Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => RidgeWood Stoves, defunct, support only => Topic started by: tinfoilhat2020 on December 09, 2014, 07:32:46 AM
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Hey All,
I am brand new to this board. I have a TimberWolf 5000 series OWB. it is Michigan made and very similar to the Ridgewood Stove. It operates off natural convection via a draft door at the front of the unit. I am wanting to install a blower fan with a draft door on the fan. That way I can run either blower fan (when i am burning more green wood, which i have a ton of this year), or the draft door (when burning dry seasoned wood). The reason I am hoping to do this is because I have notices that unless i am burning really dry seasoned wood, the fire takes 30 min or so to start sometimes after te draft door opens. My High temp is set at 170 and low at 165. And sometimes by the time the fire catches, my low temp is all the way down to 150. Just wanted some advice from some season veterans, and would love to know if anyone has every done this modification (im sure someone has)
Thanks,
Dylan
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I would set your high temp to 180, with a 7-8 degree difference. Not uncommon for the stove to take a bit with the natural draft damper to get kick up the fire. Mine calls for heat at 171, and not uncommon for the water temp to drop 163 before the fire gets roaring again. I noticed a huge difference in the amount of heat out of the registers with the water temp is 175 - 180 compared to 160's.
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Definitely raise your high temp and raise your differential like Intensedrive suggested. I run 185 high with a 12 degree differential. It's hard to make coals when the stove is only burning long enough to raise the temp 5 degrees. A good coal bed will get the fire going faster when the draft door opens.
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I've got my ridgewood set to 195 with a 5 degree diff. Works much better for me then it did at the factory settings. Also added 6 ft of chimney to help with draft.
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thanks for the input. I have added 6 feet chimney to help with the draft and I will try raising my temperature's my current high temp is only at 170 and my low temp at 165. I have a water to water heat exchange and that is the only reason I am able to run at a lower temperature.
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Mine is water to water also. I run 7 cast iron radiators on 1 loop/zone. When they call for heat all at the same time I can see a pretty serious drop in temperature at the stove. The whole system seems to like the higher temps better.
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Was is tricky to set the temp settings on your ridgewood.
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At first yes. I found the actual instructions for it which made it easier. http://www.dwyer-inst.com/PDF_files/E_90_TCS_low.pdf (http://www.dwyer-inst.com/PDF_files/E_90_TCS_low.pdf)
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I just changed it to 170-175, we will see how that goes. Ive been playing with it constantly to get the most efficient heat
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Maybe its just me but the blower motor runs a lot less when the wood is at 175 - 180. Turns on and heats for a few minutes then kicks off. When your down around 155 - 160 your blower on the furnace will run twice as long and the home won't feel as warm. That is just my observation, drafty farm house here.
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So are R0, and R2 is what you change? R0 being the differential, and R2 the Max temp before damper close?
At first yes. I found the actual instructions for it which made it easier. http://www.dwyer-inst.com/PDF_files/E_90_TCS_low.pdf (http://www.dwyer-inst.com/PDF_files/E_90_TCS_low.pdf)
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yes
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Perfect,
Got it changed.. Thanks for the information.
yes
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changed min to 175 high with a 7 degree differential. seems to be burning about the same. My only issue is the amount of time that the fir takes to ignite when the after the draft door opens back up. The stove itself works great other than this, im very happy. very simple design and i luv it. Im also not using this near its capacity. When my damper door shuts, sometimes it will stay close and the fire smoldering for 45mins-1hr. It is very very well insulated and takes a long time for the water temp to go down. This, combined with the fact that i am throwing about 50% green wood in there makes me think that having a blower fan mounted on the door would come in handy. These are just my observations so far.
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The aqua-stat instructions are also in the Ridgewood Owners manual on their website. You can look at it, or print it out.
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Nice to have another T-Wolf owner on the site! Love mine and am on my second season. My dad is on his third season with his.
I have my T-Stat at 180. Jim, the manufacturer said it could be turned up to 190 if necessary, but he wouldn't go any higher than that. I imagine he would tell you not to install a fan if you were to talk to him.
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I kinda have the same issues but I just blame the green wood and a lack of a good coal bed. I wad thinking about adding a chimney piece but I just try and add some more dry wood from my other pile that seems to do the trick for me. Let me know if you ever get a blower installed it would be interesting to see. Good luck.
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i have an 8 foot pipe on mine and it was dipping into the 150 range yesterday around 10am when i was outside, i pushed all the wood i loaded at 7am to the back and removed a wheel barrel of ash out of the front and then brought the wood back up front. let it get up to temp when i heard the draft door open i went outside and watched it only got to 165 before it started to climb back up. the 8 foot pipe helps a ton and so does cleaning out the old ash.
also dug up my line from boiler to house and found it was full of water. we got a downpour when i installed it and didnt think anything of it, got all the water out now my wood usage is down and the ground will finally hold snow on top of it without melting.
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Hey jamesbodeis,
Are you using the parameter programming or the access to all coded parameters from the dwyer website you gave. I need to change my settings today ( going with 190 top end and 180 low end ). What is the differential you keep talking about? Thanks for your help
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Call Craig at ridgewood he will walk you thru it in a couple min.
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I am accessing the all parameters. I run mine at 195 off, 190 on.
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Does it run pretty good that high. I'm at i85/175 I might change the low end to 180.
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I'm happy with it there. Haven't tinkered with it at all to see if I could drop the low end any my radiators get hotter faster if I keep it high it seems. I am wondering g if mu pump in the house is up to the task but that's a warm weather project.
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Nice to have another T-Wolf owner on the site! Love mine and am on my second season. My dad is on his third season with his.
I have my T-Stat at 180. Jim, the manufacturer said it could be turned up to 190 if necessary, but he wouldn't go any higher than that. I imagine he would tell you not to install a fan if you were to talk to him.
Thanks! Good to have another on here as well, maybe we can get Timber Wolf added in its own header?? I bought my used for a good guy. 3yrs old. Model 5000. Paid 2k for the stove, pumps, side arm and plentum. He had just got natural gas. stove is in excellent condition. I tried to fan option out. it worked good but i would have to do more modifications to make it work riht, one of which would be to fabricate a baffle system to direct the air. I ended up taking the fan off after my trial run and just turned my temps up a bit. I have mine set at 175-185, and it is working great now. Im definitely a fan of BIG logs. I have found to get WAY longer burn times.