CrappieKeith
Addicted to ArboristSite
Over the years I have noticed ....how do I say this tactfully????
OK...they do not follow the instructions on their new furnace install.
They do not follow code and generally install their furance,stove or water furnace with their own common sence.
Then when there's issues they cut other corners to make it work the way they need it to work.
Recently we had a thread here about a guy burning down his shed due to burning wet wood and using drain pipe for a flue.
Being in the furnace business I run into all sorts of fine folks that have their own ideas about what's good wood.Had a gal the other day complaining of excessive creosote.When I asked her what they had for wood she say's"it's good wood,cut it down last thursday"!
I've also seen many a post about how do I get my stove to have longer burn times.It's a 40,000 btu output and I can only get 4 hours trying to heat 3000 s/f one said recently on another forum or the room the stove is in get's to 90 degrees and the rest of the house is cold.How can I convect heat throughout my home?
The stories go on and on and on about shortfalls during the burning process.
So I thought I'd start this thread.
When considering an appliance to heat your home you should 1st off decide how much of the home you want to heat.
Then buy the best option available.
Once you've done that the install it should be to the nuts as per it's manual.
Flues need to be of the right size and make up air which seems to be a point of contention needs to be brought in...it's code now a days.
After that it comes down to taking responsibility for putting up wood soon enough for proper curing.
Lastly learning how big to build a fire is something you'll need to do.As heat loads change so should you fire size. A fire burns all of the time and sure some of the units out there have auto dampering systems,but you can only damper them so much.
To keep an efficient fire you'll need to burn hot.Well, a small hotter fire is more efficient than a large smoldering fire and on mild days you can still keep your home warm without burning liquid fuel if you learn how to build a smaller fire without making excessive creosote.
I also see guys talking about flue gas temps via exterior t stats.Taking a flue gas temp should be done inside the flue preferably dead center of the pipe...to be accurate that is.
If you are seeing 400 degree pipe temps the flue gas temps is way higher.
Condensation starts at about 250 degrees....so running stack temps too high is just waisted heat, but then again maybe that's how the unit is designed to operate. Remember we must stay with manufactures reccomended settings...code says so.
Heating code say's a lot of things and it's there to keep us safe.Installing your appliance within code say's that you have met the minimum requirements. Notice the word minimum.
There was a day that folks did not have much for code....many homes burnt down. The insurance companies as a whole pushed for it. In effect they shut down the entire industry until the feds got involved to require these codes.So now all of these United States of America have a heating code.
If there is any doubt there should be a liscensed contractor involved to inspect your install. Not that they know everything either, but if you look around to bonafide contractors you should be able to find one near you that does know what will keep you safe.
To this day I still see folks installing high heat appliances to plastic ducting or they do not have proper clearence to combustibles or they have over sized flues and to make matters worse these flues are brick and exterior to the home.
This post is not a rant, more over it's just my way of trying to get you to think about making the proper decision on your next heater and that when you do get it to have it installed properlly or modifying your current install to meet the correct specs.
We all have seen where people have had some serious issues and negative expierences. Let us not be the next.
So it's Fri...and the weekend is here. I'll be loading up my Big Jack and hitting the lakes. The tullibees are bitting and my smoker is looking to get fired up!
OK...they do not follow the instructions on their new furnace install.
They do not follow code and generally install their furance,stove or water furnace with their own common sence.
Then when there's issues they cut other corners to make it work the way they need it to work.
Recently we had a thread here about a guy burning down his shed due to burning wet wood and using drain pipe for a flue.
Being in the furnace business I run into all sorts of fine folks that have their own ideas about what's good wood.Had a gal the other day complaining of excessive creosote.When I asked her what they had for wood she say's"it's good wood,cut it down last thursday"!
I've also seen many a post about how do I get my stove to have longer burn times.It's a 40,000 btu output and I can only get 4 hours trying to heat 3000 s/f one said recently on another forum or the room the stove is in get's to 90 degrees and the rest of the house is cold.How can I convect heat throughout my home?
The stories go on and on and on about shortfalls during the burning process.
So I thought I'd start this thread.
When considering an appliance to heat your home you should 1st off decide how much of the home you want to heat.
Then buy the best option available.
Once you've done that the install it should be to the nuts as per it's manual.
Flues need to be of the right size and make up air which seems to be a point of contention needs to be brought in...it's code now a days.
After that it comes down to taking responsibility for putting up wood soon enough for proper curing.
Lastly learning how big to build a fire is something you'll need to do.As heat loads change so should you fire size. A fire burns all of the time and sure some of the units out there have auto dampering systems,but you can only damper them so much.
To keep an efficient fire you'll need to burn hot.Well, a small hotter fire is more efficient than a large smoldering fire and on mild days you can still keep your home warm without burning liquid fuel if you learn how to build a smaller fire without making excessive creosote.
I also see guys talking about flue gas temps via exterior t stats.Taking a flue gas temp should be done inside the flue preferably dead center of the pipe...to be accurate that is.
If you are seeing 400 degree pipe temps the flue gas temps is way higher.
Condensation starts at about 250 degrees....so running stack temps too high is just waisted heat, but then again maybe that's how the unit is designed to operate. Remember we must stay with manufactures reccomended settings...code says so.
Heating code say's a lot of things and it's there to keep us safe.Installing your appliance within code say's that you have met the minimum requirements. Notice the word minimum.
There was a day that folks did not have much for code....many homes burnt down. The insurance companies as a whole pushed for it. In effect they shut down the entire industry until the feds got involved to require these codes.So now all of these United States of America have a heating code.
If there is any doubt there should be a liscensed contractor involved to inspect your install. Not that they know everything either, but if you look around to bonafide contractors you should be able to find one near you that does know what will keep you safe.
To this day I still see folks installing high heat appliances to plastic ducting or they do not have proper clearence to combustibles or they have over sized flues and to make matters worse these flues are brick and exterior to the home.
This post is not a rant, more over it's just my way of trying to get you to think about making the proper decision on your next heater and that when you do get it to have it installed properlly or modifying your current install to meet the correct specs.
We all have seen where people have had some serious issues and negative expierences. Let us not be the next.
So it's Fri...and the weekend is here. I'll be loading up my Big Jack and hitting the lakes. The tullibees are bitting and my smoker is looking to get fired up!
Last edited:
