24 hour burn!

[HD-tech-NH]

We went to the outlaws for x-mas this year and spent the night. I was concerned about leaving my boiler for that long. So I packed her tight and set my thermostats in the house at 60F. During the 1.5 hour ride home all I could think about was having to re-start and take a couple days to steady operation. But i was super stoked when we pulled in and I saw the whisper of smoke. I geared up and checked the box and it used less than half the load! I love this sport! Sorry for the useless rant but I felt I had to share with people that may understand.

Tim

 

[ktm250rider]

did the same last year. We were gone two nights and fortunately, it wasnt too cold.

 

[olyman]

did the same last year. We were gone two nights and fortunately, it wasnt too cold.

and thats the key--if it aint toooooo cold---

 

[jmcguiretree]

My e-classic can go up to 36 hours even with cold temps.Thats with only filling it 2/3 of the way.Wow this thing is great!!! I put 6-8 pieces on in the morn and same at night and then laugh at my neighbors for using oil!!!

 

[HD-tech-NH]

Two weeks ago I cut a hole in the cieling up on the top floor of my house. As I suspected I found a whopping 1 inch of insulation. I think I'll use far less wood once I fix that little problem.

 

[iCreek]

Sorry for the useless rant but I felt I had to share with people that may understand.

Tim

Tim, don't be sorry, I love to go into what appears to some as 'useless rants', but most the AS members do understand, and are always glad to read stories like yours. Glad you had a good trip to the inlaws.

 

[KH-1958]

We went to the outlaws for x-mas this year and spent the night. I was concerned about leaving my boiler for that long. So I packed her tight and set my thermostats in the house at 60F. During the 1.5 hour ride home all I could think about was having to re-start and take a couple days to steady operation. But i was super stoked when we pulled in and I saw the whisper of smoke. I geared up and checked the box and it used less than half the load! I love this sport! Sorry for the useless rant but I felt I had to share with people that may understand.

Tim

I appreciate you telling us, I to wonder how long my OWB would burn packed full and the house thermostat turned down to 55-60! I figured maybe two days, thanks for letting us know.

 

[troy3300]

I packed my Woodmaster 4400 about 3/4 full with about 1/2 good and about 1/2 bad wood. I left about noon on Wensday and came home Saturday about 7 pm and still had hot coals. Pretty happy with that.

 

[milkie62]

Troy 3300 just bustin' on you but what are you smokin' ? Nobody here claims even close to that.what was your water temp down to ?In 12 hrs of no fire I bet my CB will drop 40-60 degrees.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

It was in the 50's here last week, Had a buddy come over and check mine Christmas Eve, didn't really need to add any wood. Temp. here Saturday was 67, went cruzin in the Cutlass with the top down, listening to Christmas music!

 

[troy3300]

I was surprised my self . I wanted to come home and clean it out. My indoor t-stat was set at 62. I have a 3 yr old house at approx. 1344 sq ft two story and a woodmaster 4400. When I got home my water temp was low but still at 136. When I opened the fire box to clean it out there was quite a few hot coals. Especially when i started sturring it up. I used the biggest peices of wood I could and filled in around with smaller stuff. I also have excellent insulation on my water lines ( which are not burried yet). There is a full 5 3/4 inches of insulation plus a 6 in drain tile.
So that is when and how I filled it and that is when and how it looked when I got home.
I was worried about freezing lines at first.

 

[bowtechmadman]

I can believe it. I got 36 hours (could have gotten more) out of my woodmaster 5500 over Xmas. Only dropped tstat to 67.
Gotta love it!

 

[Tracker83]

Troy 3300 just bustin' on you but what are you smokin' ? Nobody here claims even close to that.what was your water temp down to ?In 12 hrs of no fire I bet my CB will drop 40-60 degrees.

I loaded up my PW on Friday at 2:00PM with big pieces of well-seasoned oak. Loaded it full top-to-bottom and front-to-back. I bypassed the water heater, shut off the loop to the garage heater, and turned the house t-stat down to 62F. I got home yesterday (Sunday) at 5:30PM and checked the stove and to my surprise there was still a good amount of unburned wood. That's 50+ hours, but keep in mind that we had a 60 degree day during that span so that helped. I did not add any wood, I only raked the unburned wood into a pile in the middle and closed 'er back up. If it makes it until I get home tonight it will have surpassed the 72 hour mark. That's right in line with troy3300's burn time.

 

[milkie62]

Your math is correct Tracker BUT be reasonable,that is not usable hours.I doubt 62 degrees is where you normally use it and I am sure you do not take cold showers normally.If a manufacturer states a certain burn time tell me the ACTUAL Operating conditions of their claim to fame.What good is a 72 hr burn time if the themostat is at 50 degrees.When I bought my CB I figured I would at least get an honest 24 plus hours burn time in the winter.CB does not say anything on what their basis is .BUT I do like their simple design.I would buy another since I have had no issues with mine.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Your math is correct Tracker BUT be reasonable,that is not usable hours.I doubt 62 degrees is where you normally use it and I am sure you do not take cold showers normally.If a manufacturer states a certain burn time tell me the ACTUAL Operating conditions of their claim to fame.What good is a 72 hr burn time if the themostat is at 50 degrees.When I bought my CB I figured I would at least get an honest 24 plus hours burn time in the winter.CB does not say anything on what their basis is .BUT I do like their simple design.I would buy another since I have had no issues with mine.

We understand that these extended burn times are not normal - but we find it exciting that with some operating changes we can leave home for a few days and not have to worry about the OWB freezing up.....and we don't have to find someone to come over and feed the OWB while we are away.

I think there are far too many variables for any manufacturer to state any definite burn time for their equipment. The size and quality of wood used, the size of the building and insulation, the outside temperature and the inside temperature all have an affect on the amount of wood used. I also build fires that are only big enough to burn about 12 hours when I am home and find that I use much less wood and make much less smoke - when I cram all the wood I can fit into the OWB prior to going away it smokes like crazy while it is trying to warm up that huge pile of cold wood I just loaded. If anyone ask me how often I had to tend my OWB - I would tell them I do it every night before I go to bed and every morning before I leave for work.

 

[bowtechmadman]

+1 banjo

 

[AIM]

Not whining here but (ok maybe whining a little)
My home brew boiler was loaded last night about 11 pm. Windy and about 22°.
Just went out a little bit ago (8:30 am) and had just a few coals and a small chunk of wood. I can't even get 12 hours out of mine in this temp.
My fire box is 24" round by about 38" deep but I can only load it about 16" high do to heat deflector.
Can anybody here do the math on Cubic ft? I can figure the pi r squared thing but taking out for the 16" high thing eludes me.

 

[Tracker83]

Not whining here but (ok maybe whining a little)
My home brew boiler was loaded last night about 11 pm. Windy and about 22°.
Just went out a little bit ago (8:30 am) and had just a few coals and a small chunk of wood. I can't even get 12 hours out of mine in this temp.
My fire box is 24" round by about 38" deep but I can only load it about 16" high do to heat deflector.
Can anybody here do the math on Cubic ft? I can figure the pi r squared thing but taking out for the 16" high thing eludes me.

I made a quick sketch in AutoCAD. At a 16" height the cross-sectional area is 320.386 sq.in which equates to 2.225 sq.ft. Multiply that by 3.167 feet deep and you have 7.05 cubic feet.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

AIM:

It appears you are a down a bit on volume. My Woodmaster 4400 has a 38" diameter firebox that is 44" deep and has a volume of about 28.8 cubic feet (without subtracting the part at the top that I can't load as a result of the heat exchanger tubes they have at the top). Your 7.05 cubic feet is 1/4th the volume of my OWB.

This small size doesn't mean your OWB won't provide enough heat - it just won't provide a long burn time since you can't shove in as much wood for longer burns.

 

[Tracker83]

Your math is correct Tracker BUT be reasonable,that is not usable hours.I doubt 62 degrees is where you normally use it and I am sure you do not take cold showers normally.If a manufacturer states a certain burn time tell me the ACTUAL Operating conditions of their claim to fame.What good is a 72 hr burn time if the themostat is at 50 degrees.When I bought my CB I figured I would at least get an honest 24 plus hours burn time in the winter.CB does not say anything on what their basis is .BUT I do like their simple design.I would buy another since I have had no issues with mine.

Milkie, I was not attempting to prove certain manufacturer's published burn times. I was only attempting to address troy3300's post where he claimed to get a 80 hour burn time and you claimed that he was smoking something and that "Nobody here claims even close to that". I was simply showing that under similar circumstances I can duplicate his results. That was my only point. I am well aware that published burn times by some OWB manufacturers are BS and won't be typical under normal operating conditions.