Thursday, December 1, 2011

The New Normal

This is the first year that we are exclusively using our wood burning stove for heat. It is wonderful and I can't say enough good things about it. We have Jotul Castine and it's not only a beautiful stove, but capable of heating all 2,000 square feet of our home.

During past winters, I've kept the heat set on 67 and 58 overnight. The new normal is to keep the living room between 76-80 at all times. The upstairs, which is not anywhere close to the living room where the stove is kept, stays at a constant 62-64. The thing that amuses me the most is that when the temperature in the living room dips below 76, I am cold. I can sit in front of the stove in sweat pants and a sweat shirt and be perfectly comfortable in 80 degrees. To say that we are spoiled by the heat of the wood burning stove is an understatement.

The beauty of heating with wood is that when/if it gets too hot, we can move to a cooler part of the house. I also appreciate not having a cold, drippy nose and I like the humidity that is provided by the cast iron tea kettle on the stove. I am very happy we went with the radiant heat of cast iron because even when there are only a few coals left first thing in the morning, the stove is still warming the house. This was one of the best purchases/investments we've made and I'm looking forward to figuring out how to cook on our wood burning stove.

2 comments:

drea :: dre of white stables said...

That's awesome. Our new house must be a lot better insulated, because I can keep it at 67-69 and I couldn't at the old house. This one also has a gas fireplace in the mudroom and a wood burning fireplace downstairs. I wish the wood burning fireplace had ducts through the house so that we could just rely on it.

You'll have to share what you're cooking. I'm interested!

Anonymous said...

Where did you get the cast iron tea kettle?