Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Central Boiler => Topic started by: Roger2561 on March 06, 2017, 04:33:02 AM
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Went outside at 6:00 this morning to put wood in the OWB and the digital display was blinking F.O. meaning Fire Out. What happened? I thought I had put in enough wood to last 12 hours. When I opened the firebox door, it was all ashes. Obviously I didn't put enough in to last the 12 hours. I got lucky though. I took the poker and ran it through the ashes. Berried deep in the pile of ashes was a nice pile of red hot coal. Not all is lost. I spread them around being careful not to have them fall in to the reaction chamber. I grabbed 6 small pieces of wood and placed them in the firebox in strategic places, pressed the fan by-pass switch to activate the fan and held there until I it started to flame up. I think it took a couple of minutes for flames to start showing. I then put extra pieces in it to last the day. I shut her down and she is running again. This is my sixth season heating my home with it and it's the first time I didn't put enough wood in it for 12 hours. Roger
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Once in all those years- wow, I get busy and do it every few weeks! :)
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I get this once in a while too. I work some long days in the winter, sometimes I can be out 15 hours. If it's in the negative temps and windy I will get behind on the loading. This causes my wood consumption to go up as well because the stove has to work a lot harder to get back up to temp also. I have never had my stove go out where I can't get it going again from the coals but I've had it where I came home to a crabby wife and a 60 degree house. She will run the tractor, pull the trailer, run the splitter and hell she will even run the small chainsaw but she absolutely will not fill the wood stove up. (Story for another time)
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The only other times I had a fire out condition is when the wood bridged or I purposely let it go out. But, otherwise, it just keeps on burning and providing heat to my house. Roger
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Last sat was the coldest temps we have seen all winter and 40+ mph winds.I filled the boiler about 9:30 pm with the most wood I have ever put in. At 7 am I went out to find that I was out of wood and the temp was down to 140. Luckily there was enough coals to get it going again. Came in the house scratching my head why we didn't make 12 hours. Well figured it out. When we went to bed my wife left the basement modine at 70 and she put the 2nd floor zone up to 72 which we leave at 60 because of the heat rise. That increase in load put enough strain on the boiler to use that much more wood. Lesson learned if we turn everything up don't expect 12 hours.
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My guess would be it was windier and also colder than you thought it was. Wind more likely to cause it. Up here on the mountain we get 40+mph winds on a fairly regular basis, with 50+ not shocking. I live less than 50 miles as the crow flies from Mt Washington NH, the record holder for the highest recorded wind gust on earth!
(Yes, I know some say that this record has been broken, but it still stands as the highest non-cyclonic wind gust event on earth 231 MPH)
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My guess would be it was windier and also colder than you thought it was. Wind more likely to cause it. Up here on the mountain we get 40+mph winds on a fairly regular basis, with 50+ not shocking. I live less than 50 miles as the crow flies from Mt Washington NH, the record holder for the highest recorded wind gust on earth!
(Yes, I know some say that this record has been broken, but it still stands as the highest non-cyclonic wind gust event on earth 231 MPH)
That's exactly it. I had under estimated how cold it was and how windy it was at the same time. The hardest part about this time of year is knowing how much wood to put in the firebox, especially after experiencing temps in the 60's only to have them drop to the low single digits coupled with a 20-30mph wind that gusts to 40 at times. You don't want to put too much in it, it leaves a huge pile of coal; you don't want to not put enough in it, because the wood burns up and the fire goes out. Roger
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I’ve never really had an issue with too much wood, just add a little less in the morning.
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I don't know I filled it up as much as I could , wife just put too much load on it for what the wood could produce. She was scolded ;) All good guess I should have gotten up earlier.
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How far was it burned down before you filled it? Having a couple extra inches of coals built up can add several hours to the burn time.
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How far was it burned down before you filled it? Having a couple extra inches of coals built up can add several hours to the burn time.
Very true^^. If it's windy and 30 degrees I'll use the same amount of wood as if it's 15 with no wind.
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Does anyone use or have thought about using a chimney wind vane? It turns away from the wind and would prevent the chimney suction by diverting the wind around the end of the flue pipe.
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Does anyone use or have thought about using a chimney wind vane? It turns away from the wind and would prevent the chimney suction by diverting the wind around the end of the flue pipe.
no.. High stack owner here..I want the draft to pull the fire up to keep the stack clean
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Thanks, MattyNH
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Does anyone use or have thought about using a chimney wind vane? It turns away from the wind and would prevent the chimney suction by diverting the wind around the end of the flue pipe.
no.. High stack owner here..I want the draft to pull the fire up to keep the stack clean
I assume "High Stack" refers to a fairly tall chimney pipe? If so, me too and that's good to know about the draft for the fire to keep it clean, thanks!
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I assume "High Stack" refers to a fairly tall chimney pipe? If so, me too and that's good to know about the draft for the fire to keep it clean, thanks!
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Natural draft would need a tall stack to get enough airflow. Forced air draft would not. Just an observation.
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From my observations here, the wind doesn’t so much cause the fire to burn hotter as it shows the lack of proper insulation or weather stripping on the structure being heated, ergo said structure takes more BTU’s to stay at the desired temp.
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From my observations here, the wind doesn’t so much cause the fire to burn hotter as it shows the lack of proper insulation or weather stripping on the structure being heated, ergo said structure takes more BTU’s to stay at the desired temp.
Couldn't agree more. I have however noticed since I put a structure around my wood stove it is more efficient not having the wind blowing on it.