When I had the HomeBox insulated with closed cell spray foam, the guys who did it said “this thing will be so cozy, you’ll be able to keep it warm with a birthday candle”.
In the winter that followed, there was neither heat, a thermometer, nor a birthday candle in the place, so I had no way to check up on their assertion.
This year, though, since the power system is in place and it doesn’t like to operate below freezing, I put a little electric space heater in there. This is the kind of thing meant to keep a single room cozy. Not a ~200 square foot house with 10′ ceilings.
This one isn’t mine, but mine looks very much like it:
Here’s a snapshot of my remote thermometer, telling me for real how well this thing did.
The upper reading is the main house (it’s early in the morning, the heat is still low). The lower readings are: (1) the T.H.R.O.N.E. room, a small space away from the heater, with a window and three exterior walls; (2) the deck of the utility loft; (3) just outside my bedroom window in the conventional house.
So, yeah, it looks like that little 1500W heater is able to keep > +30F without even a circulation fan. It’s a bit larger than your typical birthday candle, but definitely low-powered as heating facilities go. That bodes especially well for keeping cozy in there with the wood stove (4000W) and the propane heater (6000W), either of which on their own, according to my favorite heating calculator, should be able to keep the place quite comfortable down to -5F outside. Why do I have two heaters? I want to use the wood stove preferentially but when not in the house and still wanting the house not to freeze, I needed something that can run automatically — hence the propane heater. Also, that means I don’t have to tend the stove in the middle of the night, either — if it gets too cold, the propane heater will cover for it til I rekindle the stove in the morning.
I’m still on hiatus for TH interior design, though that hiatus is coming to an end soon. Then it’s on to the kitchen and the BeDeLiA’s unique furniture needs, finishing the concept for the tansu stairs, and so forth.