St Croix Revolution newbe

[juandigital]

I will keep you guys posted on how it works. The fan will take about a week to get here. ;-)

 

[hossthehermit]

I will post a pic later tonight. We took our time wrapping it, so I think it looks OK.

What did you use , fiberglass?, or foam? just wonderin'?

 

[maacac]

The attached is fiberglass duct insulation. I got it at Home Depot. It has a silver backing as you can see from the attached.

 

[hossthehermit]

Poofy!!

 

[gilandjoy]

As long as it works! I'm like hossthehermit I don't care about heat loss in my basement.

 

[gilandjoy]

maacac, I did listen to you about checking air circulating back through my furnace and found that the duct to the humidifier was open. I closed the shutoff so it wasn't going backwards into the return air.THANKS........more through the registars now too......

 

[maacac]

I'm glad that helped.

What is everyone doing about a humidifier with the pellet furnace. I also have a humidifier that is attached to the propane furnace which ran with the furnace ran.

With the pellet furnace, I am wondering about the need to get some moisture in the air this winter.

 

[gilandjoy]

My wife is leaving the door open when she showers......wuh hooo :bug:

 

[hossthehermit]

My wife is leaving the door open when she showers......wuh hooo :bug:

Protocol requires that pics be posted for helpful hints

 

[gilandjoy]

I guess I have to follow protocol.....

 

[hossthehermit]

Tastefully done, I must say

 

[hossthehermit]

Raw and windy here today, for the first time I got to try my normal after work routine on the Revolution while it was running. Normally it's been cold, only comes on after midnight, and shuts down soon after it gets daylight. Wife kicked the 'stat up a bit today to take the chill off. Learned a couple things.
1. When you clean the heat exchanger tubes, wear gloves, Those little handles get hot. Gonna see if I can rig up some bigger knobs for the scraper, anyway, they're hard to hang on to with my arthritic paws.
2. Glass wipes off easier when it's hot, but the wipings seem a bit greasier and darker, may need to open the draft a bit.
3. Kinda cool to see it running when it first comes on at program 3, every time it starts at midnight I wake up and think I should go down cellar and check it out, but , nahhh.

Just wanted to share a fun afternoon.

 

[hossthehermit]

I'm glad that helped.

What is everyone doing about a humidifier with the pellet furnace. I also have a humidifier that is attached to the propane furnace which ran with the furnace ran.

With the pellet furnace, I am wondering about the need to get some moisture in the air this winter.

Don't know if there's a need in my case, don't see why it should be any drier with pellets than it was with oil. Time will tell, I guess, I may have to drink more, but so be it.

 

[hossthehermit]

I also had concerns about the amount of air coming out of the vents. It think we have all learned that the air will be less than what we had been used to. But I was still concerned. One thing I had to correct was the warm air coming from the revolution into the duct work was recirculating back through my propane furnace and not all going into the duct work. I ended up making a homemade backdraft preventer that I can slide into the plenem on the ductwork so the revolution heat can only go up and not back thru the propane furnace.

If you haven't already, I would make sure that not too much warm air is going back thru your existing furnace.

Currently working on a design to put in a damper on mine, want to make it sorta like a regular stove pipe damper, but will have to swivel at the side of the duct so that I can flip it down to block off the oil furnace plenum, or up to block the duct from the Revolution, don't think it will be difficult, just want to do it right when I do it.

 

[maacac]

It is like a new toy when it first starts to run more consistently!!

Please let us know how the damper you rig up for the plenum works out when you get it done.

 

[gilandjoy]

Do you guys have a reverse damper in the outgoing pipe above the revolution? I have one to keep the forced air furnace from blowing back into the revolution but,I still am not sure if I can run the gas furnace and the rev at the same time???? Any thoughts?

 

[juandigital]

revo, im not sure what you mean by reverse damper, I have a standard style damper on the warm air round duct coming out of the revolution right before it hits the existing plenum. Its the type you see on round duct work, with a lever to open or close. Then to close off the exsisting furnace, I have a home guillotine style damper that is just a piece of sheetmetal cut to size that slides into the airway right about my A/C coil. I also isolated the cold air returns by sliding in a piece of cardboard into slot where the filter goes. Its cheap, easy and effective. As for my booster fan experiment, it seems to work ok, Honestly I was hoping for alot more hot air out of the registers. Its been quite warm since I installed the booster fan so its hard to compare.

 

[gilandjoy]

My reverse damper is at the beginning of my 12" hot air duct right out of the Revolution. It is hinged in the middle and only folds up so no air can reverse down it from my gas forced air. My original thought was that it takes away from air coming through my vents because it has to push open the damper.? I can reach up inside when cleaning to test it. It works easy enough but any resistance is not a plus for air velocity.

 

[maacac]

I too have a similar setup as Juan. The backdraft preventer I put in just before the revolution warm air duct enters the the plenum will open when the revolution is on and close when the propane furnace is on. I also have a similar piece of sheet metal I slide in just above the ac coil to ensure that the warm air from the revolution does not recycle back through the propane furnace. With my set up, I could not run both furnaces at the same time.

 

[maacac]

Revo,

The picture you attached looks like the same thing I installed. I don't think that it will restrict the air flow much if any.

 

[hossthehermit]

Gave mine a thorough cleaning today in prep for next week's predicted cold wave. Baffle plate is a bit of a pain to get back in, but next time will be easier, got it all done, my son showed up with a friend, wanted to see it, fired it up for them, drove us out of the house with the heat, it's a guy thing. (Son and his friend are in their 30's, just came in from deer huntin' in the rain) . 50's here today, but lows in the 20's predicted next week, hi's in the 30's

 

[maacac]

What all are you doing when you do the major cleaning?

 

[hossthehermit]

What all are you doing when you do the major cleaning?

I just follow the manual.
Remove big front cover.
Give the glass a good cleaning, damp paper towel and a little ash, wipe w/dry papertowel.
Dump the ash pan.
Drag the the Rigid wet/dry w/ hepa filter over
Vac accumulated ash around burnpot, pull the shields and stick vac hose in there. Put shields back on
Remove baffle plate, vac that and inside heat exchanger.
groan to wife that I skun my knuckles getting baffle plate out, make a drink, have a smoke.
Replace baffle plate.
Remove little flapper behind ash pan, stick vac hose in there.
Remove little side cover, flip switch to rotate burnpot, scrape a little, vac. Repeat x 3, get 'em all. Replace little side cover.
Remove caps from cleanout tees, run brush in and out, vac. Replace caps.
groan to wife that I skun knuckles on other hand, make a drink, have a smoke.
Replace ash pan
Replace big front cover.
Puff out chest, beat w' fists, do Tarzan thing.
Remove big front cover.
remove ash pan, replace little flapper, replace ash pan.

Just like it sez in the book

 

[gilandjoy]

Yeah ,what he said.........I've done it all already a couple times except for rotating the burnpot.....oooopps

 

[hossthehermit]

Yeah ,what he said.........I've done it all already a couple times except for rotating the burnpot.....oooopps

First time I've done that, pretty straightforward, first time removing baffle, too, gotta watch it putting baffle back in, make sure it's in the slots. Watch yer knuckles.