Why are you concerned with monitoring that temp. constantly? I have heated with an OWB for 20 years and have only on occasion assessed the temp of water leaving my heat exchanger with an infrared temp gun a few times (to evaluate HE effectiveness). Temp is available at the stove and I figure if I am going to fill/load the stove based on the water temp inside the house I might be too late and would end up building a fire. Just curious not trying to dog your idea, something I might be missing over the years that can help me burn more efficiently.[/QUOTE
I guess it's just that it's new to me and I am just trying to get a feel for things.
The first week I lit it outside temps were in the 50's to 70's so not real world experience in cold weather, now it's getting down to 30's at night and 40's during the day I am trying to get a handle on when and how much wood to put in it.
I did get 24 hrs of burn today, got home at 5:00 PM and there was still a nice batch of coals and the blower was on, I loaded her up with probably 8 splits so hopefully it will go 24 hrs again.
My wood is cut to 24" and the splits are not real big so I am happy, it's all seasoned two years or so.
Thanks for all the help.