Stove BTU and Matching Sq. Ft

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 12:13 pm

I feel like I am posting too much about this Warm morning stove but I haven't found some specifics that I would like to know and this is a general question that can be applied to all stoves and would greatly help out matching a stove to certain houses.

Is there a chart that matches what BTU/sq ft. is needed? The reason I bring this question up is, my Warm morning stove is doing a great job of keeping the house between 67-70 degrees @ around 250-300f @ the flue pipe. I keep reading how most of you have a glowing bed of coals under cooler coals with the "blue ladies" . I have this but at a lower temperature , around 150-200@ the flue pipe. Between the past two nights and Noon today Dec. 10th I have used a bag an a half of stove and a bag and a half of nut Anthracite which equals 120lbs. I am now 3/4 of the way full at this moment. I was anticipating less coal usage for the BTU's but maybe this Warm Morning 414A 40lbs coal stove isn't quite enough BTU's to be as efficient as I like and put out the heat my house needs or I want. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with it, but who doesn't want to save a buck or two?

Does anyone have an idea of what this 414A might put out?

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 1:25 pm

The BTU output is based on the coal burning area of your stove. The more grate area, the higher the output. THere are some threads on Calculating the BTU output.

BTU Output Question

BTU Output Vs. Lbs of Coal, Am I Calculating This Correcly?

There is NO one chart for BTU vs. House size, every heating situation is different. Everyone has different homes, layouts, insulation, windows, etc....what works for one, may or may not work for others. Sounds like yours is working just fine.
I have 2 stoker stoves running (130K and a 90K) to heat this 2500 sq. older victorian home. Plus it depends if the stove in your living area, or in the basement, how it's ducted, etc...

I can go thru 60-100# / day in my stoves when the temps get below 20 degrees or more. Look at the thread on Coal Usage.

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 2:22 pm

taco makes some free software that calculates heat load based on sqft, insulation, floor plan, components. Its like visio for hydronics.

Its called flowpro and they have free videos at they're flow pro university site.

jim d · Post by **jim d** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 2:29 pm

l x wx h =cu. ft x 3.5 =rough es t of btus required tight house 2.5 -to 3

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 2:58 pm

jim d wrote:l x wx h =cu. ft x 3.5 =rough es t of btus required tight house 2.5 -to 3

You also have to factor in design temp. Whats 3.5 based on what zone? I bet alaska is more like 4.5x
http://www.chromalox.com/resource-center/calculat ... eater.aspx

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 3:31 pm

It's a Colonial 2 story and part of the house was built in the 19th century and the other half in the early 20th century. It has no basement and the stove is in the living room, which is kind of in the middle of the house. I have the ability to run 4 stoves but I only want to run one for the time being. It is 1286 finished space. The house is well insulated but there are drafts here in there until I finish renovating the house. The biggest draft problem is the french doors on the sun room, which need to be replaced but the sunroom is blocked off with semi thick curtains to cut down on draft for right now. For the most part the house is pretty air tight. It also has heartpine floors throughout the house and insulation in half of the floors in the house but not the oldest front half where the stove is. The house has no insulation or vapor barrier underneath the house and the floors are about 2 feet off the ground on a brick foundation. I have no duct work in the house and the only form of heat I am using is this stove. I pulled all the baseboard heaters out of the upstairs rooms except the bathroom but that will soon go as well when I put a heated floor in there. I have baseboards downstairs but they will soon go as well and I do not turn them on, for fear of fire and the cost. The Warm Morning is performing well I just would like to use less coal or I need to make quite a few more trips to NOVA to get more coal. Well I will anyways to make it through this winter. I may try the cannon heater out next week but haven't made my mind up on that yet.

jim d · Post by **jim d** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 3:42 pm

i'm in new england roughly 42:00 paralell va is a little warmer but I would still fig 3.5 andagain this is a rough est

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 4:01 pm

I found the definition for design temperature: The temperature that a system is designed to maintain (inside) or operate against (outside) under the most extreme conditions. So there is a design temperature for each region? This seems to be mainly for HVAC systems but did they also use this design temperature for coal stoves?

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 6:38 pm

Its for hydronic systems also regardless what fuel type. I think when you go to air you loose some efficiency and some coefficients may change but it still would make sense that you would want to design your system to handle the temperature range for you zone.

http://www.chromalox.com/resource-center/calculat ... rence.aspx

How do you plan on circulating all that hot air? Blowing is more efficient than sucking.

http://ask.metafilter.com/140848/Most-effective-m ... ng-hot-air

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2K ... =11a6t57lb

Check out the series some on youtube some on taco u site.

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 6:58 pm

I am going to take a look at all the links everyone is posted and research more on it. Thanks for them, I have quite a bit of reading to do

. It's so weird, the stove is running just below 200F @the flue about 1.5' above the stove and I just picked up a second thermometer for the side of the stove which reads about 440F and the stove is cranking out some major heat for the house but burning very slow and very little. Maybe the problem is the fact I don't have a MD or BD set up right now. I just bought and I am going to order the BD most recommend on this site. I believe it is the Fields RC BD?

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 7:06 pm

Yep md first, then bd. and also get the dwyer 25 so you can adjust for .02-.04 in WC.

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/rc.php

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 7:07 pm

ValterBorges wrote:
How do you plan on circulating all that hot air?

well how my house is set up works very well for circulating hot air on it's own. I will draw a little diagram a little later but let me try to explain. The stove is in the living room and sort of in the middle of the house. Looking at the stove the dining room and the kitchen are to the left of the stove. The cooler air from the kitchen travels into the dining room then into the living room and pushes the hot air up the stairs which is at the other end of the living room right into the bathroom and bedroom directly above the dining room and halfway over the kitchen and the other bedroom is directly above the living room so it catches the hot air rising. the kitchen and dining room are only slightly a lower temperature, by about 5 degrees, so I have a constant convection current in my house going which works out well. I try to cut out any electricity usage I can as far as heating and cooling the house goes.

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 7:10 pm

ValterBorges wrote:Yep md first, then bd. and also get the dwyer 25 so you can adjust for .02-.04 in WC.

Ah yes I was going to ask about that as well. I was talking to my father about the Manometers because they use them at the powerplant in their furnaces. is this something I can install in or on the pipe and leave there? I haven't read too much on them yet but I will do a thread search a little later.

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Sat. Dec. 10, 2011 7:30 pm

yes before the bd is where I drilled a hole put in some brake line, the rubber dwyer connection attaches to the brake line.
With the md and bd I don't know if you put it first or in between.

Read up on putting the read oil in the dwyer, very slow like with a medine dropper.

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sun. Dec. 11, 2011 1:11 am

ValterBorges wrote:Yep md first, then bd. and also get the dwyer 25 so you can adjust for .02-.04 in WC.

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/rc.php

have you ever come across a better looking manometer and one that metal housed? I was reading up on how to make them, if it comes down to it.

I also see some digital ones that are a little more than the Dwyer 25. Is the Dwyer 25 the only one that reads the .02-.04?

Also where is a good place to buy the Fields RC Baro? I believe I want the RCBT. On their site it looks like that is the black version of the Baro damper. I found a couple of wholesalers in my area. I guess I should just call and see who can get me that exact model.

I am going to have to do some fabrication here. I don't have much room to work with lol. You know the more I think about it I hope I have room for the MPD and the BD. I may have to fabricate one piece deal and weld it all together. I only have a little over a foot to the start of the elbow and the bottom tapers to a 6" oval.