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[AirForcePOL]

I have been keeping track of my furnace cycles for the last hour and a half. It started out coming on every 6 min and running for 6 min.  I changed the swing setting on my thermostat from 1 to 2 and now I get about 22 min between cycles and it runs for about 9 minutes.  I think my furnace cycles are part of my problem. 

[Jwood]

Definatly you will be better with a wider swing otherwise you are re-heating your ducts every 6 mins vs. every 22 I have mine set the same way kicks on at 71 shuts off at 73 much easier on your blower fan as well.

[Shrek1112]

 
Not tryng to hijack the thread but how do you change the swing setting on your furnace? I have a gas forced air (gas as a back up) using a water to air HX.  I have a similar short cycle issue with mine.  Thanks for any assistance. 

[Jwood]

Do you have a digital thermostat if so what kind?

[Shrek1112]

I have two, one older programmable Honeywell and a new Honeywell TH3110D1008, digital but just basic temp, heat/cool.

[Jwood]

You have to have a thermostat capable of adjusting the swing as per the operating manual I believe most new programmable thermostats are able to achieve this.

[AirForcePOL]

Well it got down to 6 deg. last night.  When I woke up this morning it had been a little less than 10 hours.  The water temp on the stove was 155 and all of the wood was gone.  I'm kind of wondering if I need a bigger stove...

[Jwood]

Did you completely fill it last night or how much wood was in it?

[hondaracer2oo4]

You still haven't mentioned anything about your damper door on the owb. I think you are just burning the wood up and pushing it out of the stack. I think you need to meter it back to 50% like someone suggested.

Also I looked up the firebox volume of the h2. It is 16 cuft of volume. The heatmaster 5000 is 24 cuft of volume. You have 50 % more volume in your new firebox but can't get 2/3 of the burn time out of it . Something is wrong, the owb is producing btus because the wood is burning up but we need to figure out where they are disappearing to. Possibly pushed right out of the top of the stack if you have the damper fan open to much.

[aries9245]

This might sound stupid but maybe overlooked make sure your lines on HX are crossing themselves so your getting the most out of it! What size is the HX

[hondaracer2oo4]

Thats an interesting point I hadn't thought of. What you are saying is that you want you return line back to the boiler on the same side as the fan on the indoor furnace. If the lines are swapped so that the return line is on the house side of the fan coil you are going to be cooling your air as it leaves the exchanger. I don't think that this would make a 4 hour difference in burn times especially with 50% more wood but it could be a factor.

[aries9245]

By having the lines in not the right place it's obious that your temp across the HX are not going to be at the temp you need them to be it will be about a 30-40 deg drop in what your inside temp from boiler will be that said it will cause your boiler to continuously run because your house never maintains the temp needed to be ! Does that make sense

[AirForcePOL]

Yes I filled it all the way last night.   I have played with the damper a while back but I really don't think it made a huge difference.  I am going to put it back to around 70% tonight.   What do you mean by corssing my lines, aries?  I will measure the hx tonight but I want to say it is 120-140k btu hx. 

[AirForcePOL]

ok, so i have my hx installed in my cold air return.   As the air is flowing through the ducts, it hits my supply line furst and then the return.  Should the air make contact with the cold or hot side first?

[Jwood]

I don't believe you are pushing all your heat out the stack my damper on my fan is open 100% it just produces a hotter fire in my opinion, I get alot less creasote in my heat exchanger.