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[Propster]

As we're headed toward spring warmup, anyone else have trouble keeping their fire going? We've had it pretty easy in Minnesota this year and now this week headed for fifties and possibly 60 degrees. We keep the house low sixty range, as that is where we are comfortable. When it warms up like this I turn up the thermostat to 64 but even so, especially on sunny days, the house just doesn't call for enough to keep the fire burning well. Fair amount of creosote buildup, and I find myself leaving the stove door open just to give it enough air to get some coals going for at night when the house will ask for some heat (it's pretty well insulated). Any tips or tricks, short of setting the thermostat even higher?

[intensedrive]

We lost power last April, my stove idled for 2 days, power came back on fire took right off..

[coolidge]

Maybe do some batch burning if you have the time?

[intensedrive]

As I do recall I opened the door twice per day.  That would equate to 12 hours without draft.  Are you going 12 hours without heat demand?

We lost power last April, my stove idled for 2 days, power came back on fire took right off..

[Big Wood]

What kind of wood are you burning and size of wood

[WoodMOJoe]

What temp differential are you running on your aquastat now?

Might try tightening up the temp difference.

[U.P. Doug]

I am heating my garage on a second loop with a fairly large exchanger. I kept it at 58 all winter, and keep turning the thermostat up as it gets warmer to cycle my boiler more often.

[mlappin]

I don't have a problem with mine taking back off either, I've found just the right settings to run my waste oil boiler at without tripping the high cutout. Have gone almost 40 hours with nothing but waste oil heat but the wood boiler stayed lit the whole time. I think on natural draft boilers if they are truly air tight you'll have more problems with the fire going out.

[JTS717]

I set my differential to on at 175 off at 180.  I noticed it helps to burn more peices of smaller wood instead of a few big pieces.  I spent an hour out in the wood shed this weekend splitting up some big pieces. 

[Banna]

It was 65 here Sunday, lows in the 40's. I am putting smaller, 2 year dry wood. So far so good.

I will not be complaining about warmer weather.

[Propster]

What temp differential are you running on your aquastat now?

Might try tightening up the temp difference.

I'm at about 180/195.  I have an old Aquatherm so it's a draft fan vs natural draft. Right now I'm burning all dead dry ash and scrub from 1-2" up to about 6" diameter. And it's not that I will go 12 hours or more without heat demand (got down to 32 last night is all), but the small demand will not cause any drop in the aquastat to cause the draft fan to go. I'm not complaining mind you - if this keeps up its almost 6-8 weeks earlier than the last couple years!

[Goat Herder]

I go to smaller split sizes in warmer weather and use less wood, single row instead of double row, but we like our house warm, spoiled at about 80 degrees, seem to help the arthritis.

[WoodMOJoe]

What temp differential are you running on your aquastat now?

Might try tightening up the temp difference.

I'm at about 180/195.  I have an old Aquatherm so it's a draft fan vs natural draft. Right now I'm burning all dead dry ash and scrub from 1-2" up to about 6" diameter. And it's not that I will go 12 hours or more without heat demand (got down to 32 last night is all), but the small demand will not cause any drop in the aquastat to cause the draft fan to go. I'm not complaining mind you - if this keeps up its almost 6-8 weeks earlier than the last couple years!

I run a 5 degree differential (180 on-185 off) on mine all season long...with temp overrun it actually ends up being about an 8 degree differential.  I don't see any downside to running a tighter differential...would be interested in what the experts say about that though.

[Propster]

I think I mis-answered that question a bit. I only have one aquastat on my stove. I set it at 180 so the draft fan kicks on when it drops below that. The 195 is what I have the over-limit aquastat set at, which is over on the water line. This is to bleed off heat as you know. That's what I thought you were asking   

[John148]

I'm wondering the same thing. Would setting the boiler temp lower so the house calls for more heat work. Say set the boiler to on at 160 and off at 165 make the boiler run more? Or should we leave it at fan on at 175 and off at 180?