Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => HeatMaster => Topic started by: CountryBoyJohn on May 01, 2018, 06:14:20 AM
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I'm starting my first summer burning in my 10k. I just finished my 5th season of heating the house (finally.) I'll be gaining 3 foster boys this summer making us a family of 8 and 6 of the 8 are boys. Boys that will probably be taking a shower every night!! I figured it was a good time to start burning over the summer and see how it goes. My wife has been begging me to hook the pool up to an exchanger also. I just don't want to spend the $500 on that project yet.
I've already started cutting up smaller stuff and splitting into much smaller pieces. I figure it's easier for that stuff to coal up and re-light with the longer idle periods. I've also dropped my set temps down with a tighter differential. I'm probably going to make it tighter. I've been running 170 top with an 8 degree swing. I went out to a dead fire this morning. :bash:
This is a good example of why I dump into my hot water tank after my heat exchanger. Even though my fire is out, the stove is off, and the pump is off, I still have 40 gallons of somewhat hot water for dishes, washing hands, and maybe even a load of laundry. I have upstairs plumbed immediately from the heat exchanger. There will be no hot water upstairs until I get home tonight and get the fire going again.
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A couple of things I've found helpful-
A tight differential. Even down to 2°.
Small wood. Shavings, sawdust mixed in smolders well.
A small hole drilled below the flap in the back can create enough air leakage to keep it lit.
Another option would be to just do a match burn every evening during showers.
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Good tips! I essentially did a batch burn last night. I was out of wood so I tossed in a bunch of small stuff to get it going again and got it back up to temp. I'll have to do the same thing tonight for showers because after it batched, it didn't relight. So, I've got a bunch of wood I'll have to pull out to relight and re-establish my coal bed.
One thing I figured out as well, is how much heat my furnace water to air exchanger seeps. I flipped my bypass for the first time so it just goes to my water to water exchanger, bypasses the furnace, and goes right back out to the stove. My house is staying cooler and I'm not burning near as much wood. I might consider installing a 3 way valve that is connected to my thermostat. I'm sure that standard installation for a lot of you guys.
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Usually it convects hot air off the coil if it has a sloped duct (low cold air return or coill is in the return). Becomes a chimney.
We pump a secondary loop off the main loop that starts and stops with the tstat. A 3 way zone valve works too, costs a smidge more.
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Usually it convects hot air off the coil if it has a sloped duct (low cold air return or coill is in the return). Becomes a chimney.
We pump a secondary loop off the main loop that starts and stops with the tstat. A 3 way zone valve works too, costs a smidge more.
Costs a bit more and adds restriction to the line. Pumps are cheap and a lot more reliable way to go.
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So, I'm still burning for hot water and I've got things figured out so far. It's going much better with the smaller pieces and a 3 degree differential.
I have a pool in the back yard. It's an in-ground 18'x36' and holds nearly 25,000 gallons. I developed a hole in the cover this winter, and didn't really know it. I went to pump off the water on the cover and unplugged it for the night. Well, it continued to siphon through the pump over night. Since I had a hole in the cover, it apparently drained my pool down nearly 2' of depth. So, for the last 2 nights, I've been running straight hot water from the "hot" side of my washing machine hookup to fill it back up. I figured this way, we can get in it sooner if I had 8,000 gallons of 110 degree water through my 20 plate.
I loaded the stove at 4:30 p.m. with 10-12 large pieces of healthy locust and turned the water on. That's really enough for me to get 12 hours during a day in the 30's. By 9:00 p.m., I had to add more wood! I think I've got another 4 or 5 hours of running the hose before it's filled enough to get the skimmers submerged. I'll let you know what temperature I end up in the pool. I'm hoping to crack 80 degrees, but we'll see.
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People ask about heating their pools, most don’t believe me when I tell em it will take as much or more than your winter heat load depending on how soon you start warming the pool up.
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Yup, just got a call from a customer who started heating his pool. Pulled 10 degrees overnight in pool temp. Eating wood like January. :)
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Heating a pool is a quick way to make your wood boiler system pay for itself in half the estimated recovery period. BUT be warned ,when your wife experiences 90*f pool water it will never get used again without 85*f minimum :o . Happy wife ,happy life lmao ;D
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Got that right. Had one Grandma tell me "It makes my grand children come see me". Had one dad tell me" I get up sat. morning steppin' over kids in my basement, sleeping kids all around the pool, but guess what? I know where my two girls are at."
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Well, I got her opened up (after a long battle with ammonia) she came up 78 degrees! I didn't get an exact temp before, but I guarantee it was less than 70 degrees and it would've been at least another 2 weeks before we could have gotten in. Now, I wait for my water bill!! :o
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The pool came up 78 degrees? Or up to 78 degrees I guess ? The boys will love it I bet!
I didn't follow you on the ammonia thing either.
I've used a small flat plate and submersible pump and garden hoses to pull a pool up to temp, then flush with fresh water to protect the flat plate from chemicals. Works great and is cheap.
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Technically in Indiana a OWB can only be used from Sept 15th till May 15th.
Long as you ain’t got no nosey neighbors I ain’t gonna tell.
If you were up here you would have to worry about your water bill, pool would probably be over filled by now.
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I get ammonia contamination in my pool about once a year as a reaction to field spraying. In this instance, ammonia consumes chlorine that keeps the pool sanitary. The only way to kill ammonia in the pool is to completely overwhelm it with chlorine. It's a pain and usually costs $100 in chlorine shock every time it happens.
I've considered the cheap way too, with a hose and a small pump. The heat exchanger I have on my list is nearly $400, plus all the new plumbing I would have to do. I'm on county water, so i don't have to pay septic rates. It'll probably be a $150-$200 water bill this month. Normally I'm at $35-$40 a month.
It's also illegal to burn coal in an outdoor wood stove in Indiana. I won't say if I have or have not done that either. >:D
My closest neighbor is 0.15 miles away through thick woods. We're good and he doesn't mind. My next closest neighbor is over 1/4 mile away. I've been burning for 5 years and no one has said anything.
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Makes sense on the ammonia. I've never messed with pool chemicals.
A 3x8" 30 plate ($100 or less on eBay) can heat a good sized pool pretty quickly.
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It's also illegal to burn coal in an outdoor wood stove in Indiana.
Do they allow burning coal in an outdoor coal stove? If so, then I don't see any reason you can't in an MF series stove since it is as much a coal stove as a wood stove.
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It's also illegal to burn coal in an outdoor wood stove in Indiana.
Do they allow burning coal in an outdoor coal stove? If so, then I don't see any reason you can't in an MF series stove since it is as much a coal stove as a wood stove.
Jeez, I keep our barnyards scraped a much as possible so I don’t have to wade thru anymore bullcrap that absolutely required, now you’re gonna make me read thru Indianas wood burner regs again. /wrists
Anyways, I believe Indianas to be much like the Feds, if its a dedicated coal burner then it can be used in Indiana. BUT, it has to be a dedicated coal burner, like a C series, a MF is a no go as it’s multi fuel. Manufacturer is also required to void the warranty if anything is burned in a coal stove besides coal.
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That would make sense on anything made after 2015 but the stove we are talking about was made before that and sold as a multi fuel stove, not a wood stove.
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Sounds like he's not too concerned anyway. :)
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I almost considered hooking everything back up and firing back up...got my first electric bill since shutting and down and HOLY crap...I guess we use a lot more hot water than I thought!!! but, with 3 kids, 12 dogs and wife I guess that's expected :thumbup: O0
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I'm still burning. Pretty much non-stop since '07. AEP makes out just fine without any extra from me. :D
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I'm still burning. Pretty much non-stop since '07. AEP makes out just fine without any extra from me. :D
Yeap I might start burning year round, I only really shut down for June, July and August anyways...then sometime in September I usually fire up..depending on the year. Now, with the addition of the 2,000 sqft puppy building and grooming facility we will be using even more hot water.
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I'm still burning. Pretty much non-stop since '07. AEP makes out just fine without any extra from me. :D
W have em here as well, sad part is AEP is cheaper on electric rates than Nipsco who we have. Course, only bright side to that is nobody is cheaper around for nat gas than Nipsco. Course thats only helpful for drying corn as my gas usage is higher in the summer than winter for the house.
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Still burning here too. Don't know how much it saves, but just like water that is really hot, and now with the addition of the clothes dryer just makes me think I need to keep burning.
D5Knapp, you should invent a dog dryer.
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How viable is drying corn with an outdoor furnace? Thinking about their new small biomass burner burning ag waste.
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Still burning here too. Don't know how much it saves, but just like water that is really hot, and now with the addition of the clothes dryer just makes me think I need to keep burning.
D5Knapp, you should invent a dog dryer.
NOT A BAD IDEA :thumbup: :thumbup:
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How viable is drying corn with an outdoor furnace? Thinking about their new small biomass burner burning ag waste.
Small one wouldn’t be enough, the burner on our continuous flow dryer is rated at 5,000,000 BTU.
We don’t have AG waste to speak of.
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Ok, different ballpark. :)