hello, new to this site----thanks to jeff from maine wood furnaces for telling me about it---he has been a fantastic resource for me even though shipping costs prevented me from buying my appliance from him.
my equipment: harman sf160 add-on wood/coal boiler, 6" hart & cooley all fuel (30' from wall thimble to roof cap) 90 out of unit--4' smoke pipe--90---4' through thimble into "t" and up the 30' to cap.
heating 3000 sq. ft. with baseboard and radiant heat in (4) tile floors, domestic hot water (super store indirect), using 1100 sq. ft. finished bsmnt as a dump zone (30' of slant fin fed by about 80' of copper)
we've had an unseasonably warm winter here in southern nj and i have been burning wood since nov. during the warmer days early on i was keeping the unit smoldering thru the day and letting it roll hot at night when the temps went down. after three weeks, i took apart the smoke pipe and removed the chimeny cap to see how things were going-----about 1/4" of "fuzz" had formed in the smoke pipe and i observed the same in the last segment of all fuel at the chimney cap---no hard scale, just a dry black sooty buildup. i cleaned the smoke pipe and fittings, chimney cap, and firebox and went back at it.
after seeing the buildup that occurred in just 3 weeks of burning, i decided i needed a new strategy. i upped the demand on all my thermostats to 69 or 70 degrees for most of the day, with the last zone clicking down at 2am. every time i went into the garage and saw the air door closed, i would up a zone to make it burn instead of idiling. on 35 plus degree days, i would saturate all the regular zones with heat and at about 11am prop open the thermostatic air door let the fire burn out instead of smolder and just run the dump zone constantly to get rid of the heat, turning the circulators off once the water temp dropped below 140---this seemed to make it easier to light in the evening when the temps went nack down into the 30's or 20's.
my oil and wood all-fuel stacks run up through the center of my house in a framed chase. last thurs. i heard a crackling sound in the wall upstairs that souned like popcorn popping or pine burning on a campfire. i went outside to see my framed chimney tower on fire---burnt into the attic and upstairs bedroom via the framed chase and falling embers.
the wood i have been burning i mostly oak and was split in august of last summer, but was sitting in rounds for two years prior. after reading some similar topics, i'm certain wet wood was part of my problem---some of it was pretty rotted maple that had been cut/split for a long time, but seemed to wick moisture out of the air. possibly too small of a flu pipe @ 6", and not the best open style flue cap. additionally, the flue cap was only about 6" above the tower cap. the tower was vynil sided.
now that the ins. company is involved and we are replacing everything (my h&c all-fuel TDC model was discontinued shortly after we installed it), we are making the following improvements: 7" all fuel from the unit to the roof, with fireproof insulation for the 30' contained in the chase. stone veneer on the chimney tower with a stainless cap. taller, more open mesh caps on the flue pipes, some additional clearance between the flue and the wood framing. flue cap sitting 18" above chimney tower with rain collar added.
what else can help me not have the creosote/soot buildup while still beating the oil company?
with normal winter temps, i was thinking of running my house at about 74 degrees all day to increase the demand on the unit and prevent idiling. additionally, i was thinking about leaving the thermostatic air inlet open starting around 11pm, running the basement dump zone and letting the fire burn down through the night instead of smoldering until demand increases at 6am.
know this--- i have very liberal supply of wood and a 12x22 carport to store it under, it never stays too cold for very long here in nj, i don't work much in the winter so i am available to babysit the unit.
can anyone provide some advice to pevent this from happening again? there were alot of "ifs" that could have resulted in much more damage--so i don't want them to come true.
any help would be appreciated. thanks.
regards, mike
my equipment: harman sf160 add-on wood/coal boiler, 6" hart & cooley all fuel (30' from wall thimble to roof cap) 90 out of unit--4' smoke pipe--90---4' through thimble into "t" and up the 30' to cap.
heating 3000 sq. ft. with baseboard and radiant heat in (4) tile floors, domestic hot water (super store indirect), using 1100 sq. ft. finished bsmnt as a dump zone (30' of slant fin fed by about 80' of copper)
we've had an unseasonably warm winter here in southern nj and i have been burning wood since nov. during the warmer days early on i was keeping the unit smoldering thru the day and letting it roll hot at night when the temps went down. after three weeks, i took apart the smoke pipe and removed the chimeny cap to see how things were going-----about 1/4" of "fuzz" had formed in the smoke pipe and i observed the same in the last segment of all fuel at the chimney cap---no hard scale, just a dry black sooty buildup. i cleaned the smoke pipe and fittings, chimney cap, and firebox and went back at it.
after seeing the buildup that occurred in just 3 weeks of burning, i decided i needed a new strategy. i upped the demand on all my thermostats to 69 or 70 degrees for most of the day, with the last zone clicking down at 2am. every time i went into the garage and saw the air door closed, i would up a zone to make it burn instead of idiling. on 35 plus degree days, i would saturate all the regular zones with heat and at about 11am prop open the thermostatic air door let the fire burn out instead of smolder and just run the dump zone constantly to get rid of the heat, turning the circulators off once the water temp dropped below 140---this seemed to make it easier to light in the evening when the temps went nack down into the 30's or 20's.
my oil and wood all-fuel stacks run up through the center of my house in a framed chase. last thurs. i heard a crackling sound in the wall upstairs that souned like popcorn popping or pine burning on a campfire. i went outside to see my framed chimney tower on fire---burnt into the attic and upstairs bedroom via the framed chase and falling embers.
the wood i have been burning i mostly oak and was split in august of last summer, but was sitting in rounds for two years prior. after reading some similar topics, i'm certain wet wood was part of my problem---some of it was pretty rotted maple that had been cut/split for a long time, but seemed to wick moisture out of the air. possibly too small of a flu pipe @ 6", and not the best open style flue cap. additionally, the flue cap was only about 6" above the tower cap. the tower was vynil sided.
now that the ins. company is involved and we are replacing everything (my h&c all-fuel TDC model was discontinued shortly after we installed it), we are making the following improvements: 7" all fuel from the unit to the roof, with fireproof insulation for the 30' contained in the chase. stone veneer on the chimney tower with a stainless cap. taller, more open mesh caps on the flue pipes, some additional clearance between the flue and the wood framing. flue cap sitting 18" above chimney tower with rain collar added.
what else can help me not have the creosote/soot buildup while still beating the oil company?
with normal winter temps, i was thinking of running my house at about 74 degrees all day to increase the demand on the unit and prevent idiling. additionally, i was thinking about leaving the thermostatic air inlet open starting around 11pm, running the basement dump zone and letting the fire burn down through the night instead of smoldering until demand increases at 6am.
know this--- i have very liberal supply of wood and a 12x22 carport to store it under, it never stays too cold for very long here in nj, i don't work much in the winter so i am available to babysit the unit.
can anyone provide some advice to pevent this from happening again? there were alot of "ifs" that could have resulted in much more damage--so i don't want them to come true.
any help would be appreciated. thanks.
regards, mike