Hot blast enemy or friend

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Everyone just nods their collective heads... "Yep, that Hotblast is one crappy POS‼"
It's kinda like when you work at the Ford garage and someone comes in and says "I think my Escort blew a head gasket", you just write it up because, well, because been there done that, plenty of times. But if someone comes in and says my F250 with a 460 blew a head gasket you will be like "wait, what?!" Either one could be because of something the customer did wrong, but some of the Escorts just had a reputation...the HotBlast has a LOOOONG standing reputation!
I'm bettin that you'll be the only one here spidey, that is surprised when Cpedars new EPA style furnace does a fantastic job for him. I'm not sayin a Woodblast...er, I mean a Hotblast can't ever work, just that it is the exception rather than the rule when people are happy with 'em.

Heck, the name says it all, they get hot, blast through the load of wood, then you get to do it all over again in a couple hours.
 
but they do heat pretty well. i have mine in a 40x60 shop situation with 4ft poured uninsulated concrete walls and a 13ft ceiling. it does heat the place to around 60 most days as long as its not -20 and a 30 mph NW wind. i am not fond of feeding the beast half a cord every week but its a trade off for cheap heat and a warm place to work. if i had it to do over i still would have bought it out of necessity. but more efficiency would be nicer
 
It's kinda like when you work at the Ford garage and someone comes in and says "I think my Escort blew a head gasket", you just write it up because...
I was a parts and service manager at our Ford dealership for over 20 years... and I never once, "just wrote it up". No different than the nurse who checks you in at the doctors office, I would ask them why they believed so and what the symptoms were. I would note the symptoms... and no different than a doctor, I'd fire any technician who started pulling the head off without doing diagnosis first.

And, by-the-way, it was the 3.8 V6 that had a more common head gasket problem.
The escort would break the timing belt... and before the non-interference engines, bend valves possibly cracking heads.
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I was a parts and service manager at our Ford dealership for over 20 years... and I never once, "just wrote it up". No different than the nurse who checks you in at the doctors office, I would ask them why they
believed so and what the symptoms were. I would note the symptoms... and no different than a doctor, I'd fire any technician who started pulling the head off without doing diagnosis first.
Yeah yeah, I know, I have been a wrench for many moons and have done many many "interviews" with customers. I was just makin a point.

And, by-the-way, it was the 3.8 V6 that had a more common head gasket problem.
The escort would break the timing belt... and before the non-interference engines, bend valves possibly cracking heads.
Ahyup, you right...brain fart
 
My dad has a hotblast . After seeing it run for years i can say It is a real piece of crap *not because it doesn't heat the place *but the amount of wood required to do so is absurd and yes his is setup correctly and hooked up as it's designed to do . He puts over 7 cubic feet of wood in it and gets around 5 hour burns . If he chokes it down he might get a couple more hrs but it's going to make a lot of creosote and smoke up the place . To me That is completely inefficient and worthless by modern standards. I can get 10 hrs on 3.5 cft firebox ( and do it by burning cleanly ) he gets 5 hours on a 7 cft firebox . ...No brainer
 
I forgot to mention also that I use a 6" damper in the flue pipe to help adjust the heat escaping up the stack! before the use of the damper I would get an average burn time of 6 hours at best.... I still cant complain when it was free an I have a lot of crooks and knotty pieces to burn from processing firewood.
 
I have had my hot blast for three winters now... will heat my living/work space for 8 to 12 solid hours @-10 with an equal wind...
I forgot to mention also that I use a 6" damper in the flue pipe to help adjust the heat escaping up the stack! before the use of the damper I would get an average burn time of 6 hours at best.
Take note of this y'all...
Obviously, the art of using a flue damper to keep all the heat from running out the flue... has been forgotten by many.
...he gets 5 hours on a 7 cft firebox.
Five hours on 7³/ft?? Seriously?? He fills it with full length firewood... that's 27 inches long, correct?? He cuts his firewood to 27 inches??
Well, my DAKA with its 5.3³/ft firebox gets loaded with 16 inch firewood... even if I did load it to the top (I don't... well, rarely) that's only 3.4³/ft utilized, and it runs way, way, longer than 5 hours on something way less than loaded to the top. But I do have a flue damper installed... and I know how to set it. Sounds like the problem... 5 hours on 7³/ft(?)... is operator error (where have I heard that before?), not the box itself.

Too damn funny :laughing:
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Just out'a curiosity brenndatomu, and nothin' judgmental (I ain't an elitist), do you do your wrenchin' at a franchise, independent, or your own business (which could be either franchise or independent)??
I'm just askin' 'cause the "car" business (especially service) was becomin' a royal PITA when we got out.
Well, at different times, pretty much all the above, and I agree, PITA. But it depends on which job we're talking about if the PITA was more from customers or management, either way, yup, I got out too. I am maintenance for the local utility for 'bout 8 yrs now
 
Oh yeah... creosote is not an issue with my furnace... nor is it with my Sven's Hotblast.
That would also be attributed to operator error.

So... chucker... is creosote an issue with your Hotblast??
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not a bit! using good dry wood with plenty of free air flow it burns nice and dry ! a flue damper make all the difference in the world for a clean burn!! burning at a temp of 300/400 degs. makes for a warm feeling through out the house (1400 sq. ft.)
 
I have an owb now but I had a Hotblast for years. Loved it and was very very happy with it, even wished I had it long before I did. I've talked to 4 people who have bought one after seeing mine. They've done the same "refinements" I did to mine and are happy with theirs. Sure they might use more wood but still much cheaper than oil or propane for them. All houses are large and used lots of either oil, electricity or propane to heat to what the owners wanted. And they are far cheaper than a new furnace install especially if you already have duct heating. My wife could cook us out of the house if she wanted to and we easily had 12 hour "productive" burns. We seldom had to restart a fire from scratch.
 
Take note of this y'all...
Obviously, the art of using a flue damper to keep all the heat from running out the flue... has been forgotten by many.
I have been kicking around putting a key damper on my sisters flue for their Yukon Big Jack. It has a baro on it now, but I think capping the baro off and using a manual damper may still maintain a nice long burn, (it does that OK now) but help clean up the chimney since the cool air from the baro will be eliminated. That, and convincing them to get further ahead on their wood supply so they have dryer wood...I somehow have become the family chimney sweep...grumblegrumblegrumble

gotta love a good pension
Yup! OPERS isn't quite as good as it was when I started back in '06, but I'm not complaining. In the end you can only rely on yourself to be ready for retirement. Wood heat is helping us pad the nest egg a bit...:dancing:

Boy did this thread take a hard left from the OP...let's see...right about...post #56. :innocent: I think sumbuddy is stirrin the pot. Ole guy I used to work with used to say "If ya don't stir the pot, it'll burn"

Anyways, get that new Tundra yet Cpedar?
 
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