well as some of you know ive been heating my 1200sqft home for 2 years with a dutchwest fireplace insert (non cat). i use only the stove to heat and nothing else. i normally keep the house 70 and i use 3-4 cord a year. the only problem with the insert is the far rooms are a bit nippy at times and the floors are like ice as the cellar is in the 40's when its really cold out. the floors are well insulated aswell.
now i just got a free shenandoah wood stove a few weeks ago. ive been using it exclusively for 2 weeks or so. the floors are nice and warm, the house is evenly heated in every room. the cellar is 72-78 all the time which in tern keeps the water warmer it must save me electricity (electric water heater). all i did was taker the cellar door off and the heat transfers great up here.
the only thing that bothers me about the stove is it seems to use a great deal more wood that my insert does. i realize im getting twice the heat out of it and it just seems to be a better fit all aroud.
am i doing somethign wrong what ill do is after the fires going good ill totally close off the damper in the pipe and ill turn down the intake as low as i can while still getting good heat from the stove. i imagine thats how you get the best burn time. it seems do do ok but im wondering if a stove typicly uses way more wood than an insert.
im gonna use the insert for a couple days to get a comparison but im sure ill like the woodstove better but i just want a idea for wood useage. do you guys have any tips or ideas to get better burn times? sorry for the long post i jus wanted to get it all out there lol, Mike
now i just got a free shenandoah wood stove a few weeks ago. ive been using it exclusively for 2 weeks or so. the floors are nice and warm, the house is evenly heated in every room. the cellar is 72-78 all the time which in tern keeps the water warmer it must save me electricity (electric water heater). all i did was taker the cellar door off and the heat transfers great up here.
the only thing that bothers me about the stove is it seems to use a great deal more wood that my insert does. i realize im getting twice the heat out of it and it just seems to be a better fit all aroud.
am i doing somethign wrong what ill do is after the fires going good ill totally close off the damper in the pipe and ill turn down the intake as low as i can while still getting good heat from the stove. i imagine thats how you get the best burn time. it seems do do ok but im wondering if a stove typicly uses way more wood than an insert.
im gonna use the insert for a couple days to get a comparison but im sure ill like the woodstove better but i just want a idea for wood useage. do you guys have any tips or ideas to get better burn times? sorry for the long post i jus wanted to get it all out there lol, Mike