Heatmor question

[Uncle John]

I might not have been clear on where to feel the water lines.
The lines going into your furnace/heat exchanger inside the house.

Inside the outer door on your Heatmor it should give the model number: 100, 200 or 400

If your water temp is 200+, I think that's too hot.

 

[H-Ranch]

sounds like your heatmor unit is just undersized for your application.

It's this or it could be the heat exchanger in the furnace is too small or is allowing air to bypass it. Hard to say without more details on the install. I think with more experience with it you will probably find how to operate it best for your situation.

A 200+ operating temperature would be above my comfort level as well.

 

[fixit1960]

Okay its warmed up here in Michigan considerably. The Heatmor is doing wonderful! temp in home is 72. It did go down a little last night but not enough to complain. It "Kept up". The only thing i can say is its the cold weather. To me that doesn't make sense because thats what these are for but, the only answer that makes sense to me. IF there was an issue with the heatmor it'd be all the time. i would think.
They use these in Alaska where temps are always frigid. But, the fact it does just perfect when it warms up out.. warming up being 0 to 15 degrees most of the time then with wind chill on top of that.

crowbuster, yes that is basically the temp gauge and how it reads. 98% of the time the temp is 200 or above. Normally it lowers because it needs wood. Fill er back up and she right back 200+
HRanch, Just heating a home. roughly 1600SqFt. Of all the paperwork thats been left for us, nothing says the model WE have. The house is well insulated.
Skindaddy, EVERYTHING is HOT. TOO hot to hang on to. Im assuming the hot water runs through the hot water tank. everything is always hot. The water issue is, The pipes are freezing at these temps and can't get water to run. So i understand what your saying but i have no way of getting water to it at that point. Again though, if its working fine now. My phone says its 25 out, so beautiful. Its at night in -8 plus wind chill. Water shouldn't be an issue.
When its working well during the day the path underground where everything is running from the heatmor to home is melting.
unclejohn, Have home set at 65 if heatmor dies/go out etc.. keeps it at 65 fine. Before we had heatmor running the propane did just fine. Kept it at 68 no issues.
Cantoo, thats exactly whats happened. I really don't have neighbors. Couple miles down from me anyhow. All the driving around I've been doing i haven't yet seen another heatmor,

When its working well during the day the path underground where everything is running from the heatmor to home is melting.

There's the answer boys. The Kitec plumbing isn't insulated. He's losing all the heat into the ground. It will never be efficient like this.....Poor install.

 

[fixit1960]

I suggest you get a Heatmor dealer involved and he will have to verify the suspected heat loss into the ground from the un insulated underground piping. It should have been run inside of an insulated tube system that would prevent heat loss from the back of the stove to the inlet of the heat exchanger or add on hot water heater exchanger. Should not have more than a 5 degree drop from the back of the stove to the first connection inside the basement.

I hope it is not the dealer who did the initial install. This person is the one who screwed up.

You are basically heating the ground from the stove to the basement. Using a lot of wood and I'd be surprised if the inlet temp of your piping in the basement is more than 120 degrees.

 

[Icehouse]

I have 3 friends with heatmore owb. One heats a restaurant, one heats a 12 room motel, the other heats a home and a large shop. They all burn seasoned wood and we have no hardwood in this area. They have no problems in the extreme temperatures. I would love to have a heatmore. OP you asked a couple times what owb was, it means outside wood burner, just one of the many abv. for forum postings. Best of luck.

 

[cantoo]

Does your lines coming into the house look like either of these? 1st one is Logstor and the 2nd is Thermopex. 3rd is a triple wrap.

 

[fixit1960]

Does your lines coming into the house look like either of these? 1st one is Logstor and the 2nd is Thermopex. 3rd is a triple wrap.
View attachment 406086 View attachment 406087
View attachment 406088

Cantoo, I used insulseal brand insulated PVC back when I installed mine 17 years ago. It is insulated PVC and I ran the Kitec tubing inside of it. So the very end of the piece that comes into the basement would look like 2 orange 1" plastic lines coming out of a 4" piece of white PVC. In other words he may not be able to see the insulation around the outside of the PVC. You can't on mine at either end. Not sure insulseal is even available or sold anymore.

To the OP, if you suspect this may be the problem, check the temp of the plastic line coming out of the pump at the back of the stove. The temperature of the line coming into the basement should be almost the same. Within 5degrees. The line going back out of the basement will be about 20 degrees cooler and when it enters the back of the stove it should be about the same as it was leaving the basement. Each properly operating heat exchanger will drop the temp of the liquid about 20 degrees. (provided the fan is on) If it is leaving your stove at 200 and coming back in at 100 you have a problem. If the ground above the run containing the plumbing going from the stove to the basement is warming and starting to thaw, your heat is being lost in the ground. Not good. I have heard of installations like this. The middle of January and they have to mow the grass above that area.

I will await your response.

 

[skindaddy]

exactly what fixit said. its been -30 at least 3 days last week here in mi and the ground is thawed that is at min 62* loss right there but actually more to thaw that much ground. i would deal with it in spring myself

 

[lindnova]

Sounds like heat loss in the pipes. It is very possible that there is enough loss that it can't keep up on cold days. Other possibilities as others have said are to check the heat exchanger (big enough, dirty?) and the pump - is it big enough.

I have the same install as fixit also with the insulated PVC. Has been working good for me. My pipe comes under the footing and is around 8 ft deep until it gets to the furnace where it is less than 2 ft deep. It does not melt snow up next to the furnace - at least no difference where the pipe is than other sides around it.

I hate burning green wood. Lots of smoke. Fire goes out if low demand. I burn big pieces - as large as I can handle. It usually has a year to dry if not more. With the big pieces it is usually around 25% moisture which is perfect for a Heatmor. Small pieces burn up too fast.

 

[1idrod]

I hate burning green wood. Lots of smoke. Fire goes out if low demand. I burn big pieces - as large as I can handle. It usually has a year to dry if not more. With the big pieces it is usually around 25% moisture which is perfect for a Heatmor. Small pieces burn up too fast.

I agree with lindnova on the green wood. If it's to green then your not getting a good bed of coals to sustain startup once its sat awhile. It's just smoldering out. That's been my personal experience before. It sucks going out from a cold house to find your firebox is pretty much full the next morning and no fire.

 

[Marty Mercieca]

Bit of a newbie here..
I can never tell when this needs water to start with. I understand theres a indicator flag however its goes up and down all the time.
My main question though is, are these not suppose to be able to handle frigid temperatures? ex: -10 to -25 degrees? Have a hell of a time keeping running during the night hours. Tend to wake up and it is COLD in the house. 1 of 2 things happen. 1 its running fine but its not "keeping" up. Temp in the house just won't rise but everything outside is working the way it should. At least thats how it looks to me. The only thing I've come to is it needs water. However, at 6am -15, i don't see me adding water to it.
OR, its basically out. Theres wood IN it but the fire is either out or non existing.
Is this normal?
Normally, once we go out and mess with it, add paper and such to get it lit up again if that is the issue. Within 12hours were back to having heat in the house.
Any help or knowledge would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone in advance!

Check your manifolds are set on