Outside wood furnace

[Thomas Moore]

I have an outside wood furnace and I'm trying to cut down on the 40 cord of wood we've used for the last 3 years. It's a Central Boiler with 750 gal tnk. Right now there is no damper in the 12 inch stack, only a spark aresster. Does anyone know if I did put a damper in if that would cause any unseen problems ?? Thank You Tom

 

[Husky137]

What are you heating that you need such a huge unit? There should be a damper in the door of the unit that is controlled by a solenoid to open and close.

 

[Thomas Moore]

What are you heating that you need such a huge unit? There should be a damper in the door of the unit that is controlled by a solenoid to open and close.

That is on the side panel of this UNIT

 

[Thomas Moore]

Hey Husky ! I'm heating a big old barn that I now live in. This place is huge . anyway ,there is no damper in the stack pipe and I was wondering why they don't have 1 ?? I'm thinking of putting 1 in to try and keep some more of the ( smoke ) gases, from going directly out the stack ??

 

[RaisedByWolves]

opcorn:

 

[Thomas Moore]

Were you gonna say something ??

 

[ktm rider]

I had one of these wood eating monsters for 3 years. Thank God I found someone to buy it !! i then bought an AHS multi fuel boiler and put in in my garage. It is WAY, WAY more efficient.
The only way I can think of that might make your outdoor furnace more efficient is to look at the original install and try to fix that a little.
The biggest issue being how the pipes underground are insulated. That is a HUGE part of it. Also, I have heard that the insulation that is around the boiler itself can and will break down after a few years so maybe if you take a look at that and replace it if needed. that might help.
Also I found when I had mine that the type of wood burned really affected the performance.

I would think adding a damper intot the stack would only hold in the smoke and possibly cause a backdraft when you open the door. Maybe a taller stack would help.

The fact is these outdoor boilers are terribly inefficient and any improvement you could find would probably be pretty minumal.

 

[Husky137]

Hey Husky ! I'm heating a big old barn that I now live in. This place is huge . anyway ,there is no damper in the stack pipe and I was wondering why they don't have 1 ?? I'm thinking of putting 1 in to try and keep some more of the ( smoke ) gases, from going directly out the stack ??

How well insulated is the barn? I find that building smaller fires instead of trying to fill the entire firebox allows the fire to burn more efficiently (uses less wood) and smoke very little.

 

[Rspike]

opcorn:

I concur RBW .......... opcorn:

 

[Butch(OH)]

I got tired of feeding my OWB 16 pick up loads of wood every day and got me one them there EPA wood stoves that dont smoke hardy at all, heck it smokes so litttle that I unhooked it from the chimma-knee and it is now vented inside. But I have another problem is it is 42 degrees outside and only 42 1/2 inside the converted corn crib I live in, What do I do to heat this place without spending any money for fuel? Laugh if ya want but with all them spaces between the slats I dont even need windows to look outside.

Heck it has to be true don't it? Why I read it on the internet,,,, well dont it???

How about sharing that popcorn Spike?

 

[MS-310]

I got tired of feeding my OWB 16 pick up loads of wood every day and got me one them there EPA wood stoves that dont smoke hardy at all, heck it smokes so litttle that I unhooked it from the chimma-knee and it is now vented inside. But I have another problem is it is 42 degrees outside and only 42 1/2 inside the converted corn crib I live in, What do I do to heat this place without spending any money for fuel? Laugh if ya want but with all them spaces between the slats I dont even need windows to look outside.

Heck it has to be true don't it? Why I read it on the internet,,,, well dont it???

How about sharing that popcorn Spike?

LOL,
so funny anyways,
That CB is about 10 years old right? The smoke out of the pipe can "not" be helped cuz its not an EPA indoor stove.... dam it sorry, anyways that stove is a big wood hog I worked on one last year and its freaking huge. Make sure your underground pipe is in good cond. not water soaked or not done well, you can lose so much heat that way.

Jack

 

[laynes69]

WOW.........40 Cords in 3 years? Thats alot of .
Those stories are the reason I have yet to jump into an OWB. Im sure if the building was well insulated, and the OWB was a newer one, hell maybe smaller it wouldnt be so bad. But WOW.

 

[Butch(OH)]

WOW.........40 Cords in 3 years? Thats alot of .
Those stories are the reason I have yet to jump into an OWB. Im sure if the building was well insulated, and the OWB was a newer one, hell maybe smaller it wouldnt be so bad. But WOW.

Well, I wouldn't get in the habit of betting my life on the Internet stories, thus my tongue in cheek remarks above. I know of several people who are not satisfied with their OWB fuel consumption. They are trying to heat a barn just like this guy. Now why would a OWB heat a barn on a couple cords of wood when it would take $5000 worth of fuel oil to heat said barn or three or four EPA room stoves? With proper installation, insulation and a decent OWB I would expect to use a little bit more wood with the OWB than a real good stove. Heck the doors get warm and that aint heating the house is it? and most heat the water and some seem to think that should happen by magic too.

Before I heated with a 80's style air tight in my small shop plus an 80s style add-on in the house dont believe I am using the wood with my OWB that I was before plus I am heating my water but I never made a science out of counting firewood either. Just like the EPA stove sellers and advocates there is hype both ways Keep on asking and checking out local owners, I have yet to come upon a wood burner who wasn't proud to show off his stove or boiler.

 

[laynes69]

My wood furnace isnt an epa wood furnace, I burn about 4 to 6 cords a year. Im just saying thats alot of wood. Im not here to preach about anything. Im just saying D--N. I know people with outdoor wood burners and some burn alot while others burn less. Anyway you look at it, all of us here heat with wood.

 

[windthrown]

EPA stove venting inside the house...

I got tired of feeding my OWB 16 pick up loads of wood every day and got me one them there EPA wood stoves that dont smoke hardy at all, heck it smokes so litttle that I unhooked it from the chimma-knee and it is now vented inside. But I have another problem is it is 42 degrees outside and only 42 1/2 inside the converted corn crib I live in, What do I do to heat this place without spending any money for fuel? Laugh if ya want but with all them spaces between the slats I dont even need windows to look outside.

Heck it has to be true don't it? Why I read it on the internet,,,, well dont it???

Butch baby, that's the best post I have read here yet!

... snicker... Venting the EPA stove inside the house... that's the ticket!
Gott'a love it!

 

[windthrown]

Cord wood...

An observation here... some people post that they burn so many cords of wood, but they do not say what kind of wood or the condition. Or how tight the cords are stacked. Then other people get the idea that they are burning some excessive amount of wood, without knowing the type of wood or how dry the wood is.

A cord is a unit of volume, not a unit of thermal energy. Case in point, a cord of dry oak has far more available energy when burning than does a cord of green willow, regardless of what type of appliance it is burned in. There is a huge difference in the energy that you can get from burning different types of wood, and the dryness of that wood. Some exampls of BTUs per cord of some common western US types of firewood (air dried to 12% moisture, lower range is for a loose 70 CF cord, higher range is for a tight 90 CF cord):

Live Oak: 34-36 million(M) BTU/cord
Eucalyptus: 32-34 MBTU/cord
Madrone: 29-30 MBTU/cord
White Oak: 26-28 MBTU/cord
Black Walnut 24-26 MBTU/cord
Douglas fir: 23-26 MBTU/cord
Elm & Cherry & Sicamore: 22-23 MBTU/cord
White Fir: 19-21 MBTU/cord
Red Alder: 18-19 MBTU/cord
Black Willow: 17-19 MBTU/cord
Western Redcedar: 15-17 MBTU/cord
Cottonwood: 16-17 MBTU/cord

*source:
http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/heating_cooling/firewood.html

Or hey, maybe we should all just all go back to burning oil products and forget all this wood burning stuff. It seems that the pro-OPEC agents here on AS have done well to pit the wood burning community against itself.

 

[Butch(OH)]

My wood furnace isnt an epa wood furnace, I burn about 4 to 6 cords a year. Im just saying thats alot of wood. Im not here to preach about anything. Im just saying D--N. I know people with outdoor wood burners and some burn alot while others burn less. Anyway you look at it, all of us here heat with wood.

I don't mean to come off as preaching or the final word and my tongue is in my cheek a lot when I type, sorry I forget people cant see my face on here. There are differing choices in wood heaters because of differing circumstance, not because there are choices for stupid people and smart people as has been suggested a time or two. I just like to inject things for folks to think about. When people say they heat with 2 cords I think, not in my climate and standards of warmth and certainly not in my sized house. Same as when we read about people who have used a lot. I think the most I have read was 25 cord a year. I could set the wood on fire in the yard and keep the house warm on 25 cord.

 

[Booshcat]

(air dried to 12% moisture, lower range is for a loose 70 CF cord, higher range is for a tight 90 CF cord):

Not to nit pick :hmm3grin2orange: but I thought a cord of wood was 128 CF?

Maybe it's the vast Pro-Opec conspiracy, once again confusing the dim-witted mouth breathing log burners, with that complex math cuby stuff.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Not to nit pick but I thought a cord of wood was 128 CF?

It is indeed. Nothing else is a cord.

Which brings up another question:

Was that person who burns 25 cords really burning 25 cords? Or does he not know what a cord is? Does he think there's such a thing as a "face cord", and that what he means when he talks about how much he burns?

 

[Sprig]

25 cords!!!!!

Great leapin' chocolate covered horney toads!!!!!!!! That is crazy unless, of course, they are measuring with the starter cord of da saw, sheesh, or heating a 10,000sq ft lodge. In the Arctic. All year.
:help:
September-April-ish, 700sq ft. 3 (good) cords max on a cold winter here (unless its pine, then add one lol).