<font color="blue"> I'll turn on the low speed fan on the oil furnace to circulate the air through the house </font color>
Why is the obvious sometime overlooked. We had another fire and I used smaller pieces of wood and kept the fire as small as I could. Also turned the central fan on and there was a big improvement. Still had to open a window a little but the temperature was much better. I could not believe how much the central heating fan balanced the temperature in the house.
I am looking forward to a real cold night to see what the unit can do.
[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] We heated a drafty old ranch house in the foggy, cold, damp, and miserable Central Valley of CA for YEARS using Almond and Oak wood. What you have to remember.....and some of the responses hinted at this....is that the FIRE NEVER GOES OUT. Most other types of furnaces will CYCLE the burners and follow the thermostat setting, so an 80,000 BTU gas or oil furnace is only burning a fraction of each hour, whereas the wood stove is steadily cranking out the heat. Even 8.000 BTU on a steady basis is a lot if the house doesn't leak like crazy. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] The circulator fan is the answer that you seek, and is an inexpensive way to take advantage of the wood heat. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] We are presently rebuilding a 100 year old farmhouse in SE Iowa, and our plans include a wood stove in the "great room" that we made by sawing out the entire center core of the original house. We are planning to use a forced air circulating system to carry heat to other parts of the house. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
I'm guessing you started the fire when the house was already at a confortable temperature.
We have programmable thermostats, so I let the house get down to 50 degrees during the day. When I get home from work I build a fire. The heat doesn't go back up untill 7pm, so I'm letting the wood stove do the work of warming the house back up. This "method" should delay your window opening a bit.
I've only had to open the windows once, it was 50 degrees outside. My stove is rated for 24,000 btu's max. My house is NOT as well insulated as yours. 450 square foot family room / kitchen. 800 square feet total on 1st floor.
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