Heating Temp and Time

[Wisneaky]

Please post your Furnace, Stove, or Wood Boiler Make and Model.
What you keep your house temperature set at.
How long it heats your place without refilling and losing temperature.
What is the sqft of your heated space.

I'm doing this for reference because we may purchase a new house sometime this year and I would like to see what my options could be.

 

[Wisneaky]

Drolet Tundra
Thermostat set point 70
Heating Time 8-10 hour average.
sqft 1000

 

[Landmark]

owb central boiler cl 4030. House temp set at 70. 10hr burn time depending on wood. heating 1600 sqft, domestic water and hydronic clothes dryer. electric bill runs aprox 80-90 a month with wife and son at home all week.

 

[laynes69]

Outdoor temperatures and home build play the largest part on performance. We very rarely do full loads. During the night is the closest thing we do for full loads. Last night I did between 1/2 and 3/4 load and 10 hours the home was 71°, thermostat set at 72°. It was 31° overnight which isn't that cold. When it was in the teens, we woke after 10 hours with the house at 70°. We have 2500 sqft home with 10' ceilings up and down, plus the basement, heating with a Caddy. I can do with 70°-72° and I often let the furnace cycle for a while, but my wife keeps the house at 75° most of the time. When it was below zero, we kept the house above 70° on 7 hour loadings.

 

[svk]

2500 sf house with locally built indoor boiler. House is 1982 era 2x6 construction with good windows but has full height stone fireplace from original place on the property that does suck the heat out of that room.

On a full load wood will last up to 12 hours depending on outdoor temps.

Downstairs set at 70, master bedroom at 62, kids bedrooms at 66.

 

[Whitespider]

DAKA 622FBT (with large blower).
Keep the house 70°-71°.
It's tough to put a specific time on the reloads... it depends so much on temperature and wind. During "normal" winter weather (if there is such a thing) we go 8-10 hours, when it's butt-crack cold and blowing like hell it will drop to 6 hours (maybe a couple times a season for a day or two), during mild and sunny winter weather I have gone well over 12 hours.
About 1300 square feet plus full basement.
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[NSMaple1]

On the same thoughts as laynes69, there are more factors I would consider also. House construction, location, wood consumption, and maintenance would be some of those.

I have a natural draft gassifying boiler with 660 gallons of water tied to it. 20 year old, 2700 sq.ft. two storey (another 1500 in unfinished basement) on an exposed hilltop. Moderate climate. So far this winter, I am burning from 5 to 8 hours a day. The rest of the day the fire is completely out. Those hours can be arranged around your schedule. I usually make a fire late afternoon, and it's out or close to it when I'm heading to bed. So, about 20 hours between firings/loadings. House temps vary, usually around 21c - bedrooms set back at night a couple degrees until supper time next day, kitchen sets back couple degrees for the night. Third winter with it, burned 7.5 cords or so last winter, but still have to go a winter with good wood. That was mostly spruce blowdown. Still have a lot this year too. Should be better next year since I have gotten a couple years ahead with wood finally. Looks like it might be 6 or so this year. That covers all DHW for the year as well. I brush the tubes every couple weeks, takes 5 minutes. Every day or 2 I scoop a bit of ash out of the bottom when making the fire. Scoop some ash out of the pipe & cleanout twice a year. Have yet to touch my chimney in 2.5 years, and have zero creosote to deal with. I can keep every part of the house as warm as we want - and if I ever get my garage built, I can run some lines out there & heat with it too.

 

[stihly dan]

Kuuma VP 100, 1,800 sq ft at 70-74* 1,200 sq ft at 65* I load for time so average is out for me. But an example would be if it was 0* out for 24 hrs. I can load a full load and keep temps at 70 or more for 12 hrs, also make 80 gal of hot water during that time.

 

[Wisneaky]

Kuuma VP 100, 1,800 sq ft at 70-74* 1,200 sq ft at 65* I load for time so average is out for me. But an example would be if it was 0* out for 24 hrs. I can load a full load and keep temps at 70 or more for 12 hrs, also make 80 gal of hot water during that time.

so you heat 3000 sq ft when it's 0 degrees out and make 80 gallons of hot water and it last for over 12 hours? That is impressive. I've been considering the max caddy, but am going to have to do some serious looking the kuuma. I wonder how the two compare, anyone have any insight?

 

[wireedm]

Blaze King Princess
25-28hrs when 25 degrees or higher outside.
2500sq/ft
70 degrees

 

[brenndatomu]

the max caddy, but am going to have to do some serious looking the kuuma. I wonder how the two compare

Weeelllll, they don't really. Kinda like Ford Taurus vs Cadillac whatever. If you are gonna spend a bunch of time in either one, they'd both work but one definitely stands out above the other. For the lil extra $ I'd go with the Kuuma for sure, hands down, total no brainer...

 

[Wisneaky]

Weeelllll, they don't really. Kinda like Ford Taurus vs Cadillac whatever. If you are gonna spend a bunch of time in either one, they'd both work but one definitely stands out above the other. For the lil extra $ I'd go with the Kuuma for sure, hands down, total no brainer...

Can you explain why you think the Kuuma is so much better? From looking at their websites though both look pretty close to the same, both have computers, comparably sized fire boxes.

 

[Wisneaky]

Weeelllll, they don't really. Kinda like Ford Taurus vs Cadillac whatever. If you are gonna spend a bunch of time in either one, they'd both work but one definitely stands out above the other. For the lil extra $ I'd go with the Kuuma for sure, hands down, total no brainer...

I actually just watched some videos on the Kuuma and I'm really impressed. So the max caddy PC just runs the blower speed from what I understand and the Kuuma PC runs the damper, right?

 

[stihly dan]

I actually just watched some videos on the Kuuma and I'm really impressed. So the max caddy PC just runs the blower speed from what I understand and the Kuuma PC runs the damper, right?

Correct.

 

[dave_dj1]

My home built outdoor hot air furnace works great! As long as the termps don't get to below zero I can get 9-10 hrs with the house at 73 or so, from about 15* down I have to load it about every 6-8 hrs.
I have a walk out ranch, I'm heating the finished basement as well so about 1800 sf. The house only has 2x4 walls, 8' ceilings, I have updated/upgraded all the windows and doors and insulated the foundation walls with 1" high R sheathng so it's pretty efficient.
I have noticed this year I am burning way less wood than I did last year and I think there are two reasons why, 1) last year I tended to it a lot more as it was new and wasn't sure about it, 2) I have seasoned wood this year and let me tell you, what a difference! I have two more years worth cut and I'm about to start gathering again soon.
stay warm,
dave

 

[Whitespider]

I have noticed this year I am burning way less wood than I did last year...

I’ve used a lot less wood (much of it lessor quality) so far this year also, even though I started burning sooner… but it’s not difficult to figure why.

I don’t know about your area, but over the last 90 days our mean average temperature is 27°... that’s 5° warmer than same mean average over the same 90 days last year. Now, I know 5° don’t sound like a lot, but that’s a “mean” average over 90 days... that’s a friggin’ ton. It really shows in the “heating degree days”; we’ve had nearly 300 less heating degree days during those 90 days this year and it’s gonna’ get even better. “They” ain’t predicting anything near what I would classify as “cold” for the next 10 days. I could easily end up using less wood in January (our coldest month, on average) than I did in December, even though we did have a 10 day frigid spell during the first part of the month.

 

[svk]

I’ve used a lot less wood (much of it lessor quality) so far this year also, even though I started burning sooner… but it’s not difficult to figure why.

I don’t know about your area, but over the last 90 days our mean average temperature is 27°... that’s 5° warmer than same mean average over the same 90 days last year. Now, I know 5° don’t sound like a lot, but that’s a “mean” average over 90 days... that’s a friggin’ ton. It really shows in the “heating degree days”; we’ve had nearly 300 less heating degree days during those 90 days this year and it’s gonna’ get even better. “They” ain’t predicting anything near what I would classify as “cold” for the next 10 days. I could easily end up using less wood in January (our coldest month, on average) than I did in December, even though we did have a 10 day frigid spell during the first part of the month.

This weather is great.

For us, November was much cooler than average. -20 on Thanksgiving weekend. Then December rolled around and it was near freezing for three weeks straight.

 

[Whitespider]

This weather is great.

Yes it is‼
Of course we weren't as cold as you in late November through December using absolute numbers (we never are)... but on a relative basis, it was friggin' cold here also.
I'll take this mild(ish) weather all through February and March... thank you very much.
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