Print

[flying53gmc]

The HOSS furnaces do have a 1/2" firebox, but this is a home made one that is designed after one.  It only has a 1/4" firebox. 

[MattyNH]

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

Scott thats my point its the recovery time..I don't see how you can say its not the gallon problem..It takes a lot of energy to reheat a large volume..Is this case of course is a gallon problem..Its wasted unused energy..Who needs 600 gallons to heat a 2200 sq area..

[cantoo]

I have a way oversized unit for my present use and I'm not having that problem. Do you pack it full or pack it for your needs? I agree the gallons aren't the issue if it was then the fire would just die out between firings. It's likely a transfer problem. Better do some more checking before you give it away.
 Don't try this without some long thinking but maybe you could pour some weak mix mortar in the water jacket to lose some of the water volume?

[willieG]

im staniding with scott on this one (mostly anyways)  there are only som any btu in a rick of wood...if you burn it all at once and store it in the 600 gallons of water then the water will give up that heat as it is needed by the home. if you have 20 gallons of water  that water will heat up (and if the furnace is good) the fire will idle down until that 20 gallons has given up all its stored heat until the low water temps casuees the fire to burn again and let out domw more btu to the water..the wood will only last either way until it has given up its btu....all at once..or a little at a time makes no difference...there will be heat loss from the stored water that never reaches the house but the short burns will lose some btu 's as well between getting up to a hot burn and cooling down after a burn...you need to look first at why you are losing the stored btu (if they are being stored) perhaps there are too many going out the stack when burning?..perhaps the stoves insulation is lacking and the stored btu's are leaking into the great outdoors?

[Scott7m]

Yea it's not a gallon issue at all

There is a lot of Taylor stoves around me heating 22-2500 square feet and a lot of them hold 750 gallons


You all are way to caught up in gallons, I've heated with stoves that held 30 gallons or 300, neither was a miracle or a killer.. 

It's about how well the stove transfers the heat and stores the heat vs just how much water you have

[Scott7m]

Please look into this more as ur stove just being to big is not the issue

[Sprinter]

Garn boilers hold even more water ,,,, 970 plus. The firebox holds a face cord. That is a big stack and there is a lot of standby loss right there, have to look at the overall insulation as well. A typical cast iron House boiler gains 4-7% efficiency or thermal transfer gain from the automatic damper according to the manual charts.

Properly setup and insulated no reason why that beast can't fire once a day to heat even on real cold days.

[sceptre74]

Maybe it is poorly insulated. Does snow stay on the roof or does it melt quickly?

[flying53gmc]

I'm in middle TN. We don't get snow to speak of. I'm up for trying anything to make it work. I will measure the temp at the pex to check my heat loss this afternoon.

[slimjim]

While you are at it check the temps at the stack while the boiler is on and then again when it is off, for the off temp wait about 5 minutes after the burner has shut off, try to measure the exhaust and not the stack, you can do this with a temp probe. I'll take a guess, On cycle 1000 degrees or higher, 5 minutes after it shuts off will be 4-500 degrees, 1/2 hour later with the boiler still off 180 degrees!

[hoardac]

How well is it insulated is would be one question I would ask, what is behind the tin? How good does it seal up around the door and damper is the other. That is a big door to have no insulation also.

[Scott7m]

I think slim and sprinter, Willie g, all guys who have been around know that this isn't a stove is to big issue

Let's look at it this way.   Your heating a small space in a mild climate

The heat that is produced doesn't magically disappear, if you have 600 gallons the heat produced during the burn should be stored inside the water jacket until it's ready to use by your home.  Either the stove is extremely poor designed or terribly insulated.   To heat 2200 Sq ft in Tennessee should require filling on a stove this size no more than once a day perhaps less if ur home is half way insulated

[fryedaddy]

Coming from someone who has a 600+ gallon stove.
1. Check your stack, if it's to large a lot of your heat will be leaving the box before it transfers to water. You may be able to build some sort of baffle.
2. Check the blower if you have one. If it's set to high you will blow the heat out of the box before it transfers to water.
3. Speak with the builder about insulation. If he spent the time to make it look like that I assume he would have spent the extra on insulation.
4. Change burning style. I live in a similar climate and have a similar heat storage 600+ gallons. I use a timer setup before the aquastat.
    In burning I've learned the correct amount of time per load. Set the timer to go off at a certain time based on wood. This allows the
    aquastat to run while the fire is going and cut off after the given time, keeping your fan from blowing the heat out of your water.

I'm with Scott, the water stored has nothing to do with the efficiency of the stove (Unless it's poorly insulated). If your trying to keep wood in your
stove and run like a smaller gallon stove it would burn much more wood due to idle time. With the setup you are running (Stove to Large) I'd run it
like a batch burn and draw the heat in between burnings (See note #4 above).

[netwerx-r-us]

Im in Middle tn with a Hoss 400 HE with a 400 gallon tank  , the weather has been crazy , week ago in the 7o's and then been iced in last 3 days with nothing above freezing ,going to melt today !!

Im with Scott on its not the gallons , if its burning that much wood the heat is going somewhere , either the home or lost enroute underground, I heat 2 large greenhouses that are not insulated at all ( 6 mil plastic) that i keep at 58 degrees, when its at freezing i get about a 8 hour burn time on a load of wood , when its 5 degrees out I get less ,

as suggested id check what the temp is leaving the boiler , check the temp at your heat source at the house and them check the temp on returning to the boiler

wood makes all the difference, while mine will burn anything green and wet it also has a hard time with it maintaining temp with wet wood ,

if you got that unit for a golf cart you got a steal ! .  I think your off to a  good start and are way ahead of the game with what you have in it It just needs some fine tuning ,there are lots of good people here that will help you out but i don't think you need to give up and get rid of it

post some more details around what your settings are/differential is  ,  but measure that temp at those locations and eliminate the piping underground losing it

I had problems with mine this year with it getting plugged up a bit , i thought it was clean by punching it out and i could run a stick down it and thought it  was good , i had to buy a brush and modify it to fit the chimney so it takes 2 brushes to clean mine real good right ,

keep posting and asking the guys here questions, they will help you get to the bottom of it 

[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

Scott thats my point its the recovery time..I don't see how you can say its not the gallon problem..It takes a lot of energy to reheat a large volume..Is this case of course is a gallon problem..Its wasted unused energy..Who needs 600 gallons to heat a 2200 sq area..

What's it matter if it took longer?  His home btu requirements are still the same and it's possible it ran more efficient taking it longer to recover

If he produced enough heat to heat 600 gallons that heat should last him a longggg time