Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Central Boiler => Topic started by: gmmaxim250 on July 23, 2012, 09:19:58 PM
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Is anybody heating their hot water in the summer with their maxim? I am a newbie and I just started. It is going okay except for a ten minute period where the fire star was blinking three green lights across the heat output indicators. I turned it off and then back on and that seemed to fix the problem... I think. Any ideas... I am calling dealer because I don't see anything in the volumes of directions...
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yeah member blwnsmoke is running his Maxim for hot water.
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I just pushed water temp to 170...I wonder furnace was in a power save mode or something to that effect....dealer call tomorrow.
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I keep my water temp at that or higher in the winter is 170 too low for the summer? I have been thinking of using mine for hot water all year too
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Okay, after rereading manual I noticed a note at the end of all the firestar messages. When the furnace is in low and the fire goes out, it will wait until the burner temp gets low enough that it will reignite into the medium setting. I am learning. 170 is a little higher than I wanted to go, but i will keep it up there due to any potential condensation problems. I haven't had any yet, and I don't want any.
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How does the fuel price compare running it compared to burning gas to heat water?
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I don't know about gas, we have electric hot water. Pellets were 4.70 a bag. I have one ton in the hopper. So far we haven't burned very much. I think I won't have to add pellets until mid September. That would work out to be 235 dollars for hot water for approximate two months. The problem is I won't be able to do cost comparison until October, due to our month delay in electric bill.
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I don't know about gas, we have electric hot water. Pellets were 4.70 a bag. I have one ton in the hopper. So far we haven't burned very much. I think I won't have to add pellets until mid September. That would work out to be 235 dollars for hot water for approximate two months. The problem is I won't be able to do cost comparison until October, due to our month delay in electric bill.
That seems very expensive. i would not think hot water should be more than about $30/month unless you use a lot of it. I know I have been using my boiler over the summer too. For hot water and possibly heating the pool/room. I do no think it has actually heated the room or water since sumer. But anyways, I have not even used 3/4 cord wood over May/June/July. I am figuring my entire summer will use just a bit over 1 cord at about $100/cord.
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You are right, that would be expensive, but I don't think it will be that high. Right know I am thinking it will be much less. Six days in, and I don't think that we have used two bags. We will see.
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Your spending a dollar to save a dime! ??? Not to mention the wear and tear on the unit
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Unless you have a huge family and a bunch of girls you should not be spending near $117 per month on electric to heat water. I have estimated ours to run about $35-$40 for two adults and a child in Indiana. Even with unlimited free wood I am hesitant to put the wear on an expensive piece of equipment to save so little.
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All good advice, again, I don't know how much it will cost. I won't be able compare until I see august electric bill and estimate how many bags of pellets I have burned, I do know that the furnace isn't running all that hard, mostly in the low setting. I like the thoughts though...good ideas are not limited to one mind.
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I almost forgot, according to the literature, the maxim is able to be used all year. Of course, that doesn't mean it should be.
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I almost forgot, according to the literature, the maxim is able to be used all year. Of course, that doesn't mean it should be.
What are the thoughts on that, running all year? I would almost think it may be better to run it. What really hurts the unit? I would think it might be more detrimental to let it sit idle and have moisture attack the firebox and stangent water in the unit. Mine is a classic, perhaps the extra mechanism with the pellet loader will wear. What does everyone think. Pellet vs Classic. Running all year round?
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My opinion is if your going to pay for and burn pellets why not just use natural gas or fuel oil and save your self the headach? I have not run the numbers but what i see the hot water is pretty pricey.
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So far, we saved thirty dollars on electric....not good enough...won't be burning pellets next summer, I don't think. The only caveat was/is that valves was left open for garage and it was gravity feeding hot water to it. I don't think that will make that much of a difference, but bill in September will be worth a look see. The experience has been good for the upcoming season...
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$30 total for the summer? I am with you. There is no way I would put the wear on the furnace for that little savings.
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30 dollars for August. Didn't run until late July, September might be a little better, but I don't think so.
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It does not look like it is worth running in the summer for me I just don' t use enough hot water , I would love to use it year round I just need to move someplace with no summer
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I am still planning to experiment with heating the clothes dryer off the boiler. I hope to get a heat exchanger on it early in the heating season so I can find out if it works before shutdown. If that works out it would make it much more practical to burn all year. We also have another child on the way and my wife is convinced it is a girl. If that is the case I will prepare myself for higher water usage.
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Running a dryer off the boiler is not hard at all. I have had one setup for it for over 5 years. I used a heat exchanger that I had laying around and it is a little too small so it doesn't get real hot but it works good enough to not be worth putting a bigger one on it.
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Running a dryer off the boiler is not hard at all. I have had one setup for it for over 5 years. I used a heat exchanger that I had laying around and it is a little too small so it doesn't get real hot but it works good enough to not be worth putting a bigger one on it.
How big is your heat exchanger? I considered buying one large enough to cover all the existing air inlets and then boxing it in so all the air goes through the exchanger. I want to make sure I do not starve the dryer for air flow. I know I can get many more btus from the boiler than I do from the dryer coil but the dryer coil is a higher temp. Which is more important for drying? BTU or temp? Seems to me if I am putting in three times the btus I will dry clothes faster at a lower temp which would be easier on the clothes.
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The problem with the one I used was it is only a single row but it is 12x12
I think a 12x6 3 row would work a lot better.
I used a separate dryer and removed the gas burner completely. I figured that was the safest.
On the one I used, (I think it is Whirlpool brand) if you pull the back panel off there is a tube up the back. On electric models the element is inside it and on gas models the flames are inside it. I ended up getting that tube from an electric model because it didn't have venting slots like the gas one had. Then I just pulled the heating element out and cut the back of it open and mounted the heat exchanger to it.
I used the gas dryer because it was wired for 120v instead of 220v. The power to the gas burner I just ran straight to a solenoid valve.
If I were doing it again, I would use a pump instead.
It doesn't get as hot as a regular dryer and has to run a little longer but it seems to be a lot better for the clothes.
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After getting two electric bills that only saved me 55 to 60 dollars, I am pretty sure I won't be using the maxim to just heat hot water next summer. I will be turning off and shutting down the owb late next spring. Thanks for all the input.