Boiler filling (wood) and other questions

[Borjawil]

So just installed an indoor wood boiler in my new polebarn. It's an energy king ekb480? The ek series has a 6" flue, where as mine has a 8" hole in the back. I'm using it to heat in floor PEX lines. 3 loops, 300ft each. Tried running gpm on each line at 3 but have since lowered to 1.5 to see if things change for the better.

But I've read not to fill it more than 1/4 of the way full. I'm assuming this mean 1/4 of the entire burning chamber.

1) why not fill more? If I filled it 1/4 if the way I'd have to refill 3-4 times a day.

2) its been 12-30 degrees here. I haven't been able to heat my barn. Psi is 10 on the gauge. Temps stay around 120-160. Pump kicks on at 140-150 and temps drop to 120-130.

3) I understand I need to establish a coal bed. Seems my grate at the bottom could he letting coals fall through? Or they're just burning up. Is there a few day/week period of getting things built up/heated up?

Really struggling here.

 

[Tonty]

How long have you been firing your boiler? It can take a couple of days to heat up the concrete. What temp is the water going into the floor, and again coming out? Is your shed well insulated? I would understand that you don’t have storage in your system? I don’t know anything about the brand of boiler you run, but I would think you should be able to fill the firebox all the way up. Hopefully someone else on here runs that kind.
I run 100* water into my house floor, and right now my house is 76*. It gone down to 3* with a wind chill of -15* last night, and the high temp today was 10*.
I run 70*-80* water in my garage floor, and it stays around 60-65 on a day like today. But their are huge variables here, like how well the dwelling is insulated, how well the concrete is insulated, if the concrete was warm to start with, etc. Any info you have down those lines could help.

 

[maple1]

You have lots of insulation under your floor?

Edit: you fire any wood burner to match demand. If you are only filling it 1/4 full and it can't meet demand, then you need to put more wood to it.

 

[Bad LP]

Does the boiler have thermo protection?

 

[gthomas785]

I would gradually increase the size of the loads while keeping an eye on the water and stack temps each time until you're familiar with it. If you're running 130 degree water now I dont see a reason not to push it harder. If you were hitting 210 then different story.