Increase ventilation for wet wood??

[maple1]

Some things are hard or impossible to fix over the net. Without actually being there and seeing. This might be one of those. Sounds like something fundamental is wrong. Any way to get the prior owner in for a look? Or post around locally for anyone with the same boiler to look. Or start with the closest dealer you can find.

 

[LauraLL]

@Poindexter the detail here is fantastic. Thanks so much.

The house is large, old, and I reckon pretty badly insulated. We're planning on only keeping a small part of the house warm (although we certainly ain't expecting to be comfortable in a t-shirt) and boosting with the wood stove.
75% of our 18m3 stack is now at home, all of which is raised up on pallets and covered on the top. We are very lucky that we have masses of space and the previous renters left behind lots of roofing sheets which we can use for cover. We're also stacking them so the open sides of the stack get max sunlight. Either the cut splits are inside the furnace room, a shed (away from the walls and with one side of the shed open), or stacked outside, raised up and covered on top. The other 25% is still out in the forest which we haven't been able to get home yet (transport is an issue for us atm). There are some wet guys at the bottom there which as you say we can't expect to use for some time.

Good to know about the beech. And that we will need to keep busy :D

 

[LauraLL]

@maple1 Makes sense. So many variables! Yes, I'll see if he can come by/contact dealer.

 

[Ashful]

@maple1 beat me to the point, in that short of taking up a collection to send @sloeffle over to Denmark, I don't think we're going to solve this problem quickly enough to save you from some cold nights in the next few days. You had mentioned using the same service tech as the prior owner, so if prior owner isn't available, maybe have them come evaluate how you're operating the thing?

The smaller wood all sounds good. Heck, everything but those 25% logs sounds pretty good. Even mixed 19% ± 3% splits are plenty good, assuming your measurements aren't all off.

My partner is even insisting that these values are artificially high as he thinks the meter isn't calibrated properly (based on comparisons with wooden furniture and values we got from a previous meter that broke). I can't believe in that though!

Furniture or lumber in an unheated garage should be measuring teens %, look up Equilibrium Moisture Content for your locale and month, the data is out there. Furniture in a heated space will be much lower, depending on heating, but likely (and unpredictably) under 10%.

... so much tar/creosote/soot and condensate was being produced. As in when I opened the lower section to clean behind the furnace every 2 to 3 days, liquid came gushing out each time...

Just to be clear, liquid from combustion, not a boiling-over hydronic heating system?

@Ashful thanks for the tips for making a manometer. It would be great to have these pieces of kit and thermometer etc

Do you have a target value for draft? Depending on the number a tube full of water might be accurate enough, such that you don't have to worry about finding a low-weight liquid.

I reckon... we certainly ain't...

You say you're from Denmark?!? Sounds like Pennsylvanian, to me.