Fire Chief FC1500 install

[Case1030]

So @Mrpelletburner any plans or ideas of what your going to do about that furnace of yours?

Can't imagine that being very much fun having such crazy temp spikes and no coals to relight.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Well I am able to balance the heat to ~71 to 74. I rand a duct line to the 2nd floor and installed dampers to push more air to certain vents.

However I cannot get longer than 7ish hours out of this stove no matter how tight the stove is packed. Burning seasoned oak.

If you have fixed primary and a max fixed secondary air (flap opened), can a strong draft still pull more air into the fire box?

Does more seasoned wood burn faster then less seasoned wood?

 

[brenndatomu]

If you have fixed primary and a max fixed secondary air (flap opened), can a strong draft still pull more air into the fire box?

Absolutely

Does more seasoned wood burn faster then less seasoned wood?

If you can't control the air to it, yes...BUT, wet wood has a much lower heat output due to boiling out the water and then drying the wood so it can actually burn...result, less heat to the house, and a crapped up chimney, and chunks of black unburnt wood left in the firebox.
I've said this before here, but burning wet wood is a "false economy"

 

[JRHAWK9]

Does more seasoned wood burn faster then less seasoned wood?

o boy, I can see where this is going!

Where did I read about the guy dumping water on half the wood when loading his OWB because it, "increased the burn times". I'm not kidding, I read it on here or the arborist forum, where they seem to love to burn wet wood in those OWB's.

 

[brenndatomu]

I'm not kidding, I read it on here or the arborist forum, where they seem to love to burn wet wood in those OWB's.

And then complain about using 15-20 cords per winter

 

[JRHAWK9]

However I cannot get longer than 7ish hours out of this stove no matter how tight the stove is packed. Burning seasoned oak.

Well, with how truthful these manufacturers have been with their "max burn times" over the years I usually took what the manufacturer stated and divided it by two to get a more realistic time. So, by my calcs, you should be happy as your furnace is overachieving.

.

If you have fixed primary and a max fixed secondary air (flap opened), can a strong draft still pull more air into the fire box?

yep.

 

[Case1030]

Well I am able to balance the heat to ~71 to 74. I rand a duct line to the 2nd floor and installed dampers to push more air to certain vents.

However I cannot get longer than 7ish hours out of this stove no matter how tight the stove is packed. Burning seasoned oak.

If you have fixed primary and a max fixed secondary air (flap opened), can a strong draft still pull more air into the fire box?

Does more seasoned wood burn faster then less seasoned wood?

At the same time a strong draft can also carry alot of heat out through the chimney.

Not sure if you posted flue temps yet but I'm a little curious about that.

 

[maple1]

You could be in quite a catch-22 with this unit.

Sounds like you have a lot of (too much) draft, which is basically burning the wood too fast & sucking heat up the chimney (despite how much it seems to be putting into the house for those few short hours).

But if the unit isn't designed to burn right with a more sensible proper draft, you might be stuck having to chose between good (clean) burning with a lot of wood going up the flue in the form of heat & short burn times, or getting your draft more sensible in the hopes of extending burn times while creating a dirtier burn at the same time and sending a lot of wood up the flue in the form of smoke & creosote.

In other words - you might be a victim yet again of a poorly designed furnace.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Well it happened....




At 10hrs and still a 2” bed of hot embers!


Of course it was 35 last night and now 40 degrees outside


Filled the stove around 11:30 last night and the house hit a max temperature of 82 degrees (first floor) at 3:30 am. Around this time is where the stoves distribution blower started to cycle (long periods of on then long periods of off). I believe, besides the warm outside temps, the stove still has a bed of hot embers is because the draft blower never kicked in.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Well it happened....




At 10hrs and still a 2” bed of hot embers!


Of course it was 35 last night and now 40 degrees outside


Filled the stove around 11:30 last night and the house hit a max temperature of 82 degrees (first floor) at 3:30 am. Around this time is where the stoves distribution blower started to cycle (long periods of on then long periods of off). I believe, besides the warm outside temps, the stove still has a bed of hot embers is because the draft blower never kicked in.

Man, at those outside temps you shouldn't have to load much wood to keep the house warm....confirmed by your house temps being in the 80's.

If the amount of wood you are loading is being dictated solely by your desire of wanting to achieve overnight burns, you are loading too much wood and are consuming more than you should be resulting in the over-heating your house.

I'm sure you are happy you achieved longer burns, but it's still not running the way it should be. I don't know if anyone has told you already, but you need to get your draft in check. It's the driving force behind it's operation and you have a block on the gas pedal and just keep filling the gas tank.

 

[brenndatomu]

the stove still has a bed of hot embers is because the draft blower never kicked in.

Didn't realize you were still using the draft blower...at least after the initial firing.
I hate...let me rephrase that...HATE forced draft fireboxes...one of the main reasons why is that all of them I have ever used just chew through the wood...and then leave a stone cold firebox waaaay too soon!
Try turning that thing off after the firebox is up to temp...or you could even wire in a timer to disconnect it after X amount of time

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Didn't realize you were still using the draft blower...at least after the initial firing.
I hate...let me rephrase that...HATE forced draft fireboxes...one of the main reasons why is that all of them I have ever used just chew through the wood...and then leave a stone cold firebox waaaay too soon!
Try turning that thing off after the firebox is up to temp...or you could even wire in a timer to disconnect it after X amount of time

Yea, always thought it helped in the morning to squeeze the needed heat out. Going to set it to 68 as it is not often the first floor hits 68. Also planing on converting the thermostat to an Ecobee with a remote probe so I can start recording via their online app. I also can setup a shortcut via my phone to kick the draft blower on for 15mins when cold starting.

 

[maple1]

Man, at those outside temps you shouldn't have to load much wood to keep the house warm....confirmed by your house temps being in the 80's.

If the amount of wood you are loading is being dictated solely by your desire of wanting to achieve overnight burns, you are loading loading too much wood and are consuming more than you should be resulting in the over-heating your house.

I'm sure you are happy you achieved longer burns, but it's still not running the way it should be. I don't know if anyone has told you already, but you need to get your draft in check. It's the driving force behind it's operation and you have a block on the gas pedal and just keep filling the gas tank.

Since getting our heat pumps in November, I let them do the heating at most anything -5c or warmer (sometimes colder) for around a buck a day.

(Did that sound like an infommercial?)

 

[brenndatomu]

Yea, always thought it helped in the morning to squeeze the needed heat out.

It does...up your chimney. Now if you have a huge pile of coals you need to burn down before reloading, then that's a different story.
Ever tried running a load without using the draft blower at all? (or very minimally, just to get things started)

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Guys and ladies buy a lotto ticket, 10am and still had embers, enough to restart. BTW I loaded the stove at 10:30 pm last night and added 2 splits at 11:30 and set the draft blower to 66. Outside temps were mid to upper 20’s.

Also installed a temp prob in the stove pipe about 18” from the back of the stove. What is to high for temps where I am just loosing heat?

 

[sloeffle]

What is to high for temps where I am just loosing heat?

When my secondaries are going I usually see exhaust temps around 400F. I know the boiler guys consider ( Post #6) 400F to be an ideal stack temperature also.

 

[brenndatomu]

What is to high for temps where I am just loosing heat?

I had the Tundra temp controller set to close the damper at 350* F...some run theirs much higher though...if you look at the best units (furnaces, boilers, etc) the exhaust temp runs 250-300 once firebox is up and things are "cruising".
Its hard to say what kind of temps you will be able to run with that unit...seems like a bird of a different color.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Thanks [emoji120]

Will have to log the temps.

On another note we will go a full year on 1 tank of oil.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I see flue temps (12" from the collar) anywhere from 275°-325°...mainly sitting at around the 290°- 310° area when the computer is on low and on pilot. When the computer opens up to '1' for good I will see them around 325° consistently.........same for when it opens up to '2'. I'll maybe touch 400° briefly when re-loading on hot coals before the computer dampers things down. Not always though, there are times it may hit a high of 370°-390° before the damper starts to close and the flue temps start to drop from there.

<edited> Just measured the distance from the collar to the probe and it's 12" on the nuts.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Earlier when the stove was at it’s peak, the prob measured 550 F. Box was half filled and each split was glowing red.

 

[brenndatomu]

Earlier when the stove was at it’s peak, the prob measured 550 F. Box was half filled and each split was glowing red.

This is with draft blower on or no?

 

[Mrpelletburner]

This is with draft blower on or no?

Not on

 

[brenndatomu]

Not on

Wow...

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Probe 12” away from the back of the stove 518F and a probe in the horizontal run for the T-snub is 238 F

 

[Case1030]

View attachment 236995

Probe 12” away from the back of the stove 518F and a probe in the horizontal run for the T-snub is 238 F

Definitely try to get your flue temp below 400f during its peak.

Your losing a fair amount of heat out the flue and shaving burn time down considerably operating that way.