Confirmed. My Wife, Does Not...Like the Chubby...

Yup. Its been confirmed. My wife, dislikes the Chubby. She loved it when the outside temps were in the low 30's and high 20's. Now that it is in the low 20's and high teens; tonight is expected to hit 6*. She left the house this evening with these words of encouragement for me;

"I like coal. Its nice that you can load it at 6 in the morning and not touch it until 6 at night. But, I feel when we were burning wood it threw off more heat."

I then explained to her that I had to over fire the wood stove every day to maintain 70*.

Then she pointed to the thermometer on the opposite side of the living room. It read 65*. "That's where it stayed. All day. Your Chubby was at 500* all day."

I went out to my work truck. Grabbed the digital thermometer and began hitting everything I could with it. The floor in the kitchen, 60*, the old windows in the kitchen; 54*, the new windows; 59* I hit every inch of the house. Back rooms were between 53* and 60*. The ceiling above the Chubby read 85*, the ceiling on the far end of the living room in my son's room (it's a loft) 65*, floor next to the Chubby 72* floor on the far side of the living room 60* the thermostat is reading 65*, I even hit that with the laser and true enough, it read 65.5*. The kitchen right now is 53*. The stove right now is 510* [body] (magnetic thermometer) but if I put the laser on it it reads 384*. I'm gonna trust the laser right now. The air is open about 1/2 way. Stack after the baro reads 134.5* stack after MPD before Baro reads 224* (with the laser).

Now, I know I've been complaining about keeping my house warm every winter. But this is what I go through every year with this house. To give everyone a better idea of what I'm working with, take a look at what is in the majority of my walls for insulation.
90% of my walls are filled with this stuff. The house a 1200 sq. ft. Ranch was built in 1948 and was basically a summer cottage. I live in a lake community and out of the 200 or so houses in this lake only about 90 of them are lived in year round. I have completely re-insulated 5 walls and 1/4 of the ceiling with R35 insulation. Currently, tearing off exterior walls to re-insulate them are completely out of the question right now.

I am working on insulating the basement and filling gaps in the foundation. All windows have been replaced with the exception of 6, two of the 6 are being removed completely and will not be replaced and a possible three others might also be removed.

As I type this my furnace has just come on. Furnace ran twice before that, came on as soon as I walked in the door from work and once sometime during the day while my wife was home.

I have an 11' ceiling in my living room. The wall that separates the kitchen from the living room is a partition wall and does not go the full 11'. I have two 56" fans, one is above the Chubby, the other is on the far side of the living room. I have two small 4" fans behind the Chubby pushing 130 CFM. The fan above the Chubby is on and pushing the air from the ceiling down.

I need to get the heat off the Chubby and into the house better. Since re-insulating all of my walls in the winter is not going to happen.

What are my options to get the heat off the Chubby and into the house some how?

My goal is to keep at least the living room at or above 68* since that is where we spent most of our time. I don't particularly care if the bedrooms and kitchen get to 68*.

Since my house is under a renovation finishing the partition wall between the kitchen and living room is no problem, I'd add 4 2x4's and sheetrock it. I am also thinking of putting a box fan behind the stove to see if I can push more air out from behind it. Of course I'd eliminate the make shift blower.

The way it looks is I'll have to run the stove over 550* to get the house to maybe 67* and my wife will be forced to learn how to shake the stove down and recharge it. And, regardless of how hot I run the stove at night I will have to bank it down and let the furnace take care of the heat.

I already knew the Chubby wasn't going to heat my house. But it would've been nice to at least keep my home some what comfortable.

I suppose, you could count this thread as one of those, "Pulling my hair out" threads. I go through this every year with this house. I will not go back to wood again.

I'm sold on coal. If I can't burn it with the Chubby and I have to expedite my replacing the furnace plans to now then so be it. I may not get a dual fuel furnace or a stoker like I want but as long as I get a stove that can heat my home with, I don't care. (I'm lookin' at you Mr. Hitzer 50-93 and your 160K BTU goodness).

I know how you feel...
Been there done that...
First the 50-93 is good for only 100,000 btu/hr...
http://www.hitzer.com/products/stove/Model-50_93- ... per-Stove/
Please consider a DSM stove...
I think it is one of the best stoves...
I burned wood in a Vigilant...
Too much work and too cold...
Decided to go with coal...
Had some smaller stoves but got a deal on a Mark II...
Not enough heat even with 72,000 btu/hr...
Moved up to the DSM Basement #4...
Reasonable price, built solid, 130,000 btu/hr, holds 180# of coal and long burn times...

Amos can make you any kind of stove you want...
DS Machine is located in Gordonville PA. 717-768-3853
If you need a prettier DSM stove...
They can make this one with the bigger fire box to give you 130,000 btu/hr...

When the time is right for a boiler sell the coal stove...
And reinvest it in the ultimate coal appliance...

You are correct, they are only rated to 100K. Lehmans has it listed as 160k - 190k....wonder how many they've sold and people got them home only to be disappointed. lol

I am going to redo the insulation in the walls. Just can't do it now. So, the Chubby isn't really going to work. I don't think I'll get rid of it. It might be great in a shed or something.

Does the DS Basement Stove #4 have to go in the basement? I don't have any access to my basement from inside of the house so I'd think moving the heat from the basement to the living space would be difficult. Its not a bad looking stove, it looks like a stove...that works. And how much do they go for? Is it rear vent or top? I should probably just email them and see if they can send me a brochure or something.

I wish my house could maintain 65°!

Tell her if she wants wood, she can split it herself.

I'm on fire,
Run that stove to 600° if you have too! Instead of 12hr burns maybe you get 8. You don't have to teach your wife the whole process of shaking down the stove, lets say you have the stove all set at 0600 maybe at 1200 you have her add 3 or 4 shovels of coal. Don't touch the air settings and no shake just add coal. It may be able to hold the stove over until you get home to go thru the whole process. Do the same thing at night run it hot add 3 or 4 shovels of coal before you go to bed and in the morning repeat the process. This way all your wife has to do is just add coal. Just an Idea.

Good luck,
Jim

I had the same problem, I found the perfect solution, got rid of Wife, the new girlfriend loves coal, she now my Wife, (Better cook too) she can tend stove if I am gone, keeps house steady 73*.

Avoid tunnel vision, look outside the box for solutions, hope this helps.

Bk

I guess I could do that. I actually just banked it down and then set the thermostat on the furnace for 67*. I added a paper bag of coal too. I'll reopen it let it get to 600*. Add some more coal, then go to bed. See what it does. If it burns out, it burns out. Not like it can hold the temp I want at this point so I guess I'll just play with it till I can get something that can heat my house.

Its unfortunate, cause I love this stove.

@ Bksuan

LOL!! My wife loves coal too. She likes that its cheap, likes when the stove can actually handle the paper bag house. She actual said to me that she hated the wood stove. She liked the heat it put out. But she also forgot the feeding it every hour, going out in the dead of winter during snow storms to fire up the log splitter, trying to burn frozen wet wood, the countless sets of pokers I destroyed because I got pissed off at frozen wet wood and this cold house. I just have to find a stove that will heat the paper bag house.

Amos ain't got no stinkin' internet just the phone...
Amish for the most part...
They got forklifts and welders in the shop and use telephones...
So not hardcore Amish...
RT stoves has a decent web description of the stoves...

I went to the Gordonville shop to buy my stove...
The Basement #4 Newstyle is what I got...
Has the glass and hopper...
$1441 with tax...
The names refer to the style not where they need to go...
Although the Basement series are kind of designed as a whole house heater and tend to go in the basement...
The Circulator series look less industrial and are more wife friendy if they go in the living space...
DS Newstyle Circulator with Hopper or DS Hot Air Circulator Stove with Coal Hopper is what I would get if it were in the living space...
From what I understand they can build a Circulator with the bigger 16x20 fire box to get you 130k btu/hr if needed...
They are rear exit flues...
No fans = no noise...
Any other questions just ask...
These stoves just work...
I can stuff the stove with about 200# of coal and leave for 36 hours knowing the stove will still be running when I get back...
Sure I will throttle the stove back and keep the house at only 65* while I am gone...
The Gas furnace set for backup if it goes below 60*...
The only thing better would be a coal boiler and that is on the wish list...
Our power is pretty stable and hardly ever loose it for long when it does go out...
Still have to empty the ashes though...

Maybe it's time to reconsider your choice of heat...

I can't imagine not being able to keep your place any warmer than that.
I heat my 2 car garage/shop with a Kerosun wick type heater, and I can keep that at 60,
when it's 30 outside.

My house is around 125 years old, with a lot less insulation than you have,
I heat the basement and 1st floor with a Harman..
RIght now it's 13* outside, and the furthest thing from my stove in the cellar is
a metal cabinet, against the foundation, and it is 65*.
The room above the stove is 69.
Stove is 485-500 on the side.
When it gets colder, I crank it to 550-600 and it stays decent.
zero or below, I need to run the furnace some.
That's just asking too much.

Dan

It sounds like you have found the limits of the Chubby for your particular house. I can't heat my entire house with a 50,000 BTU Chubby, but it does do a considerable fine job a majority of the time. Every heat loss for a house will be different. I have to supplement my Chubby with a coal furnace once the outside temperatures reach below 30 degrees for my wife to be happy. So, look at as a new toy that she will allow you to get. But keep the Chubby and use it for what it is truly designed to do, a supplemental home parlor stove heater and one of the nicest little ones ever made.

DOUG wrote:It sounds like you have found the limits of the Chubby for your particular house. I can't heat my entire house with a 50,000 BTU Chubby, but it does do a considerable fine job a majority of the time. Every heat loss for a house will be different. I have to supplement my Chubby with a coal furnace once the outside temperatures reach below 30 degrees for my wife to be happy. So, look at as a new toy that she will allow you to get. But keep the Chubby and use it for what it is truly designed to do, a supplemental home parlor stove heater and one of the nicest little ones ever made.

Doug, I won't get rid of it. I love the Chubby, just thought I'd be able to get a little more out of it. I've got the furnace set to come on at 67* right now, the Chubby is sitting at 550* and I'm getting ready for bed. We'll see how it does. It is supposed to go down to 6* this evening.

I think the answer to your problem is a bigger stove. ( larger firebox ) The Chubby seems that it's just not cutting it in your particular situation. I would look into a stove that would give you more btu's. There are a number of handfired stoves out there to choose from. Just a few: DS Machine Stoves- Hot Air Circulator(96,000 btu), Basement Stove #3(105,000 btu) Basement Stove #4(130,000 btu), Alaska Kodiak(100,000 btu), Hitzer 50-93(100,000 btu), Hitzer 354(100,000 btu) Harman Magnafire Mark III(92,000 btu) SF-250(120,000 btu) ... some of these are also hopper fed and have the bi metal thermastats which makes tending the fire a bit easier.

Time to get a Glenwood.

I know they are expensive, but; you'll not worry about a cold house again.

IOF, It looks like until you get your home tighted up you need more btu's. It seems to me for right now anyways the biggest bank for the buck is that DS Machine ( Circulator ). I would get on the phone and get one coming. If you want to do something different down the road you would have no problem selling anything that you bought now. We have a warm weekend coming up then it's back into the deep freeze so you need to move, got to keep the family warm.

Can't help wondering if the paint job you put on the Chubby is acting like insulation.

Good Luck with what ever you decide.

It sounds to me like you need to step back and reevaluate the game plan. The Chubby isn't working for you as a whole house heater, no surprise there. Hand fed stoves have a hard time pulling that off. You need something bigger, something designed to do that job. Getting a new coal appliance that can do that may or may not happen anytime soon. In that reality, you have to look at what the Chubby can do. The major thing is that the Chubby can heat the living space you are in most of the time to 68 or 70* degrees or warmer, thereby causing the furnace not to come on as often. Even that will cause a significant reduction in your heating bills. Where is your whole house thermometer - in the room with the stove or in the cooler part of the house? If it's in the stove room the furnace may never come on but if the thermometer could be easily moved to a colder part of the house it could come on around 60* or 65* and your entire house would be noticeable warmer - at least it would feel it was warmer. You'd still be saving money, just not as much. Then when the time is right you could get a bigger stove that could do the whole job. In the meantime, run the Chubby a little hotter so your main living space is warmer. Just a thought, good luck with whatever direction you take. Lisa