E-Classic 2300 is now up and running in Central Mass

[whodoctor]

Thanks for taking the time to read this thread, which is now in its second season of updates!!!  If you are new to E-Classic 2300s please read the thread before emailing your questions.  Most questions will be answered through our members' prior season's mistakes and solved mysteries.  We've posted all possible solution here to keep us all up and running smoothly. Once you've read the thread, please email with any questions you have or solutions you've found so that we can add to this thread.  Happy burning!  * Note:  Initial post runs newest to oldest for the most part.  Member posts run oldest to newest.

October 29th, 2010: Heating Season in effect again

I'm excited to begin another heating season!  We've stored 18 cord of wood in the barn this year.  My back was good enough to stack it myself, so it was stacked a lot tighter than usual and we got 2 more cord in.  The furnace is running great.  Central Boiler visited a few months ago and gave some pointers on cleaning the unit, which i've added to my maintenance program along with a custom technique that I developed this year for cleaning the space between the turbulators and the chimney.  Its going well so far, and there's nothing like having a warm home.  We are going to keep it a BIT cooler at night this year.  Just because we can keep it really warm at night doesn't mean that we have too.  Good luck to all you guys.  Email me with any questions that you might have.  This is such a common stove now, that its not the mystery that it once was, but I'm still happy to help in any way that I can.




June 12, 2010 Update

I just finished using the last of my 16th cord of wood (took me from early 8/7/2009 to now to use it up), and filled the barn with 18 cord of wood for next year.  I might be able to fit 2 more cord in there just in case we get a COLD winter.

The refurbished E-Classic 2300, which was delivered last fall, melted through the retention rods in bottom of my furnace, and cracks are appearing around the air feed holes inside the main chamber.  This area is also warping significantly.  I'm not really sure what this is all about or if its going to end up being a problem or not.  I'll get a hold of my CB dealer and see what he has to say.  

I'm still enjoying this unit, and at current fuel/wood prices I'll still save $3700 this year burning wood instead of oil.  That's 1/3 the cost of the machine, and 1/6th the cost of the installation/barn project as a whole.  Considering the prior two year's savings, I have about 2-3 years left before this unit has fully paid for itself and the actual savings begin.


Wood use update 3.18.2010

Looks like its going to take me about 7 weeks to have burned through this last 2-cord stack.  When I finish with that, the bulk of the heating season will have been over, and we will have heated the house to an average temp of 72 or so degrees all winter long on 13 total cord of wood.  That's really great.  I expect I'll burn about 2 cord making hot water all Spring Summer and early Fall.  All in all, its great.  I'll be ordering my wood for the 2010-2011 season in 4 weeks.  Good stuff.

Wood use update 1/4/10 through 2/1/10

As an update to the metered wood use post from January 3rd, (see 2nd post below for parameters and details) I want to post the wood use for January 4th through February 1st, 2010.  It took 28 days to burn through 2.05 cord of wood, which was 7 days more burn time, due to the seasonally warmer weather.  If I have time I will figure and post the average temperature again, but I'm simply too busy with work.  More to come!


1/24/2010: Easy clean solution

To date, one of the frustrating parts of maintaining the E-classic had been removing the severe buildup of creosote along the lower back1/3 of the firebox.  The creosote built up so heavily that it would completely block the back-wall air feed holes, and the rear two air feed holes along the left and right side walls.  I bought a heavy duty ice scraper to try and remove the creosote, but it was nearly hard as a brick.  I have had trouble with this creosote buildup since the beginning.

As part of my regular maintenance routine, I allow the stove to burn down to nothing but a few coals and ash after each cord of wood has been put through the stove.  I then shovel out the heavy ash/sand from the firebox and remove the lighter ash from the reaction chamber.  Today was a clean-out day.  I was having a really difficult time scraping off the creosote in the back and needed to come up with an easier way.  After some thought I came up with a solution that worked like a charm.  Because it worked so well, I wanted to share it here.

The idea is similar to a self-cleaning cycle on a kitchen oven.

After allowing the stove to burn out of wood, the water temp was down to 156 from my set-point of 195.  I shoveled out the firebox (while leaving the hot coals only), finely split many logs of very dry oak, and built a super hot fire using a very shallow dept of wood in the fire box.  I then let the fire run with the bypass open in order to heat the firebox as hot as possible.  Every 10 minutes I open the furnace and used the scraper to remove the creosote, which was melting away and burning up, consistently.  Within 1 hour of adding finely split wood, and burning it at the hottest possible temperature I could achieve, the furnace was as clean as the day it arrived.  All of the creosote was completely burned and scraped out of the firebox.  All of the air feed holes were clean as a whistle and 100% free of any blockages.  

I don't know if anyone else out there has had this problem, but I'm glad to have finally found a solution.  




Update: Metered wood use: 12/15/09- 1/3/2010

On 12/15/09 I set out to measure how long it would take to burn through a stack of wood that was 16 feet wide x 9 feet high x 22 inches deep:  Total assumed fuel was [16'x9'x1.83']/128cf = 2.05 cord.

Parameters:

Fuel:
2.05 cord of mostly red oak, halved or quartered around 17% moisture content

Structure heated:
3,800 square foot home
2x4 construction
1/3 on slab
Built 1971
1/2 new and 1/2 original windows.  Not air tight at all
(Snow actually blows in the front door cracks...we consider it 'fresh air')
attic insulation about 4" of pink (gotta fix that some day)
3-zone hydronic air heating system, 5-years old (should've insulated then, huh?)
8'-15' indoor ceiling heights

Temperature parameters:
Average 24/7 outdoor temp: 24.5 degrees
Average 24/7 indoor temp: 73 degrees
E-Classic set at 195 degrees:  Range 184-196 for the most part.

wind speed
8.4 mp

Time to burn through 2.05 cord = 20 days

I'm not too sure if I thought it would be more or less than this, but those are the results.  I'll keep track of the 2nd stack of similar size and see what we get this time.

Note:  It took us from 9/11/09 to 12/15/09 to burn the first  3 cord.

Quick Update 12/12/2009

Paper clip 'modification' was installed many weeks ago and the firebox has never had the fire go out since then, even in periods of very warm weather.  During those warm periods I would have relighted the furnace at least once per day.  So, I spent $2,500 to get the dual fuel model, never hooked up the gas, and learned that I have 'fixed' the fire-going-out problem with a stinking .01 cent paper clip.  That's life.  Painful.

Wood use has been far better this year.  Obvious factors are that we're using dry wood.  Its been cut, split, and stacked since about May-June.  Its over 90% oak which has a pretty good BTU output.  Also, I've not filled the stove to the top as I have in previous years.  I can't think of why, but its seems to me that if I fill it more, I burn more wood in the same period of time.  I know this seems like it can't be right ( to my simple mind ), but after interviewing a lot of people over the past two years, the folks who burned the least amount of wood didn't fill the stove, and they had high square footage heating needs equal to or greater than my own.  I've been pushing the envelope to see how little I can load it and not burn through the wood.  Also, the wood we're burning this year is 'processed' wood, so it comes around 22" long, compared with the 32" wood we got last year.  We're still loading the stove a bit less.  

Frequency of loading the stove has been about this:  When temps are running in the 30's, its just about 1/2 of a firebox every 12 hours, with 22" dry split oak.  Moisture meter says moisture runs around 17% on average.  When its in the 16-25 degree range, I'm loading the furnace about 3/4 full every 12 hours.  In the low single digits, I'm loading it 90% full every 12 hours. Yesterday it was in the mid 20's and I loaded it about 1/2 full, and ran the stove out of fuel in 12 hours....nothing but a few coals left, which fired right back up when loaded again.

Total wood use this year is just over 3 cord of wood since 9/27.  Last year at this time, we'd used about 6 cord.  We're heating the house a bit warmer this year by a few degrees, averaging about 74-76 degrees.  My wife LOVES this wood furnace, though she was skeptical of the investment at first.  Somehow the warm bones have made her forget the pain of the initial investment.

The barn was completed this spring.  Its 18 degrees here this morning, and the wind is howling.  In the barn, there is no wind and when i open the stove to load it, the barn air gets warm very quickly.  Even if it were 0 degrees in there, without the wind, snow, or rain, the temperature isn't a factor for comfort.  Its really great.  Although the barn ran me about $8,000 to build, I think its been worth it.  Loading the stove last winter was not enjoyable, trudging through snow, ice, rain,  to get to the wood, and then frozen hands uncovering the wood and loading it.  No fun for a Realtor...even a DIYer like me.

Until the next, which god-willing should be an estimate of wood consumption in the beginning of March.  I really hope things are uneventful until them.





Update:  Simple modifications that work for me.  11/11/2009

As outlined by members in this thread, I installed a paper clip into the main air intake valve.  In the dual fuel model, this is the upper left hand valve. The wood has remained lit ever since, even with temps in the 60s.  What a wonderful and graceful solution.  The only problem is that my newspapers are piling up in the recycling bin.  I can live with that.

Also, I have started to load my firebox only 1/4 to 1/2 full.  My furnace dealer and many other experienced wood burners have recommended this to me for ease of management.  This approach HAS made managing the furnace much easier and has helped with the bridging issue as well.  I don't think this would have worked when I was burning completely green wood last year.

Update 10/24/2009

The boiler is still running very well.  We are keeping the house at 73-75 degrees 24 hours a day (we've got infants and 4 girls in the house, and my wife and I work from home) and the furnace is keeping up no problem.  We're using 1/2 - 3/4 of a firebox of wood when the temps are in the 40s.  For 1st time readers, the house is around 4,000 square feet with 3 zones.  We are adding 2 more zones to add supplemental heating in 2 rooms where the current system is inadequate.  

Recently I've been asked to compare this model with the 1st version of the e-classic.  Other than some physical changes, noted below, I will say that the most significant difference is the upgraded fan.  Whether I was running the original early model (very early model) or this one, I see no significant difference in terms of performance.  I am using this model the same as I was using the other one except I have not added a programmed air pulse to keep this model burning.  I simply re-light the stove on average every couple days.  The rest of the time it stays lit on its own.  No big deal as far as I am concerned.  I like playing with fire.

We're burning very dry wood this year, and honestly, that is making a difference in performance.  I've been told over and over that this is the key to this stove model, and with about 1 months of burning, I agree that it does improve performance.  I burned a lot of very wet wood late winter / early spring (see earlier threads below) and it can be done, but burning the dry wood is almost effortless with the exception of 'bridging,' which has nothing to do with moisture content.

I am getting a lot of bridging this year because I am burning some pretty hefty split logs and the upper logs get hung up when the logs below them burn and they get held in a arc, like those made intentionally by a mason building an arch or a bridge.  Once a day I go into the furnace with a shovel and break any bridging to keep the wood settled in the bottom where it belongs.  I didn't have much of a problem last year as I was burning a lot of rounds and the wood was much smaller in diameter.  Either way, I can live with it, but it's happening so worth mentioning.  The user manual talks about bridging and how to avoid it.  Using smaller splits or rounds is the key here.

I'm glad the heating season is upon us again, because I am getting a lot of questions from forum members with new furnaces.  Please continue to ask questions after reading the entire content of the thread.  Many of your questions will be answered in older thread "updates." My email is Shawn@CentralMass.com

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 27, 2009:  Replacement unit delivered and installed!

This week Central Boiler delivered the refurbished unit to Crystal Rock Farm, where I bought my burner.  Elliot, the dealer, brought the new unit and swapped the damaged one out.  The swap out went great, and Elliot did the majority of the work as promised by Central Boiler.

The refurbished unit looked identical to the first unit, yet there were some nice improvements:

To begin with there was a newly designed door seal.  The seal on this unit is a MUCH better design.  I was going to make my own seal because I didn't like the seal in the original unit, but now I don't have to.  They seem to have nailed it with this new design.

The control panel is FAR improved and included a single button solution to lighting, relighting, keeping the stove lit, etc... No more having to worry about programming air pulses, etc, but I will be hooking the bottled gas up now that the control panel is so intuitive and useful.  I don't know if it is true, but I think that CB will send out this improved control panel to all early buyers of the EC2300 dual fuel model at no cost.  You may want to call if you got yours early like I did.  Again, I'm not certain, but its worth looking into because the new panel is great.

The inner walls of the firebox do not have a shelf for firebrick.  There is simply a smooth and gently sloped firebox directing all the wood to the bottom of the stove, which is also updated with a new keyhole ash setup and two rods instead of three.

The air holes are slightly different in the back of the firebox, and perhaps on the sides as well, but I didn't think to look at the sides.  The back was simply easy to notice, so I'm noting that.

I was told that the air feed fan in back is an improved fan, but I'm not sure....that last one worked fine for me anyway, but I know it didn't work as well for some other people.

The reaction chamber cover is held on differently, as is the cover for the turbulators in the back.  I preferred the old design, personally, but I imagine there must have been a problem that made them make the change to the new way to secure these parts of the stove.

The service from Central Boiler was very good, and the swap out as well as the service from Crystal Rock Farm was great as well.  It is clear that Central Boiler wants to have good customer relations, and also clear that Elliot understands that customer service is key to a sustainable business.  I was very happy with the service I received from both businesses.  

We've already pulled the plug on the oil burner in the house and let the EC2300 take over.  I'm so glad to not be burning oil again.  We went through about $400 worth of oil since the wood furnace came off-line so its nice to put an end to that.

DRY WOOD

We learned the hard way last year that this thing does eat up some wood, so in April/May I purchased 16 cord of Red Oak cut and split to 22"-24" lengths, and got it stacked in the wood shed to dry.  We're running this wood along with wood from our Central Mass ice storm from 12/11/09.  Elliot brought his moisture meter with him and all of our wood read between 12% and 22% moisture content...most of it around 13-17%.  I have no idea if this is "supposed" to be good or bad or what not, and I'm sure someone far more experienced than I am will know, but the wood is burning like a dream after finishing up the season last year with TOTALLY GREEN wood!  The stove is coming to temp FAST (there is little heat load on it, true, but the fire is hot) and there is essentially NO smoke coming out of the stack once it gets going.  I was told that these stoves like dry wood and will burn less wood this way.  With our wood entirely dry and covered (16+ cords of perfect Red Oak), we'll see if this claim is true this year.  Either way, I feel ready for the heating season, which is a lot better than I felt last year.  The early season prep, and lessons from last year, should pay dividends.  Also, the wood shed is a great place to get 10 mins away from the rest of my life and just think in total quiet.  There is something to be said for that too!

Recently I have had some questions about what I would do differently if I were to build another wood shed, or install another OWB.  There is no secret that I would have gone with a model 6048..less moving parts, burns green wood of any size etc, but that is becoming a non-option for many people now, so its almost not even worth mentioning.  Now that I know the SYSTEM to making the EC2300 work for me, I'm happy with my purchase.  I would make some other changes though:

CHANGES I WOULD HAVE MADE:

If I were to do it over again, I would have poured a larger pad all the way around the unit and build a bump-out in the barn to allow me more room to service the reaction chamber.   I would personally recommend 4 feet all the way around the unit just to make life easy.  I'm sure someone could argue against this, but this is simply my feeling on it.

Also, I pitched my shed-roof barn in a way to shed the snow and rain away from the loading doors for the wood, which is a good idea, but the wind here comes from the North-West and my roof rises to the North-West, so the smoke just builds up in the barn.  This is a STUPID design.  I could kick my own ass for that one.  Also, I should have make the roof above the wood furnace a bit higher so that I could fit another box fan, like I have on the sides of the stove, to combat this problem.  If I had understood the physics of this prior to building it, and made the changes, there would be almost no smoke at all while working the unit, which would have been nicer.  

So, there is the update.  Please email me directly at shawnbernard@gmail.com with questions and do not email through the forum or with posts asking me questions.  I don't read my own thread very often, yet I am on my email most of the day.  Also, please continue to share your experiences and tips.  I've found them very helpful and will keep passing along anything I can share that will help others make good choices, or avoid mistakes we've made.

Lastly, something I've been wondering about:  If anyone has any data on the PH ash neutralizer for these units, (can it be replaced with standards garden lime or something), I'd love to know.  The Ashtrol sold by CB is so expensive its ridiculous and there must be another solution.  That really does feel like an unnecessary upsell item and I'd like to work around it.  I feel like I'm getting ripped off, but I want to protect my stove so I use it as recommended.  People has suggested garden lime, but i would like to see some DATA to support if this will protect my CB unit or not?  Can anyone help with this?






SEPTEMBER 11, 2009 UPDATE  UPDATE on replacement model and updated photos (finally!)

Its been a while since I posted pics and it looks like the forum has made is a heck of a lot easier since I last posted, so I am going to upload a bunch of photos of my barn being built and current setup.

I spoke with Central Boiler about a month ago and they agreed to send a refurbished model out to me once the new upgrades to the CB-2300 have been approved by the EPA.  I spoke with my CB dealer this morning and he said that they are shipping it out in the next few days.  I expressed to CB that I was less than excited about the over the top claims concerning wood use, and the amount of work needed to keep this model running smoothly when compared with the model 6048, and that I'd wished I got the 6048 as it has less moving parts and perhaps less fuel consumption as well.  The folks at CB seemed understanding, but assured me that with the new EPA regulations concerning emissions, the E-Classic was the future of wood burning and that they would not leave the consumer high and dry.  I'm going to have to take them at their word.  They have been pretty good in the past when I needed help and I'm sure that since this is their flagship model, their future depends on backing that statement.

While I expressed a great deal of annoyance at having to take part of my barn apart and at having their monster truck driving across a acre of my lawn to get to the CB, I'm just glad that this appears to be almost over.  CB agrees to allow for 6 hours of dealer installation as part of the swap out at no cost to me.  I WILL update on how this all goes down, now that a model is said to be on its way to my house.

Now, for some pictures!  That's me on the left.








































UPDATE: WATER JACKET FAILURE! 6.29.2009[/color]

Starting about a week ago I found the water level dropping in my e-classic.  I was refilling it 6" every other day.  I knew there was a leak, but didn't have the time to find it, and it hasn't stopped raining for nearly 3 weeks here so it was wet everywhere anyway.  After letting the wood burn out I found water in the reaction chamber and called my local dealer. My CB dealer told me that this was what you would find in the event that you had a failure in the water jacket.  I started to shovel out the ash from the fire box this morning, and it was pretty much just mud.  After a quick inspection I saw that there are two noticeable leaks just inside the fire box on the left in right sides above the lower 'shelf.'  I'm not yet sure what will happen, but I'm under the impression that this is a covered failure.  I'll update again when we find the resolution.  The real bummer is that I have a barn built around the unit, so to replace it I'll have to remove part of the roof and rafters to get the crane in.  :(       More later.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  

I installed my CB E-Classic 2300 Dual Fuel furnace on 8.7.08 (hereafter referred to as: CBEC-2300, boiler, stove, or furnace).  It sits on a concrete slab about 45 feet from the back corner of my house.

Operating parameters:

Located in Leominster, MA
Square footage is just under 4,000 square feet
Replacing annual use of 2000 gallons of oil (when in-house wood stoves were not running)
Tied into an existing 3-zone hydronic air system
Anticipating the addition of 3 zones of HWBB to warm up colder parts of the house which were previously unheated or underheated
Existing boiler is a 4 year old 4-section Peerless boiler
Burning 24"-30" hardwood rounds and splits seasoned since late Spring/early Summer...additional cordwood arriving weekly, but having a difficult time getting the wood this year.  I have 6 cords delivered so far.

Anticipated use is 365 days a year, minus routine maintenance which will require shut down of unit 2 days each year

Total Cost for stove and materials for install is just over $13,000
Cost for pouring 16'x30' foundation for unit and future wood shed is just under $4,000
Cost of building wood shed?????  Not sure yet.

Anticipated payback time with current price of heating oil:  Approx 2 years


Here is a picture of my foundation.  It is 16'x30', with a jog in the foundation for the CBEC-2300 to sit.  This will allow me to build a wood shed that will cover the business end of the stove, and allow the smoke end to be outside.  I will be able to store 6 cord of wood on each inside end of the wood shed, with a 9' clear section in the middle for working the stove and enjoying some quiet time.  I ran a dedicated 12-2 15amp line for the stove, and one for the electricity in the shed.





The furnace was delivered at 11 am on 8.7.08, and the install was completed at 8 pm.





At 8pm I built a fire in the firebox and lit it.  Once the fire was going, I shut the door.  Smoke began to pour out of the door and from the edges of the roof.  I opened the door and the fire was out.  I had followed the directions perfectly.  I did this 3 times and handed the directions to a couple of people around me.  We were doing it right.  

At this point, I decided to do it my own way, and built a huge fire in the firebox, and then shut the door according to the directions.  We shined a flashlight up the stack and noticed that smoke was not flowing out of the stack, it was seeping out.  There was a COVER on the stack!  When the dealer had delivered the furnace, they had assembled and installed the smoke stacks, but had not taken the cover off the top one!  With the stack 14 or so feet in the air, and a raging fire in the fire box, we were stumped.  After some discussion, we decided to use an ice chopper and a ladder to 'chip' the cover up, around, and finally OFF.  The smoke began to flow normally in an instant.  What a relief!  The smoke was very white, but this is likely due to all the moisture in the wood from the heavy rain.









I closed the door to the firebox, and the furnace began to operate and heat the water in the reservoir.  It holds 450 or so gallons, and it took 10 hours to get up to temp.  The dealer said it should only take 2-3 hours.  I don't know what I did wrong, but perhaps it had something to do with the heavy rain/fog and the warm outdoor temps.

In the morning, I opened the firebox door, let the fire rage for about a minute, topped off the fire box, and shut it.  Suddenly the white smoke that had been billowing out for 10 hours turned light blue, and the furnace temp started to quickly climb.  I don't know what I did, but it started to work as I expected it to work to begin with.  




When the water got up to temp the furnace shut itself down and went into standby mode.  About an hour later, the fire was out entirely.

I called CB and they helped me to program the control panel to kick the air feed on every so many minutes, for so many seconds, to keep the coal bed healthy.  The factory setting is 5 seconds of air every hour.  That didn't seem like it would be enough so I increased the frequency to 15 seconds of air every 30 minutes.  The fire went out again.  I increased  it to 30 seconds every 10 minutes and it went out again.  I lit the fire again and allowed the furnace to heat the water back up to temp.  It had cooled down to 162, and the factory setting is 175.  I increased the operating temp to 185.

I have now set the air feed pulse to come on for 45 seconds every 5 minutes.  I am hoping that this will work, and suspect that once I have a healthy bed of coal and ash in there, this will suffice.  If this does work, I will begin to lower the time that the air pulse funs for, and lengthen the time span between pulses.  I think that the combination of warm summer temps, not needing to HEAT the water often at all, and the 'newness' of the stove (coal and ash bed)  have combined to provide the right environment for the stove to not stay lit.  I suspect that as it gets colder it will be easier to keep it going with less effort.

*****Due to the tremendous amount of email I get regarding the 'air pulse,' I want to explain that the air pulse feature is NOT currently available on the wood only model******  I ONLY bought the dual fuel so that I could have this feature.  I never even hooked up the gas, and don't plan to hook up the gas.  I just didn't want to be lighting my stove all the time, and the extra $1,500 was worth it for me to not have to light my stove twice a day during the warmer weather for the next 10 years.  I hope that CB will eventually add this feature to their E-classic, but right now, it's not an option, as the air pulse appears to be part of the LP gas system of the stove.

While I do have the dual fuel model, I have not yet hooked up the propane which I understand makes all the difference in the world with this model.  I am looking forward to doing that, but I am having fun figuring out how to use the features that this stove has that utilize air pulses.

So far I am satisfied with the stove.  I have not heard my indoor oil-fired boiler turn on in 24 hours.  That is seriously awesome.  The stove is good looking, and appears as though it is going to run better and better as time goes along.

I am burning seasoned wood cut to 24" lengths, split and rounds up to 8 inches in diameter.

Update:  I have been adding "green" wood (cut less than 30 days ago) to the firebox, and the furnace continues to run well.  The smoke increases using green wood due to all the moisture coming out of the stack.  Still, its nice to know that in the summer the wood has time to dry out before it gets to the bottom and becomes the actual fuel that the stove runs on in the reaction chamber.  I was told that this stove runs poorly on unseasoned wood, but so far so good.  I do expect that as the stove begins to use more wood in a shorter span of time there may be more of an issue with the green woods not having time to dry out before it get to the bottom.

UPDATE:  September 17th, 2008:

I've been running the stove for almost 6 weeks now.  Its been really great.  The wood use (for domestic hot water only) has been minimal...a couple of small 4" x 24"-30" logs a day...it runs like a dream.  I have backed the air pulses off to 30 seconds every 30 minutes.  It hasn't burned out in a month.  Twice the stove has started to smoke REALLY BAD!  I think that there were perhaps creosote fires happening inside of the stove.  If that's the worst thing that happens, I can live with that.  I have been burning fairly green stuff here lately, so it would make sense that I could have that sort of problem.

I have been running the stove just a bit less than half full of wood.  I've found that it smokes less this way.  Its doesn't smoke much to begin with, but I tried it as an experiment, and I was happy with the results, so that's the way I am running it for the time being.

I still need to add a plate heat exchanger or a superstore inside the house so that I can have glycol in my in-house heating system.  A lot of my system runs through unheated spaces, so I can be without the gylcol.  

If anyone has any questions, or wants to visit the stove, email me directly at shawnbernard@gmail.com.  I am happy to share to the extent of my experience.  I will also continue to update this post from time to time.

UPDATE:  September 23, 2008

We have Started to build the post and beam barn around the E-classic.  This is the first post and beam structure that I have built, and I am really enjoying it.  It is being built by myself and a friend in the evenings.  One of my neighbors owns a portable saw mill, and the lumber was milled from the land beside my house.

UPDATE:  October 11, 2008

I have now been running the E-Classic for over 2 months and I have used about 1 cord of wood.  I burn some wood pretty green, and it just smokes more because of all the moisture.  Other than that, the furnace runs fine.  I have emptied the ashes twice.  Once not long after installation and I got 1 shovel of ash, and once this week (8 weeks later) and I only filled a 5 gallon bucket with ash!!!  I think that once every 3 weeks to a month would be good.  Considering I have put a CORD of wood through the furnace, to have ONLY a 5 gallon bucket of ash just seems to defy possibility, but that's all I got out of it.  The ash was as light at snow.  Beautiful.

I have all 3 zones of my house set at 73 degrees, 24 hours a day.  My wife and kids, and newborn are used to being chilly in the house, so they are in HEAVEN!   Now that it dips into the 40s at night I am loading the stove once per day.  It takes about 1/2 of a firebox each day now.  Not bad.

I have found that using full length logs in the stove is a bit of a pain.  The stove seems to burn more in the front, so the wood is often sloped 45 degrees to the front when I open it up.  I have to use a shovel to redistribute the wood so that I can add more without it rolling out of the stove and onto the ground.  I have begun to add smaller logs (18") so that this doesn't happen, and it has pretty much solved the problem.  I would recommend shorter lengths of logs in this stove for those who are still in the process of preparing their wood for the year.

Update 10/22/2008 NEW LESSON FOR ME!!

Recently I noticed that the OWB was sort of 'smoking' more.  Also, one morning while it was relatively warm out (50 degrees) I could not get the boiler up to temp.  I have mine set at 190 degrees now, and it was having a hard time getting out of the 160's.  I called my CB dealer and he recommended that I poke a steel rod into the bottom of the furnace to open up the air path from the fire box to the reaction chamber.  I poked around for a few seconds and easily found the 3 slots that he was talking about in the center bottom of the fire box.  I had remembered seeing it when I lit the first fire.

Within a few hours of doing this, the 'smoke' in the furnace cleaned up to near invisibility again, and it came right up to temp in the usual amount of time.  Since then the furnace has been running perfect, and the smoke is crystal clear again.  This is the first time I have messed with the coal bed, as I was told not to mess with it, and just load the stove.  What an easy fix to a problem that made me very nervous.  

Since this event a few days ago, it has been getting colder and colder and the stove has had no trouble keeping up.  It seems to be running better (like a wood stove), if that's possible.  I am still loading it once a day and it is burning about 1/2 to 3/4 of a firebox of wood.  We are keeping the house between 73 and 75 degrees (all 4,000 square feet of it) 24 hours a day.  Needless to say, this is my wifes idea, but if she's happy, I'm happy.  

UPDATE 10/29/2008 : Trouble in paradise

I let my boiler run pretty much out of wood this morning after not filling it for 40 hours.  Its been cold here in Central Mass, and we call for heat a lot in this big house with the heat cranked up so high.  When I checked the fire box this morning the water temp was down to 163 (from 190), and the wood was all gone...just a pile of white hot coals and ash in the bottom.  I threw some wood in there, and it has been a bit of a chore getting the fire built up again.  My fault for not filling it.  I wanted to see if we could make it through the night, and what would happen if the fire went out....how long would it take for the house to start getting cold.  We never got that far, and I have been working since 8 am (bouncing in and out of the house as I work my regular job) to get the fire back up to temp.  The water is still down to 160 degrees now, and the fire is in the process of building back up....we'll see what happens.  It is worth mentioning that even with the coal bed that low, the house still stayed at 73-75 degrees...and it was about 35 degrees last night.

My brother has an E-classic as well.  His is the wood-only model.  He has been having a bit of a tough time with his and he spends about 20 minutes a day keeping the machine running strong.  He has been in touch with the dealer who has given him some advice as to how to optimize the burning of the wood, but it still isn't working as he had hoped.  The wood he has been burning is quite green, which might explain some of his trouble.  He was burning broken up pallet wood (bone dry) and was still having some trouble then as well.  My experience has not matched his, but for what it's worth I am putting this out there for people to see.  Its all part of the collective knowledge.

12 hours later (11:30 pm):  While my house is still a cozy 73 degrees, the boiler is still not up to temp....my central boiler dealer tells me that I probably have too many coals in the bottom of the fire box...  its not like I CHOSE to have too many coals, but this seems like the case based on his description.  Also, I spoke with Central Boiler today and they suggested that I make sure that the air holes beside the fire brick are not clogged.  They were not clogged at all, but the coals were covering those air holes as they were up to the edge of the fire brick.  I unblocked the holes the best I could and the water temp rose from 151 degrees to 165...its back down to 160 again an hour later.  I am going to let the fire go down entirely, empty the furnace out, and start from scratch and see what happens.  I suspect it will be fine.

As a final remark (for now), the Central Boiler manufacturer told me to remove the middle grate rod from the bottom of my stove.  My model (an early model) came with 3 steel rods on the bottom of the firebox above the reaction chamber.  CB told me to remove the middle one, and set it aside and run the stove without it, as the new model are only using 2 of them, spaced further apart, and it is causing better airflow into the reaction chamber.  

October 31,2008  STOVE MODIFICATION Science meets Physics meets Central Boiler

I had no idea just how deep the coals were in my stove...what I thought was 6 inches coals turned out to be around a foot of coals, and thick ash!  I just had no idea because I was told not to stir the coals and ash around....just leave them alone.
There was enough ash in there to cover all the holes that feed oxygen into the stove, and it was starving for air.  Also, the coal pile was so thick that air wasn't getting into the reaction chamber, which is the most critical part.

I emptied the stove by shoveling almost everything out.  I left about a shovel full of coals in the bottom....not much considering the size of the stove.  I also pulled the middle bar in the bottom of the boiler, and set it aside so that more air and ash could enter the reaction chamber.   Within 12 hours of throwing new wood in, and forgetting about it, the boiler was running perfect.  The water was up to temp, and everything looked great....really great.

I am used to running traditional wood stoves, so I was running this the same way.  I figured a deep bed of coals was a good thing...turns out that my dealer lets his burn down to almost nothing every day, and then loads the stove up again.  I was keeping the stove 1/2 full or all the way full of wood, depending on when I planned to check it again.  I had completely forgotten that those holes on the side were even there.  And I never let the stove burn down, except the other day, which I thought wasn't a good thing.

My brother's stove was having the same problem, so he went through the same procedure yesterday.  His stove is running like a charm again as well.  The wood he used to get his stove going again, aside from the kindling, is GREEN....and it's still running fine. Or as he says, "better than fine...I could cut a tree down and throw it in here and it would run without trouble based on what I've seen today."  

So, there you have it.  I needed more air, less coals, WAY LESS ASH, and a new way of thinking about how to run this beast.  Let's see where we go from here.  After a few days of riding the learning curve, I'm back in business.

2nd Central Boiler recommended Stove modification! 12/28/2008

I heard from CB dealer today and he told me that we E-Classic 2300 owners should remove the top layer of firebricks from the firebox.  He said that people are getting some rusting/corrosion from behind the upper firebricks.  I have not yet confirmed this with the manufacturer.  I will remove mine in a few days.  I've already done this a month ago, just to scrape out the creosote, but I had reinstalled them.

My E-Classic is running great.  Taking that middle bar out of the bottom of the firebox has improved the operation of this stove drastically.  The ashes now fall into the reaction chamber without caking up at all.

I feel like I've got it mostly figured out.  I have to empty the reaction chamber every 3 weeks or so.  I can tell when its getting full based on the fact that the smoke starts to look more smokey, and less clear.  I don't know how else to explain it.  I have also found it helpful to remove a large portion of the ashes from the firebox once a month.  This takes very little effort, and helps the stove run perfect.  The barn is almost complete.  I found a roof product called Fabral Grandrib 3.  It has a 50 year warranty, and is cheaper than asphalt.  It will also install faster. I suspect the snow will slide of easier.  I hope to ad more pictures sooner than later, but I have forgotten how to do it, and just haven't had the time to figure it out.

I got an email from a furnace owner who suggested that lime will accomplish the same goal as adding Ashtrol on a daily basis.  Does anyone have any further information on this?

The best way to send me an email is directly.  Shawn@CentralMass.com

Update:  Wood usage, and too many promises 1.10.2009

At 3 am, I wrote a long long update.  It disappeared before I saved it.  I'm going to recap.

I've used 7.5 cord of wood since 8.8.08.  The dealer told me 6-8 cord for the year.  I had planned on using 12 cord.  As it stands right now, based on usage from the end of summer to now, I can say I will likely use 15 cord a year.  I have 1.5-2 cord left.  That will be gone in 2 weeks.  Bummer.  I think I was a bit OVERSOLD on this stove.  That being said, we have been able to keep our house an average of 7-8 degrees warmer this year, and I don't worry about the thermostat.  We might save on wood if  I were more conservative on the heat.  

We've been hearing from many other E-classic users who have reported wood usage that would be expected on the traditional OWB models, rather than what was advertised for this model.  So, reduced wood use????  Not based on my experience and the experience that people have shared with me.  My wood seller got an E-Classic, and he's pretty upset about the wood use as well.

I can say that is does smoke less.    As far as that goes, it works just about as advertised.  Also, the amount of ash coming out of this thing is also as advertised.  About 1.5 cords of wood fills a 5 gallon bucket with ash.  That's not too bad.

Trouble maintaining water temp??

I've heard from many people, including my brother, that they are having trouble bringing the water up to temp and maintaining that temp.  In every instance, I've also heard that there was a solution.  Here are some of the reasons:  Wood too green, lack of oxygen (my problem), heat exchanger hooked up wrong, and then.... the problem I had last night....trying to bring the water BACK up to temp, while putting a heavy load on the stove to heat the house.

Last night I let the OWB run out of wood.  The outside temperature was 15 degrees.  The house was warm still.  I have the flu, and simply forgot to fill it...medicine head.  At 7 pm the water temp was at 145 degrees, I added wood, and a fire built quickly and easily.  At 12 am, the water temp was down to 133, and I decided to fire up my oil burner to take the load off the OWB.  

The oil fired boiler in the house appears to have a 20 degree differential.  So, I set it to 180.  This way the oil would assist at indoor boiler temps of 160 or colder.  I have the OWB plummed directly into the boiler so the temp of the water in boiler appears to be an average of the water temp coming in, and the water temp going out.  This is not an exact science, but it's close.  Within 1 hour the water temp of the OWB was up to 165.  It stayed there for 2 hours without improving, while the OWB cranked the fire to get up to temp.  I got sick of watching the temp gauge and went to sleep.  I figured that once the OWB got itself up to temp again, the oil assist would simply eliminate itself because the average temp in the indoor furnace would be higher than the temp needed to trigger the oil burner.  When I checked at 8 am, the OWB was up to temp, and the indoor boiler was no longer using the oil to assist.  I'm going to leave it set up this way.  

So...at this point, I have three seasons under my belt (summer, fall, winter).  Based on my experience to date, and the experience of others, I have some conclusions.  The marketing for this unit over promises and underdelivers, but it still delivers what appears to be a reasonable level of service, assuming that the load on the unit is not too large, or the wood is too green.  

I've spoken with a couple who is heating 7,000 square feet in upstate NY.  This unit isn't cutting it for them.  They are loading it every 8-10 hours.  My brother tried to run this unit, in Central Mass with green wood, and couldn't keep it up to temp.  I'm running 4,000 square feet, 3 zones, with an average indoor air temp of 73 degrees. With 15 cord of annual wood use, it's going to provide me with great heat, reduced-smoke operation (my traditional wood stove smokes 10 times more than this OWB does, literally), and will still be far cheaper than heating with oil.  With the reduced price of oil, and 15 cord of consumption, the payback period on my investment becomes 7 years for the OWB, and 3 years for the barn I built to house it and the wood.  If oil prices go up, the payback time will again be reduced, but for now it stands at 10 years payback.

This unit won't walk on water, or turn water into wine, but all in all, I still think it's a good purchase for my location and application.

I'll update again as needed.

UPDATE:  2.7.2009  Green wood working fine:  CB confirms removal of firebrick

I am now successfully burning green wood from the December Ice Storm here in Central Mass.  Here is the skinny.

I ran out of wood this year.  This happened for two reasons.  1.  Of the 12 cord I ordered, only 9 were delivered.  2. The wood when stacked measured 7 cord, so I lost over 2 cord of wood in the air spaces that the larger wood takes up in the truck.  Previous to this post I'd thought I burned a full 9 cord.  Since then, I've measured the space in the barn that the stacked wood actually filled and it was just around 7 cord.  

Because of this, I had no choice but to try burning green wood.  a local farmer agreed to sell me green wood at $150 a cord, delivered.  I took delivery and started mixing the green wood with the seasoned wood, and counter to what I've heard, it burned well.  As the seasoned wood ran out, I started burning all green wood.  While burning green wood I've learned that it takes a while to come up to temp, if you let the wood burn down to nothing and use green wood to get it going again.  

I've also found that a trick to getting it to burn, and come up to temp, best is to load it a bit more often.  Here the temperature has recently been in the single digits.  Instead of loading the stove twice a day, I've found that loading it 3 times a day keeps it burning a bit better.  I CAN load it only twice a day, but if I load it when there is at least a 1/3 of a firebox still left to burn, it seems to burn a bit more consistent.  Either way, I'm burning green wood in this thing, and I am thrilled about that.  I found my wood on Craigslist.

Also, many thanks to Charmaine and John from upstate New York for sharing their learning experience in troubleshooting the manufacturing defects of their E-classic, and for sending the CB publication on the removal of firebricks from the firebox of these stoves, and the removal of ash from the inside of the firebox when the ash level reaches the air feed holes.  * IN addition to repairing some manufacturing defects, the CB dealer installed a LARGER blower fan on their stove, which seemed to make a big difference in maintaining temp.  They CB dealer also installed one on my brother's stove, and that helped to solve his water temp problem as well.

As an end note, I've found that I am emptying the reaction chamber/ash area about every 7 days-2 weeks now.  When the stove doesn't seems to be coming up to temp quickly, this is usually the culprit.  I still need to check and clean to pipes between the reaction chamber and the smoke stack... I still have never even opened that part of the stove up.  

We are almost done building the barn.  I know I have some catching up to do in regard to photos.  Sorry about that.  The remainder of the roof goes on today.

Keep the emails coming.  I am learning from your experiences.

[Piston]

thanks for the great initial report, I'm sure once you get used to the furnace you'll have a much easier time with it.  I think your right about it not burning to easily due to the warmer weather.  Once the weather cools down and your actually calling for heat in the house I'm sure it will regulate the fire much better.  we're all looking forward to more reports, info, and pics...so keep em coming!
where abouts in MA are you located?  I'm in upton.

[thecfarm]

You will like it.I only wish I would of put it in sooner.It's a whole differant way to burn wood.

[whodoctor]

Update:  I just figured out how to add pictures to the posts.  I updated the initial report, and will take and add more photos tomorrow for this post and posts to follow.





Yesterday I set the E-Classic to give a 45 second pulse of air every 5 minutes.  My goal was to keep the coal bed alive and well, which I had not been able to do yet.  This evening I walked to the CBEC-2300 to relight it, and to my amazement it was still up and running.  The smoke coming out of it was crystal clear!!!!  The best way to describe it is the way the alien looks in the "predator" movies.  Its like I can see the 'heat waves'...but really, its literally invisible.  UNREAL.  If you look at the picture of the blue smoke in the initial post...that is SMOKEY compared to what it was today...just nothing.   I am IMPRESSED. 

Also, my heat loss over 100 feet of Thermopex is ZERO.  Not a single degree drop in temp.  I have just over 100 feet of thermopex, buried 8"-12" deep from the stove to the house.  Impressive.

Also, in regard to wood consumption.  There are five of us living in this house, and it looks like loading the stove ONCE is going to give us about 5-7days worth of burning, when heating just domestic hot water.  We use a LOT of hot water here between jetted tubs, and showers.  I am not going to add wood until this wood is completely consumed, so that I can see how long I can actually go on one load.  I also cranked one of the levles of my house up to 80 degrees this morning (from 62 degrees) with all the windows opened slightly.  I wanted to watch the stove work.  It was great.

UPDATE:  Wood consumption.

I have been running the furnace around the clock for hot water.  I loaded the furnace, and it had used about 2/3 of the firebox in 3.5 days.  So, I could have heated 5 days worth of hot water (with 6 hour of intense home heating as another experiment) on one fill of wood.

As as experiment, I loaded a bunch of fresh cut hardwood onto the top of the seasoned wood in the firebox.  This increased the smoke (steam really) for about 18 hours, and then the 'smoke' became invisible again.  In fact, I thought the stove had gone out!  Its really amazing.  I added more fresh cut wood into the top of the firebox again and within 30 minutes the steam filled smoke was rising out of the pipe again.  I anticipate that it will be crystal clear again in 18 or so hours...how cool.

So long oil.  Don't write, don't call.  I won't miss you.

Piston, I am in Leominster.  You're welcome to check out the stove if you'd like.

[bull]

Hey, Who Dr., We're Neighbors... I'm in Sterling, my little Bro just Put in the same furnace, when he built he house he said he would never burn wood.... Well times change!!! He has had his installed for about 1 month and has burned about 2 large wheel barrels of wood to keep Hot water for a house with a wife and three daughters over 14.... had taken out less than a 1 gallon paint can of ash...
very little if any smoke,as long as you open the draft an wait a minute before opening the door...

Did you get yours from Elliot @ Crystal Rock Farm

[whodoctor]

Hey Bill,

Yeah, burning wood is something I didn't think I would choose to do either.  In fact, I sell real estate for a living, and when oil was cheap my buyers used to sort of smirk at the wood stoves in houses....'relics' from the OIL CRISIS in the 1970's.  Well, here we are again.  I love wood burning.  I always have.  Its just that it wasn't economically necessary for a while so I didn't bother doing it.

I installed 2 wood stoves last year (Dutch West Catalytic....awesome stoves), and this year I went to the E-classic 2300.  I wish I had listened to my heating installer 4 years ago when I installed my heating system. He encouraged me to install a wood furnace then.  I could've saved myself a lot of $. 

I did use Elliot from Crystal Rock farm. 

This E-Classic is a great system.  The best part will be not loading a wood stove in the middle of the night, or looking at the thermostat on the wall to make sure that my family didn't crank the heat when I wasn't looking.  If they want the house at 80 degrees, I'll put shorts on and take off my slippers.

I live right down on the Sterling/Princeton line.  Love it up here.  Just bears, moose, deer, turkey, and Sunday drivers.  There isn't a neighbor around, so if this thing did smoke it wouldn't matter.

[beenthere]

Who Doc
Are you going to build a wood shed on that slab around the E-2300? 

One of our forum members' Chet has a shed like that, and it looks to be a cozy way to have wood close by and dry during the winter. 

[STEWARDofLand]

Whodoctor, thank you for all your posts on the installation of your stove. I was looking for some info on outdoor stoves and just happen to stumble on this one. I was impressed by all comments posted since your first post( as this is also my first) that I became a member.   

[whodoctor]

Beenthere,

yes, I will be building a shed around the stove.  I did the measurements, and will be able to stack 12 cord of wood in the shed, while leaving a 9' wide x 16' deep area for working the stove, and chilling when I need to get a breather.  There will be a garage door on the front, and a standard entry door beside that.

Thanks for the photo of Chet's wood shed.  I am going to do a traditional roof line with a cupola and whole-house fan to pull the smoke out when I load the stove.  It sure does look cozy, doesn't it!  Man...almost makes me miss Winter.

I'll put a small refrigerator in there, a table with some chairs, etc....

STEWARDofLand,

Welcome to the forum.  I've only been here for 3 days, but I've been reading these woodburning forums for a few years.  Its nice to finally have something to contribute!

[Piston]

whodoctor, and others...
do you know if there are any clearance issues with building the wood shed around the stove? if so i doubt its very much, but im just wondering if you need to allow for an airspace between the stove and wood, or if you could butt the wood right up against it?  or maybe even put some kind of heat barrier between the two.  i guess i could just wait to see pics of your woodshed after its built, but im too impatient for that! :D :D
you guys are making me reeeaaaaally wanna get one of these now....

[beenthere]

Piston

Was it the mention of the referigerator in the shed with the wood and the wood burner that did it to ya?? ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) 8)

[whodoctor]

Hey Piston,

There are clearances that need to be observed.  According to the manual, page 5, its:  4 feet in front, 18" in the back, and 12" on the sides.  As far as the roof goes, I don't know, and it doesn't say.  I hear that its so well insulated that snow stays on the roof.  I can't say that from personal experience though, but I have heard this.

I intend to give about 12" of clearance on top, though I see that Chet left zero clearance in the photo.  I don't know if it matters or not.

I am trying to see if anyone knows about Central Pex heat tolerances.  I have read that it is rated to only 180 degrees, but the stoves can be set to reach a water temp of 195 degrees.  Any ideas of actual limitations of the Central Pex?  How about advantages / disadvantages of running the temp higher than 185?  If you have any comments, would you please post them here: https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,32733.0.html

[thecfarm]

STEWARDofLand,here's something for you to read, https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,22620.0.html
and welcome to the forum.I still have to build 2 more trailers and a building over my ODF.I have mine own wood,so I will use trailers to cut down on handling the wood.Probaly knowing me I will be doing this when it's snowing.
whodoctor,really like that slab.I wanted to do it,but things happened and money got tight.I wished I would of put mine in sooner.Wife kinda wondered if we made the right choice a year ago.Ought to hear her now.  ;)  I find mine does not smoke much with good,dry hardwood.But that rotten pine will make some smoke and than some.But I have a way to get rid of it now.

[Piston]

Upon reading over this post for a 3rd or 4th time, I couldn't help but notice my own blatent stupidity for asking a quesion you already answered.

Located in Leominster, MA
Square footage is just under 4,000 square feet
Replacing annual use of 2000 gallons of oil (when in-house wood stoves were not running)
Tied into an existing 3-zone hydronic air system
Anticipating the addition of 3 zones of HWBB to warm up colder parts of the house which were previously unheated or underheated

where abouts in MA are you located?  I'm in upton.

no one ever accused me of being the SMART one of the family..  :D

[whodoctor]

...

[whodoctor]

I installed an E-classic 2300 dual fuel on 8.7.08.  There is no gas hooked up to the unit.  I am using it for domestic hot water, because I just don't want to use heating oil, as a matter of principal.  I noticed that the stove would starve for oxygen, and burn itself out, because it didn't need to run in order to heat the water.  Not enough heat was being called for to keep it going.

The control panel on this has a function that will give a burst of air (CB calls it a 'pulse') for x number of seconds, every x number of minutes.  The factory setting is 5 seconds every 60 minutes.  In the Summer months, here, it isn't enough for me.  I tried a number of different settings to get it to stay lit.  The one that finally worked for me was 45 seconds of air, every 5 minutes.  This keeps my stove going and I don't have to light it.

In fairness, you could probably re-light the stove once per day, and have that keep the water hot enough to take care of your domestic hot water.  In other words, it might be slightly more efficient.  On the other hand, the stove wants to keep the water within 10 degrees of the setting, so the fans run to stoke the stove to make the water hot, and if there is no flame in there to stoke, then the fans run for no reason. 

All in all, I decided to just keep the fire alive, using the technology that exists.  It takes 2 minutes to program the stove, and it is REALLY REALLY easy.  To me, its worth it just to keep the fire alive.

OH, someone with the same stove model is going to as how to do it.  Here is the procedure for the one I have.  Yours may be the same, or it may not be.  This is NOT in your owners manual.  It IS in the 'dealer-only' manual.

Hold the menu button down until "d00" appears.
Use the up arrow to set to d22
Hit enter (this is the programming mode)
Press up to select variable 4
Hit enter
The setting for this variable will be pre-set to 60 (how many minutes between air pulses)
I changed mine to 5 by using the down arrow (I tried 45, 30, 25, 10, and 7 before finding that 5 was the magic number for me, at this time of year)
Hit enter
Press up to select variable 5
Hit enter
This setting will be pre-set for 5 (number of seconds that the air pulse lasts)
Use the up arrow to change it to whatever you want.  (I use 45, which represents the # of seconds that the air pulse lasts.  I could possibly use less pulse time, but this worked for me, and I haven't taken the time to lower it yet.  I will try to drop it to 30 seconds when I feel like playing with it again.  If it works, I will lower it again until it doesn't work.  That will be the magic number.)
Hit enter.  You're done.

I imagine that there will be a different set of variables at different times of the year, due to variable amount of firing as the usage in the house changes.  I plan to build a grid for myself so that I know which variables to use during each month of the year, so that I can just follow my own directions and not have to re-invent the wheel.  My 'summer' variable are 5 and 45, at this point.  I am sure that there will be one for Fall, Winter, and Spring.  With Fall and Spring likely being similar.

[bull]

Who Dr your over on Elm St ?? Im on Tuttle road 2 hills southeastof you, hows your wood supply..

Elliots first warning to my brother when setting up the furnace was to make sure he removed the cover from the chimney before firing, said it has happened to a few others lately !!

[whodoctor]

Hey Bull,

What OWF are you running?  I wish Eliot had told me to take the cover off.  The tabs on the top of the 2nd stack are a bit messed up from hacking the cover off.  If I choose to ad a 3rd smoke stack, i am going to have to perform surgery on the 2nd stack first.  That's life!

My wood supply is not bad, but I could use more.  If you process wood, or know someone who does, just send me an email.  In any event, we should meet, since we are neighbors.

[bull]

Not sure what OWF means ??

[beenthere]

Outdoor Wood Furnace, is what I deciphered.  ??    : :

[whodoctor]

....yes.  I do a lot of texting.  I tend to think in abbreviations.  Sorry.

[bull]

I don't have an OWF, I built my house in 1992 and installled a New York Wood Boiler and it has been preforming well... burns 4-5 cord for the year.. The house is a 1200 sq ft ranch... It was the best deal for the money at the time $1400.00

[bull]

hey thanks Beenthere, Kinda slow on the Acrinims/abreveations and spelling :D

[Gary_C]

Is it a good idea to use that large OWB to heat domestic hot water in the summer? Does anyone else do that?

I would think that even an electric hot water heater would be more efficient.

Also I would think those hot water pipes and that semi exposed water to water heat exchanger would just add unwanted heat to your house in the summer.

[whodoctor]

I want to ad a Plate Heat Exchanger to my existing furnace so that I can run the Wood Furnace and the house on separate closed loops.  Can anyone tell me hot to size it???

I found this alternative heating supply company on ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Alternative-Heating-and-Supplies