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new heater

Started by Klunker, November 13, 2017, 01:22:32 AM

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Klunker

built a new house that took way longer than it should (incompetent builder).
Incorporated into the build was a 2 story masonry heater.
I've burned wood for many years as supplemental heat for home with a vermont casting wood stove.
biggest downside was inability too keep heat down while keeping fire going. so we only ran it when it was relatively cold (15F or less).
that and the need to keep feeding the fire every 4 hours or so.
So for our new place I decided upon putting in a masonry heater.
our new place is roughly 1900 sq ft on 1st floor and 800 sqft on 2nd.
insulated very well, r35ish on walls, r60 ceiling, triple pane windows, r24 on foundation and SIP construction so it should be relative air tight.

so I thought I'd do a post on what I find and how much wood I use to heat the house.
we just started the heater up about 3 weeks ago, you are supposed to gradually increase wood usage till you reach max load in over about 3 wks time.

max load is 60lbs. I'm at about 38. for the most part the heater is heating the house by itself right now altho I'd like it to be a bit warmer than it is. so I have more wood that I can burn. the warmest we have gotten is 69F. temps outside have been colder than usual for this time of year. last week has been 30's day, 20's at night for the most part with a couple of colder days/nights.

I have to say tho that 66-68 deg in this house feels a lot warmer than the same temps at the old 40 year old house.

I have a infrared therm. that I check heater temps with.
I have discovered the following.
1) a burn has flames for about 1 1/4 hrs, red coals for less than 2 hrs. so I cut air off at about 1 1/2-1 3/4 hrs.
2) it takes about 5-6 hrs from start of fire till the exterior brick reaches max temp then it drops about 3-4 deg F/hr.
3) everyday the heater is building more heat, it does not cool down to where it was the previous day and it reaches new high temps everyday.

some early thoughts.
I kinda miss the "extreme" heat of the woodstove (80's in the room with the heater.) I'm sure that when I'm burning max loads it'll be much warmer in new place. and I can burn 3x a day for max heat if I have to. that would be 180lbs/day.

I don't miss the big variance of temps that the old place had. upper 40's in the basement, 80's in the room with the heater and 60's upstairs. the new place is within 5 degrees everywhere including the basement.

I love the once a day burn, keeps house clean, uses a lot less wood.

I've got about 1.3 cords stocked away in the house garage for this winter with lots more stored covered else where. So I'll keep an eye on how much i burn in cords at the end of a year. Less than 2 cords I hope.

any questions fire away. ohh, is that a pun?


62oliver

What kind of heater, custom built or a pre-fab type?
I was kind of interested in those soap stone ones made in Finland.
Husqvarna 266, Case 90xt, JD310C, TJ240E, 02 Duramax

thecfarm

Is that a big mass of stone,cement? Does the smoke go up towards the chimmey in channels,for no better word? And last pictures?  :)
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Crusarius

My house is slab on grade with radiant floor heat. I do have a wood stove to supplement. I do agree with your missing the hot stove comment. Sometimes its really nice to come in from plowing the driveway and just stand next to a nice hot wood stove :)

Klunker




this is a custom built masonry heater, the mass is brick.
the smoke winds it way thru the mass.
up, down, over every which way thru the flue.
first couple of times I lit a fire in it the draw was weak. smoke was coming out until it finally got enough of a draw. now that the thing is warm all the time it draws very good.

here is pictures (if I got this figured out right) of the 1st floor which has the firebox and a white oven.

Klunker


thecfarm

Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

peterpaul

We also have a MH which we love ( some pic's are in my gallery).  Is your hearth (bench) heated?  I find that our heater will not heat our house to comfortable temps when the outside temp is below 15-20 degrees. I burn the heater twice a day with approximately 60lbs/burn (dry, seasoned mixed hardwood) morning and night.  Our oven can be white or black.  We burn on avg. about 4 cords (128 cu.ft.) per year, mid Oct. to mid Apr.  We fired ours up Dec. 3, 2008.  Our house is +/-4000 sq.ft. 
Woodmizer LT15, Kubota 4330 GST, Wallenstein FX 85, Timberwolf TW6, homemade firewood conveyor

woodmills1

very nice looking stove you have there, just showed the lovely Mrs., she says so too.
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Klunker

Quote from: peterpaul on November 27, 2017, 09:17:18 PM
We also have a MH which we love ( some pic's are in my gallery).  Is your hearth (bench) heated?  I find that our heater will not heat our house to comfortable temps when the outside temp is below 15-20 degrees. I burn the heater twice a day with approximately 60lbs/burn (dry, seasoned mixed hardwood) morning and night.  Our oven can be white or black.  We burn on avg. about 4 cords (128 cu.ft.) per year, mid Oct. to mid Apr.  We fired ours up Dec. 3, 2008.  Our house is +/-4000 sq.ft.
Yes, bench is heated as is 2nd floor bench.

WOW, only 4 cords to heat a 4000 sq ft house. Thats really good.
I'm hoping to use approx 2 cords all winter.


Klunker

Peterpaul, looked at your gallery, really nice!!, is yours soapstone and granite?
Yours is truly a visual masterpiece!!
I was looking at using soapstone for mine but the cost is high in this area it has to be trucked in from out east.
I ended up with brick and limestone.

jdonovan

Looks like Peterpaul's stove is a soap stone tulikivi.

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