Tweeking the Stove

[gobucks07]

Just curious what tips anyone may have for tweeking the woodburner...

I have a Clayton (US Stove) model 1600 in the garage and ducted into the house furnace ducts. Burning large logs of mostly season'd oak. Just the basic stove with no add on draft inducers or anything like that....

I have the draft opening in the front pretty much fully opened as far as it'll go and the ash door draft opening is about 2 full turns open. My blower has 3 speeds and I keep it at medium, the thermostat has the A-E settings and I keep it at C.

I stock up the burner and get a good fire and the heat coming out the ducts is around 98 degrees (when I checked last). I'm going through the wood pretty quick and restock every 2 hours or so... I can let it go for about 6-7 hours after loading up heavy and still have just enough coals to get a fire going with a few small, split logs.

Just curious if anyone has any tips or tweeks to get a better or more efficient burn... I have a large log cabin house (built 1998) and the wood burner keeps the house at around 68-70 without using the propane furnace at all.

I would appreciate any comments anyone might have.

Brian in East Central Ohio....

P.S. I love this site, who would have thought wood burning could make for such interesting discussion!

 

[laynes69]

Make sure the wood is seasoned. If you stoke up the wood burner, open your draft all of the way for a few minutes, WATCH the fire. When things are burning good and hot, then close down the dampers and watch the fire. Sounds like you are giving it too much air. Once its burning good and hot you can cut the air quite a bit. Once you do, monitor the chimney and if its burning clean and its burning hot you are good to go. If it smokes alot, then thats alot of wasted heat. If you buy the forced draft, that may help alot. I have the 1500 which is the smaller one and its been down to 5 at night. I will load at 9:30pm and the house will be 77 when I wake up at 5:00 am the wood furnace is full of hot coals and the house is 72. You're not doing something right with those burn times.

 

[gobucks07]

Thanks for the reply, I never shutdown the draft after it got going good, maybe that's the problem... I'll try that.

The forced draft inducers come with their own thermostat right? If so do they replace/affect the main blower thermostat?

Thanks again for your help, I'll try turning down the main draft and see what it does. I've never had a problem with the draft going up the chimney and the fire has always burned well so I didn't think I needed an inducer.

 

[laynes69]

Well, your main blower should not be on a thermostat, but on a limit control in the back of the furnace. This senses the temps to either kick on the main blower or shut it off. The forced draft operates on a thermostat in the living quarters. If you have it set at 72 and the house drops to 71, just the forced draft kicks in and feeds air into the firebox. This will cause it to burn hotter therefore producing hotter air from the plenum, or getting the furnace to kick on the limit for the main blower. When that thermostat returns to 72 it shuts off. The forced draft has nothing to do with the chimney draft, but it will force air onto the coals, or fire which in return will superheat the fire. The thermostat for the forced air isn't tied into the main blower, but they work with eachother. One other thing you will find is the forced draft blower will allow more air into the firebox which will allow for a hotter cleaner burn. On the damper note, you should find a huge increase in heat and a decrease in the amount of wood being burned. Hope this helps.