Test Fire!!

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Joined
Nov 17, 2010
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On the Cedar in Northeast Iowa
Cool, cloudy and wet the past two days, overnights in the lower 40's and today only reached 51°.
By 4:00 this afternoon it had dropped to 47°, the house had dropped to 61°, the teenager said she was cold, and the wife was under a blanket with the dogs.

Hmmmmmm...... how 'bout a test fire in the furnace??
I received a unanimous "YES!" (even the dogs looked excited)

Everything went just as it was supposed to. My draft blower bypass circuit on the timer worked as expected and got the fire going in no time, the thermostat took over when the air jacket temperature increased, the circulation blower kicked in shortly after that... and changed speeds as planned. The basement did get some of that sweetish smelling smoke as the new paint heat-cured, but I opened the door at the top of the steps and it cleared right out. Once everything came up to temp the house near jumped to 70°, the draft blower shut off and the circulation blower went to low speed.

H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P does that thing make heat!!! I tossed a few walnut and elm splits in there and the heat pumping out the vents was near uncomfortable to the hand... flat hot! I left the draft blower gate and flue damper wide open because the draft ain't all that strong in this cool, damp, heavy air, and once the draft blower stopped the fire settled down nicely... just warm(ish) air from the vents now and the house seems to have leveled-off at 71° (thermostat is set for 69°).

So far... all is well.
Now I just gotta' wait for January cold to give it the ultimate test.
 
Good for you man!

Honest, that sounds like a slick well thought out set up.

I haven't fired up the smoke dragon yet, not for heat anyway, been burning some junk mail in it once in awhile all summer, although most of that was going for kindling to burn real rotten crap wood and green privet shoots in the firepit. The wet summer has priovet just exploding all over. Stalks I cut off flush grew like six feet in two months...

Next year gonna have to resort to spray. I hate using it a lot around the hacienda but this is getting ridiculous now.
 
Glad to hear all went well. Thought about lighting mine, but decided to hold off a little longer. Every week I can hold off saves me 1/3 to 1/2 cord.
 
glad everything worked out spidey. if that furnace is anything like my hotblast, it should have no trouble keeping you warm
 
And the little guy was probably running around looking for the hitch pin, so he could haul wood?
 
Yeah, I'm glad to get the "test" fire out'a the way. It's supposed to be in the 70's all this week (so no more fires) and then start droppin' over the weekend. Likely real soon we'll be needing at least a small fire once a day, and I wanted to make sure any "bugs" were worked-out before that time. I've managed to move a bit over a cord of oak in the house, maybe a quarter cord hard maple, and one small load of walnut/ash/elm/hackberry/cherry mix. Plannin' on hittin' the wood movin' hard this week (unless work puts me on the road)... hopin' to have 'round 5 cord in the basement by the end of this coming weekend, and then start addin' to that by cuttin standing-dead and puttin' the upper limb dry stuff on top of what I've moved in. Should be set for the season by November 1st with 7 cord or so. But best laid plans ya' know... still have storm windows to repair and install, plastic to go over the windows, and likely leaves to clean up soon. This past weekend I did get the grass cut for the last time (anyway, I'm hopin' it's the last time), garden pulled out, planters emptied, some summer stuff put away, and a few other chores... so I am gettin' caught-up a bit.
 
What, Spidey is happy with something other than bias ply? Glad your happy with the real furnace. May eat more wood than your used to tho. Maybe a couple extra cords in the basement. Remember last year.
 
May eat more wood than your used to tho.

Yeah, maybe... then again, maybe not. I ain't willing to bet either way.
The "stovace", with it's EPA firebox used just as much wood, if not more that the previous appliance... which was a classic smoke dragon. Man, that thing was just a steel and cast box with a 6-inch exhaust hole in the back wall and a spin draft on the door. Using the EPA box as a "whole house" furnace-type heater just didn't work... just couldn't get enough heat from it once the secondary burn shutdown. As a result I was wasting a lot of wood by reloading prematurely and tossing out a ton or more of coals to make more room for loading.

It wouldn't surprise me to find I actually use less wood... but as I said, I ain't willing to bet either way.
 
Yeah, maybe... then again, maybe not. I ain't willing to bet either way.
The "stovace", with it's EPA firebox used just as much wood, if not more that the previous appliance... which was a classic smoke dragon. Man, that thing was just a steel and cast box with a 6-inch exhaust hole in the back wall and a spin draft on the door. Using the EPA box as a "whole house" furnace-type heater just didn't work... just couldn't get enough heat from it once the secondary burn shutdown. As a result I was wasting a lot of wood by reloading prematurely and tossing out a ton or more of coals to make more room for loading.

It wouldn't surprise me to find I actually use less wood... but as I said, I ain't willing to bet either way.

I also could se less, no surprise if more either. If it is more, it wil probably be worth it with everything being easier to use.
 
Congratts! got her done just in time I think.
Burning crud wood almost nightly here, day is nice but nights very crisp.

Sounds like everything is working like a charm so that = more miller time and less frustration time, always a good thing :)
 
you may need more than one burning season to judge wood usage with your new furnace. For me last season was abnormally long. It wasn't that it was abnormally cold. I was burning steady from the middle of September through the beginning of April. That's almost two extra months. Usually I don't start regularly having fires until November and 24hr fires cease around the middle of March. Last year it got cold early and March just didn't want to quit.
 
you may need more than one burning season to judge wood usage with your new furnace. For me last season was abnormally long. It wasn't that it was abnormally cold. I was burning steady from the middle of September through the beginning of April. That's almost two extra months. Usually I don't start regularly having fires until November and 24hr fires cease around the middle of March. Last year it got cold early and March just didn't want to quit.

fact!! iowa was the same.. used wayyy more wood than normal, and NOT because of temps..
 
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