Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Plumbing => Topic started by: trz on February 11, 2012, 11:50:43 AM

Title: water directon
Post by: trz on February 11, 2012, 11:50:43 AM
what would happen if you had your water running backwards through the furnace and lines?
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: Scott7m on February 11, 2012, 11:56:44 AM
what would happen if you had your water running backwards through the furnace and lines?

What do you mean?  The pump has to be in the loop somewhere pulling water off the stove, you can switch the supply and return but, most stoves pull from the bottom to increase circulation and even heat in the water jacket
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: trz on February 11, 2012, 12:54:07 PM
I'm confused!   I'm thinking maybe i have the water line that's supposed to be going TO the house hooked up to the RETURN pipe on the stove.   
  I don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone here but, it seems htat the water temp when i read it on what I'm thinking is the return line in my house it reads hotter that the line that i think is the incoming water.

   I've had all the plumbing done in the house and then at one point I moved the furnace. what if i were to have hooked up the incoming and outgoing lines backwards when i hooked it back up?
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: Scott7m on February 11, 2012, 12:57:58 PM
Where is your pump?
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: jerkash on February 11, 2012, 01:09:33 PM
As per my directions and the mfg, my water comes from the top and return goes in the bottom.  The water is hotter at the top and pushing it in at the bottom mixes it up better.
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: trz on February 11, 2012, 01:21:26 PM
Where is your pump?

on the back of the furnace.   (Hawken 1000)   Disconnected both water lines below the pump. What if i inadvertanlly hooked them up backwards when i hooked them back up?

is there some way to check which way the water is actually flowing ?
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: Scott7m on February 11, 2012, 01:38:40 PM
Just look at which line the pump is on and which way it's flowing
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: Scott7m on February 11, 2012, 01:39:56 PM
It can't push water into the stove and expect it to find it's way out


Title: Re: water directon
Post by: trz on February 11, 2012, 01:55:02 PM
It can't push water into the stove and expect it to find it's way out

that makes sense!


But, know  how do you explain my return water being Hotter than the water going To the house.
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: willieG on February 11, 2012, 02:19:29 PM
i twould be possable to hook your pump to the return line...you would still be pushing water to the house but through the wrong pipe. if they were not color coded perhaps you should have marked them and you would know for sure?


Title: Re: water directon
Post by: trz on February 11, 2012, 02:40:34 PM
i twould be possable to hook your pump to the return line...you would still be pushing water to the house but through the wrong pipe. if they were not color coded perhaps you should have marked them and you would know for sure?

Thanks, but it's too late for 'Perhaps you should have'. That doesn't help me a bit!

  Now, I'm Quite sure i didn't hook it up wrong,,as i did mark them when i took them off but,  when i started checking temps. and the return line seems to be hotter than the incoming water it made me start thinking 'what if'  .  But, i still can't figure how my return water  can read hotter than the incomig water. 

    Now, the whole reason this started was because i'm burning ridiculous amounts of wood and last summer i added 20" of insl. and it's been a mild winter and my wood consumption hasn't gone down so I'm trying to figure out what the prob. is.
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: willieG on February 11, 2012, 03:11:06 PM
i guess if yoru pump is at teh stove you could shut it off..take the lines apart in the house. put them in a bucket..have someone jog the pump on for 10 or 15 seconds and see what pipe the water is coming out of?

what do you consider ridiculous amounts of wood?

do you have a gasser or a non gasser?

do you use more wood now than you did when you first hooked up?

one thing that can lead to more wood usage in your underground lines getting wet  or  yoru jacket around them failing?
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: Scott7m on February 11, 2012, 07:06:32 PM
How r u checking the temps?
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: RSI on February 11, 2012, 09:43:57 PM
Are you saying you got the pipes mixed up at the boiler and not sure which is which? The pump will have an arrow on it so you can see if that is the right way.

What do you have for valves? If you have enough you can shut them and open a valve in the house and find out that way.
Another way might be to try looking for marking on the pipe. Some brands have a mark every 5 feet so if you are lucky you might find one on at least each pipe and possibly figure out from that.
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: dwneast77 on February 23, 2012, 07:32:46 PM
On my Thermopex from CB, both lines are red but one has a black stripe.  I would think there would be some type of marking to let you know.
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: Joepa82 on February 28, 2012, 09:12:31 AM
On my Thermopex from CB, both lines are red but one has a black stripe.  I would think there would be some type of marking to let you know.

I agree if you used thermopex they both look like the same pipe. But on one side of one of the pipes one has a double black stripe and the other one is just plain red. Distinguish which pipe is your return on your boiler and go inside your home and check your return line to see if its the pipe you want it to be.
Title: Re: water directon
Post by: Humphrey on April 02, 2012, 08:23:47 PM
The pump needs to be mounted at the upper line and the return at the lower. On my stove CB 6048 the water temp gauge is in the stove's water tank near the upper line. So if your returning cooler water is what the temp gauge is reading your damper will be open more, burning excessive wood.