Cadillac Outdoor Wood Burner

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I have had this stove for 3 years. Bought it used. I’ve never had a owb before, so really don’t know what to expect as far as efficiency. I load a wheel barrel into my boiler 3-4 times a day to heat a 4500 sf home with both in floor heat and a furnace with an A coil. All I know is that I havnt used any LP to heat my house since I got it, and I have 40 acres of all trees to feed the boiler. If I could find a manual, I could prolly set it up to be more efficient, but I guess I don’t know what I don’t know. Any advice would be appreciated. A new boiler is prolly not in my budget right now, even though the setup you have sounds NICE! Maybe next year!
As long as you have time to keep feeding it you are fine. What type of line did you use to to run to the house. My neighbor and my brother both cheaped out running theirs. In one case it melts the snow on top of the ground along the path to the house. I used the $11/ft thermopex from Central Boiler. I will attest to the accuracy of the claim they make saying you can run it on top of the ground. The first winter I actually had a portion of it exposed on the snow did not even melt on top of it.
 
the stove gets colder, the fans automatically are shutting off. If I start a fire when the fans are off, it takes a while to get the fire going, and eventually the fans turn back on and everything goes as it is supposed to
It seems to me that it is behaving exactly as programmed. When the temperature falls below a selected setpoint, it is because the fire is assumed to be out (out of wood or some other reason.) This is fine as it stops blowing cold air into the firebox, except it needs a way to override when you attempt to restart it. I would prefer mine to operate this way too.

I don't see an online manual for your switch with a quick search so they may be able to assist when you hear back from them. They should also tell you how to display the setpoints, time delays, etc. Good luck.
 
As long as you have time to keep feeding it you are fine. What type of line did you use to to run to the house. My neighbor and my brother both cheaped out running theirs. In one case it melts the snow on top of the ground along the path to the house. I used the $11/ft thermopex from Central Boiler. I will attest to the accuracy of the claim they make saying you can run it on top of the ground. The first winter I actually had a portion of it exposed on the snow did not even melt on top of it.
As long as you have time to keep feeding it you are fine. What type of line did you use to to run to the house. My neighbor and my brother both cheaped out running theirs. In one case it melts the snow on top of the ground along the path to the house. I used the $11/ft thermopex from Central Boiler. I will attest to the accuracy of the claim they make saying you can run it on top of the ground. The first winter I actually had a portion of it exposed on the snow did not even melt on top of it.
I didn’t skimp on the lines to the house. They are double insulated Pex lines, and they are buried 4’ down with styrofoam boards on all sides.
 
It seems to me that it is behaving exactly as programmed. When the temperature falls below a selected setpoint, it is because the fire is assumed to be out (out of wood or some other reason.) This is fine as it stops blowing cold air into the firebox, except it needs a way to override when you attempt to restart it. I would prefer mine to operate this way too.

I don't see an online manual for your switch with a quick search so they may be able to assist when you hear back from them. They should also tell you how to display the setpoints, time delays, etc. Good luck.
I believe it is doing as programmed, but for the last two years, the fans never stopped running after the fire went out. Now that it does, that appears to be a good thing, but like you say, I need to have a way to reset it so I can get the fans running to get the fire stoked.
What’s so confusing, is that it just started this problem this year, and I have no idea why. I just recieved the LOVE temp switch manual from the parent company. Hopefully that helps.
 
What’s so confusing, is that it just started this problem this year, and I have no idea why.
Ah, maybe I missed that part if you mentioned it.

Is it a dual probe setup? I think it could be programmed to operate this way with one probe, but the Love parts I looked at seem to call for two. There are some default operations if a probe is faulty, so that could be the case here.
 
Breaking this one down in crayons for y'all as I had the same thought as Bill but didn’t post it up …
I load a wheel barrel into my boiler 3-4 times a day to heat a 4500 sf home with both in floor heat and a furnace with an A coil.
Seems like a lot of wood to me as well. I load a wheelbarrow in the evening and a couple good sized chunks around noon and am heating close to 10,000sq/ft of house and farm shop. Mostly softwoods like pine, box elder and cottonwood with some ash mixed in.

As long as you have time to keep feeding it you are fine. What type of line did you use to run to the house? My neighbor and my brother both cheaped out running theirs. In one case it melts the snow on top of the ground along the path to the house. I used the $11/ft thermopex from Central Boiler. I will attest to the accuracy of the claim they make saying you can run it on top of the ground. The first winter I actually had a portion of it exposed on the snow did not even melt on top of it.
My mind was wondering about the pipe as well. Has nothing to do with the fans turning off issue but with poorly insulated pipe the stove will run more often and lose more heat thus resulting in more wood being burnt and the need for more frequent loading.

Ignore him, he's great an antagonist. Your issues doesn't have anything to do with your lines running to the house.
No they don’t but a legit question was being asked about something else the OP mentioned.

I never said it did. Do you have a OWB? Instead of trying to stir up trouble please share your experience.
I love the internet so much !!

To add to the pipe discussion ….. I also used the insanely expensive pipe in the 1-1/4” size and it is truly impressive stuff. I have a 175’ loop between the stove and shop and lose less than 1F which is bonkers.

Everyone in this thread belongs in the spelling/grammar thread on AS. Goodness lol
 
Breaking this one down in crayons for y'all as I had the same thought as Bill but didn’t post it up …

Seems like a lot of wood to me as well. I load a wheelbarrow in the evening and a couple good sized chunks around noon and am heating close to 10,000sq/ft of house and farm shop. Mostly softwoods like pine, box elder and cottonwood with some ash mixed in.


My mind was wondering about the pipe as well. Has nothing to do with the fans turning off issue but with poorly insulated pipe the stove will run more often and lose more heat thus resulting in more wood being burnt and the need for more frequent loading.


No they don’t but a legit question was being asked about something else the OP mentioned.


I love the internet so much !!

To add to the pipe discussion ….. I also used the insanely expensive pipe in the 1-1/4” size and it is truly impressive stuff. I have a 175’ loop between the stove and shop and lose less than 1F which is bonkers.

Everyone in this thread belongs in the spelling/grammar thread on AS. Goodness lol
There is no doubt the fan issue is 100% separate from any efficiency loss do to piping but we both know any efficiency loss will eat wood. I simply asked about the choice in pipe because I have have seen it be a major issue. Those of us that have real life experience with outdoor boilers understand that. It most certainly seems like the OP has a electrical control issue which is multiplying his problems. I am not familiar with that brand as the 6 units in operation here are Central Boiler or another. I have a person I can contact but I really do not think he will be of much help. No matter what...... the wood consumption seems extremely excessive especially given our current climate. I am hoping between the group we can collectively help the OP and the ones that want to be negative can just well ya know.
 
How is the weather up there? Guys are itching to go ice fishing. Hell the wheat is growing here yet.
I wouldn’t eat lunch and go on the ice around here yet …..

Up North there is enough to comfortable go in with an ATV but not much more. Up North to us is at least Red Lake lol

Weather has been very mild. This time last year I was through 6 cord of wood already. I’m barely 2 in so far. Not complaining about that though lol. We could really really use some moisture though. Things are setting up to be a very dry 2024 😕
 
I think this past summer was the driest I have seen. I know it was drier than 1984 and I think it was worse than 1988. The 1988 drought was thought to be our worst ever since 1936. In 1988 most of us had to drill new wells to keep the hogs watered. The Mississippi River "officially" closes to barge traffic here Friday but the river will be wide open. I worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers from 1991-95. In 1991 we were set to close traffic on December 15 but the ice set in faster. In early December we already were looking at 8" ice and the high horsepower tows were breaking what they could above the dam. I left for home at 4PM and around 5PM a small tow got caught in the ice flow and ended up in the dam. Thankfully the skeleton crew got off fine but the tow had to lay up against the roller in the dam until mid March.
 
Back
Top