Box Stove to Base Heater Conversion Adventure

Wow. 33 pounds per 24 hours is about what I've been burning in my range when the temps get down below 20F outside.

As good as it is, I doubt the range's small 20 + pounds of nut coal sized firebox could heat an entire mid-sized house. And it has more square footage of heat radiating area than most base heaters !

It really does make a difference to surround the firebed with heat, plus so much preheating of primary air to get the most out of every pound.

Well done.

Paul

You are getting only perhaps 13,500 BTUH. Either your house is small, or it is exceptionally well insulated (or both).

lsayre wrote:You are getting only perhaps 13,500 BTUH. Either your house is small, or it is exceptionally well insulated (or both).

my house is 23 x 28 on the first floor.

it has a full basement w/ bare concrete floor and block walls. it's the same size as the first floor and there is no heat down there.

the second floor is the same footage as the rest, only gets what heat goes up the stairs in the front foyer, which we feel is enough.

there is only insulation in the 2 exterior walls of the living room opposite where the stove sits. these walls are each 14 long and 9 high.

there is 4 " of 1920's rock wool in the attic.

none of which I think makes any diff. cause it's the same space and conditions I burned the original stove in last yr.

what I do think matters is the amount of very effective radiant surface that the 13,500 BTUH out put you quote is acting on.

i don't have an ax to grind in any of this. I was encouraged to continue to report my experience, esp. fuel use as the season progressed.

i've done so and will probably not be heard from again in this thread till May.

thanks for watching,

steve

Thanks Steve for keeping us all up to date with this! Are you average 33 lbs per day right now or 33lbs/day since you lit?

hotblast1357 wrote:Thanks Steve for keeping us all up to date with this! Are you average 33 lbs per day right now or 33lbs/day since you lit?

i have used much more than 33#'s per day earlier this winter. we had a serious cold spell just this month but the weather has dramatically improved.

Saturday Jan. 17 was the first day I got down to 33#'s per day after the cold spell. I have been able to maintain the house at exactly 70* from then till now at that fuel use.

33#'s per day since Oct. 8, 2014 would surely be a feat worth crowing about.

thanks,
steve

Well why would you say that?

hotblast1357 wrote:Well why would you say that?

good point,

while I did for some time burn 12#'s a day in base mode in Oct. I also burned 72 #'s per day for 5 days this month in the lowest cold we had.

33#'s a day for over 100 days since Oct. 8 would be over 3300 #'s and more than I have actually used.

i clearly misspoke regarding that. my focus was on the impossibility of keeping this house warm in that cold on 33 #'s per day.

thanks,
steve

Ok phew I was gonna say, lol I'm averaging 28lbs/day. Since oct. 4th I've burned 3106 lbs.

KingCoal wrote:

hotblast1357 wrote:Well why would you say that?

good point,

while I did for some time burn 12#'s a day in base mode in Oct. I also burned 72 #'s per day for 5 days this month in the lowest cold we had.

33#'s a day for over 100 days since Oct. 8 would be over 3300 #'s and more than I have actually used.

i clearly misspoke regarding that. my focus was on the impossibility of keeping this house warm in that cold on 33 #'s per day.

thanks,
steve

Steve,

What were the outside temperatures when you were burning 72#'s per day?

dj

Jan. 5th / 0, 6th / 7, 7th / -4, 8th / -9, 9th / 1, 10th / -5, 13th / -8, 14th / -8.

those are all overnight lows and only 1/2 the story around here cause we were having strong winds and heavy wind chill.

hotblast1357 wrote:Ok phew I was gonna say, lol I'm averaging 28lbs/day. Since oct. 4th I've burned 3106 lbs.

right if you "average" my 3000 #'s of use over the 101 days from Oct. 8 - Jan. 18 the sum would be 29.7#'s per day.

and now we know you too have a VERY effective stove.

congrat's,
steve

KingCoal wrote:Jan. 5th / 0, 6th / 7, 7th / -4, 8th / -9, 9th / 1, 10th / -5, 13th / -8, 14th / -8.

those are all overnight lows and only 1/2 the story around here cause we were having strong winds and heavy wind chill.

the real feel for any of those days never made it past 0 during the day.

just for clarity, 72 #'s a day IS 2 #'s more a day than I reported during the cold spell LAST yr.

the bigger diff. is the fact that this yr. I was able to hold the house at 68* instead of 60* last yr.

KingCoal wrote:the bigger diff. is the fact that this yr. I was able to hold the house at 68* instead of 60* last yr

That's a major difference. To equal that in the old configuration I would expect to burn more like 20 additional pounds per day.

With all the work involved it must be very gratifying to see these results. Your design seems to have increased both combustion and heat exchange efficiency.

Looking forward to your next design and hoping it is round.

Idk if that is a accurate way too measure your coal usage though Steve.

thanks franco,

as for another design. the next one WILL have a round suspended firepot, the question is will it be in the vert. cylinder style.

i kind of wanted to include a double heater feature and have yet to come up with an economical way to do that on a round body.

the extra steps of fabrication and welding on a flat surface are easier.

my honest expectation is more along the lines of an Our Glenwood 109 - 114 etc. layout.

no doubt the simplest, most powerful per unit size Base Burner to re-present IMHO.