OWB Temp range

[Tree Feller]

so I’m sure this has been talked about, but here it goes. My stove is set at 165 on and 180 off for the water temp. A buddy of mine has his set at 170 on and 175 off? He says it burns less wood if you set the difference closer because the fan don’t run as long? But in my mind it has to run more often? So does anyone have experience with this or what’s y’all thoughts?? Also I want to leave the top end at 180 seems do do really well. Thanks!

 

[Streblerm]

I don’t have an OWB but in general short cycling a heating device does not increase its efficiency. If there are any savings in your friend’s settings it is probably from the lower off temp.

 

[panolo]

I'm set at 172-192.

 

[jfriesner]

I'm interested to see the information gathered here. I've wondered this myself as to what the best temp is and difference between high/low. Mine is set to 160/180 which makes for a longer burn cycle but it doesn't kick on very often. But 160 is pretty low temp to get all my exchanger to work well when the temp is down and more then one thing is calling for heat.

 

[Deleted member 117362]

20 degree separation is recommended. Mine is running 150-170.

 

[crowbuster]

150-180. heatmor

 

[jrider]

I run 170-180. Have never messed with those settings.

 

[NSMaple1]

IMO the short cycling from a close differential will hurt efficiency. Usually OWBs are at their smokiest (and less efficient) stage when they are coming off idle, so doing that more often doesn't sound the best - it would just be getting itself ramped up when the fire gets snuffed and the smoldering starts again. Also the higher the top number is, the more standby heat loss there will be, but whether it's enough to matter or not would be another matter.

 

[Tree Feller]

I have a digital aqua-stat so its not hard to change. I changed the differential to 10 Saturday. It's now 170-180. It's been down in the low 20's both nights and the stove seems to be burning cleaner? I'm going to run it like this for a few weeks and compare? May lower the top number after that down to 170 and see how wood consumption is. After a lot of research my consensus is everyone runs their stoves different! So i think the answer is to try different settings log the results to find that "best" setting for my stove. I also have noticed at the 170-180 setting my air handler don't run as long to heat my house as it does at the lower setting? Should be a small savings there as well? Time will tell?

 

[NSMaple1]

Another factor is that you don't want cold water returning into the boiler. Anything below 140 or so for extended periods will build creosote in the firebox badly. Not sure what boiler you have or if it has return temp protection? Or what you have in the house & how much heat it is pulling out? Or what the heat loss might be in your underground. So the warmer you keep it would help in that way, maybe, as the return water should also then be that much warmer. At the cost of more wood burned. One of those things where individual situations & systems play a part.