Am I babying my insert too much?

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markam said:
I agree completely. As soon as secondary combustion slows/stops in my insert, the temperature in the house starts dropping. I have to feed wood hourly to keep temperatures somewhat steady in the house. I can easily go 8 hours or more without adding wood and start it right up again from the coals, but my house would be cold as hell without the furnace kicking in.
Click to expand...

Im a newbie to inserts and now curious why my set up is setting off alarms bells. Guess I expected this performance was fairly norm. Maybe listing my setup (variables) and some more stats will help comparison?

Yesterday loaded 7:15 AM. Left for work. Came home at 6PM and built a small fire off hot coals to get me to the big fill for the night. Think it was 71 still in main? 10 3/4 hrs.. Not real cold out, maybe 20-22?

Filled er up last night at 10:30 - main house 74*, beds 70*, helper fan in hallway on. Cut the air at 10:50, stove at 650*, blower on 1/2+, helper fan in hallway goes off. Did run 2 of the 3 zones on boiler about 5 mins to make sure pipes wont freeze overnight. First time this year they have been run and it hurt!..

At 6 Am stove 234*, main house 73*, beds 64*. Turn hallway fan back on. Reloaded 8 AM, main house 71*, beds 65*. Left for work at 8:30. 9+ hrs - didnt check outside temps, for sure above 0, maybe 10-13F? Rest assured it was cold...

Osburn 2000 is a 2.4 cu', 75k BTU fire box rated for 750-2100 sq'. Seems fairly well matched to house requirements? Burn about 50% Red Oak and balance other H/W, typically Maple, Ash, Cherry. Oak MC 20-26%. other stuff <18%. Load mostly NS

House is 1920 sq', single level, 7.5' ceilings with pretty open floor plan in main 1/2 (1000sq'), usual hallway and doors for bed 1/2 (920sq'). Lots of insul in attic. 15 year old Anderson windows and doors (except front door is 45 years..). Walls insulated 2x4, Tyvek'd with vinyl siding. Exterior chimney with 15' of insulated liner. Full block off plate and completely insulated FP behind/around insert. I am convinced without this, the duration of heat I experience would be significantly reduced. I do keep it running 24/7 as well.

Cold beer in the fridge
 
Colorado Boy said:
How do you feed wood hourly when the firebox is full and blazing? I have found it best to do smaller loads and reload every 4 to 5 hours. The 2400 puts off lots of heat even after the wood has burned down to coals.
Click to expand...
2000 is same for me..
 
Here's what we have to look forward to tonight:

Lo -15°
RealFeel® -42°Precipitation 61%

2 degrees and dropping on the porch over the wood stack - I say, bring it on! 72 in the living room now!
 
Renjilj said:
Is that a torch and pitchfork I see? I can't fault you for the skepticism, the #'s beg to be questioned some.. Though you did miss the 3rd note about the 5 degree end of the thermometer gets reloads more like 8 hrs. Could prob do 10-12 hrs, but likely would dip into the mid 60's in the house. Too cold...

In the 20's-30 no prob with 10-12 hours heat/reload with mid-upper 70's in main house, 67-70 in beds. Have literally had 82-84 and felt like your eyes were shriveling up. Maybe it's the wood burning gods smiling down on me after procrastinating for 2 years...!

For example, Today in CT was upper 20's out and crazy wind all last night and today(10-25mph). Chills in the singles-teens. Loaded at 6:10 this AM and came home at 6PM to fan still running and stove at 170-180. House at 73, beds 69, and wife complaining it was cold! I only reload when temps dictate. I kid you not.. Way better performance then I ever expected out of this thing.

Someone said it- tons of variables in play from one to another... and arguably temps have been favorable for winter. Haven't really had a cold week like this for a while so I expect to be back closer to 8hr reloads

I did invest the time and effort to fully insulate the liner and the entire FP is Roxul insulated behind the insert with a layer of Durarock between (based on suggestion here). Believe this made the biggest difference in keeping a significant amount of heat in the stove for long periods. Otherwise I can't explain it. Can't even say all the wood is that great. I mix good with ok wood. Splits on the small side. Liner perfectly clean. Ash clean outs 1-2x a week.

I adjusted the thermistor so it keeps the fan running longer. Before this, it would take forever to turn on, and turn off while the stove had more to give. This made a noticeable difference.

I haven't seen less than 71 in main house since it was installed in Oct. The beds do require a fan in hallway if I want to keep them in low 70's. At night they have dropped to 65-68 with fan off. Filled the oil tank in early Sept 189g (when I thought prices were as good as it was gonna get, oh well). The gauge just went to the south side of the halfway mark. I burn about 250-300 gal year for HW..

I have heard from others here with similar performance.
Click to expand...
Renjilj said:
Is that a torch and pitchfork I see? I can't fault you for the skepticism, the #'s beg to be questioned some.. Though you did miss the 3rd note about the 5 degree end of the thermometer gets reloads more like 8 hrs. Could prob do 10-12 hrs, but likely would dip into the mid 60's in the house. Too cold...

In the 20's-30 no prob with 10-12 hours heat/reload with mid-upper 70's in main house, 67-70 in beds. Have literally had 82-84 and felt like your eyes were shriveling up. Maybe it's the wood burning gods smiling down on me after procrastinating for 2 years...!

For example, Today in CT was upper 20's out and crazy wind all last night and today(10-25mph). Chills in the singles-teens. Loaded at 6:10 this AM and came home at 6PM to fan still running and stove at 170-180. House at 73, beds 69, and wife complaining it was cold! I only reload when temps dictate. I kid you not.. Way better performance then I ever expected out of this thing.

Someone said it- tons of variables in play from one to another... and arguably temps have been favorable for winter. Haven't really had a cold week like this for a while so I expect to be back closer to 8hr reloads

I did invest the time and effort to fully insulate the liner and the entire FP is Roxul insulated behind the insert with a layer of Durarock between (based on suggestion here). Believe this made the biggest difference in keeping a significant amount of heat in the stove for long periods. Otherwise I can't explain it. Can't even say all the wood is that great. I mix good with ok wood. Splits on the small side. Liner perfectly clean. Ash clean outs 1-2x a week.

I adjusted the thermistor so it keeps the fan running longer. Before this, it would take forever to turn on, and turn off while the stove had more to give. This made a noticeable difference.

I haven't seen less than 71 in main house since it was installed in Oct. The beds do require a fan in hallway if I want to keep them in low 70's. At night they have dropped to 65-68 with fan off. Filled the oil tank in early Sept 189g (when I thought prices were as good as it was gonna get, oh well). The gauge just went to the south side of the halfway mark. I burn about 250-300 gal year for HW..

I have heard from others here with similar performance.
Click to expand...

Ahh so you're using your furnace to kinda fill in the gaps from time to time. I think that it explains it for me... While I also have a oil furnace back up, I whenever possible will leave it off. I just topped my tank off for the first time in 2 yrs this past summer with a free tank full from a buddy who wanted the tank empty and gone..
 
petes_sakes said:
I could imagine, I cant even put my hand a foot in front of the 2200 air discharge when its got the secondary's going. The 2400 must be a force to reckon with! Does the 2400 have a small air intake at the bottom front of the firebox(right below the center of the door)? My stove has one, it is small, but I have started to stack with sort of a channel on the bottom to let this small air inlet feed the underside of the fire. Its not enough to melt down the stove, but I feel letting that bit of air get to the base of the fire burns the load more evenly.
Click to expand...
Whats this hole is for? I never knew it was there! Well I knew there was an inlet on the inside because the of pipe sticking out but I never knew it was open to the outside, the lip and door hide it perfectly.
I've been battling poor secondary output the last several days despite running it right up to temp and closing it down lkie i have the last yr I've owned.
The manual mentions two holes in the top back corners but says nothing about this front one. Does this front one replace the two back corner ones?
If not, If I remove the entire inside will Ill be able to access these two holes to see if they are clogged up?
 
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Colorado Boy said:
The 2400 is a beast. I have a taller stack so I usuall have good draft. I find I have to shut the air all the way down or the fire burns to fast. There's tons of heat coming out, I mean hot! With softwood if I run the air to open it burns up fast. I will try giving it a little more air to help with burning down the coals. Also I have been loading NS and I like it better.
Click to expand...
Woah, the Osburn 2400 has a 3.2 cubic ft firebox?! That's a monster for a 2400 rated insert. Well, I'm not even mad - I'm kind of impressed...

I've gotten by just fine with my Regency's 2.3 but damn man!
 
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Sledhead00 said:
Whats this hole is for? I never knew it was there! Well I knew there was an inlet on the inside because the of pipe sticking out but I never knew it was open to the outside, the lip and door hide it perfectly.
I've been battling poor secondary output the last several days despite running it right up to temp and closing it down lkie i have the last yr I've owned.
The manual mentions two holes in the top back corners but says nothing about this front one. Does this front one replace the two back corner ones?
If not, If I remove the entire inside will Ill be able to access these two holes to see if they are clogged up?
Click to expand...

I have found better secondaries if the front air intake(to the fire box) has a clear path to take air straight to the back of the stove. If I take 2 small splits and run them parallel about 6inches apart, it makes a channel for the air to travel under the wood. I will then place bigger, more sturdy pieces on top, in a log cabin or cribbing fashion to keep the structure together as long as possible. I feel like this lets heat be generated more evenly in the pile, and brings good super-heated vapor to the pipes on top, lettin' dem things scream! I don't have a clue about the back corner intakes, i'll have to check my manual. I got mine used, so its a good 8 years old(if that matters). I know the 2400 looks different, i'd imagine they have a different internal design. I hope to see one in action some day, but until then, it's hearth.com...
 
Sledhead00 said:
Ahh so you're using your furnace to kinda fill in the gaps from time to time. I think that it explains it for me... While I also have a oil furnace back up, I whenever possible will leave it off. I just topped my tank off for the first time in 2 yrs this past summer with a free tank full from a buddy who wanted the tank empty and gone..
Click to expand...

Not so far. I burn almost 300 gal year just for HW (3 girls in the house)! Wish I could leave it off... T-stats were off until 2 weeks ago and are kept to 62. Did force a short run last night for 10 mins to heat up pipe runs due to freeze concerns in garage. First time it's made "heat" this year.

I need new friends...

Have a safe, and warm, heating season.
 
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