Is this normal? OWB WoodMaster

[darren_nh]

I took this piture this evening. Sorry in advance for the quality, but had to remove the flash and (all photography skills) to get the right effect.

http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=168741&d=1295308891

Thanks.

 

[dave_dj1]

I wouldn't think that would be "normal"
Looks like the forced draft kicked on and is burning like crazy.

 

[1grnlwn]

Lots of small thin pieces?

 

[Penguins87]

Mine does that from time to time. Usually the second burn cycle after loading. Are you loading the firebox full or 3/4 full. I've found to only load 1/2 to 3/4.

 

[nba123]

Mine is a hardy and it does that time to to time if its full of small very dry wood. OWB pipes are short and thats what U get. My kids get a kick out of it.

 

[John R]

Mine does that sometime, I always thought it was the self cleaning chimney feature.

 

[atlarge54]

No heat being wasted there. That's why Central Boilers don't have blowers.

 

[603doug]

First time mine did that it was early morning and I thought the world was coming to an end. But just creosote from some pine on the rain cap I had been burning ignited. It was spanky clean after that and all was well inside the stove.

 

[iowaowb]

If it does it all the time it would be different than ours. Once in a while ours does that when it has been idle a long time it does not seem to hurt anything and it does look cool.

 

[HD-tech-NH]

No heat being wasted there. That's why Central Boilers don't have blowers.

I put a fan on my CB5036 and love it... to the OP totally normal.... mine still does this with 12' of chimney. nature of the beast.

 

[Bcat22]

mine only does that on long burn cycles with small dry wood. just wasting heat up the pipe. thats why i run a 10 degree differential and large half-seasoned wood.

 

[Blazin]

No heat being wasted there. That's why Central Boilers don't have blowers.

Bah...it's only wood :hmm3grin2orange: Natural draft rules

 

[HD-tech-NH]

Bah...it's only wood :hmm3grin2orange: Natural draft rules

I use less since I installed a fan... depends on the situation... but they do rock! LOL ha haa

 

[Blazin]

I use less since I installed a fan... depends on the situation... but they do rock! LOL ha haa

Hey whatever works for ya is the way to go!

It was all bad in my situation!

 

[darren_nh]

Thank you for the replies. Maybe I won't dry my wood so much next year.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Thank you for the replies. Maybe I won't dry my wood so much next year.

The problem is not that you have too dry of wood - dry is always better. I can only assume that you put a bunch of very small diameter pieces with lots of air space in between to get that kind of a fire out the top of the stack (or you had gotten the OWB hot enough to burn out the creosote). When you put in a lot of small diameter wood there is a large amount of surface area and it makes a lot of fire very quickly.

I only split my wood small enough to allow me to lift it conveniently, and I mix the small pieces in with the larger pieces and it does not blow fire out the stack. Instead of wasting all that energy by blowing flame out the stack I load my Woodmaster in the morning and at night and I only put in enough wood to allow the wood to be burned down to a few coals by the time I show up to load again. If it is really cold and I need a long burn I put in larger wood - if it is warm I use smaller wood.

 

[darren_nh]

The problem is not that you have too dry of wood - dry is always better. I can only assume that you put a bunch of very small diameter pieces with lots of air space in between to get that kind of a fire out the top of the stack (or you had gotten the OWB hot enough to burn out the creosote). When you put in a lot of small diameter wood there is a large amount of surface area and it makes a lot of fire very quickly.

I only split my wood small enough to allow me to lift it conveniently, and I mix the small pieces in with the larger pieces and it does not blow fire out the stack. Instead of wasting all that energy by blowing flame out the stack I load my Woodmaster in the morning and at night and I only put in enough wood to allow the wood to be burned down to a few coals by the time I show up to load again. If it is really cold and I need a long burn I put in larger wood - if it is warm I use smaller wood.

I process my wood rather small as I am not the only person who loads the OWB. I also have a fireplace that requires wood to be "typical" size. I stead of tracking and processing two sizes for different uses, all the wood is the same. It would be considered small wood for an OWB.

I load it similar to you and try to limit the air spaces between logs. Small wood can be "packed" tighter in the OWB than large logs especailly when loading the back over hot coals. It is very possible that the unit was overloaded, since it was 4 degrees last night at last load. I may have over done it a bit.

 

[Geez]

Mine does that sometime, I always thought it was the self cleaning chimney feature.

+1 :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[HD-tech-NH]

I process my wood rather small as I am not the only person who loads the OWB. I also have a fireplace that requires wood to be "typical" size. I stead of tracking and processing two sizes for different uses, all the wood is the same. It would be considered small wood for an OWB.

I load it similar to you and try to limit the air spaces between logs. Small wood can be "packed" tighter in the OWB than large logs especailly when loading the back over hot coals. It is very possible that the unit was overloaded, since it was 4 degrees last night at last load. I may have over done it a bit.

exactly... I have spent time playing with wood size and it really has no effect on how much wood I burn to keep the house warm.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I process my wood rather small as I am not the only person who loads the OWB. I also have a fireplace that requires wood to be "typical" size. I stead of tracking and processing two sizes for different uses, all the wood is the same. It would be considered small wood for an OWB.

I don't have a fireplace, and I give my small stuff away to friends with fireplaces or wood stoves. The small pieces are just too much handing for the little bit of heat they provide in the OWB. If I were you - I would probably just stack my small pieces seperate from the larger pieces - and use the big pieces in the OWB and the small pieces in the fireplace. When the fairer sex loads the OWB - they can use the smqaller pieces that are commensurate with their muscle power.