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[sergeant721]

Hi lugnut,

             Not much in the stack, a ton inside the burn chamber and on the door. I have the stock blower on the unit that I shut out most
of the time to save on wood I use a lot when its on. I have the unit set at 150 degrees. Im trying to get the most out of the stove and wood
its my 1st year. Im thankfull for all and any help.

[sergeant721]

Lugnut,

        The wood is dry, do you know of any log lifters to help get
a larger log into the fire box im disable and it would be a great help for
me.   

                        Sergeant721

[lugnut]

Lugnut,

        The wood is dry, do you know of any log lifters to help get
a larger log into the fire box im disable and it would be a great help for
me.   

                        Sergeant721

Sergeant,

I have no idea of where to locate a log lifter.....my wife won't even lift the wood into my Shaver 250.     Try Timber Wolf products...they are known for their log splitters and they may have the lifter as well.  You might even try searching on Craigslist.org  Perhaps someone else will chime in here.

Lugnut

[lugnut]

Hi lugnut,

             Not much in the stack, a ton inside the burn chamber and on the door. I have the stock blower on the unit that I shut out most
of the time to save on wood I use a lot when its on. I have the unit set at 150 degrees. Im trying to get the most out of the stove and wood
its my 1st year. Im thankfull for all and any help.

Sergeant,

First off, allow me to say I've been in your shoes regarding the Shaver 250.  Mine has been operating now since October 28 of last year...just a mere 2.5 months.  I've been through the creosote build up; been through the wood usage and still fighting it BUT, I might add...not too badly now. 

In my opinion, and this is just my opinion...that blower motor is TOO small for that unit.  Mine was supposed to have come with the 75 cfm blower motor /auto damper and it did not.  It instead came with the 50 cfm...only because someone down in Arkansas can't read at the Shaver plant.   

You NEED to get that furnace HOT to burn all that creosote out of the unit.  Creosote is NOT your friend!  Creosote will cause premature wear and rust though on the fire box and then into the tank.

Now, here's what I know for fact...that manual slide you have on the blower motor...do NOT close that off.  if anything, it SHOULD be open 1/3 to 1/4 .  NO LESS!!  this is what is causing the creosote to build up on the inside of the firebox...along with the doors.  I'm betting you have black slimy water coming out whenever you open the fire box/ash doors?

You can NOT leave that manual slide closed over the motor...that blower is what feeds the fire and no feed, it will sit and smolder.  What you need to get is the larger blower motor (75cfm) along with an auto damper..these two items alone will help with both wood usage AND ridding the furnace of the creosote issues, and will also assist with cutting back on the smoke.  With the manual slide you really ONLY have two choices...open or closed.  With the auto damper, the t-stat on the rear of the furnace will tell the t-stat when to open and when to close..you will not have to lift a finger.

Speaking of door...is there insulation in the front firebox door?  If not, you should put some in there so as not to burn you hand trying to open the door.  And speaking of insulation...did you wrap the pex piping in the rear of the furnace?  There prolly is no insulation in the rear door itself, unless your friend threw some insulation in there.

Temperature on the t-stat should be NO lower than 175 - 180 degrees.  Your furnace is working overtime and the blower motor is working overtime as well....if you bump the t-stat up to the temps I mentioned, the blower motor will not go on as much....150 is fine if outside temps are warm.  The other reason for going through wood is outside temperature.  The colder it gets, the more wood you will burn.

Let's go back to the creosote issues...you say you don't have much in the stack, but that you do in the firebox itself and the doors...I can garonetee you that you WILL have creosote build up in the stack as well.  The larger blower motor will take care of this.  When I installed the lager motor, I stood along side the furnace at night and watched the sparks coming out of the chimney along with the crud that had been building up in side the chimney and then all of a sudden "WHOOSH!!!" all the crud just blew right up and out of the chimney!  No more creosote or crud...cleaned everything out.....but this will NOT happen with that small blower motor.

Did you happen to ask your friend about the owners manual for that furnace?  Did he have it?  If not, I sent you that email this morning for you to get in touch with Ruth Ann at Shaver and tell her what you have and that you really need an owner's manual as you are lost in the fog...or smoke.  :-)

I would think that more members will chime in here and fine tune my comments.  Hope this helps you along.

Lugnut

[lugnut]

Thanks for all the help i bought it from a freind its 1 1/2 old but was never used it has the hot water coil

Wonder why your friend sold the Shaver?  Did he get another brand?

Lugnut

[lugnut]

Sergeant....i Just thought of another question.  do you have a "spark arrester" on top of your chimney?  This is another item that WILL cause creosote as well.  The way to use the cap and refrain from having creosote build up...you need to cut away MOST of the expanded steel.  Look at it carefully because if you cut away too much, the top cap will slide down. 

I did thins and in doing so, I keep the sparks at bay because there's a cap over the chimney AND it keeps moisture out of the firebox.

Lugnut

[jimr]

the drier the wood the less smoke you'll have, but after a fresh loading she's gonna smoke. there was a thread somewhere on here with some really high stacks. as for creosote build up , just burn it out, i would think once you got something like that in the air you wouldn't want to take it down to clean it.
'

[sergeant721]

if I had a fire in the stack what would be the problem its 65 feet from the house wouldent it just burn out ??

[Bull]

Yes it would burn out and clean your flue

[lawrencep]

make sure you use a good pipe because when it burns out if it is thin it will distroy it i know this first hand. As for the log lifter i think i saw a pretty neat one on youtube a guy built.

[sergeant721]

I was thinking of sealing thr rear accese panel with GE Silicone its not the RTV one do you think I should use automotive silicone they say
GE is 100% silicone is there a diffrences ??

[lugnut]

I was thinking of sealing thr rear accese panel with GE Silicone its not the RTV one do you think I should use automotive silicone they say
GE is 100% silicone is there a diffrences ??

Sergeant...any kind of silicone will work.  As long as it IS 100% silicone.  Sure you can use GE or whatever...Shaver recommends RTV, but I have found that it makes no difference.  What WILL make a difference though is you sealing up that rear top plate!

Make certain that plate fits FLUSH with the inner frame where that plate snuggles down into. 

Lugnut