Am I doing something wrong

[mingom]

Hey guys,

I've got my woodmaster cranking pretty good these past few days with the set points between 175 and 180. My backup is a propane boiler in the basement. My issue is that I seem to be using more propane than I expected (first season with the house) the guy I bought it from said he used the owb as the primary and about 300 gal of propane a year ( stove, dryer, furnace). I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong with the owb, it seems to be kicking on quite a bit, is there a way to test the heat transfer from the stove, or do i need to adjust the aqua stat in the basement on the lines by the heat exchanger? Any help is appreciated.

 

[atlarge54]

Is your wood seasoned AND DRY or did you buy the BS story that green wood burns just fine? What do you have for underground lines? Underground lines can eat up TONS of BTU's. Your temps on the boiler might be tweaked up a bit but I'd wager the problem lies elsewhere.

It never fails, every year people seem to show up and ask, "I've got a great big house with leaky windows and poor insulation and can't seem to heat it very well." Welcome to this forum-----I hope you're not what I just described.

You need to provide more details on your system to get any real help. Lots of possibilities, keep in mind raising the boiler temp always increases the amount of heat wasted. Lots and lots of OWBs have been sold and installed by people with marginal knowledge about heating systems.

Hopefully you will find some help here.

 

[hanniedog]

Try turning the aquastat down a bit. I have the aquastat on my Harman wood boiler set on approx 140 to kick the propane unit on. If the system worked for the previous owner should be something minor.

 

[mingom]

My wood is dry, some beyond the optimum point. The previous owner said it worked awesome for him and the owner before him. I believe I have 1 inch pex lines in an insulated tube run into the house which goes to a liquid to liquid heat exchanger. I'm hoping it's just a tweak I have to make. Ill have to look at what the aqua stat is set at. Thanks for the help!

 

[atlarge54]

If the system used to work fine, something to consider has the water treatment been kept up? Does the system have Wye strainers? Maybe the plate Hx has lime and or sediment?

 

[mingom]

That I am not sure of. I haven't seen any wye strainers anywhere. Any way to check the system easily? I'm hoping to make it through the season, then this summer really give the system a going through. I'm still learning how the whole system interacts with itself. It seems to me that the OWB comes into the heat exchanger, which then ties into my house loop off the propane furnace to provide both domestic hot water and the heat for the radiant floors and baseboards. It breaks out into 7-8 zones from there to supply the different parts of the house. Whoever did the original plumbing did an amazing job laying it out, I'm just trying to make sure everything is kosher with the owb.

Thanks again!

 

[russhd1997]

Turn the thermostat on the control for the propane burner to the minimum setting. This will fake out the system in the house so to speak. Then set the control on the OWB so that it has a 10 degree cycle not 5. This will increase the time between burn cycles and save some wood. Mine is set to come on at 175 and shut off at 185.

 

[greendohn]

Turn the thermostat on the control for the propane burner to the minimum setting. This will fake out the system in the house so to speak. Then set the control on the OWB so that it has a 10 degree cycle not 5. This will increase the time between burn cycles and save some wood. Mine is set to come on at 175 and shut off at 185.

I'm no HAVAC guy, but it makes sense to turn the thermostat down on the L.P. side and let the woodmaster carry the load. If the OWB is cycling plenty, it would be an indication that heat is being pulled off of it, hopefully heating the house, and it's doing it's job, "cycling-kicking on-off" keeping the water at the set temp. My woodmaster, as most all wood burners, is dependent on the quality/type of wood your burning. ie..junk/soft/wet wood,,lots of cycling of the blower, lots of smoke, and a black eye for us OWB owners..well seasoned wood, junk and or soft wood,,well seasoned, fewer cycles of blower, more complete burn, less smoke..and lets not forget out door temps,,the colder it gets out side,,the harder your stove is going to work and more wood you will burn..I only have the OWB and a 90+ L.P. furnace. a couple of my windows are still junk(I'll replace 'em as money allows) but I haven,t spent one dime heating my house with L.P. since the OWB install back in '07.. I generally keep my OWB set at 170-180 once cold weather sets in..good luck man, keep faith, it'll all come together..peace.

 

[mingom]

Alright guys, took a look at the aquastat, which is clamped on the owb side of the heat exchanger, and it is set to what looks to be 80? Last night temps got down into the singles and i used up 5 lbs at least of propane, along with burning the owb, so I'm really trying to figure this out so I don't have to keep buying propane! I'm thinking its just tweaking some settings since the former owner had no issues that I know of.

Thanks for your help!

 

[hanniedog]

Set the aqua stat done to say 70 and see what happens. Another option is find out who did the install and have them check things out. If your are bringing in 180 degree water the propane unit should not run at all.

 

[bluestem]

Do you have temp gauges on the supply and return lines at the OWB, would be interesting to know how much heat you are losing during a cycle. Also what's the temp of the supply line when it comes in the house. These bits of knowledge might help folks here troubleshoot.

 

[mingom]

I don't have gauges, but I might be able to use an IR to get readings. The purpose of the aquastat on the incoming lines is to control the temp at which the propane furnace kicks on correct? If it is set at 80 (70 now), there is no way I'm loosing 100+ degrees of heat coming into the house to make that kick on. The wiring for the aquastat runs directly back to a taco zone control unit.

 

[mga]

i have a dumb question: why is the propane heater even turned on?

if the OWB isn't supplying enough heat find out why. i thought those things were supposed to blow you out of the house with heat.

my gas boiler hasn't run in 4 -5 years...we heat strictly with wood.

 

[hanniedog]

The propane unit is set to turn on when ever the water gets down to a certain temp as dictated by the aqua stat.

 

[mga]

The propane unit is set to turn on when ever the water gets down to a certain temp as dictated by the aqua stat.

i understand that, but, isn't the question here is why isn't the OWB supplying enough heat? if that thing was heating properly, i see no reason for the propane heat to even think of running.

either that OWB is grossly inefficient or installed incorrectly, or the house is totally uninsulated.

 

[Chris-PA]

For troubleshooting purposes shut off the propane burner. Then you can see what heat the wood burner is supplying and where it is going. Either it isn't supplying enough heat, or the heat isn't getting into the water system, or the water from it is not circulating.

 

[mingom]

As far as I have read (I inherited this unit when I bought the house), this has plenty of capacity to provide for the house. The house is 5 years old, well insulated, radient heat on the first floor baseboard on the 2nd, rooms not being used set to 50 degrees. The former owner had no known issues that I know of, and the owner before that has had 3 of these units. I really think its some setpoint that is messed up somewhere but I'm not completely familiar with the whole system. To map it out:

I have the OWB, with setpoints of 175 L and 180 H. Comes into the house via pex, into a liquid to liquid heat exchanger at which the honeywell aquastat is attached to the OWB side. The piping then runs from this to tie into the home loop, which consists of 7 zone valves, a Crown propane boiler w/tankless hot water.

 

[darren_nh]

Shut off the propane furnace.

 

[J1m]

mingom,

I sent you a private message with the contact information of a guy in Southern Maine who specializes in OWB installs.

Let us know if/when you get it sorted out and what the issue was.

 

[mingom]

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm planning on calling that contact this week! In regards to shutting off the propane furnace, will/could that effect my hot water supply? I'm all for shutting it down to see what happens, I just want to make sure I'll have hot water for everything. Thanks!
;'