Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Central Boiler => Topic started by: Ridgekid on November 08, 2011, 05:13:02 AM
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The first row (1/2 cord) is about gone. Six pieces left. That will get me through until the evening of Nov 9th. Here's how it was consumed so far:
Sept 29-Oct 5=20 pieces
Oct 20-Nov 8=139 pieces
or
26 days of operation = 159 pieces or 1/2 cord
or
6.1 pieces a day
According to my weather station Octobers Average temps (Hi and LO) = 50F. Novembers average has been 47.4F
Note on "pieces"- Average size was 4-6" in diameter.
Of course I expect wood consumption to increase when it gets colder, but at this rate I'm thinking my 8 cord estimate might of been high. Here's what I'm estimating:
Oct-Nov 1 Cord
Dec-Feb 3 Cord
March-April 1 Cord
Total=5 Cord
Only time will tell since this is the first Winter with our OWB. But so far so good!
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The first row (1/2 cord) is about gone. Six pieces left. That will get me through until the evening of Nov 9th. Here's how it was consumed so far:
Sept 29-Oct 5=20 pieces
Oct 20-Nov 8=139 pieces
or
26 days of operation = 159 pieces or 1/2 cord
or
6.1 pieces a day
According to my weather station Octobers Average temps (Hi and LO) = 50F. Novembers average has been 47.4F
Note on "pieces"- Average size was 4-6" in diameter.
Of course I expect wood consumption to increase when it gets colder, but at this rate I'm thinking my 8 cord estimate might of been high. Here's what I'm estimating:
Oct-Nov 1 Cord
Dec-Feb 3 Cord
March-April 1 Cord
Total=5 Cord
Only time will tell since this is the first Winter with our OWB. But so far so good!
Curiouse on your estimates. If you say that your wood is about 4-6" diameter, how long? I would assume about 18" long so each piece is 1.25 ft^3 assuming 5" square x 18" long to simplify the math.
a cord is 4x4x8 = 128 ft^3
so 159 pieces is ~200 ft^3 which is about 1.5 cords
Did I do something wrong or do you cut your logs really short? This is about inline with what I am burning too. I am more towards 2 cord a month myself, but I have the larger 6048 and I am heating a pool.
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Good point! I guess I should of mentioned the log lengths are 18" long. I have used the same measurements for a cord (4x4x8) when actually my rows are 4'Hx18"Wx10'L. If I multiplied by 2 Would you estimate it yields the same as a full cord?
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Good point! I guess I should of mentioned the log lengths are 18" long. I have used the same measurements for a cord (4x4x8) when actually my rows are 4'Hx18"Wx10'L. If I multiplied by 2 Would you estimate it yields the same as a full cord?
Not sure what you mean by multiply by 2. Being a volumn measurement, just keep it simple. Your estimation based on number of pieces of wood is fine as long as they are relatively the same size. Sounds like the 1.5 cord is more what you just used over those 26 days which is pretty close to a month. Did you use about 3 rows?
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No just one row.
If you think a row 4'Hx18"Wx10' L is 1.5 cords I'd have to disagree. Correct me if I'm wrong but half a cord is 4x2x8. My row is longer (10') but narrower (18"). That's why I think it's 1/2 cord consumed. Did I miscalculate?
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No just one row.
If you think a row 4'Hx18"Wx10' L is 1.5 cords I'd have to disagree. Correct me if I'm wrong but half a cord is 4x2x8. My row is longer (10') but narrower (18"). That's why I think it's 1/2 cord consumed. Did I miscalculate?
I found my math error. One stick of wood is only 0.26ft^3. This brings us really close to 60ft^3 over the 26 days; or one stack. That is impressive. My pool pulls a lot of heat every day. You may need less than you think if your house is well insulated. Maybe only 1.5 cord a month when it is reall cold. This is my first year too, so I am anxiouse to see what happens too.
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Ok that sounds better.
We had a pool*. Took it down the same week we started digging the trench for the thermopex. Sand from under pool was used to partially cover thermopex. We have too much rock in our soil and I wanted to protect the pipe. To further explain how much rock we have, when I back filled the trench minus the rock, we ran out of dirt. Even after using the pool sand.
*= I used a solar blanket, propane heater and homemade solar heater (plastic pipe laid out at a angle towards the sun pumping pool water through) and it worked great. Should of kept it one more year just to try the OWB. Then again, no one was using pool or helping keeping it clean. One less chore for me!
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Sounds like my parents old house. They ahd about 1/2 soil over rock. They had a pool dug, sort of. It was supposed to be inground, but about half way through the dozer guy said he would have to use dynomite to go any deeper. So it was a 1/2 in, 1/2 out pool. Turned out nice actually.
My pool is inground and enclosed so it is year round. It takes about 500K BTUs a day to hold the temp. Plus I have to heat the room, ~88F for the dehumidifiers since the water is 85. It would take less, but the ground is so wet it really leaches the heat out. I cannot seem to dry it out. Even with 2 sump pumps.
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How cold does it get there?
I never really kept track of how much wood I used but when it is 10 below zero I would guess I burn 4-5 times as much wood per day as with weather in the 50's.
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This is for Homer City, Pa about 15 miles from my house. So it's close. Our's will be a few degrees cooler due to elevation: (2000 ft)
Expand the drop down menus on this link:
http://www.homefacts.com/weather/Pennsylvania/Indiana-County/Homer-City.html (http://www.homefacts.com/weather/Pennsylvania/Indiana-County/Homer-City.html)
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I'm a little late joining the consumption discussion, but want to share my recent experience. I had been loading about half of my 5036 each day with a little left over from the previous day with temps in the lower 30s at night and mid 50s during the day. Last week, we had a drop to -2 and mid day temps in the teens and my consumption went to filling the 5036 completely for two days and being left with only a bed of ashes. I was rocking along nicely since October 5th on a little over a half cord until last week and now I am approaching 2 cords...rapidly. It has snowed three times in the last 10 days with temps in the upper teens to upper thirties. I'm starting to wonder if my 13 cords of mostly aspen will stretch into May.
By the way, anybody experience black liquid running out of the door and down the front of your unit after the burn when you filled it to capacity?
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When the snow starts flying you hibernate? Welcome back. Thought you were snowed in!
Could it be the firebox got too cool before you restocked? My leaked once so far but I was down to bare bones when I restocked. Enough to re-ignite, but not enough heat to "dry" out my restocking.
Just a thought.
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I'm a little late joining the consumption discussion, but want to share my recent experience. I had been loading about half of my 5036 each day with a little left over from the previous day with temps in the lower 30s at night and mid 50s during the day. Last week, we had a drop to -2 and mid day temps in the teens and my consumption went to filling the 5036 completely for two days and being left with only a bed of ashes. I was rocking along nicely since October 5th on a little over a half cord until last week and now I am approaching 2 cords...rapidly. It has snowed three times in the last 10 days with temps in the upper teens to upper thirties. I'm starting to wonder if my 13 cords of mostly aspen will stretch into May.
By the way, anybody experience black liquid running out of the door and down the front of your unit after the burn when you filled it to capacity?
If you can, I would try filling it twice a day. It should save some wood if you don't put as much in each time. (allows the fire to burn hotter and cleaner)
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MTJAG-
Portage & Main tells us to load twice/day. Our weather has been 30's at night, 40's and 50's during the day, so heat demand has not been great at all. I did cheat and fill mine a little over 2/3 full early last week and it went 48 hours. I've not had any issues with leaking gaskets until I did that. I tightened up the door seal a little and went back to 2x/day and haven't had any issues since.
Thanks for the reply a while back pertaining to your signature. I've passed it on to many people.
Marty
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Sounds like creasote leaking from the door with a high water content in the wood.I was getting lots of the black goo leaking from my stove last year while burning green wood.I have been using more seasoned wood this year and I have had very little creasote in my stove.
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BTW- Based on my current consumption rate I will forgo getting another truck load of wood now. We'll revisit this in the spring and determine if we would still need it.
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Ridge,
Like myself, I know your truck load has lots of oak on it. I have quite a bit for next year, already, but knowing oak takes lots longer to season well. So, I'll still get a truck load to have here and beable to work on it at my "leasure".
Just a thought, but I really want to stay ahead on the wood supply.
Bill
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Bill-
I agree about the seasoning. In fact I'm going to get a moisture checker this evening to see what I've been burning. (Thanks to another post stating Harbor Freight carries them).
Since I already have 2012-2013 winter wood drying, another truck load would secure the 2013-2014 season. So that's why I think waiting until spring for another truck load made more sense.
Also, Burning this winters stack will give me a place to stack the 2013-14 season.
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When you check the moisture of the wood, split the piece in half and check the middle. Otherwise you will get a much lower than actual reading.
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Ridge,
Your definately on the ball!!! Didn't realize you have 12-13 covered! Good for you...me, I'm gaining on it, especially with the great weather we've been having.
Will be at harbor freight tomorrow and we'll look for a meter also. Thank's for reminder.
Bill
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Ridgekid,
I bought one of those meters a few days ago and I'm very impressed with the results. It is the third one I've used and so far the cheapest and most accurate. In the past, I've dried down fresh cut sawdust at work and tested the mc using the same formula we use to check the mc of our feed stocks. The other meters were usually off by several points, and the results were sometimes not repeatable within a few points. The other meters were bought at Graingers, and they are way more than the $12.99 HF gets for theirs. I ran 2 samples yesterday at work using a 100 gram sample of fresh cut sawdust from a six inch round(oak) cut just over a year ago. I got 2 consistent readings of 30%. Using the HF meter I got a 31% and a 32%. I was very impressed.
The method we use for testing mc in firewood is as follows: Wet sample - dry sample = %mc. In my case, we always start out with a 100 gram sample, so it was: 100 - 70 = 30% mc.
There are other methods out there for determining mc in wood, but they make very little sense to me if your species of wood is an inherently wet one. The most common one would be (using my results) : 100 -70 = 30 divided by 70 x 100 = 42.86% mc. Now suppose your 100 gram sample dried down to 45. I would say that sample has a 55% mc (100-45=55) The other method would be : 100 - 45 = 55 divided by 45 x 100 = 122.222%. A good share of these articles are rated at the end, and there are apparently quite a few people out there that don't buy into their methodology either.
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Thanks to all for the input on the leaking black liquid. I have gone to filling twice a day and the leaking has stopped. Most of my wood is large (10-12") aspen rounds with some ponderosa pine and a little fir. I have started splitting most of the large rounds and that seems to have helped a bit. It will burn whatever you put in there, but it recovers faster with the split wood and I don't have the "black ooze". It's 12 degrees here this morning, a little warmer than yesterday. Looks like we are going to have a cold winter and I'm going through firewood like "turnip greens through a widow woman". Problem I now have is that all the roads to the USFS are closed due to snow, so I can't access anymore firewood for now.
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I get the black liquid quite often when the wood is a little wet. I used to be concerned about it, but it did not seem to affect anything last season except make me have to clean the damper gasket a little more. I didn't do the paint much favor on the floor though. I guess it will get a Krylon rebuild next spring.
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martyinmi-
While you were typing your comments I was putting batteries in mine. http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-mini-moisture-meter-67143.html (http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-mini-moisture-meter-67143.html)
When I went out to restock the green dragon, I tested it on 6 pieces of wood. <.06% (highest reading) testing it on the butt end of a piece of wood. I think a more accurate test would be for me to cut a piece in half and retest.
And of course no trip to town can be complete without stopping at a Ollie's Discount Store. I found one of these: http://www.blackanddecker.com/power-tools/EM100B.aspx (http://www.blackanddecker.com/power-tools/EM100B.aspx) I've seen these before for $50-$200. At Ollies it was $19.99. I'm still checking to see the accuracy of the unit. Might take a few days.
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MTJAG-
Sounds like your narrowing down the "fine tuning". The last few days my creosote built up due to little use. This morning, thanks to the cooler temperatures, and a couple of burns, I have creosote pealing off the walls in dry pieces. During the next restock, I'll scrape the loose stuff off the walls, which seems to burn very well.
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Correction about my moisture content.
I don't know if the rain last night effected my reading, but this morning I'm showing <15%. Yes-My wood is covered. So I guess I'm ok.
Found this:
Seasoned Firewood has a moisture content less than 40% that will allow the wood to burn effectively and release the potential BTU's (heat). Wood that has been properly split and stored will promote the evaporation of water. In most areas of the country, especially the Northeast, it will take up to 12 months for split hardwood to be properly seasoned. Wood with more than 40% moisture content should not be burned for home heating. The minimum moisture content for optimal BTU's is no more than 20% to 30% moisture and as low as 10%. Below 10% the wood will burn too quickly.
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How far in are you pushing prongs on the meter? You need to push pretty hard to get an accurate reading.
You need to measure inside the wood. If you split a piece in half and test from the edge towards the center you will see what I mean.
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I buried the prongs. I do need to split a piece to get accurate test.
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Ok- I like playing with spreadsheets. Here's the same report I started this thread with in a graph. If you like it I'll, update it monthly until the end of the season.
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?action=media;sa=media;in=160 (http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?action=media;sa=media;in=160)
NOTE: Avg daily temp (F) is based on my personal weather station report at Weather Underground.
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Been heating with the 5036 for about six weeks now (including hot water). This is my first owb and its brand new. How much wood do you normally put in and how? Some say go in a pyramid style or just rack it in, and how deep do you go? Just curious because my burn times dont seem long enough.
Also, what about green wood mixed in. Thanks
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Ridgekid-
If you cut a piece in half or split it, you will get a much higher reading. Some of my ends were in the 14%-17% range, but much wetter in the middle. My 3.5 cords of oak are going to get another years seasoning, as any piece I've cut and checked has been a minimum of 25%, and as high as 34%, with the average being 30%-31%. Not real proud of myself at this point in the game. The standing white Ash I've been cutting and stock-piling for next year will end up getting partially used up this year. It's mc varies anywhere between 14% and 28%, averaging around 20%-22%.
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Plumb bob-
I use the pyramid scheme in front of the door. When that burns down I move those hot ashes back and re-stack again. When the ashes are as high as the beveled bottom, I scoop ashes. Not before getting one more burn out of the cinders. I move all the unburnt cinders back to the front of the door and wait until the next burn is compete. The last time I did this it took an hour to complete the burn.
My pyramid consists of 8-12 pieces, or up to the top of the door opening.
Marty-
I plan to try that this weekend. I'll let you know what I get.
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Thanks RK
Thats what I tried tonight (trying) and we will see. I think though that Im gonna need to buy some hardwood, $95.00 a logger chord, 12 chord min. we shall see. Thanks again!
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Plumb bob, this is my first year with a 5036 as well (I got mine last spring). I usually stack my wood in about a third of the way back, but have loaded it completely in recent days when the temperature was near zero. I think one of the main things is to stir your ashes daily with the rake and/or hoe. Generally, I am burning a mix of aspen, pine, and a little fir. For the most part, I didn't split any of the wood I have, but am now splitting much of it as I burn it. However, for that reason, my wood is probably still a little high in moisture content(though I cut standing dead timber and my climate here is very dry).
I have a question for you, did you order your 5036 with the restrictor in the smoke stack? It is a reducer ring that sits right at the outlet of your stove in the pipe before it turns up.
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Mt.
I dont believe that a restrictor plate is in there, but now I'm gonna have to take a look :bash:
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CB doesn't include it in all 5036's, but my dealer suggested that I get one for my location which is an altitude of 8600'. He indicated that CB suggested it for stoves in Colorado and Montana and the ones with it were saving on wood. At this point, I can't testify to the fact that it is saving me any wood.
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I'm a NEW OWNER... cutting wood 36 inches long... why are you cutting at 18"?
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Cuz I'm old! I mean, I have to make sure the wife can stock the OWB. Yeah that's the ticket!
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Ridgekid,
Are you loging many more on time hours now that it is getting colder. I thought that your new systen keeps track of the burn times of your CB.
RW
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I'm still tracking my wood use and been having trouble setting up the new temp module in pushing emails when I get a burn. I have to open the log and count how many times Relay one closes. In 21 hours it was 8X.
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I'm a NEW OWNER... cutting wood 36 inches long... why are you cutting at 18"?
If your wood is over 20 '' long you lose alot more up the stack cuz its beyond the plenum that hangs down.I suspected this and a dealer finely confurmed this.
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I'm still tracking my wood use and been having trouble setting up the new temp module in pushing emails when I get a burn. I have to open the log and count how many times Relay one closes. In 21 hours it was 8X.
That's a pretty sweet monitoring system you show there in the gallery. :post: Man, you are making a science out of this OWB! That's great cause we all want to know how we can burn less and heat more. Hey, I also noticed that your temps haven't been down below 30 yet on your graph. I can tell you when it does, be ready to pile the wood on, cause it's a big difference in consumption once that temp gets down close to zero. Your Green Dragon gonna get hungry!
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Thanks. FYI- I will update the graphs (Electric and Wood use) on the first of every month and post them in the gallery. We have actually had a few days in the thirties. Then it gets warm again. My graph looks like the stock market right now. Up and down.
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I'm a NEW OWNER... cutting wood 36 inches long... why are you cutting at 18"?
Welcome to this site. You are the first one on this site who has a 3200 gasser, that I know of anyway. Those things look like monsters(in a good way)! I've only seen one up close and I think I was drooling.
How are you getting along with it so far, and how many sq. ft. are you heating with it. That furnace is rated to heat more than 15000 sq. ft., isn't it?
I cut all my wood at 25", as thats the longest piece I can get in my splitter. Also, my new-fangeled automated wood stacking device (my almost ten year old son!) has a hard time lifting them if they are too large, so if I want continued free labor with minimum bellyaching, thats how I'll continue doing it. Most splitters won't split ones much longer than 25".
Keep us updated on how your 3200 is working for you.
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FINALLY! I went out and grabbed three pieces off the wood pile and cut them in half to check moisture content.
6" round = 24%
4" wedge - 18%
6" wedge = 22%
So based on the previous post I made about seasoned moisture content I guess I'm ok.
Previous post:
Seasoned Firewood has a moisture content less than 40% that will allow the wood to burn effectively and release the potential BTU's (heat). Wood that has been properly split and stored will promote the evaporation of water. In most areas of the country, especially the Northeast, it will take up to 12 months for split hardwood to be properly seasoned. Wood with more than 40% moisture content should not be burned for home heating. The minimum moisture content for optimal BTU's is no more than 20% to 30% moisture and as low as 10%. Below 10% the wood will burn too quickly.
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So, after reading this thread, I just happened to be driving by Harbor Freight and stopped in. After also purchasing one of their MC meters and a infrared thermoeter I did a little cutting and splitting today.
I found that just cutting a round in half and testing netted a different reading than splitting the same round. Example-ran a saw through a 12" piece of oak that has been down for a year in 10' lenghts and got a reading of 34%, split that same piece and get 25%. It seems to change the farther in you push the probes? Whatever doesn't really matter, seems to burn great but found it interesting. Also tested many different spiecies that have all been down for a year and got results ranging from high teens to low thirties.
Thanks for the tip on this very inexpensive little tool.
BTW, for what its worth I have a log home that is about 25 years old, stuck the probe in one of my interior walls for the heck of it and got a reading of 10%. ;)
I have also been playing with the Infrared Thermometer at all different points of interest. More on that later...