1 cord in 1 week

[begreen]

Buy next season's wood now. Stack it and cover it on the top only. If you can get some ash wood, go for that. It dries out fastest.

 

[carm317]

Pictures.

Sounds like you have a lot of issues - your best bet for the rest of this year is likely to find some biobricks or equivalent to get you through, as mentioned. You should also clean your chimney & furnace before burning them, it's gotta be a mess.

Issues: house leakage, duct layouts, chimney draft (get a manometer to check & monitor that, and a barometric damper), and wet wood.

Do you know what the previous owners heating bills were?

We are going to get the damper and my husband is almost finished with correcting all the ductwork. The previous owners left the house empty for over a year, it was a short sale therefore we never spoke to them, just attorneys and agents. We are hoping that this suggestions help.

 

[claydogg84]

Buy next season's wood now. Stack it and cover it on the top only. If you can get some ash wood, go for that. It dries out fastest.

I disagree. If this system is going to consume this amount of wood you need to look into a different heat source. If you can somehow figure out what the real problem is, if there is one at all - then maybe you could make it work. But, in my eyes, 10+ cords per heating season is unrealistic, as well as the exact opposite of cost efficient.

 

[carm317]

What is stopping you from insulating that spot under the kids' playroom? Even if you had nice dry wood and if the furnace was working properly, you are still losing a lot of efficiency because of that uninsulated space. Insulation is cheap.[/quote
We've had the max caddy running for about 3 weeks now and it's been trial and error. My husband started working on the ductwork first and is almost finished, this has already made a difference. The house wasn't getting to desired temp until he moved around the ductwork. He is going to work on the insulation next which we calculated would be another $600 in insulation because it's a rather large area. He is also going to go to the supply house this week to see about the chimney damper. We are going to take all the suggestions we have received and work on them one by one hoping that we will have a much better winter next year.

 

[carm317]

Pictures.

Sounds like you have a lot of issues - your best bet for the rest of this year is likely to find some biobricks or equivalent to get you through, as mentioned. You should also clean your chimney & furnace before burning them, it's gotta be a mess.

Issues: house leakage, duct layouts, chimney draft (get a manometer to check & monitor that, and a barometric damper), and wet wood.

Do you know what the previous owners heating bills were?

What pictures should I post?

 

[carm317]

I disagree. If this system is going to consume this amount of wood you need to look into a different heat source. If you can somehow figure out what the real problem is, if there is one at all - then maybe you could make it work. But, in my eyes, 10+ cords per heating season is unrealistic, as well as the exact opposite of cost efficient.

I'm thinking its a combo of wood, not having the damper and the much needed insulation. We are going to start on damper and insulation first. And definitely going to have the chimney cleaned out asap.

 

[begreen]

I disagree. If this system is going to consume this amount of wood you need to look into a different heat source. If you can somehow figure out what the real problem is, if there is one at all - then maybe you could make it work. But, in my eyes, 10+ cords per heating season is unrealistic, as well as the exact opposite of cost efficient.

It sounds like they have a lot of heat loss, both to the crawlspace and up the 30 ft chimney. Address those issues and wood or any other fuel consumption should come down. My guess is that there are other issues in this house as well. An energy audit would be well worth the investment.

 

[maple1]

What pictures should I post?

The furnace & its hookup. Plenum/trunks. Chimney connection & chimney.

You might also want to get something you can measure your smoke pipe temperatures with.

And a damper could make things worse if it decreases draft too much - especially with wet wood. And with inexperienced operators. A manometer would come in quite handy to measure your chimney draft, along with duct pressures to make sure things are OK there. Ebay or google up 'Dwyer Mark 2 Model 25'. Quite inexpensive, and well worth the cost.

I am also quite curious about the measured size of the wood you bought.

 

[brenndatomu]

The furnace & its hookup. Plenum/trunks. Chimney connection & chimney.

You might also want to get something you can measure your smoke pipe temperatures with.

And a damper could make things worse if it decreases draft too much - especially with wet wood. And with inexperienced operators. A manometer would come in quite handy to measure your chimney draft, along with duct pressures to make sure things are OK there. Ebay or google up 'Dwyer Mark 2 Model 25'. Quite inexpensive, and well worth the cost.

I am also quite curious about the measured size of the wood you bought.

Good stuff ^ ^ ^.

Supplier said its oak, the are about a foot and a half long and maybe five or six inches wide.

Wood split size was posted earlier if that what you meant ^ ^ ^

Also if searching for a Dwyer manometer on ebay or...try Dwyer mark II, dwyer model 25, dwyer manometer

Aren't the Caddys a dealer install only item? Dealer should have setup correctly and advised optimal operation

 

[kennyp2339]

Please have someone check your chimney, if your burning so so wood with the volume you say, you could have some creosote build up.

 

[Fred61]

Just to verify, a full cord is 128 cu ft. Stacked that would be 4ft x 4ft x 8ft.

Since I and most of those with little boilers cut our wood at 18 inches in length our cord measures 3' x 4' x 10.67'. I had a wood vendor that wouldn't sell me 18 inch wood because he couldn't stack it 4' x4' x 8'. He said I had to take 16 inch wood. After a 1 hour math lesson we were no further ahead than when we started so I took the 16 inch wood. 16 inch wood is 1.33 feet and 18 inch wood is 1.5 feet and that's all you need to know unless you're one of those guys that insists on 19.5 inches or 14.5 inches.

Where it gets complicated is vendors like the last one I had. I ordered 18 inch wood and he delivered all lengths between 11 inches and 22 inches with very few actually at 18 inches.

 

[flyingcow]

food for thought. Previous post was they went through a lot of money with electric heaters.don't get hung up on the measured cord of wood.thought I think that they are doing the best they can with what they have. We need to help them for the next season. please forgive me how this reads its all voice to text.

 

[Fred61]

food for thought. Previous post was they went through a lot of money with electric heaters.don't get hung up on the measured cord of wood.thought I think that they are doing the best they can with what they have. We need to help them for the next season. please forgive me how this reads its all voice to text.

Sorry, I'll try to stay on subject.

 

[j7art2]

Do you have a Harbor Freight near you? Pick up a moisture meter. You'll know exactly what you're getting once you test it, and they are very inexpensive. About $12. I use mine all the time. Other places like Lowes, Home Depot, and Menards all sell them.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Thinking out loud here.......

A full cord contains roughly 21MMbtu.
Assume that the wood is not sufficiently seasoned and let's peg the efficiency of the Caddy at 50% .
That gives us 10.5MMbtu actually delivered into your home in a weeks time.
Hourly that's 62,500 btu which is high but not out of the realm of possibility.
.

Any way you slice it 10 million BTUs a WEEK is an awful lot of heat when the average home only uses 70 MILLION for the whole winter
MY draft old 3000 Sf house use 125 million a season so thats why i use the most cost effective fuel for my main heat source which is coal . My monthly cost is never over $170 even if it runs 24/7

 

[Seasoned Oak]

He should easily be able to figure out the btu load from his electric bill.

 

[BoiledOver]

Glad to hear that you and hubby are making headway with the ducting and other issues. There are many others who have been exactly where you are this winter. Stepping into a whole new heating system during a monster cold winter can't be any fun.

To bring anyone else up to speed who stumbles on this thread I will state that the following concerns have already been mentioned. These folks are working in earnest do address what they can at this time.

• Wood quality
• Cord size
• Flue draft
• Insulation
• Ductwork
• Makeup air
• Chimney cleaning
• Wood moisture meter
• Ecobrick
• Pallets

Best wishes and keep your chins up carm317

 

[wolfe64]

Not to pile on, but to reinforce what many others have said, use seasoned wood. Oak takes 2 years to season and is very common firewood in NJ.. Insulate, we bit the bullet and super insulated our 1840 drafty 1800 sq. ft. farmhouse last year. Wood consumption down about 35% from winter of 2013-14.

 

[rotaxman]

hi there, Heaterman made the points I would have made. I would add that my dad goes through that much wood every winter. For him the problem is extremely poorly insulated house. too much draft (wood burns away too quickly), and poorly designed duct system. I read all three pages and I think you have same issues. additionally:
I suspect that you are not burning red or white oak which has one of the highest btu ratings.
A new and properly installed wood stove does not need a chimney damper
I didn't see your outdoor temperature. We experience 30 below zero for a month every winter, tapering off in March.
Questions for you:
is your interior wall cold to the touch?
cold floor? (besides play room)
do you have ice build-up at the edge of your roof.
Final thoughts: my dad's main reason for high consumption is the poorly heated roof and walls. that alone would reduce consumption by half. I know because I just renovated one third of his house and switched him to electric heat. Problem solved.

 

[Wisneaky]

A new and properly installed wood stove does not need a chimney damper

I disagree with that comment. There is no way to have a perfectly designed system that would control draft without one because of different chimney heights, wind speed, and outside temperature which all effects the draft of a flue. Any time you have draft over -.08 inH2o you should have some sort of damper to keep the heat from going up the chimney.

 

[brenndatomu]

A new and properly installed wood stove does not need a chimney damper

I have to agree with Wisneaky, a well designed chimney will need a damper more than one that only works so-so.
-.08" WC draft would be the absolute highest draft reading that the Max can tolerate. I believe PSG calls for -.04" to -.06" WC normally

 

[MarylandGuy]

additionally: I suspect that you are not burning red or white oak which has one of the highest btu ratings.

She could easily be burning red or white oak. When the wood guy spends the morning cutting a live tree down, splitting and stacking it in his truck, and delivering it to her that afternoon, there will be major issues. As others mentioned, a lot of the BTU's are used to boil off the water in the green wood.