Loading an OWB

[Laird]

I have read in several threads that some of you only load as much wood as you think it will take to get through the day or night. If you load more, does it burn more? Or maybe it has something to do with a forced air vs. natural draft. I can see a natural draft tending to burn more because it never really shuts down? I have not fired up my Hawken yet but am getting close to finishing the install. It has a forced draft that is supposed to shut down when it reaches 180.

Will I burn more wood if I stuff it full every time I load it?

Or will I tend to just get lazy and not load any more than I know I will need......

 

[hawken08]

I decided on sunday that i was going to load my He2100 hawken as much as it would take so i could go a full day or 2. however i found that i went thru more wood then loading a wheel barrel full at night, and just a couple logs in the morning. in summary i used twice the amount if i loaded as much as it could take. I am back to my old way of loading.

 

[beerman6]

I've only been half loading mine,so far it seems like its the same as the first 3 years...

 

[oneoldbanjo]

The reason that I only load a small amount of wood is for as clean of burn as possible....and less smoke headed toward my neighbors house. (It may also be that I am using less wood). There is a limit to how much air will come in even with a forced air blower. If you have a small amount of wood the fire will be getting enough air and will burn as clean as possible in an OWB. If you have a lot of wood in the OWB there may not be enough air to allow the fire to burn cleanly.....and you may have a lot of wood that is burning with too little oxygen. When a fire burns too rich (too much fuel and not enough air) they make more smoke and more odor.

If I have a normal schedule I only add enough wood to last until the next time I am home to stoke the fire. If I am gone for a day or two I load it up accordingly.

 

[Jon E]

Hasn't seemed to make a difference to me. I usually check the boiler twice a day or more anyway, as I have a home office and the trip outside helps to give me a break from the computer. I loaded mine right up solid with oak, hornbeam and some pine yesterday morning early, and so far, even with temps in the single digits yesterday and last night, I still have half a load in there. If I had put my "normal" load of five or six splits in there, I would have had to feed it twice already.

I typically tend to load it up pretty full (only the front half of the firebox, as high as it will stack) in the morning after everyone's taken their showers and run hot water, and then toss a couple more sticks in at night if needed. That way the wood I toss in, in the AM, has has a chance to "bake" all day and burns clean. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out a way to set off a bell or alarm or something on my computer, or in my office, when the high limit set temperature is reached and the damper closes, that way I have a few hours before the next burn cycle and I can toss in wood to let it cook when that happens.

 

[Laird]

Confused

Of course it will. It's going to be in it's inefficient idling mode more often and smoking more.

Not intending to appear obtuse, but this confuses me. Does the rate of burn change based on how much wood is in in the firebox assuming that I never let the fire go out? How often do you intentionally let the fire go out? This is all theoretical for me at this point since I have not burned wood in an OWB before.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

Jon E.

I am not sure that using a smaller stack of wood makes a difference in consumption - but I do think it makes a difference in the reduction of the smoke. If you load up a small pile and watch how long it takes to start burning clean - then do the same with a large pile and I am pretty sure you will find lots more smoke coming out for a longer time with the large pile.

I have a temperature guage in my house that I can get a good idea what is going on outside. The guage I have is a Compunurse and was actually made to monitor the temperature of computer parts. It has a small temperature probe that I just pushed between the insulation over the Pex tube coming in from the OWB. It uses a small battery and displays the temperature in celsius. I have one of the early models and it displays a temperature just above 60 at the high limit, 50 degrees at the point where the blower comes on and 40 degrees at the point where the fan gives up on making heat and shuts off. They do have models with an adjustable alarm - but it might drive you crazy as it would go off every time the OWB reached the temp you set it for....even if you didn't need to load yet. Here is a link for the basic model that I have.....I have an extra one of the older models if you decide you don't want an alarm. They also make models with dual probes if you want to monitor two areas.....I suppose you could add extra wire if you wanted to have a more remote reading as I have to go into the basement to read mine.

http://www.ascendtech.us/itemdesc.asp?ic=CSACCCOMPNURS

 

[Biker Dude]

I don't know if there is a definite answer to your question. On my boiler (ancient Taylor T-450) if I load a half load it means I have to load more often but I also notice that different types of wood and different moisture content affect the burn more than the amount loaded. Regular cleaning also has a big effect on the amount of wood burned. As the tubes in my boiler get dirty it takes more wood to produce heat because the ash and creosote act as an insulator stopping the heat transfer. One other thing to keep in mind if you don't load the box full is that you must keep an eye on the water temp. If your half load burns down to a few coals and your water temp drops way down then you have to burn more to bring it back up again. It takes far more energy to heat water from 120F to 170F than it takes to heat from 155F to 170F. My boiler seems to be most efficient when the water temp is kept within 20 deg. of the setpoint.
Every one of us who uses an OWB had to learn what works best in our particular system and your answer lies in lighting yours up and experimenting. It's a learning process that never ends but I think that is part of the joy of burning wood.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

It is also somewhat difficult in the Cincinnati area to keep ahead of the weather. A few days ago we were down to 17 degrees...and last night it was 51.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Just for sheets and grins, I loaded my CB last night with only 4 pc. of split stuff, backed the SP down to 170...today at 0330, 2 pc. still left, 165 deg water.

I'm still larnin how to fire this thing!

"Woodburning can be more of an art than a science"...CB