Chubby Stoves

I am heating a 1300 sq. ft. ranch w/Chubby Sr. in large kitchen. Keeps kitchen 72* to 75*, living rm. & den about 70*, and bedrooms at far end of house about 65*. Lately I have been weighing the coal being used. I run the stove at 400* to 475*, and using 24 to 30 lbs. per day. Stove has been running steadily since the October snowstorm. House was built in 1977 w/ 2 x 4 construction, so it is not super insulated. I do have 24" insulation in attic.
Also have another Chubby in detached workshop that I burn wood in spring and fall, then change to coal for winter. Of course everyone's house is different, but I hope this gives you an idea.

Don

lobstah wrote:I am heating a 1300 sq. ft. ranch w/Chubby Sr. in large kitchen. Keeps kitchen 72* to 75*, living rm. & den about 70*, and bedrooms at far end of house about 65*. Lately I have been weighing the coal being used. I run the stove at 400* to 475*, and using 24 to 30 lbs. per day. Stove has been running steadily since the October snowstorm. House was built in 1977 w/ 2 x 4 construction, so it is not super insulated. I do have 24" insulation in attic.
Also have another Chubby in detached workshop that I burn wood in spring and fall, then change to coal for winter. Of course everyone's house is different, but I hope this gives you an idea.

Don

Is that with a blower Don?

No blower on mine. A good friend has one with a blower, but he does not use it as his house is to small, he gets too much heat.

The Chubby senior can heat up to 3100 square feet. Any old stove ad that say cubic feet, just take the cubic feet number and divide it by 4.35 and that will give you a close answer in square feet.

chubbycoalboy wrote:The Chubby senior can heat up to 3100 square feet. Any old stove ad that say cubic feet, just take the cubic feet number and divide it by 4.35 and that will give you a close answer in square feet.

I would have to say that 3100 sq feet is a little ambitious for a chubby (or any stove that size). Possibly under ideal circumstances with the best central location and a well insulated house it might be possible but in the real world, that is a large space to heat with a chubby including the blower model. Realistically I'd say that 1800sq. feet is much better number for people who are considering buying one for a main heating source. I'd rather be pleasently surprised, than bitterly disappointed. It's always better to have a little more stove than you need and run it lower than to have to crank a stove at max all the time. JMHO.

Rating any heating appliance by "Square Feet" is foolish in my opinion. It is a dart-throwing estimate for those that don't know what their heat load is, and it leaves a lot of room for disappointment.

Two houses of identical size can have vastly different rates of heat loss. That was my point when I made this rather unwelcoming comment:

Rob R. wrote:Square feet of what? House or corn crib?

You can imagine that the heat loss of a wire-mesh corn crib is a little higher than a spray-foam insulated house. An extreme example obviously, but you get the point.

I must have posted that during a rare moment of grumpiness...I apologize to the original poster for not being polite.

SteveZee wrote:

chubbycoalboy wrote:The Chubby senior can heat up to 3100 square feet. Any old stove ad that say cubic feet, just take the cubic feet number and divide it by 4.35 and that will give you a close answer in square feet.

I would have to say that 3100 sq feet is a little ambitious for a chubby (or any stove that size). Possibly under ideal circumstances with the best central location and a well insulated house it might be possible but in the real world, that is a large space to heat with a chubby including the blower model. Realistically I'd say that 1800sq. feet is much better number for people who are considering buying one for a main heating source. I'd rather be pleasently surprised, than bitterly disappointed. It's always better to have a little more stove than you need and run it lower than to have to crank a stove at max all the time. JMHO.

I suspect the Labs such as UL who do the testing on stoves have a formula they use based on the size of the stove that they use to calculate the area the stove will heat. Much like the EPA does when estimating MPG on an auto. As such that is where the numbers come from for heating area. But as we all know every situation is different.

A person using a large Chubby for heat in Florida could heat 4000 sq feet with it. The same stove in Montreal would be a different story. House size is only one factor to consider.

I also have a Jotul 507 coal stove I use to use. Rated up to 5000 cu. ft. But when it got down to 10 degrees out side it just would not warm up the house that well and I would have to turn my furnace on. The nice thing about the 507 you can burn any type of coal in it. They no longer make it but if the ever come out with it again I hope the make it a little bigger so you can heat a larger area.

chubbycoalboy wrote:The Chubby senior can heat up to 3100 square feet. Any old stove ad that say cubic feet, just take the cubic feet number and divide it by 4.35 and that will give you a close answer in square feet.

I would think you should multiply your square footage by 8 to get cubic feet if you have common 8 foot ceiling height.