The 14 degrees, 50 mph winds heat test!

[johnnylabguy]

Can the house stay above 70 degrees in these conditions?
Tonights the night to see if my set up passes it...

At 5 pm it was 14 F outside with winds up to 50 mph. I've just got home to stoke the hotblast in the basement so I don't have to listen to the fuel oil furnace(gasp!) anymore.

I'm curious to see if my drafty half old poorly insulated/half new heavily insulated 3000 sq. ft. ranch located in the wide open fields(think arctic tundra!) can stay above 70 without the fuel oil furnace kicking on.

In still conditions its no problem, but with these winds it will be tough even with the white oak rolling into the door every other hour. We'll see!

 

[nixon]

.

I certainly hope that your house stays warm !
Currently at 17 degrees with high winds . the inside temp is 78

 

[wkpoor]

Conditions here almost exactly the same and the walkout basement is 80 but the first floor won't go above 65. At least we have a level we can stay warm on. 65 ain't too bad after your up there awhile. Just need more than a tee shirt to be comfortable.

 

[johnnylabguy]

maybe I should have set the goal at 65 degrees. Once I got the fire started I couldn't get myself to let the furnace run long enough to get the house to 70 to start with! It has gained 2 degrees to bring the house to 66 but I'm not sure I'll reach 70. We'll give it a few hours I guess!

stay warm out there!

 

[ericjeeper]

Conditions here almost exactly the same and the walkout basement is 80 but the first floor won't go above 65. At least we have a level we can stay warm on. 65 ain't too bad after your up there awhile. Just need more than a tee shirt to be comfortable.

That is because your basement does not have windows.. LOL

 

[flotek]

Detailed Local Forecast


* Tonight: Occasional snow showers. Quite windy. Low 9F. Winds WSW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snow accumulating 1 to 2 inches. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
* Tomorrow: Windy with snow showers early becoming more scattered later. Cold. High 24F. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 40%. Snowfall around one inch.
* Tomorrow night: Flurries and a few snow showers throughout the night. Low 18F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 30%.

its currently 79 in my house and 14 outside with whipping winds ,the englander wood furnace is doing its job just fine with a hot load full of beech if i leave the intake air open ..in another hour it will likely be in the low 80's and the windows will need cracked open

 

[Art Vandelay]

I've faired well so far. I've got the thermostat set at 70 and the furnace has only kicked on twice in the last five days.

 

[John D]

My furnace hasn't kicked on since Oct 15th,lol. Im hoping tonight is ok,as well.Its the wind that draws the heat right out of the house.Supposed to be 15 here tonight with 25+mph winds....

 

[wkpoor]

That is because your basement does not have windows.. LOL

Now you know that ain't exactly true. One set of double lit french doors and one large double lit casement on a north facing un insulated block wall.

 

[Lugnutz]

Ok tried out my Lil House Outdoor Wood Stove in the milder parts of this winter. It is amazing. Heating 1200sq/ft it was no problem to stay 74 or better and burn very little wood. Then we hit this cold patch. Last 2 nights have been very cold, night before last was super windy and last night was 0.
The lil stove is keeping us about 70 in the living room and keeping the furnace from coming on. We use an Eden Pure for the bedroom so it stays about 65 ( I like it cool when I sleep ). Our hous is a '73 double wide mobile home which some jackass put on the property with all the damn windows facing north and east. When I say all the windows.. I mean the entire north side is full of windows..from 12" from the floor to 18" from the ceiling ( all but one are stuffed with insulation ) and with the exception of a 30" space...they are all about 6" apart, great view but really??? WHY????????????

Ok back to the stove, it is running hard. The Lil House spits hot air into the kitchen/dining room on the north end and has a cold air return on the south end in the bathroom. The cold air return runs under the house in an insulated flex duct, then it goes out to the stove in galvanized ductwork with no insulation. my thoughts are that the cold air is too cold and causing the stove to cycle of and on too much to heat properly. So this weekend I'll insulate that section of the return.

Ok I'm done LOL Hope you all are stayin warm.

 

[rmotoman]

I put a little house outdoor heater in this fall and it is amazing. It puts out lots of heat. Yesterday with the wind blowing and a high of about 15 it was easy to keep the house above 78. My family is complaining because it's too hot.

 

[Cambium]

28 outside feels like 15 with the winds. I do notice how much the stove works when its windy like this and cold. There's nothing else we can do then to keeping feeding baby...

Everytime I rush to put a piece in so the temp of stove stays the same I think of Day after Tomorrow when they were trapped in the Library during the blizzard, frantically throwing books into the fire to not let it go out.

Shouldn't we be careful not to over burn? Just cause the house isn't as warm as usual, we should be watching the stoves temp instead?

 

[flotek]

offtopic but seeing how theres a couple of you on here ,id like to see a new thread and some nice pics and more details of these little house outdoor heaters in action.they caught my curiosity

 

[gtu160]

73 and climbing. Unhooked the oil 2 hours ago, we'll see what happens overnight. I found out last year that I'm good to about 52 when I realize the heat kicked off..

 

[Jumper]

-40F here this weekend. Furnaces run non stop at that temp.

 

[johnnylabguy]

Well I just made the 70 I was shooting for from 64 degrees I started at this afternoon. Have to say that's the longest it's ever took to heat the house up that much. But in this weather it sure beats listening to the fuel oil furnace run constantly! To be honest we didn't get near the winds we had last night either.

Off topic but this is for you pennsylvania guys... My Browns finally beat your Steelers! It's about time! (We've still got a long way to go. If it weren't for that Cribbs guy we would've had 3 pts.)

 

[breymeyerfam]

last night we had the house at 81 with our country flame smart fireplace. I havn't bought propane since feb07. still have 50%.

 

[RCR 3 EVER]

Our house is ranch style fairly tight and well insulated at 1110 sq ft with full but unfinished basement. The 10 degree temps and 35-45 mph winds are a true test. The winds are the big difference it seems. This morning we put on 2 good sized ash pieces to fill firebox and turned on furnace fan and house stayed at 74 for the 6 hours until we got home. There were even embers still in the fireplace.

Tonight it is colder and house main level is a warm 70-74 with a couple of small equipment cooling box fans distributing the heat throughout the distant rooms. Except the basement is dropping to a very cool 56 degrees. We have a fan directing heat downstairs but that is working against physics, thermal dynamics or gravity?
The fireplace is very efficient and wood last for several hours.

 

[carvinmark]

That is because your basement does not have windows.. LOL

That's funny!!!

 

[bluestem]

4 below here the past 2 mornings, didn't get above 5 here yesterday, the 100 year old farm house is toasty at 70 degrees with the Central Boiler! The propane man stopped the other day checked the tank and drove away, I love it!