new furnace user questions

[NEW BURNER]

i just put a furnace in my house today and wow what a difference. i have a hotblast 1500. so far so good. i have a magnetic thermometer on the front above the door. im wonderin what temp to try to keep my furnace at to acheive a clean burn and make the wood last the longest? any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dave_dj1]

I'm no expert but I think above the door is the wrong place to have the temp gauge. I would put it up on the pipe, about 18" - 24" above furnace. Depending on how dry your wood is and the size of your heating space, you will have to dial the furnace in to get maximum heat and time between loads.
I'm sure someone that is more knowledgeable will be along shortly to advise you.

 

[ASETECH]

I vary my fire based on the weather. If you get shiny black buildup your fire is too cold and or your wood too green, giver it more air. It will take some time but you will learn what works for you. I would probably put my thermometer on the chimney.

 

[100 Watt]

I vary my fire based on the weather. If you get shiny black buildup your fire is too cold and or your wood too green, giver it more air. It will take some time but you will learn what works for you. I would probably put my thermometer on the chimney.

:agree2:[

18" above the furnace seems to be the concensus. @300°-550°F would be optimal burn temps.Much below that and it's a creosote factory. When it's above 30° outside I keep mine close to 300°. If it's colder out I open up the dampers more and get it closer to 500°. Good Luck.

 

[hoosier daddy]

I have a Firechief furnace that sits in my garage. Like others have said, I have probably the same magnetic thermometer and it's 18" above the outlet on the furnace on the flue pipe. 30 degrees outside I try to maintain it at 300. 10 degrees outside and I run it around the 500...also like others have said it will be trial and error until you get your specific set up figured out.

Good luck

 

[tdb]

magnetic thermometer

Could someone post a picture of an magnetic thermometer, am thinking of getting one.

Thanks TedMI.

 

[NEW BURNER]

could i ask why i should place the thermometer on the stove pipe and not the furnace? really wonderin about this. thanks for all the replies

 

[hoosier daddy]

could i ask why i should place the thermometer on the stove pipe and not the furnace? really wonderin about this. thanks for all the replies

I believe that the reason the thermometer was made was to measure the flue temp for creasote protection...I know that my furnace at the door and the rear of the unit is hotter than the flue...I have measured my temps with an IR thermometer and when the flue is 500 the door and rear of the furnace is well above 600...I use it as a guage for creasote...??? I don't really think that it will matter as long as you get some kind of base line and then adjust from there.

 

[hoosier daddy]

Could someone post a picture of an magnetic thermometer, am thinking of getting one.

Thanks TedMI.

Here is a look at my set up. One shows the furnace and the other show the thermometer on the flue. I picked it (the thermometer) at a local farm store. it's actually fairly accurate, at least as accurate as the IR Thermometer...???

 

[CrappieKeith]

Here is a look at my set up. One shows the furnace and the other show the thermometer on the flue. I picked it (the thermometer) at a local farm store. it's actually fairly accurate, at least as accurate as the IR Thermometer...???

Nice clean install ....

 

[hoosier daddy]

Nice clean install ....

Thanks. I was just finishing up when I took the pics...there were a few cosmetic things after that but it's been basically burning since...

Love the furnace but that thing will really burn wood!!! Down the road I will probably replace with a more efficient unit (hopefully well down the road).

 

[NEW BURNER]

is that an ashley? i know the place where i bought my furnace from had an ashley furnace with a single 12'' hole for duct on top is why i asked. thank you for your advice hoosier daddy. just tryin to get this figured out so i dont go thru wood like crazy lol. mine will absolutely burn you out of the house. found out not to fill the firebox full of wood the hard way. i might've been doin somethin wrong but i filled the firebox full lastnight at 8ish cst and i had the wheel turned out one and a half turns and couldn't get it to burn under 500*. might need a little input on that too please.

 

[laynes69]

We had the same furnace for years. I put a thermometer above the loading door and kept the unit around 400-500 degrees. That was the sweet spot for us. One thing to realize on the 1500 is without having a secondary combustion setup, you need to burn fairly hot to burn clean. Thermometers are nice, but looking at the chimney will tell alot about the burn. Smaller hotter loads for mild days, and bigger loads for the colder days.

 

[NEW BURNER]

thank you very much for the info. so this furnace does not have secondary combustion? that sucks. oh well guess i know what ill be doin this summer lol

 

[CrappieKeith]

Thanks. I was just finishing up when I took the pics...there were a few cosmetic things after that but it's been basically burning since...

Love the furnace but that thing will really burn wood!!! Down the road I will probably replace with a more efficient unit (hopefully well down the road).

Hopefully you will give us a chance to earn your business.

 

[hoosier daddy]

I too had to learn to not "burn you out of house"...as long as it's above 20 at night I will fill the box full...CLEAR FULL with the air full open (Mine has an air inducer too that's about 3/4" open) until the thermometer on the flue reached 300 to 350...then I close the induction off to about 1/8" and the draft shut down completely then open 1 turn (about 1/16"). Within a half hour the flue will be reading 500 and will stay there for about three before it starts to fall off. I can usually get 7 hours of sleep. By morning I will have about 8" of coals to restart the process...The flue will read just above 200 at this point.

When it's really cold (below 10 for daytime high) the air gets opened up and I can get about 5 hours of sleep, any more than that and the house will drop below 68...

Mine is a Fire Chief 700.

The winter for us has been colder than normal and we've flat out burnt a crap ton of wood...if I was to do mine again I think that I would look into more efficiency. I burn all free wood and enjoy the processing but the way it looks I will burn just over 10 cords this year.

Good luck to you...I do have to confess that the first time I had the furnace really cranked up (and it wasn't cold yet) I enjoyed opening the windows watching it snow...

 

[hoosier daddy]

don't worry

Hopefully you will give us a chance to earn your business.

CK,

we talked before I bought this stove and I made a decision based on the financial side of it as things were then...you were very helpful and there is no doubt that when the time comes I will be using a furnace that you sell me. In my opinion you've already earned the right.

I really wished that I had the extra when I went down the road but hey, I am happy with what I have...For now...

HD

 

[NEW BURNER]

if i had my furnace piped in the duct work it is supposed to be we would have to sleep outside somewhere because it would flat scorch ya id say lol. its supposed to get cold agian this week (under 20 lol). so i guess we'll see how it performs. could anyone clue me in on what the pipe plug in the back of my furnace is plugging off?

 

[laynes69]

There is an optional forced draft kit you can buy that operates off a thermostat on the wall. 11DKL I believe is the kit. I bought it and its just a big waste of money. I did however like having the rear plug removed. It allowed for extra oxygen just under the baffle which at higher temps helped with secondary combustion. With the forced draft running in the morning, I would wake to a cold furnace with no coals.

 

[NEW BURNER]

so should i take it out or leave it alone?