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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Hot water heating in Spring and Summer months?

« on: March 09, 2013, 11:58:04 AM »

I must say I'm pleased with my unit for heating the house this Winter. It has paid for itself in less then 3 months as we have seen our electric bill go from $1700.00+/- a month to about $200.00 a month. Take that savings x 4 Winter months and we actually made money on the install. However, with warmer weather on the rise I'm wondering how often do you all fire your boilers to heat the hot water for the house. I know on days when we have 65 degree weather my boiler will jump to over 200 degrees if I don't keep an eye on it. I'd like to hear what you all do to keep that golden 180 in the Spring and Summer months when we are not heating the house.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Split logs or just regular round logs???

« on: January 07, 2013, 04:10:07 PM »

Was just wondering if any one here had any thoughts on the difference between splitting logs or just cutting them to lenght for the firebox? Does one seem to burn better in certain stoves or what? Just a question. Thanks.

3

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Got it figured out...thanks for your help

« on: December 27, 2012, 12:38:32 PM »

Just wanted to let eveyone on here know that your thoughts and ideas were most helpful. We did have a sever draft issue with the stove. My chimney guy came out today and opened up from a 6" flue to an 8" flue cleaned the chimney and all that. Got the cresote factory gone and also found my blower had a homemade draft control on the back...and old coffee can lid with a bold attatched that was closed. I had no idea it was there as it is between the wall of the stove on the back of the blower. Opened it up and it was like a blast furnace. Wish I'd known the blasted thing was there from day one would have saved me a chimney cleaning but the 8" flue tile was needed. I'll keep you all posted as to how the heating is going got to give the flue cement a 24 hour dry time should be back up and running tomrrow afternoon. Thanks for all your ideas and suggestions.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Water temp dropping by 40 degrees????

« on: December 23, 2012, 10:15:42 AM »

I have determined there is a draft issue my guys is coming Wednesday told me to open the draft all the way and let it burn. So, this morning at 6am my house is at 68 degrees. It's cold in here it was 22 outside. Great go to stove and water temp is at 120 with glowing coals in the box. I loaded a load of red/white oak in the stove and cut off the thermostat in the house. (My heatpump kicked in) I left for church with the boiler system off and a fire in the firebox. Came home from church at about 11am did the early service and my water temp was 185....great we got hot water now!!!! In less then an hour my water temp is back down to 140 with a fire in the box..... Someone please tell me what this issue might be. Thanks jack1243

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Water Temp not moving up?

« on: December 20, 2012, 07:04:59 PM »

Aight folks, I've got a question I can't answer. This morning I went out to check my stove it was sitting at 140 which is not bad for overnight. I racked the coals down and level and loaded it with wood the same as I've been durning since the start of the season (red/white oak seasoned). As of about 8 this afternoon my temp as hot moved nor has the blower cut off. I've cleaned the flue tubes which transfer heat to my water and cannot for the life of me figure out why the temp has not gone up at one point with a fire in the box it was dropping lowest it got was 130 with a good fire in the box. Any ideas on this one?

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / My pipe smokes like crazy when I open the door????

« on: December 16, 2012, 05:04:49 PM »

Aight, so I did a good clean out of my firebox yesterday and loaded the firebox last night got up this morning had some wood in the box so just left it alone temp was right at 175. Later today went out to see how things were going temp was at 170 but still good opened the door and the flue pipe began to smoke so bad it ran me out of the Carriage House where we have the stove. The clean-out box and flue pipes are all clean. Any suggestions on why the pipe is smoking this much with the door open to re-fuel the stove? It goes from and 8" to a 6" masonary chimeny that is about 25 ft tall. I don't have a peak of the roof so I don't think its a down draft. Like I said, "I'm looking for ideas and thoughts."

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Regulating the firebox?

« on: December 15, 2012, 10:33:07 AM »

I have in the past few weeks installed a Hick's Water Stove. I have a few questions and an appointment with the maufacurer after Christmas. The manual says you should only have to fire the stove 2 times a day to keep a temp of 180. I load it around 4am when I get up and it takes several more loads to reach 180. It has a blower that blowes into the firebox and cuts off at 180 degrees. It also has 2 door dampers that I keep open about 1/2 way so it does not smolder and smoke once we reach 180. Over night my temp drops to almost 150/140 and I have a good bed of coals to start a fire with. Any suggestions on better fuel consumption? I'm burning Red/white oak that has been cut about a year and a half at 25" lengths. The firebox is 2'x2'x3'deep and it is a side flue with 6 4" flue tubes venting to a cleanout box to the stack into a brick lined chimeny.  Any thoughts and ideas will be breatly appreciated. Stove stats, 500 gallon capacity. Side load with DHW as well.