Print

[coolidge]

3 years ago I moved my 250 across the road and ran logstor under road to house and then to garage appr. 50 ft . Used 6 full cord to heat both, next winter used 16 full cord in 250. Same setup.
Last summer bought G200, last winter used 22 full cord. Same setup.

[coolidge]

Used 2 full cord so far this month.

[mlappin]

So…would usage went up 2.5 times from one year to the next with the same stove, then again with a different stove….

I hate to ask the obvious, but was the first winter especially mild compared to the next two? 

This is aggravating, where are the extra BTU’s going….

I’ve used roughly 1.75 cords since starting it up last month and my shop is a sieve compared to yours, but your also having much cooler temps than we are.

[coolidge]

Was cold that first winter.

[RSI]

I would disconnect the underground lines at the opposite end from the boiler and connect supply pipe to return.
Then run boiler and see how much wood it uses.
It should pretty much just idle.
If it still burns a lot of wood then bypass right at the stove and see if that makes a huge difference.

[hondaracer2oo4]

Thanks for the reminder on this. So we know that it isn't the boiler if you tripled wood use from 1 year to the next. So ruling that out we know that you are sending the btus somewhere. Dhw is a huge btu hog. There isn't something strange like a super leaky hot water issue somewhere possibly? You would know if the house was 90 degrees all the time. Unfortunately everything points to ground water heat loss. I know it is Logstor but hey I guess anything is possible. I am with Rsi. Sunday it is suppose to be warm in New England. You should bypass the house and heat with your backup. Just send the water to the house and back. I get 6 plus hours of idle when nothing is calling with my 75 feet of Logstor and g200.

[coolidge]

Interesting ideas!   I took these photos the other night.  Garage was up to temp.
First one is the Logstor with three inches of closed cell foam on it.
Second is the surface of the Logstor, no foam on it.

[coolidge]

Yesterday i moved my T stat about 8 ft from where it had been since garage was built, it is now about 6ft high.
Garage was calling for heat when i cut the wire, after reconnecting pump ran for about 30 seconds and shut of.
Last night (8pm) put wood in about bottom of door high this morning (8am) still had coals to relight. 25 degrees overnight.
I might be on to something.
Cant tell anything until college kids go back!

[coolidge]

Some temp readings from Controly Web thingy from last Sunday.

[mlappin]

College kids or not, never seen the house pull more than 5 degrees, the shop however always seems to be pulling 15.

[hondaracer2oo4]

It looks like the shop loop loses 4 degrees round trip when not calling for heat right? If it loses 4 degrees and you are flowing 8 gpm that means that it takes 25 mins to turn over the water in the 200 gallon g200. So every 25 mins you lose 4 degrees from jut idling. So your boiler is going to go from 180-160 every 2.5 hours just idling! It is actually even less time because the house loses some too. I can go 6 plus hours on not heat call idling. You are cycling less than every 2.5 hours of nothing calls for heat. Everything is starting to point to the line set from boiler to garage.

[coolidge]

Got some exploratory digging to do me thinks, or replace and be done, fingers, toes crossed problem found.
I will dig some by hand and take some temp readings with Flir.
Good reason to buy a hoe for the Bota?

[mlappin]

If your losing that much heat to the underground, I’m surprised your FLIR wouldn’t show a heck of a warm spot somewhere compared to the rest of the ground.

[Pointblank]

Does seem to point toward ground losss. Have you noticed any spots on the ground where the snow melts or the ground doesn't freeze?

[hondaracer2oo4]

I would swap the sensors that are reading the shop supply and return temps to ensure that that they are both accurate. One could be reading low or high compared to the other.