[quote author="ControlFreak" date="1201303477"]To all,
We are a small company in MA that has developed an intelligent electronic wood stove control system and would like to hear your feedback. Please, this is not spam, but intended to probe a subject that I rarely hear about -- combustion control in wood stoves.
To kick off the discussion, I'll ask several questions:
1. Why hasn't this existed until now? We have some ideas, but want to see what you guys think. We already know about the use of bimetalilc springs to do this, and using a timer to close off a start-up draft control, but what about an electronic system that is intelligent and offers flexibility and adaptability?
Most of the time the people who have wood stoves actually enjoy operating them manually. The same preference leads to horseback riding, bicycling or sailing rather than cars and power boats. But there are times when even the most traditional manual stove operator would enjoy an automatic system in the same way that we use our cars or sometimes put a motor in a sailboat. The bimetallic spring models which I've used (Ashley & VC) were a huge improvement over the purely manual stoves. But they were also very inexpensive and easily designed to be intrinsically safe - that is, any failure of the controller shut the stove down. I'm sure that Electronic Combustion with feedback would accomplish the same thing or better and I for one would probably try it. As to "why hasn't it existed until now?" well, electronic control is still a fairly new field and there are a lot of good ideas that simply haven't been built as yet.
2. Have you ever asked a stove store about something like this?
No, we are part of a rural population well versed in wood burning and tend to rely more on local knowledge than on retail stores.
3. If you were purchasing a new stove, would you purchase this if it was an option?
It would be one of the factors, but not the most important one. A retrofittable device with components in the combustion air intake duct as well as in the stove pipe itself would not be dependent on stove brand.
4. If you were to choose between two different, but comparable models, would this feature cause you to choose the one with the controls?
No, there are bound to be more important differences between two stoves. I would rate this feature below several favored construction features, burn geometry, cat or not, and wood loading. For me it would be on the level of importance that I assign to porcelain trim, ash removal, or side warmers. A retrofittable option would be much more appealing, and in fact would be appealing even though fairly expensive.
5. Do you ever overheat your stove by forgetting to close the draft control? If so, how often.
No, though I do worry about it happening when guests use our house
6. Do you know of anyone who has had a fire because of an unattended wood stove?
No, not a structural fire; not of my own direct experience. ...which is sort of surprising given how common wood stoves are in this area. However, I am exempting chimney fires which are not uncommon.
What other questions are there??
Well, you haven't asked if such a device would appeal to a dedicated traditional wood stove user. I can only answer for myself in that I tend to buy and try the new techo-toys that come on the market just out of curiosity. Perhaps they will add something to our live - or not - but how do I know if I don't try them?
BTW, nice web site.
scotty, Boulder, Colorado.
We are a small company in MA that has developed an intelligent electronic wood stove control system and would like to hear your feedback. Please, this is not spam, but intended to probe a subject that I rarely hear about -- combustion control in wood stoves.
To kick off the discussion, I'll ask several questions:
1. Why hasn't this existed until now? We have some ideas, but want to see what you guys think. We already know about the use of bimetalilc springs to do this, and using a timer to close off a start-up draft control, but what about an electronic system that is intelligent and offers flexibility and adaptability?
Most of the time the people who have wood stoves actually enjoy operating them manually. The same preference leads to horseback riding, bicycling or sailing rather than cars and power boats. But there are times when even the most traditional manual stove operator would enjoy an automatic system in the same way that we use our cars or sometimes put a motor in a sailboat. The bimetallic spring models which I've used (Ashley & VC) were a huge improvement over the purely manual stoves. But they were also very inexpensive and easily designed to be intrinsically safe - that is, any failure of the controller shut the stove down. I'm sure that Electronic Combustion with feedback would accomplish the same thing or better and I for one would probably try it. As to "why hasn't it existed until now?" well, electronic control is still a fairly new field and there are a lot of good ideas that simply haven't been built as yet.
2. Have you ever asked a stove store about something like this?
No, we are part of a rural population well versed in wood burning and tend to rely more on local knowledge than on retail stores.
3. If you were purchasing a new stove, would you purchase this if it was an option?
It would be one of the factors, but not the most important one. A retrofittable device with components in the combustion air intake duct as well as in the stove pipe itself would not be dependent on stove brand.
4. If you were to choose between two different, but comparable models, would this feature cause you to choose the one with the controls?
No, there are bound to be more important differences between two stoves. I would rate this feature below several favored construction features, burn geometry, cat or not, and wood loading. For me it would be on the level of importance that I assign to porcelain trim, ash removal, or side warmers. A retrofittable option would be much more appealing, and in fact would be appealing even though fairly expensive.
5. Do you ever overheat your stove by forgetting to close the draft control? If so, how often.
No, though I do worry about it happening when guests use our house
6. Do you know of anyone who has had a fire because of an unattended wood stove?
No, not a structural fire; not of my own direct experience. ...which is sort of surprising given how common wood stoves are in this area. However, I am exempting chimney fires which are not uncommon.
What other questions are there??
Well, you haven't asked if such a device would appeal to a dedicated traditional wood stove user. I can only answer for myself in that I tend to buy and try the new techo-toys that come on the market just out of curiosity. Perhaps they will add something to our live - or not - but how do I know if I don't try them?
BTW, nice web site.
scotty, Boulder, Colorado.
