We’ve had some pretty cold weather since my last update on the wood stove and thermal mass. I’m happy to report that the thermal mass has continued to make a huge difference in the moderation of indoor temperatures. In the past week we’ve had several days in a row with overnight lows at or below 10 and highs of 20 or less. Inside the cabin I’ve been waking up to 52 or warmer with a daytime average of about 75 inside once the morning fire is going. In these frigid first days of January I’ve burned an average of 7 logs in the morning and 7 in the evening. Last winter without the blocks I would have woken up to 38 degrees or so on mornings this cold even if I kept a hot fire going till 1 in the morning! While 52 is chilly it’s quite a difference from 38 and remember I’m only burning half the wood which means much less work for me and much less carbon in the atmosphere.

Here are some stats from December: Morning average 28 outside, 59 inside. Evening average 34 outside, 66 inside. Noon inside average 72. Overall outside average 31, inside average 65.7. That inside average is a bit misleading as it is based on a morning temp with no fire. I get the morning fire going as soon as I get up so the temp quickly rises so in terms of the time that I’m actually awake and doing things in the cabin the average is more like 75. On average the cabin is staying at least 32 degrees warmer that outside.

One last observation. New Years day I went to a community hike and potluck and observed during the drive over that most of the houses that had chimneys were spewing pretty heavy amounts of smoke. I’m happy to report that even with my old wood stove I’m only getting visible smoke during the start-up of my fires. Within just a few minutes that smoke is replaced by nearly invisible smoke/vapor and heat waves. I doubt it is as clean burning as the newer double burn stoves but even those will burn dirty if not burned properly with well seasoned wood.

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