charmaster furnaces

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farmermike

ArboristSite Operative
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Anybody else have one? I sure like mine. Installed in 1978 and still going strong. I especially like the hot water coil. Free hot water for the winter. Mine is still like new and I'm sure will last many more years. Looked at their website the other day. About five grand for one like mine. If mine ever dies it's going to get replaced with another one! Just seams to be a very well engineered stove. Heats my 100 year old 2600 square foot house on between 8 and 10 cords a year.
 
Charmaster Chalet

Yep, I've got one. It's in a house that was built in 1989; not a large house -- about 1,500 square feet or so.

I have had mixed success with this furnace. I don't think the duct work was laid out well (no cold air return in living space -- it just sucks air from the basement ceiling).

Also, I have had some trouble getting long burn times and maintaining the chimney at a hot enough temperature. I have spoken to Charmaster and they say that I haven't got the furnace tuned in right. I am working on that now. They also said that my wood is too dry -- I found that one interesting.

I would certainly be interested in your experience and if you have any advice for me on getting this thing dialed in.

Thanks.
 
Charmaster

Been to their factory since it's just down the road. Solid looking unit, good reputation.
 
joe4str, I'll help if I can. Mine is the charmaster not the chalet, but they are very close in design. My furnace does have the cold air ducks in different rooms and that part seems to be well designed. The only thing I wonder about is how is your draftdoor set. Make sure the draft door closes tight when it doesn't call for heat. My stove has the two pipe exhaust on it, When is't warm out I leave the top pipe open, when it's cold I close it to get the extra heat. How tall of chimney do you have? Mine is about 30 ft give or take with an air crete liner. Lots of draft. Do you have a weighted chimney flap thingy on the opposite side of the chimney where the pipe goes in? When properly adjusted this really limits the draft on windy nights. The only other thing is the wood itself. I burn mostly red elm, oak, and ash, not always properly dried but i mix the wet with the dry to get longer burn times if its real cold out. When its 20 below, I can get about 6 to 8 hours on a fill at 68 degrees. I did talk to someone at charmaster once, they seemed to be very helpful. Maybe talk to someone else if your not getting the right answers. I'm very happy with mine and will buy another if mine ever wears out. If you have any other question I'll try to help.
 
One other thing I forgot. The stove is designed be fill completely and then left alone. Putting a few sticks at a time doesn't work. Let it get down to the coals and fill it up full. Let the draft door do it's thing. I don't see how the wood can be to dry unless your burning junk wood and if that were the case the fire wood be very hot and your house would be nintey degrees all the time. The low pipe temps tell me the draft door isn't opening very often. On warms days I don't think my door will open at all between fills but if keeps the house warm.
 
Charmaster

Hi farmer mike,

I think part of my problem has been that I have been lighting small fires this year because it has been warm up here.

I think my chimney is OK as I have had no problem getting a strong draft. It's about 35 feet high and built of masonry. I clean it about once a year but check it often.

I am trying to get longer burn times without loading it down with too much wood and my fires have been cooling down quickly after the wood is burned.

I have a couple of questions:

1). How wide is the gap for your draft door? I had mine at 5/8 inch last night. At that setting, I had a good fire that heated the chimney to about 215 degrees. I tested a smaller opening @ about 7/16 inch and the chimney temp dropped to 200.

2). What are your chimney temperatures? I find that the chimney is hot initially and then drops down to between 100-150 after a few hours. I am concerned that this might create a creosote problem.

3). It sounds like you use the back damper in either the "on" (9:00) or "off" (6:00) position. I have tried to experiment with that but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference regarding chimney temperature. I understand what you are saying about wanting to get more heat out of the smoke by having it in the off position and therefore circulating through the bottom pipe.

4). Do you use the idle adjustment screw on the draft door? I used to not use this (i.e. when the house was at temperature, it would be totally shut). Now, at Charmaster's recommendation, I have this set at about 1/8".

5). I also have the barometric draft control (like you -- the swinging door thing). I'm not quite sure what to do with this and what difference it might make other than cooling down the chimney. Given that I have had trouble keeping the chimney hot enough, I have set this so that it doesn't swing open much. Any guidance here would be appreciated.

6). After a fire cycle which you say is about 6 hours, do you immediately burn another load? Or, do you just load the furnace a couple of times a day. I would be interested in your routine for burning and keeping your home heated. I work some pretty long days so I fire it about 6 or 6:30 AM and sometimes don't get home until 8:00 so I really only get two burns a day. I have a programmable thermostat for the wood that goes down to 62 degrees during the day so I do get a temperature swing over the course of the day.

Most of my wood is good, northern hardwood (maple, beech, oak, ash). What I am using now is well-seasoned but I will get into some that has been cut late summer and is therefore wetter. I would be interested in your experience with wet and dry wood as well as how long the cycle times are. Also, how many times a year do you have to clean your chimney if some of the wood you are burning is wet?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I really appreciate it.
 
joe4str,

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I went and measured my draft door, 11/8 incheswhen its open. Pipe temps are runnig around the same as yours. I don't have any tropble with creosote. I have air crete liners in my chimney's, I look down them about once a year and haven't cleaned them in over 12 years. Allways seam to stay real clean. As far as burning wet wood, I don't burn green oak but ash is fair game. To get a longer burn time I put in a couple pieces of green wood with the dry. My stove does get worked hard so that problable why I don't have creosote buildup. Seems to work for me. The barometric thing in my chimney is usally open about 1/2 inch. Its slows down the draft when it's windy out. As far as how I load my stove. I am gone about 9 hours when I'm at work. Unless it's real cold the stove will make it. I like to fill it completely when I fill it. I let it get down to the coals and then fill it again. Sometimes I will put a few pieces in if I need to stretch it before bedtime. I would think your stove would keep your house warm for 10 to 12 hours with the size and age of your house. If your have any other question fire away and I'll see If I can help.
 
Experimentation

Hi Farmer Mike,

Thanks for getting back with me. I'm in the middle of experimenting with the furnace. I think mine is smaller and therefore don't need as wide an opening on the draft door. It's kind of hard to tell right now as it has been in the low 40's here in New Hampshire around midday. I believe that I was just not running it hard enough before. I will try my new configuration if it gets down to "normal" (20's midday and low teens single digits at night). I've just been burning some silver maple I got from a friend's yard right now. I plan on throwing the the "good stuff" (oak, maple, beech) at it when it gets cold.

Thanks for the help and merry Christmas.
 
joe4str,

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I went and measured my draft door, 11/8 incheswhen its open. Pipe temps are runnig around the same as yours. I don't have any tropble with creosote. I have air crete liners in my chimney's, I look down them about once a year and haven't cleaned them in over 12 years. Allways seam to stay real clean. As far as burning wet wood, I don't burn green oak but ash is fair game. To get a longer burn time I put in a couple pieces of green wood with the dry. My stove does get worked hard so that problable why I don't have creosote buildup. Seems to work for me. The barometric thing in my chimney is usally open about 1/2 inch. Its slows down the draft when it's windy out. As far as how I load my stove. I am gone about 9 hours when I'm at work. Unless it's real cold the stove will make it. I like to fill it completely when I fill it. I let it get down to the coals and then fill it again. Sometimes I will put a few pieces in if I need to stretch it before bedtime. I would think your stove would keep your house warm for 10 to 12 hours with the size and age of your house. If your have any other question fire away and I'll see If I can help.


Farmermike...i was reading an older thread of yours and was wondering about the barometric damper..i do not have one installed on my firechief 500 wood/coal furnace nor a manual damper...i control the draft by the spin dial on the ash door(i believe this is for the coal mode) and the auto draft motor below the fill door and use the thermoatat to run the draft motor...would the baro help get longer burns...and what about cooling down the chimney and producing more cresote...your thread is a few years old, how has your furnace done since, are you still using the baro damper? thanx DW:)
 
I don't know about longer burn times. I think it just helps even out the draft when it's real windy out. I think it does work. I don't have one on the stove in the shop and the draft is more uneven. I don't know if really matters or not. The draft should be controlled by the inlet not the outlet. Anyways, still heating the house with the charmaster. 10 below out and a nice balmy 70 in the house. I'm sure others on the board can answer this question better, maybe a new post on the subject.
 
Charmaster used since 1986

I don't know about longer burn times. I think it just helps even out the draft when it's real windy out. I think it does work. I don't have one on the stove in the shop and the draft is more uneven. I don't know if really matters or not. The draft should be controlled by the inlet not the outlet. Anyways, still heating the house with the charmaster. 10 below out and a nice balmy 70 in the house. I'm sure others on the board can answer this question better, maybe a new post on the subject.

I have been using the Charmaster Chalet wood only since 1986. I heat 3000 square feet with 3 cords per winter. Our house is well insulated and it does not get all that cold in VA for to long. I really have enjoyed using it. I get all the free wood off of my wooded 10 acres. Usually a few trees die every year or we get a huricanne that knocks a few over.
 
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