Question about our wood furnace always dampered down

[Nuzzy]

I've seen a couple threads similar, but didn't want to hijack them as this may be more application specific...


This will be our first Michigan winter in our new house. We moved in April of this year so we really only had a few days here and there of wood burning before the season ended. Most of the wood pile for this winter is Red Oak which unfortunately has only been seasoning since April/May 08. In any case, here is our wood furnace setup:

The chain on the damper goes to a servo which is controlled by a thermostat upstairs. The thermostat keeps the damper open if the house temp is below the setting and then closes the damper as the temp rises beyond. (Normally the helper spring just takes up slack in the chain but it is forcing the damper open in the above pics as I had just started a fire)

Now, since we've been burning since the first week of October, I've gotten the routine down where I can keep the fire going all day and all night as opposed to having it go out at night like when we first tried it out. However, I've noticed it's pretty much ALWAYS running in the completely dampered down position just smoldering away. I'm fine with that as it's very economical with the amount of wood used, but I worry about creosote building up excessively if it's always smoldering and never really blazing...

I plan to get a chimney brush and extensions, but should I be sweeping the chimney far more often than the usual once or so a year? With the characteristics of our setup, how often should I be sweeping...? ..and just how much IS too much creosote (visually)?

Now maybe it'll be moot once the really cold temps hit, but we've already had a number of days/nights in the upper 20s and 30s and the furnace stills keeps the house toasty constantly dampered down...

 

[Rookie1]

I know a guy that had/has one similar to you. He had problems with his smoking and stink up house. Rather than looking for help or advise he somehow disabled that stuff. Ive never been over there to look at it but am curious about operation of furnace with those controls.

 

[laynes69]

Well, if its ran off of a thermostat upstairs then its doing its job with heating. The thermostat will shut down when the heat is met, therefore smoldering. I would purchase a flue pipe thermometer to help with some cleaner burns. If you get alot of glazing on the chimney due to creasote, one chimney fire and you are in trouble. Get the thermometer, and burn smaller hotter fires. When it gets real cold out, it should burn better. If not, then I would disable the damper, and override it for temps. Its nice to have a long fire, but not worth it in the end. For sure buy a brush and some rods. Also keep tabs on the chimney to gauge when it will need cleaning. After a few times you will know when to brush the chimney. I just did ours today. Hope this helps.

 

[aandabooks]

The last couple of days we've been in the 40s and low 50s. I've been running my furnace on a very slow burn. House in the mid-70s but I don't like to let the fire go out. Go with what Treeco said. Clean about once a month. I hope your chimney isn't hard to get to. That is the way I started my first year. I was worried about these slow burn days. Now I clean once in January and once before the season starts. Clean often and be safer. Especially since your not burning truly seasoned wood. I hope you have more supply of the red oak for future years.

 

[Nuzzy]

Well I certainly like the thermostat controls. It's a very simple setup but does exactly what it's designed to do! And we haven't had any smoke in the house other than if there's a heavy downdraft and the furnace door is open to long while loading wood. I love having the warm air piped through the vents with the fan on auto thus leaving our propane furnace unnecessary.

I know the previous owner used this burner constantly, and I can't imagine he would've had a different burning process than what I've experienced. But like I said, I just worry a bit since I've seen so many warnings of slow/low burning fires causing buildup and I want to be extra safe. I'll do as suggested and get up there to clean the chimney every month until I get a good feel.