Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => RidgeWood Stoves, defunct, support only => Topic started by: intensedrive on October 23, 2017, 09:14:09 PM

Title: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: intensedrive on October 23, 2017, 09:14:09 PM
Is it possible to modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140 to save heat?
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: mlappin on October 23, 2017, 10:49:57 PM
Is it possible to modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140 to save heat?

Sure it is, I wouldn’t. The hotter the water the less free oxygen it can hold, secondly the hotter a mild steel boiler can stay the dryer it will be.
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: intensedrive on October 24, 2017, 09:47:41 AM
I mean as protective measure if fire gets low.  I'm currently set for 180 / 175 but want the added ability to close at 140 if im gone longer
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: mlappin on October 24, 2017, 11:15:56 AM
I mean as protective measure if fire gets low.  I'm currently set for 180 / 175 but want the added ability to close at 140 if im gone longer

Ah, my bad. I believe RSI was offering a kit to do exactly that.
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: E Yoder on October 24, 2017, 11:32:32 AM
Could use something like a ranco control en route to the solenoid ( and fan) set to cool with setpoint at 140℉,  with a 120 v. timer in parallel to bypass the ranco on a cold start.
There might be a simpler way. ?
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: slimjim on November 02, 2017, 09:54:15 AM

secondly the hotter a mild steel boiler can stay the dryer it will be.
[/quote]

So  you wonder why I respond to statements like this, are we supposed to believe that stainless boilers don't have moisture issues?
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: slimjim on November 02, 2017, 10:08:03 AM
Could use something like a ranco control en route to the solenoid ( and fan) set to cool with setpoint at 140℉,  with a 120 v. timer in parallel to bypass the ranco on a cold start.
There might be a simpler way. ?



Hmmm, I wonder, it seems somebody else was doing this same sort of thing with a Honeywell 1018-6006c I think it was, oh well at least we are paying attention !
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: mlappin on November 02, 2017, 02:46:46 PM

secondly the hotter a mild steel boiler can stay the dryer it will be.

So  you wonder why I respond to statements like this, are we supposed to believe that stainless boilers don't have moisture issues?
[/quote]



You’re the one that always recommended running Portage and Mains hot as possible, like at least 190 if I recall correctly.

Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: slimjim on November 02, 2017, 03:02:51 PM
Yes I did Marty but it wasn't because of them being made of mild steel, if I had my choice then all OWBs would be running at 195 degrees water temp and stack temps of around 250 degrees gross, it seems to me that any fire burns cleaner at higher temps irregardless of mild steel or stainless. It's also a lot easier to heat a drafty old farmhouse with vintage 1950s baseboard with 175 - 195 degree water than it is to heat the same home with the 165-185 degree water that stainless boilers allow!
Title: Re: How do I modify my ridgewood to close damper at 140
Post by: mlappin on November 02, 2017, 03:51:24 PM
Different parts of the country, don’t see a lot of baseboard here. I’ve mentioned adding them to get heat into a few rooms upstairs that are always cool, the look the wife gave me would have shattered glass.

Everything man makes has its kryptonite, the diamonds on a core bit don’t last long cutting thru a solid granite fieldstone wall.