Firewood Burn Rate?

Looking at the picture I cannot see an opening for a fan. I do see a cord so what does that supply? The insert is back in the fireplace and I imagine a lot of the heat is going up the chimney. Am I wrong?

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

I think that's an important point. My woodstove is piped up two stories to the flu opening in the ceiling. Even though it is double walled pipe and the catalytic converter reburns the gasses, which seems to cool them off somewhat, there is a lot of heat gained inside the house by having that much exposed pipe in the area you're trying to heat. I've seen homes/shops in Canada where they elbow the pipe to get more pipe exposed within the heated area. Every little bit helps.

An additional thought, are you burning the stove with the front open as in the picture? Is so, the draft is pulling a significant amount of heat from the rooms up the chimney. With the door open it is as if you are trying to heat with a fire place and a fire place is one of the least efficient methods of burning wood for heat. Remember, a fireplace is for romantics, a wood stove is for heat!

__________________
Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

No, I am not burning the stove with the door open. I was wondering if anybody would comment on that. I just had it open for the photo, as I'd just put in a big chunk of wood. I can't seem to keep the glass door clean for anything -- if the fire's nice and hot it will clean easier but gets gunked up again. Having it open was just my way of showing that yup, there's a fire in there.

It does have a blower; the fan itself is under a panel on the lower left and the air comes out just beneath the top of the stove, right over the door.

Also has a catalytic converter. It puts out a LOT of heat, it's just that we have a rather large area to heat and the house isn't setup to use it for heating -- ideally there should be a grate above the stove to let warm air into the 1st floor above. But it does make the lower level comfortable even when the weather's bitterly cold like now.

The stove pokes out from the insert about 6" or so on the sides, 12" in the front, enough that you could theoretically heat a little pot of soup on top. So while it does give off a little radiant heat, possibly enough to keep someone right in that room fairly warm without the blower, it leaves much to be desired compared to a freestanding stove. But the fireplace was already there and this is obviously a big improvement over the fireplace.

Maybe next winter we'll put in a second wood stove on the 1st floor upstairs. I'd like that!

This house has a basement and a first floor, am I correct? What type of heating system was installed prior to having the insert? Was the primary old system ducted? If ducted, is the duct in the basement? Is the floor to the first floor insulated? Do you have any perimeter insulation for the basement? What is the btu output rating of the new wood burning stove?

__________________
Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!