Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: prinpoms on December 08, 2011, 06:56:40 PM
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I'm new to this whole outdoor furnace. We have a Classic Central Boiler. It is usually at 170 but this morning it got down to 99 and the fire was almost out. The water tube in front does show there is water and the fire inside is going well and has been all day. However we can not get it to go above 125? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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What are you using it for and how?
Heat exchanger, DHW etc
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We use it to heat the house. As I said I am new to all this. My father had it installed a few years ago and we have inherited his house with it installed. It is our main source of heat instead of having oil. Hot water is not run off of it.
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be sure stove is full of water...you say the fire is going well? maybe not well enough? check your chimney to make sure it is not plugged?
if your stove is full of water and not losing any then unless you have a super heat draw somewhere the fire should be heating the water unless you have an air feed or exaust problem.
when my house is calling for heat and someone is showering it still never goes below 140...also you say you never had this problem before? have you added any equipment that would cause your heat draw to rise?
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Are you sure the solenoid is opening on the door to allow the draft to occur?Sounds like the fire must be going out or not getting enough air or a pluged stack.Are you burning seasoned or green wood?
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Hate to sound stupid but what is the solenoid? We have not added anything to it at all. How do I find out if I have an air feed problem. We are burning seasoned wood. Thanks for your help and explanations. I really appreciate it.
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i dont know much about your air feed system as i dont have your type of stove but someone will be along that owns one i am sure and explain it better to you
if you have no blower then you will likely have an electric solenoid that pulls open a small door that allow outside air into your stove to feed the fire oxygen.
some stoves also have an electic blower to assist in feeding outside air in to the stove
your stove will have one or the other
you say you inherited this stove so perhaps it is old enough to have the solenoid worn out and not opening the draft properly?
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Sounds like the damper did not open.
Power it down and listen for damper closing, then power up and listen if you hear it opening. It not, it's probably the solenoid.
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Will try this. We generally hear it close when it hits 180 Thanks and any other information will be appreciated too!
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More info:
1. The Central Boiler "classic" does not have a fan.
2. The weather is colder, it may need more wood to maintain 180*
BTW- Welcome to the site!! Where do you call home?
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Thanks Ridgekid! Guess easy answer best to start with first. Then look at rest. And NH is where is home for me!
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No Problem! That's what were are all here for!!
NH? Oh yes...more wood for sure!
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added more wood it is up to 149, so was easy answer maybe! We did check to make sure the damper was opening and closing too and it is. I am glad I found this forum. As I said we inherited the house and furnace and we have the paperwork but it's really no help.
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added more wood it is up to 149, so was easy answer maybe! We did check to make sure the damper was opening and closing too and it is. I am glad I found this forum. As I said we inherited the house and furnace and we have the paperwork but it's really no help.
well welcome to our little comunity prinpoms. I am sure you find answers to any question you may have on your "inheritence" of your OWB.
dont be afraid to ask any questins about your stove that you may have, or any type of problem you may come up against from being a "new owner"
if you have more questions you can post them here or in the forum set up for your particular brand of stove. many of us here peruse all the formums but sometimes you may get answers that pertain to your specific brand in the forum for that brand as many owners that have had the same problems as you may only read the forum of stove that they own
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Everyone has their own way to stock their boilers. I'll share mine.
In warmer weather (Daytime avg around 40*) I lay 3 down on the bottom, then two and one to top off. Like a pyramid. Now that's it's colder (Daytime avg 30*) I lay 4, 3, 2 and one on top. Again like a pyramid. This is all split wood. I adjust from there depending how much wood I have left over when I check it 12 hours later. Once you get into a routine it becomes second nature.
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Welcome to the site prinpoms
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Again thank you. We've been trying to figure out wood and how much to use, stack it etc. I've had a regular indoor woodstove for years but this type is all new to me. I'm sure we will get the hang of it in time but glad for all the help I have found on here already! :)
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Sounds like the damper did not open.
Power it down and listen for damper closing, then power up and listen if you hear it opening. It not, it's probably the solenoid.
I can personally garontee that you WILL hear whether the solenoid is working or not. There IS a distinct sound when that damper door is closing. :thumbup:
Lugnut
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Being a noob myself take what I say with a grain of salt.
1) If the damper is open you should be able to see through the lovers at the bottom of the door.
2) Check to see what your temperature controller is set to. Momentarily press the'Set' button on the digital temp controller one time and release it. "SP" will display on the controller. Press 'SET' again and release. The set temp of the controller will be displayed. If you need to change the temp then use the 'UP" or 'DOWN' arrow buttons to adjust. Finally, press 'SET' again to set the new temp.
I have mine set to the factory default of 185 degrees.
3) As for loading wood, once I got it going, I just throw as much wood in as I can, so far twice a day. Been working out for me. I have a CB CL-5036 myself.
Good luck.
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Welcome to to the site prinproms.
I am a newbie fron NH as well im running a ncb325 and been loading twice a day 3 3' logs 6-8'' dia.
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I may be missing some of the answers but questions would be:
1) Can you trust the thermometer?
2) Is the Thermostat shutting off the blower? If so then it believes the high setting is being met.
3) Is it possible your house is absorbing the heat as fast as the boiler makes it? Are your circulators off?
If the blower never shuts off and you thermometer never goes above 125 then you have a problem. If however you have a good fire going and your circulators are not running I see no reason you don't get a higher water temperature.
Question your instrumentation first.
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If your damper is operating properly and the fire is burning well (which it sounds like it is) then you could have something that caused a huge heat draw. A couple of years ago we got a huge rain in March and the ground water table elevated where my underground lines were buried. For about 3 days, I did well to get the boiler above 150 and I was just pounding the wood to it. Since the outside temp was not as cold as it was in January, I was scratching my head and wondering what was going on. The rain stopped and the ground dryed up and bingo I was back running at 180. That ground water was just sucking up the heat!
At the time my lines were about 2 feet down and covered in Ridgid "SM" insulation (very poor system). I have since replaced them with the Theremopex system.
The point is ... If you have ground water in contact with your lines running to your house - You will have a HUGE heat loss.
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Good point Northport. He can isolate the biler by shutting of his circulators. That would verify that he has no excessive house or ground draw. Then his problems are limited to the boiler alone. If he can get temperature with the circulators off, then he has an excessive load on the circulating water (ground/house etc).