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Author Topic: New Furnace Owner  (Read 10698 times)

Marleywood

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New Furnace Owner
« on: February 02, 2017, 11:29:57 AM »

Hi,

New to the forum and new to owning a wood furnace.  We recently bought a house in central New Hampshire which has a Central Boiler CL-5648.

The house has oil heat via 2 furnaces, one in 2BR garage apartment (separate systems).  When the wood furnace system is engaged, it will heat both areas.

I'm a total noob on this system, so please bear with me if I have seemingly obvious questions.

I have the manual that came with the furnace, but it's a bit overwhelming.

My first simple(?) question is on on to fire it up.

In my crawl space in the main house, near the furnace are four hot water pipe valves that are clearly marked as to their required positions for wood heat Vs the oil system only.

I have checked the boiler for water (good).

So, I build a fire.......
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Roger2561

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2017, 05:47:17 PM »

Welcome to the forum Marleywood.  I'm in NH also.  If you're at all familiar with Dartmouth College, I live about 15 miles south east of the college in a small town called Enfield.  You'll find a lot of smart people on this forum who are willing to share their expertise with anyone who asks for help.  Ask all the questions you want.  Every question is an important one. 

I have a Central Boiler E-Classic 1400.  This is my 6th season heating my 4500sqft house and domestic hot-water (DHW).  I fired mine up in early October and I think I'm approaching 3 cord of wood.  For the past 6 seasons my oil burner has been my backup heating system.  Roger
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fireboss

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2017, 06:07:02 PM »

Before you light the fire you must make sure  your pump or pumps are working and you have no leaks and the water is circulating . I would let it flow at least 24 hrs and then you need to test the water  it tells you how in the manual ,then you to see if the draft door is working you can do that by shutting the unit on and off then if it works light the fire but do it when you can be the to make sure it shuts itself down when it reaches the temperature it's set at
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hondaracer2oo4

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2017, 10:20:51 PM »

Where in central nh? I'm in Canterbury 10 mins north of concord.
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Marleywood

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2017, 12:16:52 PM »

I'm @ Newfound Lake.

The water is already circulating through the system via the furnace system.  All the heat is hot water, either through baseboards or radiant floor heat.

I'm wondering what the sequence is for lighting the fire, and when to turn the valves for the wood furnace flow. 
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aarmga

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2017, 10:36:24 PM »

Welcome.  I'm fairly new here as well and everyone has been especially kind.  Wood heat is the blood of America,  this is how we survived for so many years.  If there is one thing I can recommend that you didn't mention doing is to make sure your water treatment is up to central boiler's standards.  You can do this in may different ways.  You can send in a water sample to central boiler, you can send it in to a local culligan or even do it yourself.  I have culligan water systems test my water for me.  It cost me 2 dollars extra on my monthly statement.  Whatever way you decide to do this doesn't matter but make sure you keep that treatment in the stove or it will quickly rot away from the inside out.  You can purchase water treatment from a lot of different places, I choose to purchase mine locally which ends up being a big eBay supplier.

Here is a picture of my stove after a full load of black walnut -25 degrees outside.
Good luck and enjoy the heat!
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hondaracer2oo4

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2017, 06:59:47 PM »

I am 30 mins south of you. No idea how the previous home owner set up your system. Trace your lines to and from the boiler so that you can get your head wrapped around what is going on. As far as firing the boiler I would just power it up and light a fire in it. Let the water temp come up to 150+ and then turn on your pump on the boiler. If you need help with figuring out how your system works then I would draw a picture and post it here so we can help.
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Pointblank

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2017, 08:05:50 PM »

If youve never ran the stove before I'd  turn on the pump and look for leaks first. If no leaks are found, shut the pump off and start your fire. The inside of the stove will probably sweat when you first build the fire as the water jacket will be cold so it helps to keep the pump off and warm the stove as quickly as possible. Once the stove is up to temp, turn on your pumps and start drawing some heat into the home. Watch the stove go through a cycle or two to make sure it starts and stops with what your water temp set points are set at.
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Marleywood

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2017, 11:54:07 AM »

I've never run the system, but I am 100% positive that the system has been well maintained and that the anti corrosion protocols have been observed throughout the life of the system.  We were fortunate enough to purchase this home from the original owner, who also built most of the house himself.  He is a commercial pilot and a former fighter pilot.  As such, preventative maintenance, frequent inspection and proper labeling of everything is the theme of systems of the entire house. 

I was told by a furnace technician who was servicing our oil burner's, and has a wood furnace, that I should just unplug the pump power from the panel (at least I thing that's what the plug is), wait until the water temp is up to about 180 and plug it in.  Sounds simple, but I wanted other input.  The water from one system (I assume the garage apartment) circulates out into the boiler to keep it from freezing (if I understand it correctly), so it should be warmed up to be good to go.  I further assume that when I put the valves in the crawlspace into their proper position for wood heating, that the circulation system now opens up for both buildings.
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hondaracer2oo4

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2017, 12:05:59 PM »

We have no idea how he set it up without a pic or schematic.
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mlappin

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #10 on: February 05, 2017, 12:07:56 PM »

 Is the original owner still in the area? If so maybe he’ll explain the whole thing over a 6 pack of adult beverage.

From reading your posts I’m thinking the whole thing might have been made overly complicated.
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Marleywood

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2017, 08:58:25 AM »

So, this is what I've got going on out on the panel. 
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Marleywood

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2017, 08:59:37 AM »

This one didn't show up in the other post

So, someone told me to simply unplug the pump (seen in photo), start a fire & when the water gets up to temp (180 I believe) to plug the pump back in & go.

Is this correct?  Do I do anything with the "Power Disconnect" shown in the other picture?

As I mentioned earlier, there are some valves in my crawl space the are supposed to be opened & closed for the water flow in my heating system that allow for the wood furnace to circulate.  That's all clearly marked by the furnace, so no worries there, but my question is do I open that all up before I bring the wood furnace on-line or wait until after it's at temperature?
« Last Edit: February 10, 2017, 09:05:07 AM by Marleywood »
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hondaracer2oo4

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2017, 10:00:14 AM »

I would just wait to open the valves in the house until your boiler is up to temp. Once the boiler is up to temp, turn the valves to the correct positions then plug in the pump.
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Marleywood

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Re: New Furnace Owner
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2017, 10:17:00 AM »

I would just wait to open the valves in the house until your boiler is up to temp. Once the boiler is up to temp, turn the valves to the correct positions then plug in the pump.

OK, cool, that sounds logical (and kind of what I was thinking). 

So you think unplugging the pump as discussed is what to do?  Sorry, I'm kind of a nervous Nelly about this.
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