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[Jwood]

Yes update please!

[AirForcePOL]

It's been running ok I guess for the conditions.   I have been getting about 9-10 hours durring these last couple days.  It was -6 last night and I loaded at 10 pm.  at 7am I still had about a hour left.  I have been mixing coal with the wood as well.  I added some heat ducts to the new room that we added on which will help on the furnace in the house cycling so much.  I have determined that the thermostat calling for heat too often is the issue with my system.  I spent some time last night insulating in my basement.  I put R30 between the floor joists in the basement because in some areas there wasn't any.  I could feel a difference in the house last night.  However, my wife just sent me a text and said that the temp is at 127..... so it only went 8 hours on a entire firebox of wood and a mixture of coal. 

[Jwood]

That's discouraging hmmmm so it wasn't your fan on the boiler, I don't know what else it could be unless there is that much load on your boiler.

[hondaracer2oo4]

Personally I am only getting 8 hour burn times out of these negative temps with my h4 which has a 22.6 cuft of firebox and yours has 20 cuft of firebox. I think that you need to crank that fan opening WAY back to 40% or something. Everyone else said that they saw a big difference and operate it under 50 % open.

[Jwood]

Airforce I am running my fan 100% open getting at least 12 hr burn times heating 2500sq ft and dhw even with temps -15 to -20 and high winds. When your stove shuts down and is idling for a few minutes how much smoke is visible from the stack?

[AirForcePOL]

I cut the blower down to 40% and it's burning good that way.  I can't find my moisture meter but I'm sure my wood quality has a lot to do with it too.  The wood I'm burning now was alive last spring which is Chinese elm or I think I've heard it referred to as Siberian elm before.  It only has 18m btu per cord I think.  The only other wood I have is oak but I'm not sure What the moisture content is on it.  It's crazy windy at my house all the time.  Right now we have 20-30 mph winds and it's 23 deg currently.  It really sucks the heat right out of the house.  I can tell a huge difference on the North side of my house where I insulated last night.  I still haven't had time to measure my return temps but it's on my long list of things to do. 

My house is very hard to heat and the wind direction changes everything.  The wind changed directions tonight and it's coming out of the North now.  I'll let you guys know how tonight goes in the morning.  Thanks again for trying to figure this out!

[CountryBoyJohn]

Wood quality should make a BIG difference.  18 MBtu is terrible wood.  That's soft maple territory.  When I switched from Cherry (19 MBtu) to Hedge (30 MBtu) my burn times increase nearly 50%.  Now, you probably won't be able to get your hands on Hedge, it's not easy to get.  But, if you really wanted to see where you burn times could be, break down and order a truckload of seasoned Oak.  In my area you can get a truckload of Oak or Hickory for $75.  Red Oak and Hickory are in the 23-25 Mbut range.  I think it would be worth it just to see the difference.  It might just be enough to get you from 8-10 hours up to that 12 hour mark.

Or, if you have a good coal bed established, toss in your green Oak.  At least try it for a couple days to see if you can tell a difference.

[mlappin]

You're correct, a Siberian Elm is also known as a Chinese Elm. I burn up a lot of dead tulip poplar, can't burn that stuff straight when it's this cold or I have to literally pack my boiler clear full to make it thru the night. If I mix it with some ash, wild cherry or red elm burn times increase a lot.

Doesn't help you a lot now, but might want to consider starting a few windbreaks in the future, ours is made up of several different species of pine and arborvitae. I can stand on the back porch and look to the south and it looks absolutely miserable out once you get past the south end of the windbreak.

Check with your local SWCD (Soil and Water Conservation District) and they might have some cost sharing on planting a windbreak.

[AirForcePOL]

I have a little bit of hedge cut but not too much.  There's a good size hedge tree down the road that I can go cut that's about 24 inches in diameter but obviously it won't be ready to burn for a while.  I might try to buy a load of oak.  The issue is making sure that it is actually "seasoned".  I had a really nice coal bed this morning when I checked it after 8-9 hours.  The load from last night was almost gone.  Agreed on the firewood.  Not only is it not great wood but the moisture content doesn't help.  I'll keep you guys posted.  Thanks again.

[kommandokenny]

The more I read on this forum the more confused I get.
I can not solve this problem of course, but to clear up a few things in my mind, I have to ask,,,
Did you have these issues with your old owb ?
If not, it's the new set-up, if so, it's the house.

I read this over a couple of times and there is no indicated diff. temperatures in the lines posted.
I also noted your w/a exchanger is on the return side of the furnace fan. cold air intake.
Did you have it there with the old boiler?
Probably doesn't matter, I don't know.?
I;m not trying to upstage anyone, but my burn times on Woodmaster4400 with a wheel barrow of maple /ash are upwards of 16 hours.@ -10f./-15f.
I'm heating a 1600 bungalow with 70 ft loop of 1 pex.
If the experts can;t pin it, I doubt this will help any.
Cheers
KK

 

[kommandokenny]

Probably did not help,, but I made Junior Forest Ranger

[fryedaddy]

It does sound like your wood choice.

I've been burning tulip poplar for a month now. It burns great during the 30+ days but the last couple of
nights its been in single degrees and its been difficult.

Our burning practices are a little different, I batch burn and have a large water volume and my stove is inside my
outdoor shed. I load my stove (3) times per day with poplar on those cold days. If I were to use oak like last year
I add wood (2) times per day.

Sounds like your stove can keep up but just need hard woods.

[Sluggo]

 I am going to have to say your problem is one of two things.  Best case scenario is when your fan shuts off it gets hung up on the two little screws on top.  It looks closed but if you have one of the retrofitted heatmasters it can't truly close unless you gring the two screw heads off.  Worst case scenario,your stove is undersized.  My cousin has a brand new energy star rated house built by an anal builder.  Insulated to the max.  He's heating,or I should say trying to heat 2800 square feet.  He too is only getting about 8 hours of burn time.  I'm may make some enemies but I've had three Heatmasters and loved them but they don't heat anywhere in the ballpark what they claim.  You would be better suited with a 10,000.

[Sluggo]

And don't worry about seasoned wood,with your stove it's not going to make any noticeable difference.

[mlappin]

What size word are you burning?

Granted mines home made but if I want it to heat up fast or expect a large load (going to run the sidewalk to melt snow) I load mine up with all split wood, splits don't burn near as long, they do burn hotter though which allows more heat to escape up the stack. If I need a really long burn I fill the stove with nothing but rounds that are 12" or larger.