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Author Topic: first cold snap  (Read 5513 times)

yoda

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first cold snap
« on: December 16, 2008, 01:00:17 PM »

  Well I can finally stop wondering If my stove will keep up when it gets really cold.-25f last night with wind chill of -40. Filled stove at 10pm before bed, got up at 6:30. house nice and toasty, water temp at 145.  Stove was pretty much out of wood with nice bed of coals.  Looks like I will have to fill stove at least 3 tmes a day when it's this cold, but I'm OK with that. I'm kind of wishing I had gotten the next size bigger stove, so it would fit more wood on fill up. But then maybe I will use slightly less wood this way? Sure is nice not using any propane though. ;D
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fletcher0780

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2008, 05:33:31 AM »

What size did you get? I have a 290 and still need to fill 3x when it's very cold.
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yoda

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2008, 08:59:46 AM »

 I've got the 165. I have an older house aprox. 1400 sqaure feet not including the basement, also keep my 36*42 shop heated to around 40 degrees. The house is not very well insulated and drafty, the shop is a morton building and very well insulated.(sometimes I consider just living in there ;D) After I bought my shaver I looked at a woodmaster, the firebox in the woodmaster is much much larger, sooo maybe 3 times a day isn't so bad,  It would be awsome to be able to try a stove for 1 year, then try another brand to compare wood consumption, burn times etc.  Everyones situation is a little different and so many variables it's kind of hard to compare(apples to oranges) How big is your house? Also the stove sits aprox 150' from the house and 80' from the shop.  I ran my pex inside 4" pvc with the pex wrapped inside of that foil faced bubble wrap insulation, I'm on kind of a side hill so I T'd off of the 4" pvc at it's lowest point and ran a drain down the hill with a cap on the end, just incase I got some water inside the pvc I could drain it out.  I'm very glad I did as even though I glued all my joints I do get some water in the pipe after a heavy rain. In my brain if there is any water next to your pex it's going to suck all the heat out. In hind sight I wish I had just sprung for the expensive $12 a foot pex. 
« Last Edit: December 17, 2008, 09:11:27 AM by yoda »
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fletcher0780

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2008, 01:07:13 PM »

I heat my 3000 sq. ft. house (including basement), it's a log home and in need of sealing , so there are some draft issues. I also heat my 36x26 garage to 45* and an 800 sq. ft. apartment above the garage. My domestic hot water is heated indirectly through my existing system, and I'm going to run the apartment DHW off the coil in the shaver eventually. The boiler is 160' from my house, and 50' from the garage. I used the cheap TSP 1.25", but only go it down 2-3' because of ledge. I had snow melt above the trench for the first dusting we got, but only see a 3-4* drop in temp from the furnace to the house. I'm glad I got the TSP, it saved me over $2000 and I think it will serve me fine.

I've done several mods to my shaver already (you can read my thread) and have a few more in mind. The shaver is poorly insulated in my opinion and d improvement in this area is important to the system efficiency.  I bought 1200 lbs of anthracite coal to mix in during the very cold (teens and below) days and it seems to work well. I add 3-4 shovel fulls and then load with wood. I saw a 30* temperature increase in 1 hour mixing in coal on a 10* day, when every zone in my house was calling for heat.
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yoda

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2008, 01:46:53 PM »

Let us know if you figure out a way to insulate the door better, your idea with the vent tube modificatin worked great by the way, thanks. I haven't added any water in over 3 weeks. I've been looking at Grandgracings pics of insulation with interest.  I'm thinking next summer I may do something similar. I am fairly satisfied with the stove overall but probably would be as happy or happier with the woodmaster wich is sold right accross the street from where I work.  One of the things that sold me on the shaver was the thickness of the firebox, untill I was filling it with water and realized only the round tube is 3/8" thick.  The end plates that are welded to the tube are only 1/4".  I e-mailed Shaver and told them I thought their web site was missleading in this regard.  He E-mailed me back and said the round tube is what takes all the heat and abuse. ???  Seems to me its only as good as the thinest part :bash:
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fletcher0780

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2008, 02:52:33 PM »

There is a guy on arboristsite that has regular fiberglass insulation stuffed between the panels, and said it's holding up well. He's had it in there for 3-4 weeks and said only the edges have blackened, but not melted or deteriorated. He said he can hold his hand to the door during a burn cycle now, I measured over 250* on the outside of my door.
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yoda

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2008, 06:28:45 PM »

 Interesting I think I may try that as well, as I noticed my door gets pretty hot also. I did insulate the rear door and the 2 sides in the rear access area I also put some insulation between the top of the rear door and the hot water coil access plate to try and keep some more heat in.  I wish Grandgracing had taken some pics with the siding off and the original insulation still on to get an idea of how good of a job they did with the fiberglass insulation.In my opinion it would make a big difference depending on how meticulous you are in fitting the insulation, gaps etc. And being you can't see in there it wouldn't surprise  me if they did a sloppy job. After all how cold does it get in Arkansas
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gandgracing

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2008, 08:41:17 PM »

The insulation that it comes with is very thin.  I'm really happy with the foam insulation.  Are you talking about insulating the inside of the steel front door?  I'm heating around a 2000SF house and also circulating through my 30x36 shop (unit heater 210btu not running) and only fill it 2 times a day at single digits outside.  Since my shop is not insulated I only use it when working and it really dont keep up cause the unit heater never shuts off as the building doesn't hold any heat.  When I turn on the shop heater after about a half hour I see the water temp of the stove drop but about another half hour later I will see it go up if I open the fan door on the stove all the way.  On days like around 40 or higher if you leave the fan door all the way open for to long it will start boiling the water.  I usually leave the fan door open about a half an inch and notice a lot of creasode? on the inside of the firebox and top of chimney.  Opening it 3/4 seems to burn hot enough to rid this problem.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2008, 09:11:35 PM by gandgracing »
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fletcher0780

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2008, 10:41:41 PM »

yeah, I'm talking about the firebox door. I think a lot of heat is lost there. I'm definately going to add insulation this spring. Not sure if I'll use spray foam or foam panels, maybe I'll fill the void underneath with foam, and use the panels on the sides, inbetween the square tubing over the existing insulation. Did you have a hard time maintaining temperature before you insulated it? did you go through more wood before also? I can only get about 165* out of my 290 in sub 30* weather, if I set the stat any higher the blower just keeps running. You should consider the mod I did to my blower to stop your boiling problems in warmer weather.
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gandgracing

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #9 on: December 20, 2008, 06:05:22 PM »

Last year I couldn't keep wood in it at all and the blower never would shut off. I was going through a truck load in about 4 or 5 days.  I was about to get rid of it and then decided I was just going to have to make it work.  This year since the insulation its like a whole different stove.  My wife says I worry to much about it but yesterday I filled it about 4pm and it got down to around 20* last night.  I got home around 6:30 am and the house was still at 73* and the furnace was not running.  The blower was on and little wood was left and I think it would have heated up enough to shut the blower down. 14.5 hrs, just 2 times a day and last year it was like 4.  I do plan on doing the fan door mod.
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fletcher0780

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #10 on: December 20, 2008, 06:43:50 PM »

spring can't come quick enough for me to add insulation. How long did it take for you to strip the siding, especially around the areas that were siliconed from the factory. could you document the process you followed? Do you think shooting the insulation underneath would help anymore? Do you have any more pictures of the process other than the ones you posted?
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gandgracing

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Re: first cold snap
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2008, 01:49:53 AM »

It didn't take no time to take all the siding off.  I did remove the pumps and everything on the back which was a little time consuming as I labeled everything and also labeled all the siding so it would be easier to put back together.  On the front you need to take off the doors and the handle for the water and then start peeling off the silicone.  Comes off really easy. It looks as if the front siding wont come off unless you cut it but it will.  If you are going to spray the top you will need to mark and place the water lines to the valve where they need to be cause the front siding will not be there.  Underneath I think it would be better to spray the bottom or at least put some insulation up against it so that the coldness from the concrete would be eliminated.  I really think my setup would work even better when I get my shop insulated.  The pump to the shop runs all the time with the unit heater fan off to keep it from freezing, but its like circulating thru a freezer.  I dont have any more pictures, Sorry.
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