It certainly isn't a "life or death" issue but my worst fears have come to pass with the controller's "HEAT" shutdown. Our oil boiler is tied into the primary loop and takes over when the Biomass shuts down, so it's not like we have no heat, however, I feel we are feeding big oil unnecessarily.
It has been -10 to -25 here most nights for the past few weeks with enough wind that the heat load is pushing the max. Problem is that more times than I care to think about this winter (usually in the middle of the night) the load is heavy enough that the "80" struggles to keep up, the controller assumes that the wood has been devoured and shuts it down. I go down to feed the fire at 6:00 AM only to find the dreaded "HEAT" staring at me while the upper chamber is 1/2-3/4 full of charcoled wood, and the oil boiler is humming away, which it has probably been doing since 2:00 AM.
I usually fill for the night at about 9:00 PM and, if temps are -5 or higher, the "80" is still up to temp, cooking away at 6:00 AM. I feed it and get on with the day. It is most annoying that when we need it most the damn thing craps out. I would love to know how to disable the "HEAT" mode, or stretch the timing out another 2 hours (I have it maxed at 4 hrs).
Any suggestions?
Jim
It has been -10 to -25 here most nights for the past few weeks with enough wind that the heat load is pushing the max. Problem is that more times than I care to think about this winter (usually in the middle of the night) the load is heavy enough that the "80" struggles to keep up, the controller assumes that the wood has been devoured and shuts it down. I go down to feed the fire at 6:00 AM only to find the dreaded "HEAT" staring at me while the upper chamber is 1/2-3/4 full of charcoled wood, and the oil boiler is humming away, which it has probably been doing since 2:00 AM.
I usually fill for the night at about 9:00 PM and, if temps are -5 or higher, the "80" is still up to temp, cooking away at 6:00 AM. I feed it and get on with the day. It is most annoying that when we need it most the damn thing craps out. I would love to know how to disable the "HEAT" mode, or stretch the timing out another 2 hours (I have it maxed at 4 hrs).
Any suggestions?
Jim