Hi, we have moved into a new house with an existing Outdoor wood furnance as a backup to the oil fired boiler.
I have no paperwork for it and there are no manufacturer's marks to research it so i'm feeling in the dark on how best to operate it.
There are 2 dampers on the inlet and a flue damper on the rear exit flue. The bottom damper feeds air into a 'half pipe' grill arrangement beneath the wood and the top damper feeds the main chamber. It seems to have an analog control system comprising a bourdon tube and some plug chain. As it warms up the dampers close as it cools they open. See pics
I've got it heating the house but it needs regular attention to keep it going and i'm thinking I should be able to leave something of this size for at least 8 or 9 hours without having to mess with it.
I've been lighting a fire at the front with paper and kindling with pallet wood to get a burn going and then feeding in a few large-ish logs ( seasoned Pine and willow is what i've got to hand currently, possibly part of the problem) Opening all dampers up full bore to get it roaring and get everything caught and then 20 mins later damping down with the flue damper to around 1/4 open followed by the inlets to a setting i've come to by trial and error that seems to give some sort of balance between loosing temp and chewing through wood.
Is there a reference guide somewehere to help explain how the dampers effect the burn, techniques to get a longer burn / more stable burn.
Looking at the pics and reading the info i've put up, anyone have any tips? Do you think it's possible to attain my goal of loading once in morning before work and once again 8 or 9 hours later for the evening? Do i need to be looking for oak or similar to improve my chances, retrofitting some sort of electronic control instead of the analog setup (degree qualified Electronic Engineer so I think I could attempt a PID / servo setup if required)
Any help or critique gratefully received!
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