Greetings again.
I have a Superior Furnace, purchased from what must be the defunct company, Ja-Ran, "several" years ago. 10?
It does not seem to keep the house as warm as it used to.
Currently have a control problem; also what should be a more general question about cleaning and maintenance of the furnace and ducts. Might ought to go to two different places in the forums, which I hope someone will tell me.
Way back I heard from someone else with a Superior, who I hope will show up again (and know exactly what to do!)
Cleaning/maintenance
I know I have to clean the exhaust run from the chamber in the furnace, through six or seven feet of galvanized(?) pipe, and then a couple feet more pipe horizontally through the stone basement wall into the bottom of the chimney. Haven't done this in maybe 4 years. Some of the pipe is decayed and needs to be replaced. And I recall the pipe and especially the bottom of the chimney, which is a little well, had a lot of soot collected in them and it made a big difference in airflow.
What I don't know is should I get all the house ducts cleaned, and would that increase the net heat output?
And is that something I can reasonably do myself (doubt that my shop vac will reach far enough or get enough dustcetera out.)
So should I be looking for some kind of company and how do I tell if they are reasonable and do the job well? (Zero experience.) (Yeah, I know how to Google; and I can ask around. Just would like any opinions and info.)
Controls notso controlling
What I can tell you for sure is the thermostat is not turning the heat up or down.
It is new; new wires too, just for the OCD of it.
Thermostat has to be on for the furnace to light; after that it has no effect.
There's also an upper limit switch (which I think of as a thermocouple) and a maintenance timer that cycles 3 min on and 7 min off when no heat is being called for. And switches for the firepot blower and circulation blower. Dunno what else.
I don't quite have this sort of brain ("Dammit, Jim, I'm a musician, not an electrical engineer!") but what I have never done is chart all the combinations of switches and sensors and situations and see if that indicates which component might not be working right.
Manual is pretty sketchy; though there is a wiring diagram.
I burn corn and wood pellets, about a bag to a bag, and don't have to clean slag or ashes out of the firepot too often as long as I keep the ratio and stir the stuff up. There are no controls for speed of fuel feed, or dampers for firepot air (other than switch settings for "start" --- fan on all the time; and "run" --- fan on when heat is called for, I guess.
And that is about the size of it. All advice and analysis will be appreciated.
TIA,
denno
I have a Superior Furnace, purchased from what must be the defunct company, Ja-Ran, "several" years ago. 10?
It does not seem to keep the house as warm as it used to.
Currently have a control problem; also what should be a more general question about cleaning and maintenance of the furnace and ducts. Might ought to go to two different places in the forums, which I hope someone will tell me.
Way back I heard from someone else with a Superior, who I hope will show up again (and know exactly what to do!)
Cleaning/maintenance
I know I have to clean the exhaust run from the chamber in the furnace, through six or seven feet of galvanized(?) pipe, and then a couple feet more pipe horizontally through the stone basement wall into the bottom of the chimney. Haven't done this in maybe 4 years. Some of the pipe is decayed and needs to be replaced. And I recall the pipe and especially the bottom of the chimney, which is a little well, had a lot of soot collected in them and it made a big difference in airflow.
What I don't know is should I get all the house ducts cleaned, and would that increase the net heat output?
And is that something I can reasonably do myself (doubt that my shop vac will reach far enough or get enough dustcetera out.)
So should I be looking for some kind of company and how do I tell if they are reasonable and do the job well? (Zero experience.) (Yeah, I know how to Google; and I can ask around. Just would like any opinions and info.)
Controls notso controlling
What I can tell you for sure is the thermostat is not turning the heat up or down.
It is new; new wires too, just for the OCD of it.
Thermostat has to be on for the furnace to light; after that it has no effect.
There's also an upper limit switch (which I think of as a thermocouple) and a maintenance timer that cycles 3 min on and 7 min off when no heat is being called for. And switches for the firepot blower and circulation blower. Dunno what else.
I don't quite have this sort of brain ("Dammit, Jim, I'm a musician, not an electrical engineer!") but what I have never done is chart all the combinations of switches and sensors and situations and see if that indicates which component might not be working right.
Manual is pretty sketchy; though there is a wiring diagram.
I burn corn and wood pellets, about a bag to a bag, and don't have to clean slag or ashes out of the firepot too often as long as I keep the ratio and stir the stuff up. There are no controls for speed of fuel feed, or dampers for firepot air (other than switch settings for "start" --- fan on all the time; and "run" --- fan on when heat is called for, I guess.
And that is about the size of it. All advice and analysis will be appreciated.
TIA,
denno
