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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / What size opening for furnace plumbing into new basement?

« on: July 02, 2011, 08:42:05 PM »

Hello, getting ready to pour basement walls and was wondering what size of opening I needed for all my furnace lines?  I squeezed it all in a 4" where I'm located but was thinking about using a 6" pipe this time for plenty of room.  Would a thin walled 6" pvc be ok or is there any reason to use schedule 40?  How far down under ground should I go for my area in Southwest Missouri?  I'm running my well line around 3 feet down.  Would that be enough the the furnace as well?  Any comments appreciated.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Earth Outdoor Mtn Man 505

« on: May 24, 2011, 09:06:34 AM »

I have the one with the cleanout and door.  I like it fine.  The other model just removes the grates and door and gives you more capacity from what I understand.  Just you choice on what you want.  If you like the convience of the door go with it or if you don't mind digging ashes out the main door it would be fine.  It would also give you more capacity.  I picked my stove up and installed it myself.  I would say I have less experience than you do so you should have no problem.  I would recommend you do it before winter.  I waited until it was cold and had a hard time getting the cold pex uncoiled and run straight.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Earth Outdoor Mtn Man 505

« on: May 19, 2011, 08:24:15 PM »

I have the mtn. man 500 which is about the same as the 505 except I have a door and grates for the ashes.  I purchased my unit at the end of last year and went through most of the winter with it.  As far as heating it worked fine for me.  This is my first OWF so I really don't know how it compares to the others.  I think the idea of getting a bigger one is a good idea.  I'm glad I did.  I would rather have overcapacity than under.  On these spring days when it can be warm in the day and cold at night I fixed a remote to manually turn off the pump from inside the house and the unit will just idle most of the day not burning hardly any wood. 

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Anyone had any info on a Earth owb

« on: March 14, 2011, 01:46:04 PM »

I have the mountain man 500. The burn chamber is round with the lower portion housing the ash grates.  It has done fine for me.  I'm just heating a mobile home a little under 1000 feet right now.  I used a 12x12 heat exchanger that I put in the duckwork because I didn't want to mess with lifting up the furnace since my system is temporary and hope to be pulling it soon for the new house I'm building.  It heats up quick and holds temperature well.  Yesterday I shutdown the pump and blower in the morning and around 12 hours later turned it on and had only lost one degree.  I bought it as a refurb from the factory and there was a few bugs that I had to fix but nothing I couldn't handle.  The people at there shop were helpful.  I picked the unit up myself and installed it myself.  I made the mistake of trying to feed two lines of one inch pex pipe with insulation through a four inch pvc pipe in cold weather.  Not that easy to do and I don't think it is that efficient.  The factory or shop is located way out in the country and a little hard to find.  I don't think they have been in business that long but when I was there they appeared to have several orders.  As of now I don't regret buying it.  It has saved me a lot of money on propane and when I move I will use it for hot water as well.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Anyone had any info on a Earth owb

« on: March 13, 2011, 12:54:08 AM »

I have one.  Just got it at the end of last year .  Went and picked it up where it was made.  I'm new to all this so I really can't compare it to others since this is the first one I've owned.  If you have specific questions that I can answer I'll try to help.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Going to get cold tonight. How high can I set my boiler?

« on: January 13, 2011, 02:18:20 PM »

Yes I have a variable speed pump and it is on high and yes I'm in a mobile.  That I know is part of the problem.  I'm building a ICF house so I know when I get in it there should be a dramatic change.
Last night didn't go well. Was cold in the morning.  The boiler temp got down to 98.  Outside temperature was around 2.  Boiler fan was blowing with a small fire in the back but wouldn't spread around to other wood until I poked it around a bit then it was fine.  The blower is on the front door.  Had my temperature back up to 190 in a little over a hour.  I had filled it with dry wood.   Had to go back to propane to pull the house temperatrue up.  Hope this doesn't happen often.  I'll admit at the moment it happened I regretted buying the furnace. 

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Going to get cold tonight. How high can I set my boiler?

« on: January 12, 2011, 04:04:09 PM »

I think checking the actual water temperature is a good idea.  Getting a actual water temperature reading wouldn't be easy without a long probe of some sorts.   I haven't dug back through the insulation to find where the probe goes in at.  It might be easier for me to stick one in the overflow pipe that sticks out the side.  I have a meat probe but don't think it is long enough though.  I'm new to this.  Only had the furnace up and running around three weeks.   I still have the propane on standby where I just through a switch to go back to it in case it gets too cold. 

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Going to get cold tonight. How high can I set my boiler?

« on: January 12, 2011, 01:47:48 PM »

I measured the temperature at the output pipes on the burner using a infrared thermometer.  Was hard to get consistant results but this is what I got.  Output temp to house at 153. Return pipe temp at 148.  My digital thermostat on the furnace says 187.  I'm not sure if  I'm getting accurate temps.  What is the best way to sample your temperature?  I'm using a remote sensor in the ductwork to get the temperature I mentioned in my earlier post.  As far as fan speed I thought about that as well.  I can't find a way to adjust the speed on the fan though.  It is a little coleman furnace.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Going to get cold tonight. How high can I set my boiler?

« on: January 12, 2011, 11:10:47 AM »

Hello, last night it was around  2 degrees, tonight it may go below zero.  I had the thermostat set at 186 degrees on the boiler.  The temp blowing out my floor vents was 114 to 120.  That just wasn't quiet enough  to keep my temperature steady inside.  Had a slow decrease in temperature all night with the fan running constantly.  My question is how much higher can I go up on the boiler temperature so I can get my floor vent air up?
Thanks for any comments.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: max temp for pex?

« on: January 03, 2011, 09:26:48 PM »

I couldn't get a bigger coil in because the furance and ductwork are small.  A dinky coleman in a mobile.  I plan on moving the furnace to the house I'm currently building.  Thought I would get the tax credit here before it ran out.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / max temp for pex?

« on: January 03, 2011, 08:35:05 PM »

Hello, I have a Earth owf.  I have a small 12x12 heat exchanger in my duct work.  Could not install a bigger one.  What temperature do you normally run your water at?  My furnace thermostat is at least 20 degrees different than the temperature I get at my output pipe. (measuring using a laser teperature gun)  I'm wondering if my thermostat probe is not right.  Do the thermostat probes mount through the housing and set in the water or are they surface mount?  Another question, what is the maximum temperature that my 1 inch pex pipe can take?  I'm running around 173 right now acording to the thermostat but my laser says quiet a bit less.  What sort of output temperature do you normally get in your ductwork?   My maximum temperature now now is a little over 120 degrees but will drop down to a little less than 110 before the furnace kicks on.
Thanks for any answers.