WoodMaster not coming up to temp

[Biglurr54]

Hey Guys i need some help with my OWB. For some reason the last two days or so I can't get the stove to get the water up to temp. Heres what I have. Its a Woodmaster 4400 and its only heating my 1500 sqft house. I am using Dead and standing wood mix of hard and soft with some green hardwood mixed in. This has been working fairly well so far this winter. I have had this problem before with the boiler and have been chasing problems to fix it since. I have cleaned the inside out completely, put a new door gasket on, cleaned the fan, tried seasoned wood, and pulled every hair out of my head. My temperature is sitting around 150 and the settings are on at 170 off at 180. The house isn't calling for any heat so its not getting used faster than it can produce it. It seems that when the door is shut with the fan on (flapper up) the fire gets choked out. When I leave the door open the fire gets going but all my heat escapes out the door. I have cleaned out the baffle with the sliding plate that closes the baffle. The flue seems clear as there is plenty of smoke coming out of it. This is my first season with the Boiler and i am a complete novice at this. The house came with the boiler which was a great selling point but i didn't get much instruction on how to fire these things any advice/help would be great.

 

[mybowtie]

Did u unbolt the fan from the door to clean? Wounder if there a mouse nest or other crud in there. Sounds like the fire is not getting air.
Maybee fan motor turns on, but fan itself not turning? Dont know if its possible, but if you did remove the fan, did u wire it backwards and its now turning backwards???

 

[BILLSFIREWOOD]

Hi air flow is not good, flue pipe may be at 50%. I had that hear, my heat is good now.

 

[Biglurr54]

I havent removed the fan yet but i think i may go do that now. I cleaned the fins on the fan because the were full of ash. Do the fans get weak as they age? I have been hitting it with a portable air mattress pump and that gets the fire roaring so its deffinetly starving for air

 

[Uncle John]

Maybe fan flapper stuck shut with creosote

 

[Biglurr54]

Ok i took the fan off and cleaned the door. I the took aleak ans as i was taking a leak i saw my neighbors boiler. The same as mine. His fan kicked on and white smoke slowly billowed out of his cmimney. I looked at mine and it was just clwar wavy heat coming out. I have no chimney on my furnace. I then took a cinder block and blocked off 3/4 of the chimney and waited a minute and the temp started to rise then a few minutes later it was getting nice and toasty. My diagnosis is the air is going out the chimney before it gets to the fire. How can i fix this issue other than having a cinder block hanging off the chimney

 

[oneoldbanjo]

The air is not bypassing the fire.....if there is air in the OWB the wood will burn.

When your fan kicks on - open the door and see if you have any air blowing out the little slot at the bottom of the door (inside of door). You should have air blowing out that slot if the blower is working and the damper (rubber flap) is working.

 

[mybowtie]

Ok i took the fan off and cleaned the door. I the took aleak ans as i was taking a leak i saw my neighbors boiler. The same as mine. His fan kicked on and white smoke slowly billowed out of his cmimney. I looked at mine and it was just clwar wavy heat coming out. I have no chimney on my furnace. I then took a cinder block and blocked off 3/4 of the chimney and waited a minute and the temp started to rise then a few minutes later it was getting nice and toasty. My diagnosis is the air is going out the chimney before it gets to the fire. How can i fix this issue other than having a cinder block hanging off the chimney

When my fan first kicks on, there is a lot of white smoke. But the smoke is shot up in the air, not slowly billowing out. After about 3-5 min there is little to no smoke, just heat waves. Times vary depending on how dry the wood is, or how long its been since i loaded up. Smoke will last a lot longer if i just loaded it.
As far as seeing smoke SLOWLY billowing out of your neighbors stack, It sounds like his fan kicked off, not on, as mine will only have heat waves when on, and then smoke slowly comming out of stack when it kicks off.

 

[cckemm]

When you reload, are you pushing the coals to the back or pulling them to the front?

I could see if you were pushing them to the back, then loading fresh wood in front that the air stream doesn't really hit the fire and won't bring the fire up much at all.

4400 is only one fan in the front if I remember correct, 5500 has 2 fans, one in front, one in back, not so much of an issue there with coal placement.

 

[STLfirewood]

I don't think you flapper door is opening enough or maybe at all. I have a CB CL40. When the door opens the fire burns. It's just a natural draft. Even if you blower quit working it should still burn. It wouldn't reach temp as fast but it would still burn.

Scott

 

[Biglurr54]

i have checked the flapper and its all in place like it should. I think my issue is the air goes out the chimney before it hits the fire. I put a cinder block over the chimney and it made the fire get going and heat up the water in no time. This is a bandaid to an underlying problem.

 

[mybowtie]

i have checked the flapper and its all in place like it should. I think my issue is the air goes out the chimney before it hits the fire. I put a cinder block over the chimney and it made the fire get going and heat up the water in no time. This is a bandaid to an underlying problem.

Not sure my PM's are gettin to u......my sent box says its empty??? call me in the morning....378-0505....be happy to help u out...rob

 

[oneoldbanjo]

i have checked the flapper and its all in place like it should. I think my issue is the air goes out the chimney before it hits the fire. I put a cinder block over the chimney and it made the fire get going and heat up the water in no time. This is a bandaid to an underlying problem.

This just doesn't make sense. Cold air coming through the flapper and blower and entering the firebox through the little slot at the bottom of the door should not be rising in the firebox and going out the flue - the warm gasses should be at the top of the OWB and the cold fresh air should be at the bottom. The slot in the door directs the cold air to the bottom of the firebox, and the wood should be getting plenty of air. Have you looked at any other Woodmasters to see that the previous owner has not modified the door or blower system? Mine has a small slot in the bottom of the door that allows the air to enter the firebox just above the sill of the door jamb.