mopar969
ArboristSite Operative
On the daka furnaces there is a secondary heat chamber that can be bypassed with a lever on the furnace. What is the heat chamber though, is it just a baffle plate or is it a heat exchanger?
Looking at the diagram then the daka top model has a blower as the draft that would probably increase the efficiency with the baffle closed because the blower would keep pushing the smoke backwards in the stove no?
Having the bypass closed will increase efficiency over having it open no matter if the furnace has blower or natural draft. BUT, my experience with induced draft (a blower) was not impressive, it seemed to use a TON more wood for the same heat output, which really surprised me by the way. I just turned the blower off and went with manually controlled natural draft. Which meant no thermostatic control, and that was one of many reasons I decided to upgrade from the Yukon Big Jack to the Yukon Husky.
I load my data, have the wood pulled forward, pull the top rod and open the bottom drawer about 2 inches and start the fire, I leave it open and the top rod open to release heat because your building a big coal bed once you get your coals load it and keep the rod pulled and the drawer open, once I get the wood burning hot with alot of coals around the outer edges of the wood and then once it's goin really good I close it up tight, I have a front fan to feed the fire but I have a plate over the fans opening so I can control the air flow and I close that plate almost completely, barely an opening and with hardwood in northern MN at 40- I can get a slow smolder out of my daka that lasts all night just like you would a outside boiler. House maintains 69 to 72 all night.. gotta keep the top rod pulled while you do it and the wood needs to be up by the Door not pushed back... if you don't keep the rod pulled it'll get really hot in your house trying to get the wood burning hit enough to shut it down to a slow smolder... lmk if this helps you get more efficiency from your dakaI also have a draft blower like a blacksmith's forge. Obviously when you see fire out the chimney there is a lot of heat loss. But, if there isn't enough draft its like trying to boil water with a low flame. If it gets there at all it takes a long time. For me it was trial and error to get it right. The draft blower certainly makes for quick hot water. I think thermal mass plays a large part in this. I have a smaller stove ( 165 gallons of water ) so the draft blower helps get the job done. Like most of us, I'd like to get increased burn time with less wood. So far I haven't found an economical " magic bullet ".
:biggrin:
I load my data, have the wood pulled forward, pull the top rod and open the bottom drawer about 2 inches and start the fire, I leave it open and the top rod open to release heat because your building a big coal bed once you get your coals load it and keep the rod pulled and the drawer open, once I get the wood burning hot with alot of coals around the outer edges of the wood and then once it's goin really good I close it up tight, I have a front fan to feed the fire but I have a plate over the fans opening so I can control the air flow and I close that plate almost completely, barely an opening and with hardwood in northern MN at 40- I can get a slow smolder out of my daka that lasts all night just like you would a outside boiler. House maintains 69 to 72 all night.. gotta keep the top rod pulled while you do it and the wood needs to be up by the Door not pushed back... if you don't keep the rod pulled it'll get really hot in your house trying to get the wood burning hit enough to shut it down to a slow smolder... lmk if this helps you get more efficiency from your daka
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