I have moved into a house with a Buck Stove 36ZC fireplace in the basement. The home was built in 1994, and I think the Buck Unit was produced/installed in 1995 or 1997. I ordered propane, and it would not light. I then had it serviced and was told it was most likely a shot gas valve.
We had the opportunity to get tapped into natural gas, so I figured I'd replace the dead propane burner. I managed to find out that Buck would trade me a new burner for a good price if I sent them the non working burner base. So, here I am with a working natural gas base.
When I put my original logs on it the pilot would get "sucked out" when the thermostat temp was satisfied. I sent some pictures to Buck and they said that the logs were not correct for the burner base they sent me. I ordered a set of logs from them.
With the correct logs it is harder to light, and once it lights there is a lot of turbulence on the ODS pilot. It shuts off within a few minutes, but with no logs it runs much much better. Still turbulence, but runs cycles successfully. Since I've been playing around with this for a few weeks I haven't really tried to let it on and let it run more than a few hours. So I can't confirm that the pilot would stay lit indefinitely.
The room the fireplace is in roughly 16x19, there is a doorway to a bathroom, and a doorway to the rest of the basement, and the stairs. No fresh air other than what comes down the steps. We keep the doors open at the top of the steps, and the one going into the room with the 36ZC. The oil boiler is in a room with a closed door on the opposite side of the basement.
Is the ODS doing its job or is the Buck burner just a poor design? I don't understand why the logs being on the burner base make it impossible to use, but it works good without them.
Sorry for the long back story - thought it might be helpful.
Thanks in advance
Tylan
We had the opportunity to get tapped into natural gas, so I figured I'd replace the dead propane burner. I managed to find out that Buck would trade me a new burner for a good price if I sent them the non working burner base. So, here I am with a working natural gas base.
When I put my original logs on it the pilot would get "sucked out" when the thermostat temp was satisfied. I sent some pictures to Buck and they said that the logs were not correct for the burner base they sent me. I ordered a set of logs from them.
With the correct logs it is harder to light, and once it lights there is a lot of turbulence on the ODS pilot. It shuts off within a few minutes, but with no logs it runs much much better. Still turbulence, but runs cycles successfully. Since I've been playing around with this for a few weeks I haven't really tried to let it on and let it run more than a few hours. So I can't confirm that the pilot would stay lit indefinitely.
The room the fireplace is in roughly 16x19, there is a doorway to a bathroom, and a doorway to the rest of the basement, and the stairs. No fresh air other than what comes down the steps. We keep the doors open at the top of the steps, and the one going into the room with the 36ZC. The oil boiler is in a room with a closed door on the opposite side of the basement.
Is the ODS doing its job or is the Buck burner just a poor design? I don't understand why the logs being on the burner base make it impossible to use, but it works good without them.
Sorry for the long back story - thought it might be helpful.
Thanks in advance
Tylan
