Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => Acme Furnace Company => Topic started by: svtnut on February 02, 2014, 07:17:53 AM

Title: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: svtnut on February 02, 2014, 07:17:53 AM
I have owned a acme 340 for my forth heating season and I am very dissapointed in my dissuasion and the workmenship of this unit.  I was looking into the Sequoia among other brands sold here locally and let the price influence me. Hind site being 20/20, I think most any other major brand would have a better choice.
Member : precision, stated  in previous post most all of the piss pour designs of this stove and I can't agree more. My unit did not come with a solenoid to open/close blower opening, but the fan very seldom shuts off being the recovery time takes so long. The door is the weakest link (in my opinion) Not only is it to small but just cheap. NO WAY should a person have to buy a second door (as another member stated) just to keep a new gasket to seal every few weeks. And yes I keep a ladder there cause your going to have to keep the chimney cleaned out every week or so if you burn coal or wood that is not prime seasoned for three years.
I work with some guys that bought woodmasters and they seem to like them real well. In fact I know of owners of the sequoia, hardy and mahoning and they all seem to be satisfied with there stoves. I'm sure there are pros and cons to most all of them but this acme needs quite a few of design changes. Not that I have time nor need the expense, but my plans are to make some major changes to this unit before next heating season.
With all the down side of these stoves, they are insulated well and I do like the domestic hot water coil inside the water chamber. But the bad outways the good on this brand and as a owner I would not recconmend .
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: sizmo on February 03, 2014, 07:12:13 AM
I have owned a acme 340 for my forth heating season and I am very dissapointed in my dissuasion and the workmenship of this unit.  I was looking into the Sequoia among other brands sold here locally and let the price influence me. Hind site being 20/20, I think most any other major brand would have a better choice.
Member : precision, stated  in previous post most all of the piss pour designs of this stove and I can't agree more. My unit did not come with a solenoid to open/close blower opening, but the fan very seldom shuts off being the recovery time takes so long. The door is the weakest link (in my opinion) Not only is it to small but just cheap. NO WAY should a person have to buy a second door (as another member stated) just to keep a new gasket to seal every few weeks. And yes I keep a ladder there cause your going to have to keep the chimney cleaned out every week or so if you burn coal or wood that is not prime seasoned for three years.
I work with some guys that bought woodmasters and they seem to like them real well. In fact I know of owners of the sequoia, hardy and mahoning and they all seem to be satisfied with there stoves. I'm sure there are pros and cons to most all of them but this acme needs quite a few of design changes. Not that I have time nor need the expense, but my plans are to make some major changes to this unit before next heating season.
With all the down side of these stoves, they are insulated well and I do like the domestic hot water coil inside the water chamber. But the bad outways the good on this brand and as a owner I would not recconmend .

svtnut:

Sorry you aren't happy with your 340. Maybe you should upgrade the blower in the back with a larger unit that flows more air? Is yours the teardrop design that you slide over the the input of the blower to allow more or less air in? If so, you can get a solenoid and flapper from Hardy. You could run your "input" wide open when the fan is on and the flapper would shut the air off when the fan is off. I would not like mine if it didn't have the solenoid/flapper to open and close the airflow to the fire.

I burn some real green wood in mine, but I do mix it will some seasoned wood too. I haven't had to clean my flue pipe, it is still clear. I coated my new rope gaskets for the door (already had to replace mine  :-\) with RTV red high temp silicone I bought in the auto parts section of Wal-Mart. I smeared it on real good on the surface of the gasket, and it is holding up fine even with Creosote contacting it. Before this is was toast in the first week of owning the furnace.

It sounds like not enough airflow is your problem. Keep us posted!


Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: sizmo on February 03, 2014, 08:02:18 AM
svtnut:

I just looked at the Acme Furnace website and they now sell a new flapper kit with the solenoid. Only $65 which I think is a fair price. Looks like you would just bolt the new flapper on to your existing blower. This is the ticket for you!

I would make sure it comes with the angle iron bracket that the solenoid screws into.  :thumbup:
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: Scott7m on February 03, 2014, 09:26:47 AM
Puzzles me why when you buy a stove you have to then rework everything on it. 

Just like buy a spare door??  Reallyyyyyy?  This hurts the reputation of the whole industry, a neighbor may be wanting a stove then sees his neighbor replacing his door every month or so due to gasket, no good.

Are you all still using the water heater switches instead of aquastats?
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: svtnut on February 03, 2014, 10:14:04 AM
No I haven't up graded to the aquastat. Still the cheapo snap switch that come with the unit.
The  Solenoid with flapper door sounds like a good upgrade . I once had a Harman duel fuel furnace that had the solenoid/door so I'm familiar how it works. When I make some changes to this unit later I plan on both aqua stat and a much better force draft system.   One thing I have added that seems to help on heat loss is I made an insulated cover that fits snug into door cavity.  Before I added this I could easily have temp reading ( with a infrared temp gauge ) of 300+ deg on outside of door.  Another down fall on these are stack temperatures. I don't check it all the time but I have seen 3-400 deg - a lot of wasted heat.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: Scott7m on February 03, 2014, 11:04:54 AM
3-400 would be great, but could be due to lazy fire anyway

u cant go much below 300 in stack temp without major issues. 

There is some upgrades you could def do
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: aries9245 on February 03, 2014, 05:01:09 PM
Scott what up grades would you recommend I ave the 235 acme
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: Scott7m on February 03, 2014, 06:15:34 PM
Scott what up grades would you recommend I ave the 235 acme

aquastat, damper and fan system, try to find a fix for the horrible door desig
not sure what can be done for that
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: aries9245 on February 03, 2014, 06:25:44 PM
I ordered a love thermostat and controller .. But I fell the fan is definitely is lacking enough strength to get the furnace back up to temp trying to figure out a more powerful blower but not having luck with it
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: Scott7m on February 03, 2014, 06:38:54 PM
I ordered a love thermostat and controller .. But I fell the fan is definitely is lacking enough strength to get the furnace back up to temp trying to figure out a more powerful blower but not having luck with it

Do you all see anyway to line the door with firebrick?
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: sizmo on February 03, 2014, 08:37:03 PM
No I haven't up graded to the aquastat. Still the cheapo snap switch that come with the unit.
The  Solenoid with flapper door sounds like a good upgrade . I once had a Harman duel fuel furnace that had the solenoid/door so I'm familiar how it works. When I make some changes to this unit later I plan on both aqua stat and a much better force draft system.   One thing I have added that seems to help on heat loss is I made an insulated cover that fits snug into door cavity.  Before I added this I could easily have temp reading ( with a infrared temp gauge ) of 300+ deg on outside of door.  Another down fall on these are stack temperatures. I don't check it all the time but I have seen 3-400 deg - a lot of wasted heat.

What did you make your insulation cover for the door out of.

How would you mount the probe for an aquastat? I would like to upgrade mine to that too.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: aries9245 on February 04, 2014, 01:15:01 AM
Scott I don't see being able to att.. Firebrick to the door? I am noticing a lot of heat being lost in the top of roof with all the snow we had only the lower part of the roof still has any left
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: fryedaddy on February 04, 2014, 06:36:17 AM
I can't believe these modifications would have to be made just to have a functioning stove.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: Scott7m on February 04, 2014, 07:05:48 AM
Sounds like it needs to be opened up and have some more insulation out in if possible

I was curious as to whether u could cement firebrick to the door itself

to have an aqua stat you could weld a bung into the water jacket or just use a strap on version, attach sensor probe to a metal pipe or fitting on stove
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: sizmo on February 04, 2014, 07:29:20 AM
Scott I don't see being able to att.. Firebrick to the door? I am noticing a lot of heat being lost in the top of roof with all the snow we had only the lower part of the roof still has any left

The flue pipe runs up thru the top of the water jacket, past the insulation on top, then thru the roof. The flue pipe that is exposed between the insulation and the top of the roof loses some heat which warms that air space and melts the snow on the roof.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: Scott7m on February 04, 2014, 07:32:12 AM
Scott I don't see being able to att.. Firebrick to the door? I am noticing a lot of heat being lost in the top of roof with all the snow we had only the lower part of the roof still has any left

The flue pipe runs up thru the top of the water jacket, past the insulation on top, then thru the roof. The flue pipe that is exposed between the insulation and the top of the roof loses some heat which warms that air space and melts the snow on the roof.

So it may not be as bad as it seems

Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: sizmo on February 04, 2014, 01:08:52 PM
Scott I don't see being able to att.. Firebrick to the door? I am noticing a lot of heat being lost in the top of roof with all the snow we had only the lower part of the roof still has any left

The flue pipe runs up thru the top of the water jacket, past the insulation on top, then thru the roof. The flue pipe that is exposed between the insulation and the top of the roof loses some heat which warms that air space and melts the snow on the roof.

So it may not be as bad as it seems

I was upset too the first time it snowed! I thought this thing isn't insulated very good but it is. It's the flue pipe heating the roof.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: aries9245 on February 05, 2014, 02:09:51 AM
Sizmo.. I could see that being possible , there is a lot of heat coming off the door too
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: MALACHI 4:1 on February 05, 2014, 05:28:01 AM
I'm selling my 235 with solenoid and flapper!  Any questions, read my post under new acme furnace.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: svtnut on February 15, 2014, 06:35:38 PM
Sizmo, I used a double layer of white fiberglass insulation (used in industrial plants on piping ect,) sandwiched between the same type of metal roofing used on the stove.  I planed on using one of the ports on the back of the stove for a aquastat  well.
 As far as the door, I intend to make the opening bigger along with a new designed door that doesn't require a new gasket every couple of weeks.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: Sprinter on May 06, 2014, 07:19:25 PM
Even with the planned upgrades , is the stove worth the effort. It sounds like it will eat even more wood with a larger fan. Maybe cut your losses and sell. Plenty of others with a good track record in all price ranges. It is a sad shame to hear stories like this, but it does say acme. I hope it wasn't expensive.
Title: Re: I DON'T love my Acme furnace
Post by: aries9245 on December 13, 2014, 05:29:29 AM
The problem with these units are they are undersized for what they say .. Example my 235 says heats 5000 sqft well I have 4200 and I'm filling it up every 4-6 hrs it would be a good deal for someone with around 2500 sqft maybe 3000 I've wasted a lot of time and money when I could have spent a few bucks more from the beginning ..