Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: jw on February 04, 2015, 07:23:46 PM

Title: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: jw on February 04, 2015, 07:23:46 PM: So I'm looking for ideas on how to provide a visual alert in my house to indicate that the wood boiler is in need of loading. I run a 175-185 aquastat differential and my line of thinking is something along these lines.

1. A digital read-out of the stove water temp
2. An LED light tree that would
2a. Light up green indicating the water temp is within the 175-185 range (all is good)
2b. Light up yellow indicating water temp is between 155-175 (fuel is needed)
2c. Light up red indicating water temp is below 155 and stove is in danger of sweating (fuel is needed now)

I'd like to be able to adjust these ranges like I can adjust my aquastat.

Anyone got any ideas, done something similar, or have some type of indicator system alerting to the stove needing wood?

Thanks much, great info on this site.
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: RSI on February 04, 2015, 09:48:23 PM: I don't think just a temperature indicator will tell you that closely when wood is needed unless you normally want to wait till the temperature drops quite a bit.

How much do you want to spend?
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: tacoma on February 04, 2015, 09:59:47 PM: I have a homemade OWB and what I did was to purchase a couple of these.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221623465322?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.com/itm/221623465322?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)

This particular unit only has one 10 amp relay and operates on 12 volts.

My sensors, relays and draft solenoid operate on 12v dc. Powered by a 12 volt, 2 amp pc periphial power suppy. My solenoid sensor is inside the house attached to incoming water line, where I can monitor and also adjust, if desired. I find that I can keep an eye on the temperature and tell when wood is needed.
If you pull up ebay and use these search terms, "temperature controller relay", you'll find many different configurations. Some operate on 110 volts. Some are in celcius. Some have 2 or more relays, which is what you'd probably need to light up 3 different leds. Some of the controllers have built in piezo buzzer alarm, which might be good if you didn't actually want to monitor or was asleep.

I realize these things are made in china but I've tested them and they work fine for me, so far. Truth be told, my guess is most of the electronics we buy in america at inflated prices are probably made in china anyway.
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: caper on February 05, 2015, 05:36:51 AM: BLUE SMOKE, LOAD FURNACE ;D
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: Chas on February 05, 2015, 06:38:46 AM: I have a digital readout in the house of the actual boiler temp. If it is reading low enough that I know the natural draft door is open and the temp is climbing very slow or not at all, I know it's time to add wood or at least stir the coals. I also have an alarm for high and low tempurature. The low temp alarm doesn't go off 'till it drops below 150, but it's never gone off because after getting up 5 days a week at 4:10 AM for the past several years, I couldn't sleep in long enough on the weekends for the stove to need wood if I tried.
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: mlappin on February 05, 2015, 07:09:30 AM: House cold? Wife giving you dirty looks? Cats hogging the heat registers? Add wood.
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: Amankman on February 05, 2015, 01:52:33 PM: Chas, how did you get readout in the house? Did you tag off the Aquastat?
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: free heat on February 05, 2015, 02:04:49 PM: He probably uses a maverick, I use that same setup and love it
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: yotehunter66 on February 05, 2015, 04:47:24 PM: Quote from: mlappin on February 05, 2015, 07:09:30 AM
House cold? Wife giving you dirty looks? Cats hogging the heat registers? Add wood.
That's it!
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: Chas on February 05, 2015, 05:55:53 PM: Amankman, I have a probe in a tee fitting at the boiler, and a wire ran through a conduit to the house and hooked to an Ametek digital thermometer. The temperature alarm is attached to a copper pipe in the basement.
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: mlappin on February 06, 2015, 05:45:53 AM: jw, I think something like this is what you're looking for.

http://www.seedandgarden.com/shop/categories/woodminder/ (http://www.seedandgarden.com/shop/categories/woodminder/)
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: slimjim on February 06, 2015, 05:58:48 AM: :thumbup: Nice!
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: novaman on February 08, 2015, 07:29:08 PM: I used a cheap autometer guage for a car, the one with a wire not the capulary tube type. mounted it at the top of my stairway to the basement with a 12v converter. and a tee in the line at exchanger for the sending unit.now I just look at the gauge and if its below 150 and I havent been out in a while I grab my coat and gloves!. cat me about 30 bucks. and its a chrome one too ;D
Title: Re: "Time to load" indicator
Post by: Maxnchej on February 15, 2015, 01:47:02 PM: I'm on my first year with my stove and I'm going to install the following in the spring to allow my to monitor my temps remote.

http://www.controlbyweb.com/x300/ (http://www.controlbyweb.com/x300/)