7 below and no zones calling for heat??

[JP11]

I love this wood boiler. In the past, when on oil, the boiler could barely keep up. Now, I can blame a bit of it on the plumber ( I really think I should have had the next bigger buderus) I can take a bit of the blame myself, because I was running about 60% home brew biodiesel. Which throws about 10% less heat than #2.

If it was this cold, the boiler didn't stand a chance. It would literally run 24hrs straight. Never really catching up. The house would be warm, but it would never satisfy all the zones at once.

Last night, I knew it was going to be cold. My tanks were at 190.. but I decided to go ahead and let it idle a bit. I threw a bit over half a firebox full in. So in my wood boiler.. that's probably 75 or 80 pounds of wood.

I woke this morning. Boiler was in idle. Tanks 195 top to bottom. It had been 7 hours. I keep going in and scratching my head looking at the zone valves. Nothing calling for heat. There were a lot of coals. I scraped them up and threw in a couple of sticks (it is my good oak I was running last night. It was all small unsplit rounds I put in. maybe 3 or 4")

I had to walk in again. Still no zones calling. I guess the radiant really does hold the heat well. IF you got something with enough oomph to get it to the temp it's supposed to be.

Happy as can be with my setup.

JP

 

[Fred61]

Wow, it's hot here. Only 1 below. I don't usually look at my boiler in the morning but after reading your post I decided to take a look. I have no visible hot coals in the burn box because I shut her down last night at about 7:45 when the top of storage read 178 degrees. I could have gone higher but that was the temperature when the last stick of wood was burned up. Adding more at that point would have been non productive. The storage temperature is now 149 degrees with only my mudroom calling and the other two thermostats which are set to 70 degrees are not calling for heat.

 

[maple1]

I've gone back to my old habit of heading to the basement when I get up in the morning. But it's not to feed the fire - it's just to do a bit of ash cleanup & kindling making to get ready for the next light up later in the day. And check on temps. I put the last wood in last night around 8pm, and an hour ago my tanks were 180/140 with the kitchen zone doing a morning warm-up. It dropped from -3c to -19c overnight. It's supposed to be sunny today, at least - but frigid for the next few days. So maybe a mid-afternoon lighting. This has been quite a winter so far, some glad I topped up the basement wood pile to overflowing back in November.

And ya, I love this wood boiler. My old combo would have been burning wood & oil at the same times, sometimes, in this weather. Ahh the good old days....

 

[jeffesonm]

Woke up this morning... 30 outside, 60 in the bedroom, 65 in the LR. Jammed the wood stove full. Oil boiler in the basement is off. Going outside to split oak for 2016/2017 while my mind wanders off thinking about primary/secondary piping, manifolds, circulators, dump zones and the EKO in the basement waiting to be hooked up.

 

[flyingcow]

Because of my heat load, i have to start a small fire in the mid morning time. Normally just do one fire between 3 to 4pm. Kinda bums me out, but it's -10f out at 10am with a 10mph wind and the family is home. Got to keep everybody warm. Supposed to be colder the next few days.

But enough belly aching, I too like my set up, a lot quieter than hearing the oil boiler running.

 

[JP11]

Went thru a pallet (just under a third of a cord) in 3 days. Now that's cold out!

Better than hearing that stinking oil boiler roar for 24 hours straight.

JP

 

[BoilerMan]

It's all about BTUs, you can make them with oil and you can make them with wood, or coal, or LP, or NG, or.......cat mummies. As long as you can make at least as much as your building envelope looses at a given temp and wind conditions (which should have NO bearing on heat loss BTW).

TS

 

[JP11]

I guess I just got used to watching the oil boiler 'struggle' to keep up. With 195 degree water.. the zones work as designed, mixing down to 140 or 115 depending on floor of house. The min fan speed on the boiler seems to work good. As cold as it's been.. the boiler likes to loaf along at 193 degrees and storage all charged.

I'm on the road for 6 days. The wife will get the fun of stuffing the boiler a couple times a day for the -20 that's supposedly coming Saturday.

JP

 

[huffdawg]

Woke up this morning... 30 outside, 60 in the bedroom, 65 in the LR. Jammed the wood stove full. Oil boiler in the basement is off. Going outside to split oak for 2016/2017 while my mind wanders off thinking about primary/secondary piping, manifolds, circulators, dump zones and the EKO in the basement waiting to be hooked up.

My wife would go get a hotel room if the bedroom and living room were less then 72?

 

[peakbagger]

I usually fire my boiler once a day, I have standard baseboards so my storage range is only 50 degrees. This morning I lit off the boiler and overheated the house at -6. I expect I will be doing a burn tonight given the -25 forecast.

 

[webie]

Your awfully lucky : I am heating almost 3500 sg ft with five zones , Its -16 and its rare to not see at least one zone running .