Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Electronics => Topic started by: Scratch on November 20, 2011, 06:20:54 PM
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Got my temp guage from RSI working finally. Not his fault... I've had some health problems I've been working through for about a year now...
Anyways, when I ran my ThermoPex, I ran some Cat 5 also. I put the temp probe in the stove and used some various sizes of copper wire to make a good connection, then sealed it in with some silicone and foam insulation.
(http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/375886_2579950773314_1090746934_32949715_2122747868_n.jpg)
My stove is about 100 feet away from my house so I thought good spot for the gauge would be in the window well above the kitchen sink. Here you can see the stove and the gauge in the corner of the window.
(http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/375863_2579926332703_1090746934_32949710_1278215080_n.jpg)
Here's a better picture of it. I ran the wires through the wall.
(http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/305474_2579934452906_1090746934_32949712_318537480_n.jpg)
I sure like knowing the temp of the stove as I wake up in the morning. It tells me just how fast I need to run out there and fill the beast.
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Hopefully your health is better! Nice setup!
When I look out my kitchen window, at about the same angle as you, I see the same thing. Free heat!
Keepem' burnin'!
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Nice setup :post:
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Hopefully your health is better! Nice setup!
When I look out my kitchen window, at about the same angle as you, I see the same thing. Free heat!
Keepem' burnin'!
Scratch...ditto on what Ridgekid said regarding your health. I too can look out the sun room windows and see the OWB. I have a ritual I do every morning I get up and even before I go to bed. Get up, walk to the sun room and look out at the furnace...is there smoke or heat waves coming from the flue? Go down stairs and wrap my hand around the pex line to check for the running of the pump along with temp of water.
I really do like the idea of having a remote for the temperature. Thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely look into doing that come Spring. Please take good care of your health and stay warm.
Lugnut
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I am going to place a remote temp gauge on my boiler. You said you got your from RI. Not sure who that is. I was going to use something that attached to the outfeed pipe running to the house.
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yea i would like to have one. have to go down the stairs to put heat gun to pex.where can you buy one and whats the best kind ,price
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Send RSI a pm on this site, he will fix you up
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I built my remote temp monitor based on Ridgekid's design with the X-300 it works very well. My pex comes in the basement and I mounted the X-300 about
3 ft away and connected it to a ethernet switch and to my router. I can access the incoming & outgoing temps from any computer in the house and I have it send low temp alarm emails to my Blackberry. I am still working out the set points to optimize the indicator temps to let me know when it is the best time to load before the boiler temp drops below 160*. I think it will save me in the long run from overloading on to a partially burned bed of coals. I think it will pay for itself in just one winter.
See pic
I'll keep you posted as I get the logging, excel spreadsheet and graphing working.
later
Clyde
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Nice setup scratch, RSI hooked me up as well. I got my cat5 today and plan on hooking it up after work. Like you said, it will be nice knowing when I need to add wood.
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sitting in my family room...drinking a beer...and checking my owb temp from my recliner...sweeeeeet
thanks RSI :D
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whats the cost?
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sitting in my family room...drinking a beer...and checking my owb temp from my recliner...sweeeeeet
thanks RSI :D
sitting at computer..drinking wine..touch my toe on the floor, toasty...all is good, temp at boiler is fine
i have filled the stove on occasion when i get home from work and the blower was going when i filled the stove so i shut it off to prevent all that smoke in the face, and forgot to turn it on when i left. (i guess a remote temp instrument would have told me that after i returned to the house) The next morning i go out to fill the stove...water is 80 degrees (still heating house but not domestic water) I just smile, turn on the blower and think WOW i got a whole night FREE
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I use a remote meat temp taped to the incoming line and it works great, instead of running back to the utility room there it is on my desk:)
Now I get a remote feeder for the wood, heck a remote logger to cut, split, and stack too
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I have been thinking about adding a blower (draft inducer) wired in tandem to my 5036 draft solenoid. This would speed the recovery time and I believe the damper would stay open less and use less electricity overall. My concern is with the x-300 which I use to tell me when to load the boiler "I let it burn down to coals as much as possible depending on outdoor temp". If I add a blower I would like to switch it from a relay triggered on/off by the x-300 on a low temp alarm so if I don't catch the time to load it it don't burn out all the coals. The solenoid would not be isolated and would open as usual for a natural draft when the x-300 cuts off the blower.
I am just looking for others opinions on this setup.
thanks
Clyde
sitting in my family room...drinking a beer...and checking my owb temp from my recliner...sweeeeeet
thanks RSI :D
sitting at computer..drinking wine..touch my toe on the floor, toasty...all is good, temp at boiler is fine
i have filled the stove on occasion when i get home from work and the blower was going when i filled the stove so i shut it off to prevent all that smoke in the face, and forgot to turn it on when i left. (i guess a remote temp instrument would have told me that after i returned to the house) The next morning i go out to fill the stove...water is 80 degrees (still heating house but not domestic water) I just smile, turn on the blower and think WOW i got a whole night FREE