estimate that the firebox should be at least half again as large if not twice. Friends have bigger fireboxes and they load lighter in warmer weather and they load fairly heavy in this deep freeze.

[MJD]

My CB4436 keeps up no problem on our 1200sq.ft house, a few years back it was down to -20s and ended up loading it 3 times a day instead of 2. This morning it is -1 and a load lasted 13 hours. I piped my water from the owf right into the boiler in the basement (no heat exchanger) and just put a zone valve with its own thermostat in the line that feeds the house, in extreme cold I dont no if a water to water heat exchanger would keep up.

[Roger2561]

Well, yesterday we had -3F when I got out of bad at 3:30am, it was -4F when I left for work but, it was coupled with a 20+ MPH north wind bringing the windchill to -25F.  When I got out of bed this morning (same time) it was -15F with a 10MPH north breeze.  Needless to say it was a bit brisk.  I filled the firebox of my CB E-classic 1400 about 2/3's full at 5:00pm last evening and when I checked on it this morning at 5:00am there was 2 unburned logs and a beautiful bed coals just waiting for more logs.  I was able to keep my 3000sqft home at 70F all night.  This house is an 1840's vintage and 70F is nice and comfortable for me.  I'm in a short sleeved shirt typing this. 

I must add that God has been very good to me.  I have a nice home and it is nice and warm in here.  I truly feel sorry for the homeless or those who do not have enough money to pay for propane or oil. 

Now that Pres. Obama has won reelection, I feel that the carbon tax that no one talked about during the campaigns will become a reality as soon as the gun control becomes law.  If people think home heating oil, propane and coal are expensive now, hold onto your hats because it will get even more expensive.  Roger

[r.man]

In the rural area I am in I don't think we have homeless people. With these temperatures you can't, it's more of an urban thing. I have known people to live "rough" with very basic dwellings, no running water and basic heat but always with heat. We sometimes get the single man hermit type and I do know of one older woman who has shifted her living into one room of her house because of heating costs. Her mind and health is good but this is her way of dealing with an outdated furnace and high heating oil costs. She bought herself a pellet stove and shifts into the kitchen/living room area for the winter. I am about to go out to my furnace, it was warmer last night so the house held it's temperature fairly well. Woke up to 63 degrees instead of 58 from yesterday. I too am in a tee shirt, but I find above 60ish to be short sleeve time unless I am under the weather.

[thecfarm]

r.man,I know you said that OWB company went under,but what was the name of it? Just wondering,probably never heard of it. How big is your firebox? The machine shop that I brought my sawmill from made an OWB. I looked at it. It was a little while before I brought mine.I don't think they made another. This was a little before the EPA was looking hard at OWBs.

[sprucebunny]

My wood stove is keeping up with regular 5 hour feedings. It was -11F when I fed it at 4 AM.
It's a Vermont Castings Vigilant that I got at the dump.... By using a furnace blower in the opposite corner of the house from the stove and having the stove in it's own room that acts like a plenum, I'm heating two levels that add up to more than double the square feet the stove is rated for and one level has 12 foot ceiling. It's not a very well insulated house and tho there are no obvious air leaks, the air stays fresh and paint fumes dissipate easily so it's not very air tight. That's perfect.  8)

[stumper]

Well the KEE ChEE bird was flying this morning, you know the one, it is the one whos full call is KEE CHEE CHR***** its COLD.  BUt the boiler and my wife was warm and happy. 

Eclassic 2300, 1992 3200 square foot home plus heated basement.

[sam-tip]

What you could do is add external hot water capacity / storage.   I added two 75 gallon water heaters to my system.  I found them on Craigslist for $75 each.  They were new but damaged with no burners.  I have seen where people used 500 or 1000 gallon propane tanks for hot water storage.  Heat the water during the day and let the fire go out at night.  With enough hot water storage it will last all night.   The propane tanks needs to be insulated.   

[r.man]

Cfarm, I can't tell you the name for sure. There are no plates or names on the stove but I think the company sold under the name of "Outhouse "  stoves. The first ones were basically a Dahl , big firebox, smokepipe out the top, gravity draft. After a few years they started making these ones which have a narrow firebox, large water pipe grates, fan combustion air, a sloped floor at the back and smoke pipe out the back. If I were to fill my stove and then take the wood and put it in my friends Heatmor it would cover the floor and you could put three times that amount in it. My stove was made in a small town north or here called Combermere.