New OWB owner- some questions

[Scrapiron]

First off, what a great site. I've already learned a ton of information, so thanks. I recently moved into a home that has an OWB (Taylor 750). It heats both the upstairs and downstairs of a ~2,500 sq. ft 124 year old farmhouse. We do have electric heat and propane, but we're very excited about the OWB.

First off, most of the free wood is pine. Well, beggars can't be choosers. I've got the fan set to turn off when the temp reads 160 degrees. The previous owner said 160 - 180 temp was ideal, and at that temp, the house heats just fine.

My question- in the morning, the fan is blowing, but there's nothing but ashes, so the temp is usually down to 110 - 120. I imagine the fan is cooling off things even more. I could stock the unit full at night, but then I'm afraid the temp would go above 200. He didn't recommend letting it get that hot. Any suggestions?

The temps now are around mid 30's at night, mid 50's in the day.

The Taylor could also heat the hot water, but the prev owner replaced the hot water tank and as far as I can tell, there is a cold water input and a hot water output. I don't see it connected to the Taylor, though he said the first unit (the one he replaced) was hooked up. Any ideas or should I just call someone out to look at it (all pipes are under the house). I imagine I should have someone (knowledgeable) come out.

And yes, my Husky 340 is a bit underpowered... I'm waiting for that large wood score before I make a serious attempt at getting a more robust saw.

Any other first time user OWB tips.. I have been looking and searching the forum daily.

Thanks again- Skot

By the way, the Taylor is about 4 years old, along with new pipes to the house. The prev owner replaced the 450 that had been here about 20 years.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Does it have an aquastat to shut the blower down when it reaches 180? Not sure why it would get to 200 if you have a good seal at the door and the fan kicks off. Save for water getting too low, pump stopping etc...

 

[Scrapiron]

Thanks. Hmmm.. aquastat. How would I know if I have one?

 

[cleanburn]

How do you set the fan to turn off? An aqustat is something that is put into the waterjacket of the stove so that when the water reaches a certain temp the stove shuts the fan off. Then once it reaches a low temp or the temp that the span should be it will turn on again. When the other owner said 160-180, the aquastat should be set at 180 with a range of 20 degrees.

Typically all stoves will run in the aquastat settings(as long as they are filled with wood ), with a small rise maybe 5 degrees above the highest set point...shouldn't drop much below the low set point either. If you get 10 degrees above your set point you probably have an air leak somewhere causing your fire to keep burning and overheating your stove.

 

[Scrapiron]

Yes, there is a thermostat.. right now it's set to 160- so the fan cuts off at 160.

My concern is- last night the temp was ~180 and I needed to add wood. So I added a few large (seasoned) pine logs (two 24" long about 8" diameter) and a couple of smaller hardwood (looks like fruit trees). When I came out this morning, nothing but ashes, the fan blowing, and the temp was 115.

So, I think I may need to learn how to load the stove (at the right times with the correct amount).

Also, about every two days, I fill the tank with water.. usually about a 45 seconds before it's topped off (i.e water coming out of the top overflow drain). Is that right?

Thanks-

 

[coostv]

If you are adding water every two days the is a leak somewhere in the system. I add water to mine maybe once every 1-2 months of use.

Measure your level daily and track how much you are adding.

Chris

 

[Butch(OH)]

First off welcome to the board, lots of good info and a few BS'ers (of course I am not one of them, LOL)

Loading your OWB should not be rocket science, I think the madman got it right when he asked about air leaks. The door must seal tight and so must the ash door if so equipped. This would explain the high wood usage and boiling (high water usage) I use less than 5 gallons a month.

The way it should work is the aquastat should call for the draft fan to come on at X temp and Off at X temp. When it shuts off there will be some temp rise afterward due to the heat of the coals. In periods of low heat usage it will go up farther than when using lots of BTUS but should not raise more than 20 degrees give or take a few. One way to tell if you have gasket problems is by viewing the smoke from the unit. If your unit is sealed up good there should be very little smoke after an hour goes by without the draft fan running. After an hour, If you open the door the fire should be almost nonexistent but it will of course still be very hot in there. If you still have flames and/or lots of red coals after a long period of no draft fan operation you have air leaks to fix. Another possibility for high wood usage is ground loss. Turn the house thermostat way down so no heat is being called for. The OWB should hold temp for a long periods of time without the draft fan running, many hours. If it is cooling you have heat loss problems with your underground lines.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Butch is right on the money...I only add 5 gallons or so every 2-3 months. Not real sure on amount I just add from garden hose for a few minutes.
I'm only burning junk wood right now and adding once a day...temps in 30's at night and 40's during the day as a comparison...heating 4,000sq. ft at 73 degrees.

 

[Scrapiron]

Great advice! I'll check today/tonight (and pay closer attention) on wood usage, conditions with the fan off, and water usage.

 

[S. Todd]

Good advice from the other guys. I hardly ever add water. I read a good way to check for air leaks in my owners manual: During the off cycle, put a shovel full of soggy leaves in your firebox on top of the coals. Lay an old board across the chimney stack. Close up the firebox door and moniter where the smoke escapes from, those areas will need to be sealed up better. A calm day would be ideal. Make sure to remove the board after you find the air leaks!

The most common places for the leaks to be are the firebox door, the blower / damper, flue cleanout, ash removal door or port, and/or the anti-rollout port.

Good luck.
Steve

 

[cleanburn]

I checked for airleaks by capping the chimney when the fan is on....you don't want a totally airtight seal on your chimney but a metal bucket over it will work and you'll see where the smoke is coming out in a few minutes of waiting....remember to take that cap off later too

 

[stephen44]

I have a taylor 750 - here's what i do and i can go 30 hours and come home to glowing coals.

I have the blower thermostat set to 160 and the house thermostat set to 70. I assume you have a house thermostat ? Mine does DHW as well for a 3000 sq ft house.

I load the stove as full as it can go. The blower motor on the 750 has a damper that swings down to cover the air intake to the blower - so i place this in the most covered position. This means that when the blower is not on - the draw of air into the boiler is slowed down - it is this I find makes for very quick burns.

Doing this can create a lot of creosote so my next burn - I make very short and hot with maximum air to burn it off.

As long as you can see water in the plastic tube - i would not worry about topping it off - I fill mine back up about 1 a month - takes 4-5 minutes. For DHW the Taylor takes mains water in - through a heat exchanger in theboiler and then to the faucets or tank - there is no pump - just the pressure ofthe supply itself - hence it has a "topping off" supply already their.

Hope this helps - Stephen

 

[23putts]

If you were heating your water to 180 it would have a better chance to climb to 200 after a burn. Once the damper closes you might see an additional 10 degree climb, but that would only happen if your not pulling any heat off.

We have a Taylor 450. Aquastat is set @ 160. Heats a 3000 sq. ft house and a 400 sq. ft barn. Nights have been in the 30s, days in the 60s. I load it 3/4 full @ night and just keep a small fire going during the day. You will learn how to feed the beast after a little trial and error.

 

[stephen44]

If you were heating your water to 180 it would have a better chance to climb to 200 after a burn. Once the damper closes you might see an additional 10 degree climb, but that would only happen if your not pulling any heat off.

We have a Taylor 450. Aquastat is set @ 160. Heats a 3000 sq. ft house and a 400 sq. ft barn. Nights have been in the 30s, days in the 60s. I load it 3/4 full @ night and just keep a small fire going during the day. You will learn how to feed the beast after a little trial and error.

that sounds about right - how much wood for the year do you estimate you will use ?

 

[Scrapiron]

Thanks for all the info everyone.

I checked my damper.. it was sticking. So, sometimes the fan was blowing and the damper was closed. Other times I noticed, the fan wasn't blowing and it was open. DOH!! Fixed that and things are better now.

I also re-read the Taylor manual about how to load the wood- I was just tossing logs in there mostly towards the back. Now I'm stacking them in the front.

Doing those two things- when I came out this morning, the fan was blowing, damper open, temp at ~160, and hot, hot coals.

Yesterday, I did throw some leaves in there to smolder and noticed smoke coming out the back- I've got the plate as tight as it can go. Is that normal? I haven't put a bucket on the stove pipe yet.

Now the good news- a friend down the road called and asked if I wanted some wood. Hmmmm... yes! He said he'd bring it over... a limb had fallen off a tree. A LIMB?!? Okay, whatever. Well, the "limb" was half of a huge oak (I think it's red) tree! Let's see if I can post a pic....

This was taken this morning (hey, early to rise...) and shows about 60% of the wood we unloaded. Those pieces were heavy- now I've got to split that.. with a maul.

 

[stephen44]

did you also see the restrictor plate that is on the outside - and swings down to cover the fan opening - i run with this almost closed and get really long burns - with not too much smoke? - this is not the same as the internal throat damper.

I can post a picture this weekend if you need

 

[Scrapiron]

Yes, I did.. on mine it's on top and swung wide open. I'll try that tonight when I get home.

So by doing this, it restricts ( ) the amount of air available to the fan, hence the fire?

I also didn't see any water in the tube.. by which I mean the tube connected to the thermometer. It's a bit dark due to smoke. I can look closer tonight.

Thanks-

 

[cleanburn]

hardwoods burn hotter than softwoods and that is a great score of free wood!!!

 

[stephen44]

Yes, I did.. on mine it's on top and swung wide open. I'll try that tonight when I get home.

So by doing this, it restricts ( ) the amount of air available to the fan, hence the fire?

I also didn't see any water in the tube.. by which I mean the tube connected to the thermometer. It's a bit dark due to smoke. I can look closer tonight.

Thanks-

that's the one - i swing mine all the way down. I find if mine is open - even with no fan - i burn a ton of wood. I do find keeping the thermostat at 160 helps a lot as well.

remember if the water drops too low - it will fall below the aquastat level - I have a bout 2" in my plastic pipe and it drops about 1/2" a month (because my temp is 160 so never gets close to boiling)

 

[stephen44]

hardwoods burn hotter than softwoods and that is a great score of free wood!!!

but probably next year as it will still be pretty wet for this burn season ?