Big Jack up and running

[kielbasa]

Took me a while between projects to finally finish this one up...
Too bad it hasn't been that cold - i'm actually waiting for a cold spell to put it to work.

It's got a barometric damper, my first experience with them - quite interesting playing with it. By adjusting it for more or less draft actually makes a noticeable difference, neat.
After understanding how the settings of the BDR affect my burn (setting for low draft I can get crazy burn times, like 12 hours with 2 armloads of wood while maintaining heat output, but I'm sure it's coking up the chimney), I just set it to spec and adjust the manual draft controls depending on my wood, very easy to play with, needs a glass observation window in the door so I don't have to keep opening to view the fire.
Lights off incredibly easy, just throw a bunch of newspaper, kindling and an armful of wood, toss a match in there and away it goes.
So far, I'm quite happy with it.

 

[CrappieKeith]

Having grown up with stoves my memories of how I used to maintain a fire changed when I got my BJ90. I was fire checker too for the 1st few months until I began to trust my furnace.
I can remember my daughter who was 7 or 8 at the time. You see she also was in tune with a short burn time from being at the grandparents house.
They used to go hand in hand down the stairs every 3-4 hours to load their stove.
So when I got my Jack she'd come to me after about 3 hours to load the furnace as she was accustomed. I'll never forget this one day when she kept pestering me to go load the furnace. I kept telling her it's not time.
Well after about 7 hours I could not take it anymore and we went to check the fire.
There was still a pretty good load going and she plops her hand on her hip and spins around to face me.
I still laugh everytime I recall what she said."Daddy,are those logs makin babies in there".

Just goes to show we all get conditioned.

 

[gwiley]

I started out checking every few hours - even now it is hard to let it go the full 12 hours I normally get between fills. An OWB is truly the gift that just keeps on giving.

 

[dwinch53]

Keilbasa....I would like to see some pic's of your set up...thanx, Dan

 

[Beefie]

:agree2: I wood like to see some pics of your setup also.

Beefie

 

[dwinch53]

Sure

Here ya go... my geo is piggy backed into my wood furnace..I am running a Fire Chief..very nice furnace

 

[Basica Guru]

My son was about 5 when my parents stopped burning wood. He was there to "help" a buddy of mine install the new furnace. Dad had moved all the wood by the stairs to take outside and make room for the furnace. While my buddy was setting up my son carried all the wood back to where it was before.

Then for the next 5 hours kept asking where you put the wood in furnace. He would not accept that you could stay warm without burning wood. My buddy loves kids and gets a kick out of having them help. He said 5 hours of non stop questions was his limit. He had never met a kid so curious about how things work. He had also never had a 5 year old with a 200 piece tool kit of his own either. The highlight of the boys day was my buddy using his tools for some of the work.

It is funny what a child finds as normal.

Roger

 

[dwinch53]

Kielbasa...Still waiting to see your set up...I'm sure the rest would like to see too...

 

[kielbasa]

ummm, let's see if I can get these pics to download.....

 

[dwinch53]

Very nice and neat...good install job. Question...how does your inducer fan for the firebox work in conjunction with the auto draft control? when the firebox fan is on does the damper stay closed? thanx for the pics. Dan

 

[kielbasa]

I personally do not use the draft inducer (except when burning coal)....I hard wired an on/off switch rather than hook it up to a thermostat.
I didn't know what to expect, as I've never had a wood furnace with a draft inducer prior to this - but I'm finding out I don't need it (part of the reason I didn't hook it up to a thermostat, although I did run wiring to keep that option open). To answer your question, the draft regulator will remain open when the draft inducer is turned on.
The furnace is easy to regulate heat output doing it manually...for the most part I open the flap on the draft inducer air inlet to full open when lighting the fire, once it takes off I'll close the flap off (anywhere from just a tiny crack to 1/2 open). The furnace is overkill for my house though (ICF construction) - I do have to end up letting it go out every night, (hard to sleep when it's 90 degF, although I've never seen my wife tear her clothes off going to bed like I do now)...
Fortunately the furnace is incredibly easy to light off each morning.....just toss some newspaper, couple chunks of hardwood, kindling is better, but not necessary! But I do cheat when lighting it off by opening the ash pan drawer for about 2 minutes after lighting the newspaper - I know that can be dangerous, but I'm very adamant about being present and keeping the room spotless of anything flammable when doing so.
Still need to finish off the surrounding wall area with fieldstone....as you can see in the pic it's just bare concrete now.

 

[CrappieKeith]

In the install there is the fan and limit mounted in the wire cage.
There should be a sheetmetal plenum box there instead of a wire mess box.
You might be able to lower your draft even more...please set it via a manometer to .03" of water column.
Closing down the disc on the firedoor and on the draft motor should cut down on your heat making.
Don't be afraid to let her buck often to burn out any creosote made when idling.

 

[kielbasa]

yes, was going to attach directly to the ductwork throughout the house - the fridge basket was just to get this thing up and going this year...however, the setup works so good that I just may build a real nice outlet (vs the basket) instead....lately I've been running with the draft motor disc closed (once the fire is established) in order to acheive a low heat output.....I'm actually running .02" H2O on the baro (verified with manometer) if ambient temps are above 0 degF - I'll crank it up to .03 if the temps fall much below zero...
Once a day or so I'll get a raging fire to burn out the daily deposits.....
I've got a hunch this will make a nice shop furnace one day, and I'll be replacing it with something smaller - I'm just idling this poor furnace, probably very ineffecient running it so cool....oh well, such is life with an ICF home.....