Okay so I have been dealing with issue with boiler that came with the house I live in. Running two winters now and going through 15 to 17 ricks of wood. I cant seem to keep the temperature up when its really cold out. The boiler seems to run meaning damper open all the time when its cold out. I load full of wood before bed and when I wake back up its burnt all of it and temp is down to 120. Until I put the thermostat valve in and now its only going down to 145 or so. Heating about 3000 sq feet very insulated house. I have two air units its going to one downstairs and one in the attic which lines are insulated. I have asked dealers with no help on this issue. Throwing wood in every two hours. Buying wood from logging place spending $1200 at each winter. I also bought new thermopex tubing going from boiler to house so no heat loss there. Any help would be awesome. Thanks
CB 5648 issue
- Thread starter Indiana42
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midwest_170
ArboristSite Operative
Your wood usage doesn't seem outrageous for the sq footage you are heating. You are basically using 5 to 6 cords to heat 3000 sq ft. I couldn't find any information on your boiler but I would assume it's too small and doesn't have enough water capacity.
NSMaple1
Addicted to ArboristSite
What is a rick?
If it's something like a face cord, you're doing pretty darn good, I'd say.
If you're talking 15 to 17 REAL cords (that's really the right way to talk of wood), then I'd say there's a problem.
'Air units'. You mean air handlers? If they are in unheated spaces (sounds like one is - attic?) are they insulated? Is your ductwork insulated?
If it's something like a face cord, you're doing pretty darn good, I'd say.
If you're talking 15 to 17 REAL cords (that's really the right way to talk of wood), then I'd say there's a problem.
'Air units'. You mean air handlers? If they are in unheated spaces (sounds like one is - attic?) are they insulated? Is your ductwork insulated?
panolo
Seldom right...Always opinionated!
Rick should be a face cord. So 5-6 cords. 5648 should be about 360 gallons.
Are your air units thermostatically controlled or are they running full bore all the time?
Are your air units thermostatically controlled or are they running full bore all the time?
blakey
ArboristSite Operative
I burn 10-15 full cords per year with the same model, running a full 7 months. It has a huge firebox, it should easily hold enough wood to last 12hrs. Loading every 2 hours is not the way to run an owb. Load it fairly full and forget about it for 12 hours. Adjust the loading next time according to the expected temp and demand. Sounds like you are trying to conserve wood because you are paying for it, may have to find other cheaper sources.
Yes I looked that up and I guess a rick would be a face cord or 1/2 cord. It has about 385 gallons and I heard one of these could heat 3 of my houses but that's just what I was told. Seems like something is cooling the water down faster than I can heat it.
No I have tried everything is seems filling the boiler completely full of wood and within 8 hours its completely burned and water temp way down. I wish I could forget about it for 12 hours. Luckily I still have my back up heat my propane kicks on after boiler stops losing heat.
blakey
ArboristSite Operative
What species of wood and how green/seasoned?
Yes my two air units are controlled by thermostat and once its loses heat my furnance propane kicks on.
A lot of hardwood some ash and I don't believe it is green at least that is what logging place is telling me.
Yep face cord and air units meaning two handlers just using the blowers on the furnaces until boiler loses heat then my propane furnace kicks on.
blakey
ArboristSite Operative
If you are buying the wood in log length it will have a lot of moisture in it until you buck it up. Wet/green wood doesn't provide as much heat. Ideally you would get it bucked several months to a year ahead of time. Just from the info you have provided it sounds like you need more wood and drier wood. You can't be filling it full regularly or you would be using far more wood. I use 2 wheelbarrows twice a day in cold weather. I greatly underestimated my wood needs the first couple years. I ran out by January the first year.
I buy the wood already split in about 2 foot lengths so they are alittle longer instead messing with little pieces. I am contemplating on running this boiler or just using propane to heat house whichever is cheaper. When the weather swings to 50 degrees in the winter my boiler or damper shuts and conserves wood a lot more.
blakey
ArboristSite Operative
One tip I can give is to load the front half of the firebox and don't go past the baffle. I feel there is a lot of heat escape up the stack if you fill the back half of the firebox. Otherwise I think you need twice as much wood, may have to buy logs and cut yourself. Paying $200 per cord is not usually economical for an owb.
CentaurG2
Addicted to ArboristSite
Something is wrong. As I recall, the 5648 is rated for 500K BTUs. The firebox is actually 56”x48”. It really should be able to heat 3 houses and a pool. It holds a massive amount of wood. There is no way you should be filling it every 2 hours. If you are, all that heat is going somewhere. If it is not going into the house, it is either going up the chimney or into the ground through the piping.
Thermoplex piping should minimizes loss to the ground. Is the solenoid in the draft door and the aquastat working properly and have you checked the level of water in the boiler? On our unit, the solenoid will open the draft door/fan draft until the water reaches about 185f. The solenoid will then shut off the draft until the water in the boiler cools to about 165f.
Our unit heats an old 2000sf uninsulated house and also does the hot water. On a cold winter, it will easily burn about 20-25 full cords of pine logs/processer hardwood scraps. On really cold nights (-15f+wind) it will run almost constantly and burn a full firebox of fuel in 12 hours but it has no trouble keeping up the heat.
Thermoplex piping should minimizes loss to the ground. Is the solenoid in the draft door and the aquastat working properly and have you checked the level of water in the boiler? On our unit, the solenoid will open the draft door/fan draft until the water reaches about 185f. The solenoid will then shut off the draft until the water in the boiler cools to about 165f.
Our unit heats an old 2000sf uninsulated house and also does the hot water. On a cold winter, it will easily burn about 20-25 full cords of pine logs/processer hardwood scraps. On really cold nights (-15f+wind) it will run almost constantly and burn a full firebox of fuel in 12 hours but it has no trouble keeping up the heat.
Yes I agree it should keep up heating the house. The only thing I can think of is the heat exchanger in the attic furnace box is losing heat somehow. I do have insulation around the duct work and where the exchanger is. The aquastat and solenoid valve seems to be working just fine. Heaven for bid it would get down to -15F. Coldest night since I have had this going was 2F. A friend of mine has a smaller unit and only throws a few logs in keeps all day.
I have a 5648 and heat over 3000 sq ft in my home + hot water + hot tub + a 4400 sq ft garage with 14 foot ceilings and have no trouble burning 8-10 hours at below 0 temps, so something is pulling the heat out of your stove. Have you checked the rope around the door? You may find it is a multitude of little things adding up.
NSMaple1
Addicted to ArboristSite
I don't know how much better you can or can't do, but a few things:
5-6 cords in that boiler is not very much consumption - I would expect maybe double that amount.
Is the water level good, and does it stay there all the time? Ever have to add any?
If you think you are losing heat, you won't really know if you are, or where you are, without accurately measuring pipe temps in & out of everything - boiler, heat exchangers, underground piping - everywhere the water goes in & out of something. A good IR temp gun is good for that, you will have to spray shiny surfaces with flat black paint to get a good reading on those. And you won't get a decent handle on how the boiler is doing, without close observing of boiler temps thru the cycle and what your damper is doing at the temp extremes - when is it opening & closing, how often, etc..
If you didn't mention the Thermopex, losing heat underground would be the prime suspect. Did you install it yourself? If someone else did & you didn't watch them close, maybe they took a shortcut somewhere. Measuring pipe temps at both ends of both pipes should verify that part is OK.
How much propane do you use when not using the wood? Does it keep up OK?
Green wood is also a suspect - you get less heat from it. But if it's green, it also shouldn't burn up to nothing in a couple of hours. What's your coaling situation?
5-6 cords in that boiler is not very much consumption - I would expect maybe double that amount.
Is the water level good, and does it stay there all the time? Ever have to add any?
If you think you are losing heat, you won't really know if you are, or where you are, without accurately measuring pipe temps in & out of everything - boiler, heat exchangers, underground piping - everywhere the water goes in & out of something. A good IR temp gun is good for that, you will have to spray shiny surfaces with flat black paint to get a good reading on those. And you won't get a decent handle on how the boiler is doing, without close observing of boiler temps thru the cycle and what your damper is doing at the temp extremes - when is it opening & closing, how often, etc..
If you didn't mention the Thermopex, losing heat underground would be the prime suspect. Did you install it yourself? If someone else did & you didn't watch them close, maybe they took a shortcut somewhere. Measuring pipe temps at both ends of both pipes should verify that part is OK.
How much propane do you use when not using the wood? Does it keep up OK?
Green wood is also a suspect - you get less heat from it. But if it's green, it also shouldn't burn up to nothing in a couple of hours. What's your coaling situation?
Water level is good in the safe zone. I installed the thermopex myself and everything is covered. The only pipe that is exposed is in the crawl space and in the house going to the air units. I will be placing pipe insulation around all of them. I turned the pump off to see if boiler would hold temp and it did no problem. So the heat loss is in the line somewhere. I will look into a good IR gun. Thanks for the recommendation.
Update I checked temps at supply and return and see about a 30 degree swing going through two heat exchangers and right now I have pulled plug on pump just heating water in the boiler so it doesnt freeze and it's keeping the water hot with little wood consumption. Dealer says it could be the rope on boiler.
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