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[flying53gmc]

Hello all.  I decided a few months ago that I wanted a wood burning furnace and did some research and read all I could on here.  A trade came up on craigslist for a very well made home built unit that was modeled after the HOSS furnaces from Tennessee outdoor furnaces.  I traded a golf cart for this unit that was only in service 18 months and was hooked up when I went to view it.  The owner was building another for himself.  He was heating his 2200 house and 8000 sq ft shops with it.  I just heating my house with it now with a water to air heat exchanger in my duct work.  the unit is only 35' from my house with a badger 3 speed pump and badger underground insulated pex.  I have the boiler temp set at 175.  It is eating so much wood i can't keep it fed.  I got way too big of a unit and dont know what to do now.  I have 2 year old oak and it seems to be eating over almost 2 ricks a week and Im only heating a 2200 sq ft house with it.  Not sure you guys can help but I just wanted to show everyone my mistake.  Oh well. 

[flying53gmc]

Here is a pic of how big this thing is. I think it holds over 600 gallons.

[mlappin]

Wow thats a beast, maybe trade with the local mafia? Their always looking for ways to make people disappear.

I'm betting that's your problem, it probably does reasonably well under a full load and a roaring fire, but with little heat load it just smolders too much and probably doesn't run long enough to get everything good and hot when your house does call of heat.

Just me best guess, we have some sharp cookies on this site that I'm sure will chime in.

[mlappin]

What kind of insulated pipe are you using? is it buried yet?

[flying53gmc]

Badger insulated pipe.  It is the three wrap and is burried. 

[ffbare]

Lappin the mafia haha.   If the guy who built the boiler is going to build himself a new stove maybe ask if he can build it smaller than that one, and see if he will trade that monster back just an idea  I know craigs list can be shady. It's worth a shot

[victor6deep]

That chimney cap looks plugged up. Remove that stupid thing and see if a good clean draft helps your burn times.

[victor6deep]

Where the heck is your door rope seal? Geesh

[flying53gmc]

There is a channel in the door with some sort of sealing gasket.  Its not a rope gasket but it does seal good.  I cleaned the chimney cap the other day with no real improvement but I have not tried to burn with it off.  I will try that but not holding out much hope.  Thanks for the replies.  I guess I just wish someone that needed on this size would trade me theirs that is undersized for their application, but not mine.  oh well

[victor6deep]

My stove is 228 gallons just heating 1800sq ft ranch and hot water and I've never had a issue. I'd be curious if you are losing a lot of heat from your underground pipe. I'd start by checking your temps from the stove supply line and where that same pipe enters your home.

[Scott7m]

1/2" Firebox

[MattyNH]

That boiler is massive!..Im surprised that the guy who traded you for the golf cart wasn't straight up and honest about that boiler is way to big for your application..600 gallons of water..No wonder your going through the wood.. I heat 1800sq and my boiler holds 60 gallons of water..I think it would be a great boiler for a large warehouse, green houses, apartments that have a large demand for heat/hot water.. But also has a ample supply of wood.. Yeah post it on craigslist/ebay..You never know..Its a big world out there..

[flying53gmc]

I'm not blaming him.  He told me what he was heating with it and that it would be overkill for my application, but said it would go 14 hours between feedings.  I'm not getting that sort of duration.  The fabrication on it is very good, just way to big for me. 

[Scott7m]

Folks, the gallons ain't the problem

I don't care if it's 1000 gallons, if it was it would just idle for a reallllly long time, then when it recovered it would burn for a longer time, which isn't necessarily a bad thing

[Scott7m]

Those thick fire boxes are hard to transfer heat through.   

I have told the story many times about the testing with nature's comfort in 08 where the 3/8 models required 13% more wood to produce same amount of heat, in the half inch box that number is multiplied