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Topics - yoda

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Warmer heat? or all in my head?
« on: October 04, 2009, 07:25:02 AM »
 Fired up the boiler yesterday and my wife commented how that, even with the thermostat set the same temp as the propane furnace was set at, it feels warmer in the house.

 We have forced air furnace and I told the wife it's all in her head, 68 degrees is 68 degrees.  I have to admitt this morning however it does feel warmer in the house, even though the thermostat reads the same 68 degrees.

 I started thinking about it more, is it possible it feels warmer because the hot water heat exchanger has hot water running through it continuosly and some warm air is continously radiating from the ductwork even with the furnace blower off? more even heat possibly?or does free heat just feel warmer?

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Plumbing / Aluminum heat exchanger possible problems
« on: July 20, 2009, 06:41:36 PM »
 Last year when I installed my boiler, to save some money,I made my own heat exchanger for my shop  out an automobile aluminum radiator. I noticed when ordering my new chemicals this year, on the company I use for chemicals, they do not rec aluminum in your system, does anyone have a a few years on an aluminum heat exchanger? Maybe dissimilar metals will cause corrosion?Maybe I shouild just change it out :bash:

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Antifreeze
« on: June 12, 2009, 10:28:37 AM »
 I was thinking of using antifreeze in my stove next winter,just for peace of mind and if we go away for the weekend, power outages etc.

 Does anybody know of a source that sells what I need at a good price? From what I have found it looks about the best I can get it for, is around $700 for 55 gal. ouch!

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Firebox size
« on: April 07, 2009, 05:38:12 PM »
 I've noticed alot of owb makers rate their BTU output based on water capacity of the stove, it doesn' t make much sense to me, in my thinking wouldn't the size of the firebox determine BTU?  bigger firebox, bigger fire? also the bigger the firebox the more heated surface area in contact with the water.
 I bought a shaver and the firebox is very small compared to a woodmaster, at the time I was thinking, smaller firebox with the same BTU rating as the woodmaster, should burn less wood, I definitly think my reasoning was flawed. Now I'm thinking the bigger the firebox the better, more surface area for the fire to warm.
 I don't know, anybody have any thoughts? ???

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Birch, to split or not to split
« on: March 09, 2009, 09:02:22 AM »
 I just bought 12 cord of birch in 100" logs, most of it is 6" diameter and I wasn't planning on splitting most of it. This past weekend I had alot of family help and we got it all cut and stacked in 25" lenghts. The majority we did not split.

 I am planning on burning it next winter.  I was told by someone that birch must all be split or it will rot before it dries, is this true?  I have also been told birch only keeps for 2 years before it starts to rot,( wich is actually ok with me as I plan on burning it within 2 years)

 I do have some birch left over from last sept. it seems to be fairly dry and not rotting yet(was not split)
 
 Will this unsplit birch be good to go next winter?? ???

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Shaver Furnace / 2nd cold snap
« on: January 24, 2009, 01:38:32 PM »
 Well this second round of exteme cold I did't fare as well.  We had 4 days strait it never got above zero with -25 at night and wind chill of -40.  At night I couldn't get my water temp over 130, my fan for my forced air propane furnace ran steady and the house would slowly lose temp.  In the mornings I would turn on my propane to raise the house up to set temp 70 (would be aprox 65 when I got up) once the propane furnace brought it up to 70 I would shut it off, then I would be ok untill the next morning.  The propane would run aprox. 1 hour a day, not terrible but I'm a little bummed. I dont know what was different than our last cold snap except my shop prabably cooled down to the point it was calling for more heat than before ( I keep my 42*36 shop at 45 degrees)
  I even tried getting up at 4 am one night to add wood, still 130 the next morning untill I turned on the propane, wich seemed to let it "catch up"  My wood is probably pretty wet, it was green in sept. when I got it and cut and split it  Sooo I'm hoping it will produce more heat when, Lord willing I get ahead for next year and have dryer wood. Also I can't wait for spring I'm planning on removing my stove siding and insulating it better, not sure how yet but I'm pretty sure I lose alot of heat at the stove itself, especially when it's windy out.
  Also anybody else with a shaver notice the fire does't seem to burn as well when it's really windy? Maybe it's just me but it seems like sometimes the wind is trying to push the smoke back down the chimney and fighting the draft fan

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Antifreeze?
« on: December 30, 2008, 03:06:14 PM »
 Was wondering how many people run antifreeze in their system. Has anyone run a year without antifreeze, then a year with? I've read it doesn't transfer heat as well as water. Has anyone had any practical experience? my gut tells me you wouldn't notice a difference in performance.
 This is my first year and I'm running plain water, a couple a weeks ago it was -25 and the power was flickering at my house. I never lost power but it got me a worrying. I think I may add antifreeze next year for peace of mind.

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Shaver Furnace / first cold snap
« on: December 16, 2008, 01:00:17 PM »
  Well I can finally stop wondering If my stove will keep up when it gets really cold.-25f last night with wind chill of -40. Filled stove at 10pm before bed, got up at 6:30. house nice and toasty, water temp at 145.  Stove was pretty much out of wood with nice bed of coals.  Looks like I will have to fill stove at least 3 tmes a day when it's this cold, but I'm OK with that. I'm kind of wishing I had gotten the next size bigger stove, so it would fit more wood on fill up. But then maybe I will use slightly less wood this way? Sure is nice not using any propane though. ;D

9
Fire Wood / wood drying time
« on: October 24, 2008, 09:22:14 AM »
 This will be my first year of burning wood I have a shaver 165, I bought 12 cord of green birch/maple. Was in 8 foot lenths, I cut it up into 2 foot lenths and split anything over apro 10 inches diameter,(probably half of it) I finished that up at the end of sept. Will this be ready to burn by mid december or should I be looking to cut some dryer stuff? I do have aprox. 10 acres of my own woods with some dead standing maple that I hope to make use of, just trying to find the time to get out there.

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