Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => RidgeWood Stoves, defunct, support only => Topic started by: Chicken farmer on August 15, 2014, 04:21:08 PM
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Just ordered mine today!! Hope to pick it up in a couple weeks!!
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Good choice
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I just finished my installation on my model 2000 yesterday and started my first break in fire last night. I can't thank this forum enough for all it's help and great info. I installed everything myself without any issues what so ever. Chicken farmer if your planning the installation your self your in the right place. :)
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I will be tackling the install myself. I was going to build a stove using the same concept as the Ridgewood, but at the current price point, it didn't make sense. Looking forward to getting it lit up.
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Picking it up @ Ridgewood Thursday!!! A 2000 for me and a 6000 for a buddy
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Congrats.!!! Keep us posted on your process. Time isn't on your side this late in the year the cold weather is around the corner.
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Picked both stoves up. Made the 310 mile trip home with no major issues. Now comes the install.
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Good choice C Farmer. How was your experience at Ridgewood Stoves?
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I didn't stay too long. I only talked with the office lady (Craig and Tim's mom). She was very nice but very busy. I didn't want to bother them so once I was loaded, I hit the road. She offered to have someone show me around the shop, but I declined knowing the workload. I would not have any second thoughts about going back there though. Nice folks, but very busy. She told me they were 200 stoves behind.
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Congrats C Farmer!! Sounds like Craig has been busy selling stoves. I bought mine back in March and was very impressed with the operation and the people he has working for him as well as his stoves. I am nearing the end of my install, got the lines buried, pad poured waiting to cure, and working inside the house now. Can't wait to fire it up!!! You will find a lot of great advice on this site from some knowledgeable people.
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Progress is slow, but there is progress. Just finished up the concrete pad this morning, stripped forms and sprayed sealer. Picked up the heat exchanger/blower unit for the house. Gonna set the boiler this week and get an accurate measurement for my Logstor pipe. Things are moving, but slow.
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May be slow but you are doing it yourself and the way you want it, it will be that much sweeter when you are done!
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Thanks Jwood!! I hope I can get it done before the snow flies!! Things are crazy busy at work. The automotive Industry has more faith in the economy than I do, but I'll keep taking their 7 day paychecks!!
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Hey chicken farmer do you work for the big 3
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I don't. I think its the big 5 or 6 depending on the current rank. Honda of America Anna Engine Plant.
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I'm in the same boat chicken farmer not enough time in the day and not enough days on the weekends!
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Isn't it part of the reason we have outdoor boilers so we don't have to baby sit them. I know my indoor wood stove it great but ever 2 to 3 hours you have to feed it. I don't have for that I need to chuck it full and deal with it again after work or something. I'm too busy for a indoor wood stove. I'm sure we all are. I'm so looking forward to anything over 10 hour burn.
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Been there done that . 12 hours burns are nice
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I had to baby sit my wood forced air furnace with loading and checking stack temps. She would get hot - like right NOW. Looking forward to a set it and forget it type of operation. And if it gets too hot, I won't burn the house to the ground.
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Picture of progress
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Looking good
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This may be a stupid question but has anyone else ran there power wire through the water lines. I have z supply and I used the rope that was inside of it to pull the wire through.
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How does that Z-supply pex line work? Do you have high heat loss?
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I don't know if it's good or not I'll tell you after my first season
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I have zsupply 3 wrap and have like a half degree loss if that in 125 ft. Works great
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I know Logstor pipe is $13.80/ft. How does the z-supply compare?
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Looking good. I'm gonna pour a pad under mine next year.
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Z supply is $6.95 a foot but if I had extra money to spend I would have gotten logstor or thermopex. I'm sure most members here will agree with me. If you have it in your budget get the best pipe
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I've got a fairly short run between the stove and the house (50-60ft). I'm probably going to get the Logstor.
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I went with the double tile on mine . Works for me
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By double tile I assume you mean the z-supply pipe??
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Ya double pipe
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Looking good. I'm gonna pour a pad under mine next year.
Did that with bags - hand mixed. Used the fiber reinforced quikrete. Formed up with some scrap lumber and used my 2' shop broom for the finish. I did buy an edging tool for the edges though.
Used this concrete: http://www.quikrete.com/ProductLines/CrackResistantConcrete.asp (http://www.quikrete.com/ProductLines/CrackResistantConcrete.asp)
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Z supply is probably the best wrapped pipe. The outer case is thicker than normal corrugated pipe and if you double tile it that's even better and still be much cheaper than logstor.
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Elvis, you talked me into it. Working with Craig and Tim to get some pipe on a truck they have coming this way next week.
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Did you get the double pipe?
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they called it 3 wrap from z-supply
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Ordered my Thermopex, pump, and sidearm today. Picking it up in the morning at a local supplier!! Time to dig!
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Some parts and progress. Added a couple sots of the truck at Craig's when I picked the boilers. I ended up going with a local supplier for the supplies. Only because I didn't call Craig back in time to get it on his truck. He tried to get ahold of me several times but i missed him.
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Starting our install on our Ridgewood 7500 this week. Hope it quits raining!!!!
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Looks good chickenfarmer. You must have it just about done by now.
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slow process, working 7 days a week and getting ready for a business trip to asia. probably won't be ready till november.
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Some progress finally. Spent a week in China. Then had sick kids for week and a half. Got the T-pex and conduit in the trench and poked through the basement wall. Pulled the wire through the conduit and started filling the trench back in. Got a few pics. Will post later.
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A few pics
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Well, maybe one picture. Uploader is still full. I hate that uploader.
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Gittin there...........won't be long and there will be smoke!
:thumbup:
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Finished up the electrical at the boiler today. Hopefully I'll be filling it tomorrow and then draining it to fix all my leaking copper solder joints and then refilling. Getting close!! I have some pictures of the progress but the uploader is still broke off.
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Added a section of stainless chimney and tried to fill, but my heat exchanger leaks - dang. Pulled heat exchanger and took to a local HVAC shop for repair. More delay's!!!
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I'm with you ChickenFarmer. Since I am doing this alone and am a decent carpenter but crappy plumber, I just now finished my sidearm and am ready to get to the inside furnace heat exchanger. Stick with it, I've had some awesome help on this site. We'll both be up and running soon.....................vpm
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Hey VP!! I know it will get done. I was just really excited to get it filled and get a fire going in this thing. This was my shot at sweating copper, so there was a learning curve. I had trouble with making the fittings approximately 11,000 degrees to hot, but I figured it out. Good thing I only had a few fitting to sweat. This delay with the heat exchanger unit has me thinking about radiant baseboard. I'll probably just wait and see what the HVAC shop has to say about my coil.
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Got the heat exchanger back from the HVAC shop. They were able to fix it up. Got all the wiring and T-stat stuff straightened out. Filled and bled the air out. Got fire going in it now. Seems to work just fine. I'll post pictures up when the uploader gets fixed or I'll have to make an account on some photo hosting site. Stay tuned!! Thanks for all the tips and conversation!!!
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Good deal!
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Awesome Chicken Farmer!! Going to finish my furnace heat exchanger tomorrow and fill with water Saturday morning. Keep your fingers crossed.............vpm
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Good Job Chicken Farmer.........you are going to love it.
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My wife already says she likes the "softer" heat this system makes. We had a wood forced air furnace (for sale) in the basement before but it would throw some intense heat. Not as comfortable. I think I'm going to add another section of chimney pipe for a total of 5 feet. It seems to struggle a little bit to get going again when the damper door opens. I'm hoping the increased draft will help with that. So far, with 2 days burn time under my belt, I like it. It is definately a different animal from the forced air furnace (for sale). I grew up in a house with a fireplace insert that was burned non-stop every winter, so the wood burning thing is not new to me. Having the fire outside gives me peace of mind. I remember times when my dad would get that insert roaring and it would make him nervous, so he would sit up and watch it. We would find him in the morning passed out in his chair. I don't have a good wood storage system in place yet. Most it is stacked up in the yard beside the stove. I also have 3 16ft grain wagons filled to heaping, 1 in my barn and 2 stored in the neighbor's barn. I don't really want to leave the wagons sit out in the weather. I will be addressing the issue in the spring. All-in-all, I think I'm going to really like this system. I'm kind of a tinkerer, so I appreciate the flexiblity of the system. If you want to add something, you just cut it in. Not as simple when dealing with duct work.
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So, I hear the damper opening and closing rapidly while I was out tending the chickens. I go to the stove to see what's going on. The controller flashing all kind of crazy numbers and the damper door is going wild. Water is pouring out of the sight glass weep hole and steam is rolling out of the vent tube. I shut power off to it quickly. I give Ridgewood a call and they sent out a new controller, no fuss, no gripes, no questions. These guys are top shelf. I am glad I bought stove from them. From here on out, I plan to have spare controller on the shelf though. I'm also going to add an aquastat to the damper circuit. I've got an extra pump port on the back of the water jacket that would make an excellent spot for the 'stat to go. If the water starts to get too hot, it will cut the Ac voltage to the solenoid coil.
Craig asked me if I would consider being a display stove for them. I might just do it.
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Lost a solenoid last night. Water temp down to 97 deg. I had a spare from when I picked up the stove. Got it swapped in and am running now. I called Ridgewood and they will have another part out to me tomorrow. I think the coil burned out due to the damper door sticking closed on the creosote. I've been running all year at 180 but I think I'm going to bump it to 190. I've read some guys have had better luck with running cleaner at that temp. I also looked at Grainger and they sell a 120VAC solenoid with a much higher pull force, although it has a much higher amp pull at full stroke. The mounting holes are slightly wider but thats no big deal. The controller is rated to handle 16A, so that should not be and issue. I might add a resistor/capacitor network actross the contacts to control inrush arc.
Anyhow.....I still like the stove and it's warm in the house. I just saw the propane guy at the neighbor's house today. That's twice this year so far.......ouch
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Chicken farmer, we used to have lots of issues with Sequoyah Paradise stoves on their solenoids, to fix the issue we moved the solenoid about a foot away from the blast tube and put on a longer spring, this helped with overheating the solenoid from back drafts and at the same time gave much more flexibility for the spring, even if the draft door stuck closed it allowed the solenoid to pull fully open so it would not short it out.
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Thanks for the input SlimJim. The problem is that there isn't a way to move the solenoid unless the design of the door is changed.
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Could we have a picture?
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Chicken farmer
Crank it up. 185 low 195 high
Add paper clips as well.
I've lost several solenoids due to that poor draft door design when I was running to a high temp of 185. None since I bumped up the temps. Hope this helps.
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Why paper clips, where do you add them?
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I have not had my door stick. I run my boiler at 190 to 192. In the negatives I run it at 192. I have hot water heat.
I installed my boiler last February. Still with the original seleniod. I don't have creosote on my door or draft door.
Run them hotter
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I have the original solenoid and run my stove between 165-175. Never lost a solenoid or had a door stick.
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Why paper clips, where do you add them?
Add to bottom of draft door to prevent sticking. One on each side. Allow a gap no larger than 1/16" but still maintain door area by scraping creosote away.
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Lost another solenoid this morning. Good thing the replacement for last one came in yesterday. Called Ridgewood, they are sending another one out. Bumped the temp up to 195 with differential of 7. We'll see what happens.
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Well I have to eat crow. My door has stuck two days in a row. My door is dry, but the air in take has some creosote in it. Its weird, the wood I'm burning is really dry. It was as dead standing. Could certain wood give more creosote? But my fire box looks really good. Just has me baffled.
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I ran from December to almost the end of February with no issues (other than a controller). Now I've had 3 solenoids go out in fairly rapid succession. I can say though that the increase in operation temp has me hopeful. The door looks better already, not perfect, but better.
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Well, the increase in temp didn't help, had to change another solenoid today. Got a paperclip on there now. Waiting and watching.....
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Thats crazy. There must be something else going on. I cant imagine why these things are going bad on you guys so fast.
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My door was stuck, but didn't lose my solenoid.
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hows your power chicken farmer?
I dont like to use the term dirty but is it? do you burn out bulbs in the house?
There has to be something else going on..
maybe trace the wires in the stove maybe its grounding out
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The damper door is definately stuck when I find it.
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I got concerned after reading about all these solenoid failures due to the door sticking so I checked mine over good today, and noticed that mine does not seal tight against the steel intake pipe. The spring seems to hold it off the steel at the bottom by a 1/16 of an inch, and when I push on the door lightly it closes. My furnace has not crept up in temp when the door is shut and I am on my original solenoid. Maybe setting yours up this way might help.
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Mine is the same way and I have not had a single problem in 2 seasons. Mine closes tight on one side and not on the other. I was concerned about it but left it alone.
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automan, sounds like ours are the same. Do you have any problem with the temp rising with the door like that? I do not have any with mine, and it makes sense if the door is slightly pulled away, no chance of it getting "glued" to the tube.
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So far, so good with the paperclip...........here's hoping......
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No issues at all with mine. Working perfect so far.
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I might put a little spot weld on the draft tube and grind it to the right height. That will get rid of the paper clip for a more permenant repair.
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We're gonna try the picture thing again......
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1055_zpsjozhn5gc.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1055_zpsjozhn5gc.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1041_zpsqxpjyajl.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1041_zpsqxpjyajl.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1038_zpsfhdx2s9l.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1038_zpsfhdx2s9l.jpg.html)
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More!
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1037_zpsllhhloew.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1037_zpsllhhloew.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1036_zpslsxagagr.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1036_zpslsxagagr.jpg.html)
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Plumbing at the boiler.
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1033_zpslizlr7tk.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1033_zpslizlr7tk.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1029_zpsttthhpwy.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1029_zpsttthhpwy.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1028_zpsrfxcsoar.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1028_zpsrfxcsoar.jpg.html)
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Indoor plumbing.
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1027_zpsi89iqdzl.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1027_zpsi89iqdzl.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1010_zpsufxf27wd.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1010_zpsufxf27wd.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1009_zpsoymaoksv.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1009_zpsoymaoksv.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_1007_zpsg8bg4top.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_1007_zpsg8bg4top.jpg.html)
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Outdoor installation.
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_0997_zpsbexjefwu.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_0997_zpsbexjefwu.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_0992_zpshvcjejoc.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_0992_zpshvcjejoc.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_0991_zpsjbuf9vqv.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_0991_zpsjbuf9vqv.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_0990_zpsofsuqbt0.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_0990_zpsofsuqbt0.jpg.html)
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More.
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_0989_zpsznldp62t.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_0989_zpsznldp62t.jpg.html)
(http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j13/Chicken-Farmer1/IMG_0988_zpsuvfxdsow.jpg) (http://s76.photobucket.com/user/Chicken-Farmer1/media/IMG_0988_zpsuvfxdsow.jpg.html)
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Looks good!
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Well, I lost another Love controller today. Got home last night, found controller readout dark and the the damper door open. I think I'm going to sink a ground rod and bond all the parts to the frame. Very strange..............
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Well, I lost another Love controller today. Got home last night, found controller readout dark and the the damper door open. I think I'm going to sink a ground rod and bond all the parts to the frame. Very strange..............
Yeah strange.......see my recent post under the solenoid thread.
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Great pics Chicken farmer.
Did you get that controller straightened out?
Wondering if I should buy one as a back up?
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I haven't had a chance to sink a ground rod yet. The auto industry is running flat out right now, and it takes most of my spare time. Ridgewood sent a replacement out that day. Those guys are awesome. When I lost the first controller, they sent one out. When I went to change it, I found some loose wiring. I've seen loose wiring do some wierd stuff on controls. I swapped in the new controller and put the old controller on the shelf, just in case. So, now this time when the controller went dead, I had that other suspect controller on the shelf. So, I swapped it in just to check it out. And it worked!! And it's still working!! Ridgewood sent me a new controller so I have a spare on the shelf. I really need to get that ground rod in..............