Posted on 11/25/2009 9:12:49 PM PST by Sun
“During the ice storm of ‘98, we heated our whole upstairs with am insert, for 6 days with no power. We also cooked soup, stew and spaghetti, made tea, etc. on it.”
That’s good enough for me!
btw, my sister married a Canadian.
Thanks everybody for all the great information, and Happy Thanksgiving. Hope yours was as enjoyable as mine.
God bless!
How is it in during power outages when you can’t use a fan?
The living room still will stay toasty, as the stove radiates heats. The rest of the house will at least have the chill taken out of it, but I’ve never had my power go out for more 8 hours or so.
We have an insert that burns coal. If the fan runs it heats about 60% of the house. We had an ice storm the first year we moved in and without the fan it heated the living room and that was it.I would suggest you buy a generator in case of power outages.
How old is your insert? I hear the newer ones are very efficient.
We had an insert put into our house when we built it 27 years ago. When the firebox is hot and the fan is running we can make it so hot in our house that we end up opening the doors and windows to cool the place off. The secret to an insert is to keep a small to moderate amount of wood burning once the firebox is hot.
But without that fan that runs the air around the firebox, the insulation from the insert prevents much of the heat from radiating into the room.
I agree with the many others on this thread that are suggesting the woodstove since you using it for cooking as well as heating.
If you really are going for the insert, and you are really worried about power outages then, invest in a nice high quality generator. We purchased one several years ago. My husband has it set up so that we go offgrid and run off the generator with a flip of a switch.
We can run just about everything at once including the big freezer, fridge, the A/C and the computers. The neighbors know that in the event of an emergency we are available to keep their medications, baby formula or anything else important cool, cold or frozen. If we had to go long term, we could supply ice for those running out of ice chests, or feed large groups of people.
I’m on a budget, so I will do one or the other, so maybe the generator is the best way to go.
Thanx.
“The neighbors know that in the event of an emergency we are available to keep their medications, baby formula or anything else important cool, cold or frozen. If we had to go long term, we could supply ice for those running out of ice chests, or feed large groups of people.”
I love that you are looking out for your neighbors.
We have not had occasion to use it during a power outage but we have lowered the thermostat and it’s comfortable without the fan. Better with the fan, however.
Lucky girl. ;-)
Thanx.
About how old is your wood insert, if you don’t mind my asking?
We had the wood insert stove for 3 years.
I’m not sure if this model is made anymore.
Google “Vermont Castings”... they may still make them or a similar model.
Yes, they still make Vermont Castings. It seems to be one of the more popular ones.
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