OK, I have a couple questions for you wood boiler owners in hopes of making my life simpler.
1. If you burn pallets or anything with nails in it - how do ya get the nails out of the ash?
2. How often do you clean the ash out of the boiler, and do you leave a 'cushion' in there for subsequent burns?
3. How full are you willing to load it? I usually only fill the front half and leave the back half empty, it seems to make almost no difference in burn time from a full load, but obviously I use half as much wood.
4. Do you find that, if you're heating domestic water in addition to room heat, that you burn less in warm weather or does it seem to be about the same? I'm trying to gauge my work load for the spring - in other words, how much will I need to cut and stack for a year's fuel. Since September, regardless of the temperature, I've needed about a cord a month. Since most of my use seems to be water for domestic (non-space-heat), I can't imagine burning a LOT less wood during spring and early summer months.
Engineer.I think you have a Classic outdoor furnace? This would be a big help to answer your questions.I have a Heatmor and I know form past posts mine burns differant than a yours.I can't help you with any questions much.I have noticed no differant if I fill mine full in the front or back.I have the model that will take a 54" stick and I have a blower in back and one in front.To #4 mine will smother the fire right out.I have not had much time to burn in the summer months,but when it was installed last Sept it up to the 70's and 80's for a couple weeks.It did not take much wood at all when it was warm out and I did not put much in when I would check it.I noticed a BIG differant in the amount of wood when the temps was in the 70's compared to the 40's.I noticed a BIG differance in temps from the 20's to the single numbers too.I have no idea if will will try to keep heating the hot tub and the hot water through the summer months.Depends on the smell of the smoke.I do have some dry wood on hand and I hope I will be able to.I hope the dry wood will cut down on the smell of the smoke and the amount.I try to let mine burn down to the grates in beween fillings.That whats was told by the guy that sells them.You want to see the grates.He claimed I would get a better burn that way.The only problem I really have is how much to put in to it.I'm gone for 14 hours a day when I work.Mine wife cannot be around the smoke at all.I find I put too much wood in it at times to may sure she will have heat.There will still be alot of wood in it when I come home.I don't think it waste the wood,but there is alot still in the firebox when I open it.Than on my first day of work I let it burn way down to see the grates.Alot of times I won't have to fill it up until 5 or 6 that night.Get just about a 24 hour burn time.They tell me to get it on a 12 hour fill time is best in the winter time.
Yeah, I have a Central Classic 5648. I don't have grates, so I have ash build up in the firebox. I hate shoveling it out because I always take a lot of good hot coals with it. I've tried to screen the ash into my tractor loader bucket, but that's not any fun at all, having clouds of hot ash everywhere, like hanging out near an active volcano.
I'm tempted to get some 5/8" or 3/4" rebar and actually build a "basket" for the inside of the firebox, something that can be removed if necessary, and will let the ash fall through while retaining the coals. Anyone modify their furnace successfully to get longer burn times, less smoke, less ash?
Engineer,
I have the same stove as you. When I clean out the ashes I let it burn down pretty far and the scrap the hot coals off to the side and remove the ash. I like the stove other than that part.
I burn I lot of slabs and I don't keep track of the overall usage. I do know that I have less ash when I burn the larger pieces of wood. I have not experimented with the partial load. I might have to give that a try.
I also see less wood use when the temps are warmer much like thecfarm stated.
Ron
I have the smallest classic aand I fire up about once every 3 days in the summer to heat our water. I bypass everything except the water heater in the summer.
trapper, does that mean you only have to fill the boiler every three days, or you restart the fire every three days?
Radar57
I think it means that trapper only has hot water every three days.... ;D ;D 8)
smiley_smelly_skunk Should I stand up wind? ;) :D
Three days I can't believe. Mine has 375 gallon water jacket, and I know it will get too cold to heat the water after 24 hours, even in summer. I would like to find another way to "store" hot water so that maybe three days in summer could be a reality.
i have an empyre stove i fill it every 18 hrs or soseems to work fine i burn less wood when the weather is warmas far as ashes go mine has a clean out pan yours does not?
Our Heat Master has shaker grates and an ash pan. I give the grates a couple shakes daily and empty the pan every 6 or 7 days ;) ;D :) Dad's Heatmor has stationary grates and he needs to let it burn down on occasion to clean it out. Grandma's Heatmor has the coal burning option with shaker grates. It rocks 8) 8) :) I was going to heat our domestic hot water year round but the lines coming into the utility give off too much heat on an 80 degree day even with insulation and makes the house too hot. I've thought about putting in a vent above it to draft the heat into the attic and out the vents but never have.
I start the fire and let it burn until all of the wood is consumed. When the water gets too cold for a shower (about 100 degrees) I start another fire in the furnace. Furnace holds about 180 gallons. As I stated in previous post I have enough valves in my water lines to bypase the exchanger in the indoor furnace and the line i have running throught the basement. The water goes from the outdoor furnace to the heat exchanger on the water heater and directly back to the outdoor furnace in the summer.
I can and will by pass mine heat exchangers too.I had the guy install them for me.
My zone valves are shut to the baseboards too but the loop radiates enough heat under the floor, in the utility room and back out that even turned down to 140 degrees it makes the house too hot. Wish I had a basement to put all the plumbing :) :) I also thought about putting the water heater in an insulated closet in the woodshed on a separate loop
I wonder if one of them "magnet-on-a-stick" thingy-doos you get down at the building supply place would drag thru soft ashes and pick up the nails. Guess it would depend on how they were spread out and you couldn't do it in the boiler.
Ol Smokey (https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12224/Furnace3.jpg) my home-modified Federal boiler unit has an ash sump with a door for removal and I made a special shovel for handling them. The wood grate is "wet" i.e. the return water from the baseboard radiators is directed through the pipes of the grate before going into the boiler. No grate burnout-ever. I load the firebox to whatever I think I'll need for the period I want to stay away but try to burn a small uncontrolled fire during the day when I'm around so as to keep buildups down. Remember: Florida panhandle, light heat requirement. The grate pipes are about a half inch apart and I made a special "poker" to run between the pipes even under a burning fire to augment ash drop into the sump. Few unburned coals wind up in the ashes and removal is some 3 to 4 times a season(about a wheelbarrow load per), Again, Florida. So far we've only been around 20 degrees a couple of times this season.
Good luck
Hey Engineer,
I have a Heatmor, but I have found the same thing. If I load the furnace full, I lose efficiency. I tend to load one "stack" of wood in the middle. My furnace has a blower on the front and back with the one in the back also blowing air up through the grates for a more complete burn. I tend to get lazy though and end up with ash build up. With the build up, I find that I have to stir things up more often to burn all the coals created. With too much ash, the coals seem to get lost in the mix (of ash). Dont know if that happens in yours or if keeping it clean out more helps, just know it does on mine. I heat my domestic hot water all summer and dont use much wood. Typically I will just burn the slabs from the mill and only load once a day. Keep in mind I have a family of 6 so we go through lots of hot water. I hooked up a pool heater last fall and plan on heating that this year also. I hope the slabs and dead fall from the woods will keep up. I would rather save the good stuff for the winter. If you are doing a fair amount of milling, I would think that would keep you in summer wood. As I saw I put the slabs on my forks and when its full I drive over to the furnace (close by) and chop them right next to it while they are on the forks. Slabs always cleaned up and wood right next to the furnace. Dont know if this helps at all, but I got lots of coffee in me and I tend to ramble when that happens.
Hope you dont mind me veering a bit by asking in your post engineer.....
thecfarm- how are you heating your hottub with your furnace? I would like to do the same.....
It's a stainless steel heat exchanger.Looks as big as a thermos jug,but with a $400 price tag.They had to put another controler for the water temp.I had to unhook a few electrcal things to make it work correctly.Has a small cirulator,no wheres near as big as the ones for the house.I was hoping what electric we saved with the hot tub would offset the cirualtors that are running.I might of been better off to put a loop in for the walk way to keep the snow off from it.