Wow, what a great site.
I just got my CB 5036 fired up just over a week ago. Previously I had been heating with an add-on wood furnace in my basement and a Lopi insert in my living room.
When I built a 24 x 32 addition to my house I planned for a basement wood burner. I encased a 2’ x2’ opening with fireboard that went from my basement to the attic. I also built a 24” x 30” wood chute from the out side to the basement. It is somewhat like a basement window made out of 11 gauge steel. I was able to back a truck or hay wagon up to the chute and drop the wood into a 5’ by 10’ by 4’tall area that I framed in with ¾ plywood. That was really handy except for all the dirt, dust, mold and bugs. If the wood was wet it would eventually mold and the dust/mold started bothering my daughters’ health.
Now I have the OWB set up and it is great. I am having some trouble balancing the heat out through the house. The part of the house where my furnace is with the water to air heat exchanger is roasting, (my wife keeps turning the heat up to 80). The old part of the house is on a cement slab and all the air duct goes through the attic with very few vents. So while the new section of the house is at 80 the old part only gets to low 60s. The old part of the house was built in sections using cinder blocks, so trying to add vents or even remodeling usually requires a sledge hammer.
I was thinking of sending a pex loop (after the furnace heat exchanger) through the duct work and adding some of those small heat exchangers with blowers. Or, I might have access to a few apartment sized furnaces and I could install one in the old part of the house and separate the duct work into two systems.
I will add pictures of my OWB install and try to give a listing of all the parts and where I purchased them. I used a side pipe for my water heater and used quite a few Sharkbite fittings so it was pretty expensive. I used a lot of ideas from this site, and Scootermsp’s build. Thanks again for all the great information!
I just got my CB 5036 fired up just over a week ago. Previously I had been heating with an add-on wood furnace in my basement and a Lopi insert in my living room.
When I built a 24 x 32 addition to my house I planned for a basement wood burner. I encased a 2’ x2’ opening with fireboard that went from my basement to the attic. I also built a 24” x 30” wood chute from the out side to the basement. It is somewhat like a basement window made out of 11 gauge steel. I was able to back a truck or hay wagon up to the chute and drop the wood into a 5’ by 10’ by 4’tall area that I framed in with ¾ plywood. That was really handy except for all the dirt, dust, mold and bugs. If the wood was wet it would eventually mold and the dust/mold started bothering my daughters’ health.
Now I have the OWB set up and it is great. I am having some trouble balancing the heat out through the house. The part of the house where my furnace is with the water to air heat exchanger is roasting, (my wife keeps turning the heat up to 80). The old part of the house is on a cement slab and all the air duct goes through the attic with very few vents. So while the new section of the house is at 80 the old part only gets to low 60s. The old part of the house was built in sections using cinder blocks, so trying to add vents or even remodeling usually requires a sledge hammer.
I was thinking of sending a pex loop (after the furnace heat exchanger) through the duct work and adding some of those small heat exchangers with blowers. Or, I might have access to a few apartment sized furnaces and I could install one in the old part of the house and separate the duct work into two systems.
I will add pictures of my OWB install and try to give a listing of all the parts and where I purchased them. I used a side pipe for my water heater and used quite a few Sharkbite fittings so it was pretty expensive. I used a lot of ideas from this site, and Scootermsp’s build. Thanks again for all the great information!
