Cool, cloudy and wet the past two days, overnights in the lower 40's and today only reached 51°.
By 4:00 this afternoon it had dropped to 47°, the house had dropped to 61°, the teenager said she was cold, and the wife was under a blanket with the dogs.
Hmmmmmm...... how 'bout a test fire in the furnace??
I received a unanimous "YES!" (even the dogs looked excited)
Everything went just as it was supposed to. My draft blower bypass circuit on the timer worked as expected and got the fire going in no time, the thermostat took over when the air jacket temperature increased, the circulation blower kicked in shortly after that... and changed speeds as planned. The basement did get some of that sweetish smelling smoke as the new paint heat-cured, but I opened the door at the top of the steps and it cleared right out. Once everything came up to temp the house near jumped to 70°, the draft blower shut off and the circulation blower went to low speed.
H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P does that thing make heat!!! I tossed a few walnut and elm splits in there and the heat pumping out the vents was near uncomfortable to the hand... flat hot! I left the draft blower gate and flue damper wide open because the draft ain't all that strong in this cool, damp, heavy air, and once the draft blower stopped the fire settled down nicely... just warm(ish) air from the vents now and the house seems to have leveled-off at 71° (thermostat is set for 69°).
So far... all is well.
Now I just gotta' wait for January cold to give it the ultimate test.
By 4:00 this afternoon it had dropped to 47°, the house had dropped to 61°, the teenager said she was cold, and the wife was under a blanket with the dogs.
Hmmmmmm...... how 'bout a test fire in the furnace??
I received a unanimous "YES!" (even the dogs looked excited)
Everything went just as it was supposed to. My draft blower bypass circuit on the timer worked as expected and got the fire going in no time, the thermostat took over when the air jacket temperature increased, the circulation blower kicked in shortly after that... and changed speeds as planned. The basement did get some of that sweetish smelling smoke as the new paint heat-cured, but I opened the door at the top of the steps and it cleared right out. Once everything came up to temp the house near jumped to 70°, the draft blower shut off and the circulation blower went to low speed.
H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P does that thing make heat!!! I tossed a few walnut and elm splits in there and the heat pumping out the vents was near uncomfortable to the hand... flat hot! I left the draft blower gate and flue damper wide open because the draft ain't all that strong in this cool, damp, heavy air, and once the draft blower stopped the fire settled down nicely... just warm(ish) air from the vents now and the house seems to have leveled-off at 71° (thermostat is set for 69°).
So far... all is well.
Now I just gotta' wait for January cold to give it the ultimate test.