How's Your Yurt Handling The Cold?

[Zelig]

This is our first winter in our 22ft Groovy Yurt and so far it's been fantastic. We've had some issues with

moisture

but seem to have fixed that by pre-drying all of our firewood in our sauna. We're in northern Ontario but this has been a relatively mild winter with no prolonged cold spells. Our coldest morning was -35C(-31F) and the temp inside stayed in the low to mid 20's (75degF) through the night. We heat with an old Stanley cookstove that weighs about 700 lbs, so there is a lot of mass to store heat. It is rated somewhere around 33k btu's but we're not working it hard at all and only burning low btu content softwood. This has been a pretty enjoyable winter and much more relaxing than listening to a furnace suck money out of our wallets.

[Zelig]

Originally Posted by Zelig

This is our first winter in our 22ft Groovy Yurt and so far it's been fantastic. We've had some issues with

moisture

but seem to have fixed that by pre-drying all of our firewood in our sauna. We're in northern Ontario but this has been a relatively mild winter with no prolonged cold spells. Our coldest morning was -35C(-31F) and the temp inside stayed in the low to mid 20's (75degF) through the night. We heat with an old Stanley cookstove that weighs about 700 lbs, so there is a lot of mass to store heat. It is rated somewhere around 33k btu's but we're not working it hard at all and only burning low btu content softwood. This has been a pretty enjoyable winter and much more relaxing than listening to a furnace suck money out of our wallets.

I forgot to mention the all important data- we are calculating that our firewood consumption by season's end will be in the range of 4-5 bush cords. Much less than feared.

[Jake]

That's a great endorsement of

Groovy Yurts

. I have been up in Northern Ontario in Jan running sled dogs, back when the world and I were younger. Your Stanley is a treasure sitting there. Hard to find them nowadays.

[Surely Yurts - Steve]

24 Inches of lake effect snow.

This weekend looking forward to wind chills of 40 below zero for Valentines Day

And my dog doesn't care one bit as long as I keep the wood stove banked.

[Bob Rowlands]

Extremely nice stove.

[TalkingTrees]

..just designing and ordering my new yurt home, and wondering about the option of double felt.. it does come with a 9mm felt layer (although not sure whether it is wool or a synthetic blend)..

Is it worth the massive extra cost (extra $1600AUS), or are there cheaper ways to insulate?

I will be in the snowy mountains (5'c or 35f) on average during winter, but have a big wood stove I want to install for cooking and hot water also..

[Surely Yurts - Steve]

Thanks for noticing the stove Bob.

I call this woodstove 'gentle ben' because it buts out a really nice even heat and never seems to spike up too harshly.

Grew up with it on my grandmothers back porch... When she passed in '98 this is what I got out of her house and it really means a lot to me.

Originally Posted by TalkingTrees

..just designing and ordering my new yurt home, and wondering about the option of double felt.. it does come with a 9mm felt layer (although not sure whether it is wool or a synthetic blend)..

Is it worth the massive extra cost (extra $1600AUS), or are there cheaper ways to insulate?

I will be in the snowy mountains (5'c or 35f) on average during winter, but have a big wood stove I want to install for cooking and hot water also..

Trees

Though it is synthetic... Using reflective bubble

insulation

makes a really nice vapor barrier to help keep out condensation and mold that come with cold climates and extreme temperature fluctuations. Could be used in addition to the felt which comes with your kit.

You can get a 6 foot by 100 foot roll for around 4 hundred bucks depending upon where you are.

[Zelig]

Originally Posted by TalkingTrees

..just designing and ordering my new yurt home, and wondering about the option of double felt.. it does come with a 9mm felt layer (although not sure whether it is wool or a synthetic blend)..

Is it worth the massive extra cost (extra $1600AUS), or are there cheaper ways to insulate?

I will be in the snowy mountains (5'c or 35f) on average during winter, but have a big wood stove I want to install for cooking and hot water also..

We went with a double layer of felt that adds up to about one inch total thickness. We are roasty-toasty cozy even down to -35c but at warmer temps (anything warmer than -10c) we have to ventilate. Our stove is a 700lb Waterford Stanley cookstove and we don't like to let the fire go out, so it idles most of the time. By 'not going out', I mean that we wait until there is the tiniest little remnant of an orange coal before restocking the firebox. Often, when putting fresh wood in, the remaining coals disintegrate and fall through the fire grate (I think that's where 'disinteGRATE' comes from) but it still relights without paper or matches. Mass really helps maintain draft. We've noticed a big improvement in heat retention by having snow bermed up to 2/3 of the wall height. I hope this helps.

[Bob Rowlands]

IMO, if you have the money, go ahead and just buy the

insulation

. aerect the yurt, insulate it witha proven maerial, and boom, done. Aside from money, the only reason to dink around testing and making your own insulation is you need something to do. lol

[Bob Rowlands]

disintegrate lol Thnks for the post.