First time/night impression wood furnace: Not good...
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fubar2
Addicted to ArboristSite
I've had a Clayton add on for years and if a round looks like it will fit through the stove door it goes in the stove door unsplit. Unless you want a quick hot fire. I think its just the nature of the beast. Get a good bed of coals then toss in the big boys.
Steve NW WI
Unwanted Riff Raff.
My Woodchuck has a big ol firebox, takes 24" wood, probably 6-8 cu ft total. I filled it at 5:30 this morning, got home a bit after 5 and still had a 6" bed of coals. Outdoor temp never hit 20° today, and a 15-20mph breeze to top it off. Temp in the kitchen (as far from the woodstove as you can get in my house, close to 40' away, was still at 65°.
In midwinter, with below 0 highs, I'll fill 3x, when I get home, right before bed, and right before leaving for work. It will run at full military power while I'm home, and turned down while I'm at work. When it's that cold, the gas furnace will run a couple times during the day to keep things reasonable, otherwise it sits silent unless noone is home over a weekend.
My overnighter/all day logs are red oak, about 8" on a side split. 2 of these mixed with a cocktail of whatever else is in the pile usually works well.
Glad to hear you're getting the hang of it, and that blower won't be any worse on the light bill than the furnace blower it's replacing.
In midwinter, with below 0 highs, I'll fill 3x, when I get home, right before bed, and right before leaving for work. It will run at full military power while I'm home, and turned down while I'm at work. When it's that cold, the gas furnace will run a couple times during the day to keep things reasonable, otherwise it sits silent unless noone is home over a weekend.
My overnighter/all day logs are red oak, about 8" on a side split. 2 of these mixed with a cocktail of whatever else is in the pile usually works well.
Glad to hear you're getting the hang of it, and that blower won't be any worse on the light bill than the furnace blower it's replacing.
try a new rope gasket on the door . should get a more even heat . that will last longer . us ally have to do this every year
6brnr
ArboristSite Lurker
That was actually one of the first things I did before i fired it up. I did a "test" fire with the old rope and it leaked smoke out the top of the door. Fixed that with new rope.
I guess I should make my splits a little bit bigger then. My splits are like what u would see someone selling firewood. I didn't anticipate, so now I know. I am splitting all real big rounds, prolly about 30 inches of red oak. Lots and lots...I really don't have that much of a variety as of yet.
Racerboy832
ArboristSite Guru
I was going through this same stuff. I hated the fact that when I got up in the am I was cold. I solved this problem with mine by getting a barometric damper. It was like 50 bux. My wood consumption was about 1/3 less. Half the time I only toss in a few pieces and whenever I check it's still going. I fill the stove about 3/4 at 10pm, if for some reason I over sleep it's usually still blowing hot air at 9am. This made me consider keeping the stove. I like to wake up warm more then go to bed toasty.
cableguy256
ArboristSite Operative
I have a hotblast 1557m wood/coal furnace and I experienced this same problem my first year burning and discovered 99% of my problems were directly related to not having full rounds in as opposed to splits... now I usually load up anywhere from 10-11pm, close the spin draft down to 3/4 turn open and seal up the feed door damper... now that I use rounds, I can easily load 'er up and still have about 1/8 round left at 6am with TONS of hot coals, house usually around 76 with temps outside around +5. Getcha some good rounds of hardwood and that will solve your problems.
like to split about the size on the end that could be palmed with one hand . about 4 by 6.if I don,t change the gasket about every year . the house is about 90 for a couple hours then freezing a few hours later. get around 8 to 12 hours burn time using the furnace this way
I was in at tractor supply yesterday and thought of this thread so i went and thoroughly checked out this clayton model furnace.it looks like a decent unit, looks to be mnade heavy duty and the price seemed more than fair but i was somewhat surprised to see such a large firebox considering all that i read about their short burn cycles .I would think an overnight burn would be childsplay with this unit!i guess its the design of the unit or the way its ran but in my case just last night it was 18 and windy ,i loaded my englander 28-3500 furnace at 11:30 with beech and some cherry ..I woke up this morning at 8 to the blower still running off and on and a few glowing slab pieces .Maybe you just need to learn the settings and how to orientate the wood better
watchamakalit
ArboristSite Operative
I have a lilly indoor furnace. This is my first year with it so I am still on the learning curve here too. I found all the things mentioned helped contribute a little more to my burn times. I too split most of what I had cut into little splits. That's a mistake I won't make next time. I am going to leave anything small enough to fit through the door in rounds. And just split the bigger stuff to fit through the door.
6brnr
ArboristSite Lurker
Same here...
well remember it will surely take longer to season in log form compared to a split so if you plan to keep your wood large for the sake of increased burn times you better be sure its internally properly seasoned or the benefit will be negated .logs may burn longer but often not better and it wont do much good if it smolders and/or goes out in the middle of night
watchamakalit
ArboristSite Operative
That's a very good point. Any way to tell other than splitting a few?
cableguy256
ArboristSite Operative
This can be a debated question,but I usually follow the mindset of letting rounds season anywhere from 12-18 months before burning depending on the type... the denser the wood, the longer the season process takes.. and you need to have good airflow through your stacks to get a good season.
I am not very familure with the clayton but I had a johnson that is simular to the hotblast 1557 and it was my understanding the you were not suposed to open the air inlet on the ash door unless you were burning coal....
Junkfxr
ArboristSite Operative
That's what the owners manual for our USSC Hotblast 1500 said also but it works a lot better to leave the "automatic" damper in the door closed and use the spin damper in the ash door. I know several people that have found that out too. Quote from Tim the Tool Man "The directions are only the factory's opinion."
Justsaws
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have the Clayton and the bed time setting that I use is the slide damper almost shut(1"), ash damper shut, and run damper 1/2-1 turn open depending on outside temp. That is not far off from my typical run settings. The ash damper is never open as that just cruises through the wood.
i know on my englander if i leave the bottom/ash spin draft left wide open after the start up process without spinning it back in ,it will cut the burn times easily in half ,once up to speed ..that only needs a crack open on my setup
cableguy256
ArboristSite Operative
I leave the 'auto damper' on the feed door closed and usually run the spin draft on the ash door around 1/4 to 1/2 open. although I've made the mistake of closing them both too early and snuffed my fire out... not a good sign to look outside and see smoke billowing out of the chimney and realize ur fires smoldering out lol
sbhooper
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have a Norseman 2500 that is ducted straight into the main ducts of the house. It sits in the basement, so every bit of heat goes up. The furnace is straight-forward and has no blowers to help it burn. In order for the forced air blowers on the furnace to kick on, the box has to reach 200 degrees. In order to keep it pushing air, it takes open dampers and lots of wood to keep the heat up.
Yesterday it was 15 degrees and I easily kept the house at a comfortable 74-76 degrees with a steady feed of wood. Last night got down to 9 below zero and the propane furnace kicked on ONE time-about 7AM-when the house temp reached 60 degrees. During moderate temps-20s&30s-it will be high 60s in the morning.
My wife is the last to go to bed and she stocks the furnace all she can and then shuts down the dampers. I usually have enough coals left in the morning to start a new fire pretty easily.
Wood furnaces need lots more wood than a wood stove because you are dealing with forced air versus direct heat. They are not good if you do not have a good wood source. This is my second year with the furnace and there is definitely a learning curve. I think my curve is shortening finally!
The bottom line with a furnace is that it takes constant monitoring if you are going to use it as your primary heat source. I am retired and have the time, but it would be a pain if I was working and also trying to keep enough wood available for it. We use it as our primary heat source and set the propane furnace at 60 degrees only as a backup when it is viciously cold. The furnace almost paid for itself the first year in savings. (propane is cheaper now and that would not be as much with current prices).
A wood furnace is totally safe as long as you have it in a safe area and it is put in according to code. If we are leaving for the day, we stock it and shut down the dampers.
As long as I can physically keep a wood supply, we will be using a wood furnace!
Yesterday it was 15 degrees and I easily kept the house at a comfortable 74-76 degrees with a steady feed of wood. Last night got down to 9 below zero and the propane furnace kicked on ONE time-about 7AM-when the house temp reached 60 degrees. During moderate temps-20s&30s-it will be high 60s in the morning.
My wife is the last to go to bed and she stocks the furnace all she can and then shuts down the dampers. I usually have enough coals left in the morning to start a new fire pretty easily.
Wood furnaces need lots more wood than a wood stove because you are dealing with forced air versus direct heat. They are not good if you do not have a good wood source. This is my second year with the furnace and there is definitely a learning curve. I think my curve is shortening finally!
The bottom line with a furnace is that it takes constant monitoring if you are going to use it as your primary heat source. I am retired and have the time, but it would be a pain if I was working and also trying to keep enough wood available for it. We use it as our primary heat source and set the propane furnace at 60 degrees only as a backup when it is viciously cold. The furnace almost paid for itself the first year in savings. (propane is cheaper now and that would not be as much with current prices).
A wood furnace is totally safe as long as you have it in a safe area and it is put in according to code. If we are leaving for the day, we stock it and shut down the dampers.
As long as I can physically keep a wood supply, we will be using a wood furnace!
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