Wood burning Stove

 

Hello all.  I'm hoping to get some information on making my wood
burning stove more efficient.

I will say that having a wood burner has been wonderful.  The price of
gas is insanely high.  I've been fortunate to have people in my life
who burn wood, and basically set me up.  Unfortunately, those people
have come and gone, so I'm left with some questions...

The specs: I have a wood burner that is connected into my house duct
work.  There is a blower on the back of the wood burner that kicks on
when the burner is up to temperature.  Its really nice; however, I
find that the wood burner tends to eat wood rather than burn it slowly
haha.  I even have the flu somewhat shut, and a very small amount of
air moving through the burner pit.  So I'm not sure what I'm doing
wrong when it comes to burning.

The questions: I wonder if someone might have suggestions on in-line
fans?  I think these exist, just not sure if that is the proper term.
Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

Any suggestions on burning wood more efficiently?  How can I keep my
burner from eating the wood alive!  haha..  That is really
exaggerating, but it does burn through the wood rather quickly.

A link to see my setup. :)

Thank again for any advice!  Looking forward to hearing from you.
http://picasaweb.google.com/muhstuff/WoodBurnerBasment?feat=directlink

 

On 1/2/2010 1:13 AM, papa smurf wrote:

I also burn wood....if you measure the difference in temperature between
the fire box and the flue you can get an idea of the efficiency of your
furnace, this will tell you how well you are using the heat generated.
(any heat not going up the chimney is being used to heat your house, or
to heat the air around the furnace)  On mine I have found that I have to
close the damper entirely, and even then had to much air coming
in....causing fast burning.....had to plug leaks around the fire box
door, making it more airtight.  Controlling the air flow using the
adjustable air inlet on firebox door led to more efficiency and slower
burning. (you have to have enough air flow into the fire box to keep the
flue temperature high enough to prevent condensation, condensation can
lead to fires in the flue, should be cleaned at least yearly, flue
temperature needs to be around 250 to 300F).

Here is link to good article.

http://www.mastersweep.com/CREO.HTM

Do not know about fans.

hope helps....have fun....sno

--
Correct Scientific Terminology:
Hypothesis - a guess as to why or how something occurs
Theory - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
  to be generally assumed to be true.
Law - a hypothesis that has been checked by enough experiments
  in enough different ways that it is assumed to be truer then a theory.
Note: nothing is proven in science, things are assumed to be true.

 



I think you are looking for a "duct booster fan".  A Google search will yield
several options, some quite inexpensive.

Vaughn

 

papa smurf wrote:

Is that an "EPA certified" stove? They generally have catalysts or superheated
air vents along the top of the stove to burn off the unburned gases at the top
of the firebox. They will give significantly more heat from burned wood. If
yours is an older stove, you might want to go look at the more modern stoves and
try yo add this venting to yours. It would probably involve welding steel tube
to form an air passage from an air inlet, around part of the firebox, with tubes
with vent holes at the top.

On my certified fireplace insert (with those air vents), after getting the stove
really hot, it burns best with the air inlet set to the minimum. Most of the
flame will be slow rolling flames at the top of the stove.

 

papa smurf wrote:

Just a thought, but, you are burning hard wood right? (Oak, maple not poplar or
pine)
Cat22