Heatmor Damper door conversion?

[Dave Molter]

New to the site but I've been reading for a while.
Does anyone know if their is a conversion made for Heatmor boilers that would allow a mechanical damper to be used rather than the blowers? The whole concept of 600cfm of cold air being pumped in when the stove is winding down seems unefficient to me. Also does everybody burn 60 pickups worth of wood in a season?

 

[BryanSchamber]

That is a lot of wood. I don't burn that in two seasons. Either your heating a lot of square footage or something is definately wrong.

 

[Uncle John]

New to the site but I've been reading for a while.
Does anyone know if their is a conversion made for Heatmor boilers that would allow a mechanical damper to be used rather than the blowers? The whole concept of 600cfm of cold air being pumped in when the stove is winding down seems unefficient to me. Also does everybody burn 60 pickups worth of wood in a season?

I suspect there is another problem,unless like Bryan said you are heating a very large area.

 

[ohioburner]

I thought Heatmor pulled the air from around the bladder hole which heats it up a little but I could be wrong. My fan can have a blazing fire in a minute with dry wood on top of the coals.

 

[Marklambert61]

Heatmor mods

The air induction blow is not your issue....

You need to look at the BTU's being used.

If you are wasting a lot of BTU's in the off cycle or producing far too many BTU's then you should reduce your flue diameter. In summer I use the full 8" because I need every BTU i can get to heat my pool.

However in winter I have a much smaller demand just for home heating so I use a restrictor plate to reduce the flue diameter to about 3" saves a lot of wood.

I would like to come up with a way to automatically very the flue capacity based on BTU load needed but I have not gone that far yet.

Mark

 

[forcedintoit]

The air induction blow is not your issue....

You need to look at the BTU's being used.

If you are wasting a lot of BTU's in the off cycle or producing far too many BTU's then you should reduce your flue diameter. In summer I use the full 8" because I need every BTU i can get to heat my pool.

However in winter I have a much smaller demand just for home heating so I use a restrictor plate to reduce the flue diameter to about 3" saves a lot of wood.

I would like to come up with a way to automatically very the flue capacity based on BTU load needed but I have not gone that far yet.

I would like to see some pics of your stove necked down to three inches!!

Mark

I would like to see some pics of your stove necked down to three inches!!

 

[Butch(OH)]

Also does everybody burn 60 pickups worth of wood in a season?

60 loads a year eh?

No responce needed.

 

[Dave Molter]

That is a lot of wood. I don't burn that in two seasons. Either your heating a lot of square footage or something is definately wrong.

The stove is a Heatmor DCS400 and I am heating a 2800sf home and a 500sf workshop. I have wondered if the stove is just too big. It is rated at 10000sf capacity.

 

[ericjeeper]

The stove is a Heatmor DCS400 and I am heating a 2800sf home and a 500sf workshop. I have wondered if the stove is just too big. It is rated at 10000sf capacity.

No stove can be to big. Are you melting the snow above the line set coming in to the house and shop? The heat is going somewhere. Is the shop insulated? Is the house insulated?Good windows and doors?

 

[Dave Molter]

No stove can be to big. Are you melting the snow above the line set coming in to the house and shop? The heat is going somewhere. Is the shop insulated? Is the house insulated?Good windows and doors?

There is a little snow melt right before it goes into the workshop on days above 20F. Digital thermometers on both tell me when the stove is at 160 the house is 153 and the workshop is 140. Both are a little over 100 feet from the stove. I should mention that the previous homeowner wanted the stove under roof so it has a 16 foot stack.

 

[ericjeeper]

I am assuming the hot water is going in to a fan coil heat exchanger? If so that seems awfully cold to me.

 

[Dave Molter]

I am assuming the hot water is going in to a fan coil heat exchanger? If so that seems awfully cold to me.

Ive got a Rittling cabinet heater in the workshop and an "a" coil type setup in the horizontal furnace in the house. The boiler turns on at 150 and off at 170F.

 

[ericjeeper]

I would try setting the differential closer. Seems to me like it might be eating a lot of wood "playing catchup" as opposed to playing keepup.

 

[forcedintoit]

Have my Heatmor set at 180 and 160 but I don't heat near the square footage you do!

 

[Uncle John]

There is a little snow melt right before it goes into the workshop on days above 20F. Digital thermometers on both tell me when the stove is at 160 the house is 153 and the workshop is 140. Both are a little over 100 feet from the stove. I should mention that the previous homeowner wanted the stove under roof so it has a 16 foot stack.

The 16ft stack could be drawing too much causing the blower door to be sucked open. This would cause it to burn when it should be shut off.

They are designed to work with little or no stack.

If this is the problem drilling some holes in the bottom part of the bottom stack should fix it.

 

[farmking]

There is a little snow melt right before it goes into the workshop on days above 20F. Digital thermometers on both tell me when the stove is at 160 the house is 153 and the workshop is 140. Both are a little over 100 feet from the stove. I should mention that the previous homeowner wanted the stove under roof so it has a 16 foot stack.

Are you saying you have two seperate 100' runs for your shop and house?? If so 200+ foot of pipe is a lot of heat loss right there. How was your pipe insulated?

 

[rick2752]

Give us details on your setup...what kind of pipe. Are you feeding 2 buildings on 1 pump loop? That may cause your furnace to run alot as your returning water is so cold. Im heating 3100 sq ft and my water and have a 400dcs heatmor also. Have you tried throwing some grass or something in to check for an airleak? Your fire is getting air somewhere. I use about 20 or 25 pieces of 18" wood a day when its really cold. What wood are you burning?
I have logstor pipe so im not losing much there.

 

[bearings]

I have the same model heatmor that you have and i heat a 2800 sqft house and a 1000 sqft attached garage. I have 100feet of pex supply line and it can be 30 deg out and i never have any snow melting above my lines. I also can comment on if you fill your stove full it will burn it. I started filling my stove about half full and started stacking it in the front. I am getting the same burn times with 1/2 as much wood. I am only shooting for around 8 hours at a time between checking and filling the stove. Here in MN it gets cold in jan with a normal high temp for January around 15-20 deg.

About the damper doors..... I seem to be always chasing mine. I watch the smoke out of the stack and when its coming out at a good clip the door is sticking open. You then have to go and pull the blowers out with the 2 thumb screws and use a scraper and remove all the crude from the flap and the hinge area. Its very very simple and will save you from lots of over burned wood. I usually check mine once a month. Just watch your stack and check it once a month. If you think a flap is open you can tap on the round tube that the blower is mounted to and listen if you hear a flap shut you then know which one is giving you trouble. I also have gotten coals and ash in the back blower housing that can get stuck in the flap and keep it open. These are some of my troubles and i hope it can help u some and others.

I am not sure how many pickup loads that i burn a year but i do have a pick of my wood pile. Let us know more about your setup and we can help you. Dont mind all that smoke from the old smoky i was cleaning up some wet 2x4 scraps from last year that had a summers worth of rain on them.