us stove wounder wood

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stihlfanboy

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Got a wounderwood that came with my house. Frist year burning it. My ex fatherinlaw put it in 20 years ago when they got ride of the big burner and put the oil furnace in for hus grandpa. The stove was just so he could still play with a burner. the house was built in 1923, 1200 square feet and only has one layer of r13 in the attic. It stays about 55 in the house when its 20 out without the furnace on. Burn about a wheelbarrow a day of wood. Burns between 500 to 700 degrees at the flue. Gunna get a newer bigger stove when i can. so heres my questions. On both doors the 3 air inlet holes have no cover to adjust them. Shoudnt there be a brass cover to adjust air inle. Get about 3 to 4 hour burn times out of 9 good size splits with the key damper all the way closed. The other question is whats the high low nob on the side do? Always leave it on high dosnt seam like it dose anything. Dont run the blower much eather. Also seams like it dose nothing. Love the stove just want more burntime out of it. Work 12 hours a day untill winter really hits so the caols are gone when i come home.1417170128500.jpg1417170175456.jpg
 
Not being smart but can't help my self- Quanity of fuel you are using is why they call it Wonder Wood- Ya wonder where it went. I had a similar unit in my previous shop was wood then converted to NG sometime prior to my tenure in that location. Combustion chamber would give a sieve a run for the money, and for that matter might just as well have stuffed it with $10 bills for what it was worth. It produced heat but at a cost that was unrealistic. I also had another version that was a drip oil feed. Just used filtered drian oil cut with some #1 fuel oil. had to keep on top of as it warmed up as the oil flow would increase as viscosity thinned due to temp rising. ( oil tank on back of unit) never trusted either of these units when I was away.
 
My guess is the hi-lo switch is for a two speed fan. Sounds like one of the speeds - probably hi since you say it doesn't do much - isn't working anymore.
 
The high lo knob on the front of the stove is a for an air inlet on the front of the stove. It is a bi-metallic thermostat that controls how much air comes in as the stove heats up. The hotter it gets the less air that comes in. I have the same stove in my house and I am not a big fan of it.
 
3-4 hr burns wow that's lousy. .dont know what value a stove like that would do .. Who could load a stove 8 times in one day ? It would be a full time job feeding it lol .You need to find a newer large EPA stove if you ever expect 12 hr burns. For you the good news is it's totally possible with today's high tech units ...the bad news is the wonder wood can't do it. It's a wonder they still make these
 
You can double, even triple, the insulation in the attic to for less than 500 dollars.
 
Newer larger stove and more installation are on the list. Might be a year or two though. Credit card dept and buying the house put a hurt on what little money I have. Just had to put 700$ in to the tractor bout killed me... just have to make do for now. Load it every 4 hours it stays around 70. Load it every 7-8 hours it stays 55
 
Well, there are a few things you can do to slow down the carbon conversion process of your wood. Start by using the Hi-Lo setting, look inside the outer layer and you'll see a coil spring and a chain that goes down to a draft door. Less draft equals less combustion air. those holes in the door can be plugged with some (looks like 1/2" bolts) or a plate screwed over. Another trick is to let the ashes build up in the ash pan all the way up to the grate, objective here is to slow down the draft from under the wood and it will allow you to bank the fire. I burned one of these stoves in a trailer I lived in some thirty five years ago and it was a great stove once your figure out all it's quirks. We used in my dads basement as a primary heat source for years, after that it went to my brothers garage where it finally met it's demise after he forgot and left the ash pan door open with a load of wood in it, burned the inside up to where it wasn't safe to use anymore.
I'm sure they aren't the best stoves but with some fiddling with them they can work.
And like others have said, some insulation will go a long way as will some plastic over the windows and un used doors.
 
1st Without proper installation all your heat is going to escape, I would look at renting a machine from lowe's\home depot and doing it myself. Then worry about a stove. Stay warm.
 
I have the exact same heater in my garage, like one poster said the hi/low is for a damper near the bottom of the stove. I agree the blower does not do much. As soon as I get a good fire going I put the knob on low and close off the damper and it runs about 1/2 day on a few sticks of wood then a refill for the rest of the day. I've run mine so hot it has warped the inside... but that was before insulation. My 1000 sq ft shop is well insulated and I heat it with a tiny cast iron stove and leave the door open between the shop and garage because it gets too hot in the shop. You can't insulate too much. The next thing is door seals, if they leak you won't keep it warm.

JT
 
The Wounderwood is not a bad heating source. The model show in the picture happens to be an early attempt at EPA compliance and needs to be updated. The three holes in the loading door need to be blocked off with some bolt with washers. The bottom ashpan door needs to be modified with some type of sliding/rotating damper that will allow better air control into the Wounderwood's firebox.
Also, Wounderwood's owner should consider operating the air intake setting on the low or medium settings and not high.
 
Well I bolted up the door holes. New rope around the door. Closed off the ash pan door holes and turned it down to low. Seamed to be putting out the heat. See how it dose when I get home.
 
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