Firechief 1700

[brenndatomu]

So there is no wall thermostat? How does it know when to kick the heat on or is the heat always delivered.

I'm not using the tstat...if I were, it would just kick the duct blower to high speed, that's it...and if that were enough to lower the firebox temp, then the computer might feed a lil more air to the fire to make it hotter...dunno, never actually done it.

 

[JRHAWK9]

The top number on the monitor is my internal flue temps about 18" away from the VF100. The bottom is my plenum temp (it will get higher as the night goes on...usually peaks at 117* for a few hours)

Those flue temps Still think your flue temp gauge/probe thinks it's a women telling you her weight........or the number of guys she has slept with.

Mine will get down into the 280's, but not that low! It's on the top of the pipe 12" from the collar. Do you have the probe stuck in the top or bottom of the stove pipe? Asking for a friend.

 

[brenndatomu]

Do you have the probe stuck in the top or bottom of the stove pipe? Asking for a friend

Well that's kinda bold...askin a feller on the internets where he sticks his probe!
Its a 6" long probe...stuck in through the top, straight down clear to the bottom.
I just went down and checked...I can lay my hand on the single wall pipe and leave it there...right beside the probe.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Well that's kinda bold...askin a feller on the internets where he sticks his probe!
Its a 6" long probe...stuck in through the top, straight down clear to the bottom.
I just went down and checked...I can lay my hand on the single wall pipe and leave it there...right beside the probe.

I just took the "hold your hand on your stovepipe challenge". What I found was very interesting. I have a single wall 45° bend connected to the collar at the back of the furnace and then the single wall goes for about 4' at a 45° angle until it connects to the main chimney and heads straight up and out.

Where I have my probe is about 12" from the collar in the single wall which is at the 45°. I have no issues laying a couple fingers on the top or the bottom of the 45° bend within an inch or so of the collar....right where it connects. If I move up the stove pipe more it gets WARMER and I can only hold it on for a bit. Weird. One would think it would be the hottest coming right out of the collar. Anyway, just thought it was interesting.

 

[JRHAWK9]

This was back on Dec 6th. Got down to 8° that night and woke up to 74° in the house. Reloaded in the morning before work and it went back up to 75° two hours later (screen shot of house thermostat at that time). Computer was on minimum burn.....lowest BTU output.



On Dec. 7th it was 9° at 9pm and was still 9° when I got up the next morning. Woke up to the house at 72°, the Kuuma still on minimum burn as well.

IMO, the short night time drops of cold temps are pretty easy to absorb, it's when you see extended and consistent time periods of cold temps is when the heat loss really starts to show up. At least that's what I have noticed in our house anyway.

It's nothing compared to Case1030's results in his house with the temps he sees up nort' der hey, but I'm very happy for the heat load this place has and compared to what I was seeing the first couple years before getting things dialed in with my return/supply air.


<edit>
Example of heat loss of our place, as if the photos I posted of the ridge weren't enough.

Supposed to have been a high of 36° and sunny yesterday. Reached a high of 28° and no sun. I loaded in the morning before work (7am) for a sunny 36° day (23.7lbs). House reached a high temp of 74° during that time. So house temp was coasting down from a high of 74° after about noon/1pm or so with no heat. This was the outside and house temp at 3:45pm. Lost 5-6° in about 4 hours in 26-28° outside temps.



</edit>

 

[brenndatomu]

Those flue temps Still think your flue temp gauge/probe thinks it's a women telling you her weight........or the number of guys she has slept with.

Mine will get down into the 280's, but not that low! It's on the top of the pipe 12" from the collar. Do you have the probe stuck in the top or bottom of the stove pipe? Asking for a friend.

Well, I do get similar temps as you on the upper end though...and I am running my draft a bit lower than you IIRC...so I think my meter could be right...at least close.
I suppose we ought to leave these guys to commiserate about their FC's though...derailed this thread enough tonight!

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Are you 2 really sales reps for Kuuma?

 

[brenndatomu]

Are you 2 really sales reps for Kuuma?

I could be...just gotta figure out how to collect a check...

 

[brenndatomu]

Lamppa actually sold one of my VF200's for me...well, told the guy about it anyways...and sent some guys on the second one too...but it was already sold to a guy that contacted me about it after he read my one single post that I made publicly online that I had a VF200...wanted to ask questions about running one at first, ended up buying it. Both of 'em went out of state...I never advertised either one.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Are you 2 really sales reps for Kuuma?

no, being a salesman requires you to bull$hit people. I can provide detailed statistical data of everything I state.

Running and putting up with what you have to put up with....you have no idea how easy it is in comparison for those of us who have decent, well designed furnaces. I'm not just talking about Kuuma either. SBI also makes quality stuff.

 

[Hounds]

I governed my fire chief with that piece of tape over that small area in the rear of furnace. Firechief asked me to put tape over to see if the fire wood go out. They said it should. It slowed down but still had flame 30mins later. So its pulling air from somewhere. I pulled half the tape off and it worked for almost an entire nights burn time. I'll let you guys know exactly how much tape it takes. They put a rivet in the mechanism so consumers couldn't play with it. As far as I'm concerend this is the only place that we can control the air on this unit. Its kinda like my spinner that lets air in the front door in the prior epa units. I'm sure its different for different outside temps but I'll just have to keep the tape handy and adjust according to weather and chimney draft. I'm assuming that why the old unit had adjustment where you could get to them with out taking things apart. I alsohave a gentlemen coming to my home to go over the entire unit that specializes in putting firechief epa models. I want the entire set up gone over he seems very educated on these new units and what needs done. Hopefully he comes before the extreme cold comes. Either way a roll of tape has band aided my two hour burn time for now.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

I governed my fire chief with that piece of tape over that small area in the rear of furnace. Firechief asked me to put tape over to see if the fire wood go out. They said it should. It slowed down but still had flame 30mins later. So its pulling air from somewhere. I pulled half the tape off and it worked for almost an entire nights burn time. I'll let you guys know exactly how much tape it takes. They put a rivet in the mechanism so consumers couldn't play with it. As far as I'm concerend this is the only place that we can control the air on this unit. Its kinda like my spinner that lets air in the front door in the prior epa units. I'm sure its different for different outside temps but I'll just have to keep the tape handy and adjust according to weather and chimney draft. I'm assuming that why the old unit had adjustment where you could get to them with out taking things apart. I alsohave a gentlemen coming to my home to go over the entire unit that specializes in putting firechief epa models. I want the entire set up gone over he seems very educated on these new units and what needs done. Hopefully he comes before the extreme cold comes. Either way a roll of tape has band aided my two hour burn time for now.

Any chance you can post some photos of the setup? I am curious how the stove pipe is connected. Also, are you measuring the inside flue temps and or the draft (don’t recall what was mentioned in the prior threads).

 

[JRHAWK9]

I also have a gentlemen coming to my home to go over the entire unit that specializes in putting firechief epa models. I want the entire set up gone over he seems very educated on these new units and what needs done.

Reminds me of a song.....

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[Hounds]

This is prior to taking some of the tape off

 

[Mrpelletburner]

there sending me a new draft box(I think that is what they call it). It’s the black box on the back of the furnace. Depending on how it’s burning the flap lifts up and allows more air into the furnace. They said it’s preset at the factory under certain conditions (72 degrees and some other things.) They think it’s burning to fast and air is indroduced through the box cause it to burn faster. It’s weird bc the unit gets warm and blows off the heat to keep the furnace cool and that’s heating the house. Thermostat stay doesn’t even call for heat which means I should be getting the absolute longest burn time right now. There customer service is top notch and have worked with me better then I expected. Should have the box here Tuesday.

FYI Same response that I just got.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

Received the replacement box today, have not switched out.

Unit throws out a ton of heat until the firebox is down to hot embers. Once the firebox is down to embers the house temp just drops.

 

[maple1]

Not a lot of real heat in embers.

 

[Hounds]

Received the replacement box today, have not switched out.

Unit throws out a ton of heat until the firebox is down to hot embers. Once the firebox is down to embers the house temp just drops.

I’m familiar with this. Shuts down like a steel mill. Party over.

 

[laynes69]

Not a lot of real heat in embers.

I agree! That's where modern furnaces with a good heat exchanger will extract more heat. With our old furnace, output was poor at best on coals.

 

[Mrpelletburner]

ok so I like the furnace and produced great heat. Once I dialed it in alittle bit was getting 12h burn time. Maybe longer but then your really just talking about afew hot coals but usually was enough to start a fire using the draft blower fan. In mid January I actually cracked the front on the furnace. Firechief says there standing by there product and is going to replace my furnace but first wanted to make some changes. They think that it actually cracks during the cool down vs when it’s heating up. They were going to give me one right away but I was worried the same thing would happen again. Overfireing actully voids the warranty but from what I gathered from them they had afew in the field that crack.

My FC1500 has developed a crack, not sure when it cracked, but It does make sense to the short burn times. HY-C had a trip planned to visit and review my setup, as there are no local dealers. Prior to their visit, they had asked if I could remove the panels and inspect the unit. This is when I discovered the crack (this was Super Bowl Sunday). I immediately sent an email to my contact at HY-C and 15mins later, received an email back (remember this was on a Sunday).

 

[maple1]

That's kind of a nasty looking crack.

 

[brenndatomu]

That's kind of a nasty looking crack.

Yeah, especially considering its less than 1 YO...wonder if HY-C still thinks that you don't hafta control your chimney draft?