wood heating problems.

[ericjeeper]

For some reason my boiler has not needed any wood lately..I mean it will burn a couple of chunks a day. But nothing like one would really think considering it is almost Thanksgiving..

I hate this weather. Just came in from the deer blind with my daughter.. It was 60 plus degrees.. we were sweating, Just a few days ago we were cold..

 

[dimanager]

Just a few days ago we were cold..

Just a few more days and you will get colder. Front coming through Illinois wednesday afternoon, should hit you about 12 hours later, chance for some flurries and a high of 39 on turkey day. Keep warm.

Sam

 

[rx7145]

Remember this when it is -10 out and the fire went out.

Good weather for cutting wood though. I cut down a good size ash tree that died about a year ago. I got a lot of good wood and some poison ivy:censored: :censored:

 

[aandabooks]

I actually let my Daka furnace burn out this morning. I got home from work around 7 am and the house was 77 degrees after throwing 4-5 pieces of soft maple on last night and turning the damper all the way down. Still had a bit of coal in 12 hours after feeding it before work. Have to get it fired back up tonight and keep it going with the weather that is coming.

Matt

 

[ericjeeper]

My boiler must hold two wheel barrels of hot coals

I did not put any wood at all in it yesterday. This morning I wanted to work on the face..(It warped) The boiler temp was 190, and the holding tank which is six hundred gallons is at 179.
as far as wood goes, I have hundreds of tree tops yet to cut up.. we had 600 trees taken from the farm. Most will just rot away.. even with my inefficient OWB I will never get it all cut up before it returns to nature. I am concentrating on the hickory first.. It will be the first to get doatey, Red oaks will be good in 3-4 years

 

[ciscoguy01]

Wowzer

I did not put any wood at all in it yesterday. This morning I wanted to work on the face..(It warped) The boiler temp was 190, and the holding tank which is six hundred gallons is at 179.
as far as wood goes, I have hundreds of tree tops yet to cut up.. we had 600 trees taken from the farm. Most will just rot away.. even with my inefficient OWB I will never get it all cut up before it returns to nature. I am concentrating on the hickory first.. It will be the first to get doatey, Red oaks will be good in 3-4 years

Dude, that must rock... I wish I had an OWB I could add on my place. How many days do you get when you stoke it up full bore?? How big of a log do you take bro? Soon enough we will want this weather for sure..

 

[ericjeeper]

well I just built it this season

The firebox is 4 foot deep. The door is only 16x16, My thought on my design was that I could cut all the smaller limb wood to 36-46 inches for less picking up..And it does make for quick cut of the tops and pickup time is cut well under half.
The burn times vary with call for heat, If the blower kicks on it will consume some wood..But that is the design. temps drop fire will kick up to add more heat.

If winter ever comes which I am sure it will soon enough.. I will know more about the performance of the homebuilt unit.

 

[Shipper50]

For some reason my boiler has not needed any wood lately..I mean it will burn a couple of chunks a day. But nothing like one would really think considering it is almost Thanksgiving..

I hate this weather. Just came in from the deer blind with my daughter.. It was 60 plus degrees.. we were sweating, Just a few days ago we were cold..

Someone just told me the other day, be careful what you wish for

Shipper

 

[bowtechmadman]

I'm with Shipper...not going to complain about the mild temps. I have had the OWB burning since first of October. My wood pile just keeps growing...think I'll have a considerable amount left this year.

 

[Shipper50]

I'm with Shipper...not going to complain about the mild temps. I have had the OWB burning since first of October. My wood pile just keeps growing...think I'll have a considerable amount left this year.

It was him that did the quoting:hmm3grin2orange:

Shipper

 

[Al Smith]

. This It will be the first to get doatey, Red oaks will be good in 3-4 years

Yep,I'd go for the hickory also.For what it's worth I've got into red oak tops that were down close to twenty years that were still good.I even had a maginal one milled and got around 800 bdf of mostly # 3 common out of it.Kind of knotty so to speak.

 

[Lane]

Question for aandabooks...long burn times?

I actually let my Daka furnace burn out this morning. I got home from work around 7 am and the house was 77 degrees after throwing 4-5 pieces of soft maple on last night and turning the damper all the way down. Still had a bit of coal in 12 hours after feeding it before work. Have to get it fired back up tonight and keep it going with the weather that is coming.

Matt

I also have a daka supplemental furness. This is my second year with it and I can't seem to figure it out. My burn times are only about an hour to two hours. I have removed the draft regulator daka suggested this year and turned the automatic air intake damper into a manual. I also installed a manual damper in my chimney last year. I have been told to close the chimney damper way down and the air intake to just a sliver to trap the heat. This has seemed to get slightly longer burn times but nothing like 3+ I hear everyone else gets and it doesnt heat well like that.. If I load it up at night there are no coals left in morning and house has dropped 7 degrees. Most my wood is soft maple which i know isnt great but i feel like i am going thru a lot of wood. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ericjeeper]

you need some heavier dry wood

I also have a daka supplemental furness. This is my second year with it and I can't seem to figure it out. My burn times are only about an hour to two hours. I have removed the draft regulator daka suggested this year and turned the automatic air intake damper into a manual. I also installed a manual damper in my chimney last year. I have been told to close the chimney damper way down and the air intake to just a sliver to trap the heat. This has seemed to get slightly longer burn times but nothing like 3+ I hear everyone else gets and it doesnt heat well like that.. If I load it up at night there are no coals left in morning and house has dropped 7 degrees. Most my wood is soft maple which i know isnt great but i feel like i am going thru a lot of wood. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Soft Maple is like burning poplar, Burns good hot and fast..

 

[aandabooks]

Lane,

I don't run any damper control on my flu pipe. Used to have a flapper style but left it out when I replaced the pipe. Just a creosote collection point. I put a lot of oak, hickory, elm and locust in mine. Early in the season I had some soft maple and cottonwood to burn off. Pretty much daytime mild temp woods. The one thing that I would suggest you look at mechanically is the damper door on the front. Let the furnace go cold and check that the door is properly set. The damper door should be fully closed when the knob is at the 12 o'clock postion. If not make the adjustment, it requires a very small allen wrench to loosen the set screw. You may be burning with the damper too far open and loosing a lot of heat out the chimney.

You may want to try to locate some better hardwood. It burns way better.

Matt

 

[aandabooks]

What kind of chimney are you running with yours?

Matt

 

[Lane]

Lane,

I don't run any damper control on my flu pipe. Used to have a flapper style but left it out when I replaced the pipe. Just a creosote collection point. I put a lot of oak, hickory, elm and locust in mine. Early in the season I had some soft maple and cottonwood to burn off. Pretty much daytime mild temp woods. The one thing that I would suggest you look at mechanically is the damper door on the front. Let the furnace go cold and check that the door is properly set. The damper door should be fully closed when the knob is at the 12 o'clock postion. If not make the adjustment, it requires a very small allen wrench to loosen the set screw. You may be burning with the damper too far open and loosing a lot of heat out the chimney.

You may want to try to locate some better hardwood. It burns way better.

Matt

Hey Matt! Thanks for the feed back. Most of my wood is junk wood. I dont have any woods so I kind of gather what I can get about the county. Maybe with some better wood I would get much longer burn times. The damper on the front, I have removed the heat spring and made it into a manual damper. For quick heat I open it wide open and when i got to bed I close it to a sliver hoping to maintain a slowburn throughout the night to maintain steady temp until morning. I think it only lasts an hour and a half thoe. My chimney is a double walled air cooled pipe. I had them install it when the house was built 2 1/2 years ago. Its about 30 feet from burner to peak of house, which I hear is good.

After a lot of browsing in these forums It seems that most all burners use quite a bit of wood. I would just like better heat from longer burn times. Maybe better wood is the answer.

That big oak over at the neighbors is lookng pretty good right now...

 

[aandabooks]

I know when I don't run the good wood it gets down to 2-3 hours. Running seasoned oak and so on I will fill it at 9 pm when I go to work and still have coals and the blower running at 7 am. That is stuffing it full though. All the way to the shelf in the back and small wood I cut to 7-8" just to stuff it full after the 18-20" regular logs are in.

Matt

 

[Lane]

I know when I don't run the good wood it gets down to 2-3 hours. Running seasoned oak and so on I will fill it at 9 pm when I go to work and still have coals and the blower running at 7 am. That is stuffing it full though. All the way to the shelf in the back and small wood I cut to 7-8" just to stuff it full after the 18-20" regular logs are in.

Matt

And thats another thing. I don't stuff it with wood. I usually only fill it half way. But I did hear that by stuffing it with wood it also increases burn times by limiting the amout of air space in the box. That makes sense I guess. I will just start loading it to the max and see how that works. I just hate seeing all that wood burn up quickley. My dad has a little pot belly that he heats his whole house with and he burns a lot less wood than I do. I prefer having a burner away from living space thoe. Kids can't burn themselves and all the mess is down there.

 

[aandabooks]

That was the tipping point for the Daka when the wife and I were looking 3 years ago. My in-laws heat with a wood stove in the living room. We've seen the mess and danger to kids that those can be. They keep a free standing screen around the front of theirs so the kids don't touch the glass. Plus the temperature differences in parts of their house.

Load that furnace up with just as much wood as you can fit in it. The other thing to think about is if you are getting a good backdraft. That is why I was asking about your chimney. How difficult is it to start a fresh fire in yours?

Matt

 

[Lane]

That was the tipping point for the Daka when the wife and I were looking 3 years ago. My in-laws heat with a wood stove in the living room. We've seen the mess and danger to kids that those can be. They keep a free standing screen around the front of theirs so the kids don't touch the glass. Plus the temperature differences in parts of their house.

Load that furnace up with just as much wood as you can fit in it. The other thing to think about is if you are getting a good backdraft. That is why I was asking about your chimney. How difficult is it to start a fresh fire in yours?

Matt

Its very easy. I load it and fill the front with some cardboard and light it. Never fails and it doesnt puff back ever unless i forget to open the damper in the exhaust first for a minute.