Snow is all gone now and my woods is pretty dry.
Son and I skidded out some cherry tops left from a small harvest last summer.
Felt good to get moving out doors.
However it is forecast for 6-10 inches of snow from tomorrow night through Thursday.
Second is my mystery with my OWB
Classic older model I installed in 05.
When the water is low I refill to slightly above the indicated full line.
The water level stays right up for about 2 weeks then drops to low level in about 5 days.
Anyone else have this strange occurrence?
I don't know anything about OWB's, but in my automotive world background we could pressure test it to find where the leak is coming from. It's something that could be done while everything else is together and even have the engine running if necessary. Lots of time you'll just see a dribble or some other form of obvious leaking/weeping. Dunno and just a thought.
Look over all fittings, pumps, etc. A small leak can evaporate.
Scrape the firebox walls, again it can evaporate. It might be leaking on the outside of the tank, but if it's spray foamed that could be tough to find.
I had a small leak on one of the PVC fittings on the back of the OWB. I ran my hand up and down that pipe many times before I found the leak. I had one do the same thing, so suspected it again. It was only a small leak, so the heat from the pipe would dry the water off.
My Classic cooks off some water occasionally. Temp control was not working right. I'm on my last season with mine. Done with the mess and babysitting.
Judging by how much them stoves burn over a season, I estimate your burning 5 times the wood and using a 1/5 of the heat I am. I say they are great if your sawmilling and have slabs, got to do something with them. Maybe even a fella running some sort of tree service, gotta haul off the wood, so.....into the hopper. ;D Neighor didn't think 32 cords of wood to heat the house was too efficient. His brother, same. Barely enough ambition to cut wood for a conventional stove, and they was buying wood for the OWB. Some of them 'hard workers' old ladies talk about. ::)
I thought about slow leaks evaporating.
I think if this was the case the level would start dropping right away.
I have checked and tightened the pex fittings a couple of times and still have the problem.
As I said above, after filling the level stays up for at about two weeks, then drops over a few days so I add water again.
I added 2 days ago and am going to keep a log this time.
Yes I use more wood by using this furnace, but I think nowhere near 5 times as much, keep the house at 71 degrees, but no mess in the house, so happy wife etc.
Chances are pretty good with that old of a boiler you have a leak on the firebox. May have to clean the firebox up real well and let it set cool for a few days and see if you see any wet spots. My Garn has been shut down since the first of Feb with another factory weld that is cracked. Waiting on the welder that did another repair on it two years ago. After two shoulder surgery's I can't crawl in it to do the repair myself. Hope you find your leak and its a easy fix.
Quote from: petefrom bearswamp on April 01, 2021, 08:13:13 AM
Yes I use more wood by using this furnace, but I think nowhere near 5 times as much,
Just going by local numbers here. They indeed were burning 5 x the wood. My mess is between stove and wood pile in the basement, about a 2 minute sweep with a broom. ;) I know 3 of them OWB within a mile are now abandoned, sold, or possibly scrapped. Heat is pretty constant here off the stove, what throws off the numbers is solar heat, no matter what you have. 71F at 8:00 am is 85F from the sun by 2:00 pm, stove fire out. Stove only takes 7-10 mins to blow heat when I want it next morning. Nice warm dry spot to sit and watch the flames. ;D
I've had a small leak at the front tube of my Empyre for 10 years, with the furnace hot. Hit the spot with the mig a couple of times when the unit was down for the summer, now it's minor, hard to check when hot , nobody likes sticking their head in an oven !
We went from 3 New Mac wood furnaces indoor ,to an outside boiler now heating 4 buildings ( 5000 sq feet ). I'm on my second furnace , now stainless, in 21 years , with 2 more I bought and refurbished as spares . The wood is free, my labor to cut it is far less than the cost of propane, best type of heating for my setup .
J 5
I can certainly understand from your needs there. Better to run one than 4 stoves. My indoor should last me 30 years, since it is better built than the Fawcett ones that lasted 25-30, and it was easy to warp them from the first real hot fire. I'm heating almost 3000 sq feet including basement and it is the mid range model 150 Napolean.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on April 01, 2021, 03:46:36 AM
Judging by how much them stoves burn over a season, I estimate your burning 5 times the wood and using a 1/5 of the heat I am. I say they are great if your sawmilling and have slabs, got to do something with them. Maybe even a fella running some sort of tree service, gotta haul off the wood, so.....into the hopper. ;D Neighor didn't think 32 cords of wood to heat the house was too efficient. His brother, same.
32 cords? LOL why don't they build a bon fire out in the yard and open all the windows? Burn less wood.
Something is radically wrong of they are burning that much wood. We are heating a 150 year old farm house and could heat for almost 3 seasons on 32 cords.
Yeah they was, and they had to buy every stick of'r to. The hardwood mill hauled dump trucks of hardwood mill ends. My cousin drove the truck. Plus the neighbor told me himself how much wood he ran through that thing. He told me, never again will he do that. I would think not. Just a young family, gotta learn the hard way. Like I said them outdoor stoves at 3 places here within a mile of my place is history. We have to burn wood up here 9 months a year remember. Long ways north from O Hi O. When you have no other heat source, and it's cool in the 50' and 60's into mid June, you can't blow enough hot air from your lungs to heat the living room. Every try? Wood is all or noth'n whether you use all the heat are let it out the window. :D
If a person discounts a few weeks fall and spring when the weather was moderate they were burning a cord a week, or more during the cold season. Did somebody stay awake 24/7 to throw wood in? LOL. I still think they would burn less wood if they bilt a bon fire up wind and opened the windows so the heat could get in the house,😅😅
The point is, they wasn't recovering the heat efficiently. That old house would take 10 good cords with an inefficient old style forced air furnace, probably 6-7 with a modern one. Wasn't well insulated. They have been remodelling parts and insulating as they go ever since they got rid of that wood burn'n monster. :D
OK regarding cords, are we speaking face cords or standard cords.
US measure, a face cord is 4x8x the length of the wood pieces, so a face cord cut at 16" is only 1/3 of a standard cord.
A standard cord is 4x8x4 feet or 128 cubic feet of wood and air.
I cut my wood at 22 to 23 inches long so using an average of 22.5" long my piles measure .9375 of a a standard cord.
My inside stacks measure 6' high by 15.5 ft long or 1.45 standard cords.
I typically burn 5 of these stacks, or 7.27 standard cords.
House is 3200 sq ft heated to 71 degrees.
This is for late fall to early spring heating season.
I burn crappy wood in the early fall and late spring and scraps during the summer for domestic hot water.
wood heating is getting to be a real chore for me anymore so my plan is to burn wood for the '21 to '22 heating season and then crank up the oil boiler for the rest of my natural born days.
Full 128 cu-ft cords up here. Only can sell cords or part cords, like 1/3 of a cord. The term face cord isn't even an allowable measure because they could be 16" or 22" sticks, so not the same volume. Weights and Measures Canada has a website on firewood and defines the do's and don'ts when it comes to measurements. If I buy wood, and I find it didn't stack out, first I call the supplier and if he don't make it right, next is Weights and Measures. Can play easy or hard. :)
And yes, to the wood burning getting less fun as one ages. I have an electric side unit on my forced air wood furnace here. So I plan on having a couple cords stacked for power outages and use my electric otherwise. I will block off the stairs to the second floor, so any heat up there is just from ducts, not convection. But I still have some years yet before I give up wood. :)
Heating about 3000 sq feet here with basement included. Like I said before, I don't need a fire all day long, for me that is wasted wood and heat. Up here you need heat for 9 full months, mid Sept to Mid June next. I've burnt 6 cords now, and will probably burn another 1/2-3/4 cord in 2 months.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on April 06, 2021, 09:39:52 AM
..... Up here you need heat for 9 full months, mid Sept to Mid June next.......
And the other 3 months is just poor sledding weather. ;D :D
Quote from: Old Greenhorn on April 06, 2021, 09:48:07 AM
Quote from: SwampDonkey on April 06, 2021, 09:39:52 AM
..... Up here you need heat for 9 full months, mid Sept to Mid June next.......
And the other 3 months is just poor sledding weather. ;D :D
Hot firewood cut'n weather I think. :D
Standard cord is the official measurement here but everyone sells either face cord or truck load, pickup or 6 wheeler