Charmaster wood furnace

[Greenhornet2]

Hello all. I am trying to get some information and nobody really seems to know anything about these things. I bought this house 2 years ago and it has a charmaster furnace. It has an oil burner in the side which is what I've used to heat for the last 2 years and it has worked fine. 2100sqft house and I used around 800 gallons of oil. Well with oil at $5/gallon I decided to see how the wood portion would work today. I got the fire going no problem. I have 2 thermostats in the wall so I assumed one was for the oil one for the wood. I left the oil one off. Well once the fire got hot the blower kicked on. Cool. Now I started checking temps at the stove pipe, I left the damper open on the top pipe to get heat in the pipe as it's not too cold and didn't pan on getting a rip roaring fire going. Well it was about 150 degrees. That's too cool. Looked at the fire and it was barely going, I see that the front door has an air inlet door, it has a chain that's attached to a hook that goes into a little plenum on top of the stove, chain is slack so it just leaves the door closed. So I tighten the turn buckle to keep the air inlet door open about half way. Cool for kicks up got the stove pipe to about 300 degrees. But the blower runs constantly. Also there's a draft pipe by the chimney so the pipe is much cooler by the chimney. So a few questions.
Is the blower supposed to run constantly when burning wood? It didn't on the oil side.
Is that air inlet door supposed to be automatically controlled?
What temp is good for the stove pipe, should I close the damper force the exhaust to the lower pipe and give it more air to get it hotter?
I had a wood stove at my parents when I was a kid and am nervous about burning wood don't want to burn the house down and kill anyone.. they had a fire once, not fun. But these oil prices.... rock and hard place.

 

[Greenhornet2]

Lol well that's about the answer I get from everywhere.

 

[Roundgunner]

I guess you are on your own. At the price of oil I would use my next day off to light it up and spend the day with it learning the tricks of it. Sorry, best plan I can give.

 

[brenndatomu]

Ahh...the ole wood oil combo furnace, a machine who's time has come and gone. Too bad nobody stuck around long enough to figure out how to make one work with modern EPA regs...well, I guess SBI still claims to have one coming soon.
Anyways, yes, the blower will run a lot on the wood side...because the fire does not go out when the Tstat is satisfied like it does on the oil side...so since heat is still being made, the blower kicks on at a preset temp to cool the furnace/heat the house. You can change the temps that it kicks on/off at, but no matter how you set it, there is always a compromise involved. Its either going to run all the time, or kick on/off every few minutes (that would be more typical)
Yes, that inlet door should be controlled by the Tstat...and the adjustment is for setting the "idle speed"...have to let the fire have enough air to not go out (or smolder, making tons of creosote (dangerous and inefficient) but slow the fire enough so the house doesn't just overheat all the time...everything is a balance, and these things work better for some people (some houses) than others for sure! Usually the people that like them best have big ole leaky houses with a high heat load....but, they will use a metric buttload of wood too!

Do you have the owners manual for the furnace? I think there are hard to come by now...my neighbor lent me his copy a couple years ago so I could scan it and sent to someone here...I think I still have that file somewhere...maybe...probably?

One thing you need to make sure about is that you have DRY wood...as in actually dry through and through, not just this "seasoned" crap that everybody sells...wood does not dry in log form...and cut/split/stacked for a couple months doesn't cut it either! Hopefully you have a nice stash of CSS'd wood that has been top covered (sides open) for 2-3 years at your disposal...that is the first step for successful heating with wood. You'll want wood that is below 20% moisture content, as measured with a moisture meter when testing a room temp piece that has been freshly split and tested on the fresh split faces...on the ends or outside doesn't mean much, at all!

When you mention these pipe temps, are they on the stove pipe, or the ductwork? If that's ductwork pipe temps that's WAY too hot! 150* is about right really...a normal operating range would probably be 120-130* up to maybe 170*...with 100-200* being the limits.

EDIT: here is the link to that manual for anybody that needs it.

Looking for Charmaster Chalet user manual

Hi, I moved into a house over the summer that has a Charmaster Chalet forced warm air central heating furnace (dual wood and oil). I am excited to use this beast and warm the house with wood. I am looking for the user manual and have searched online but can't find it, does anyone have a pdf...

www.hearth.com

 

[Greenhornet2]

Ahh...the ole wood oil combo furnace, a machine who's time has come and gone. Too bad nobody stuck around long enough to figure out how to make one work with modern EPA regs...well, I guess SBI still claims to have one coming soon.
Anyways, yes, the blower will run a lot on the wood side...because the fire does not go out when the Tstat is satisfied like it does on the oil side...so since heat is still being made, the blower kicks on at a preset temp to cool the furnace/heat the house. You can change the temps that it kicks on/off at, but no matter how you set it, there is always a compromise involved. Its either going to run all the time, or kick on/off every few minutes (that would be more typical)
Yes, that inlet door should be controlled by the Tstat...and the adjustment is for setting the "idle speed"...have to let the fire have enough air to not go out (or smolder, making tons of creosote (dangerous and inefficient) but slow the fire enough so the house doesn't just overheat all the time...everything is a balance, and these things work better for some people (some houses) than others for sure! Usually the people that like them best have big ole leaky houses with a high heat load....but, they will use a metric buttload of wood too!

Do you have the owners manual for the furnace? I think there are hard to come by now...my neighbor lent me his copy a couple years ago so I could scan it and sent to someone here...I think I still have that file somewhere...maybe...probably?

One thing you need to make sure about is that you have DRY wood...as in actually dry through and through, not just this "seasoned" crap that everybody sells...wood does not dry in log form...and cut/split/stacked for a couple months doesn't cut it either! Hopefully you have a nice stash of CSS'd wood that has been top covered (sides open) for 2-3 years at your disposal...that is the first step for successful heating with wood. You'll want wood that is below 20% moisture content, as measured with a moisture meter when testing a room temp piece that has been freshly split and tested on the fresh split faces...on the ends or outside doesn't mean much, at all!

When you mention these pipe temps, are they on the stove pipe, or the ductwork? If that's ductwork pipe temps that's WAY too hot! 150* is about right really...a normal operating range would probably be 120-130* up to maybe 170*...with 100-200* being the limits.

EDIT: here is the link to that manual for anybody that needs it.

Looking for Charmaster Chalet user manual

Hi, I moved into a house over the summer that has a Charmaster Chalet forced warm air central heating furnace (dual wood and oil). I am excited to use this beast and warm the house with wood. I am looking for the user manual and have searched online but can't find it, does anyone have a pdf...

www.hearth.com

Yes I found a scanned version of the manual online. The temps I stated are the stove pipe about 4 inches after the damper. I have been running it for 3 days. The wood side thermostat is not hooked up and the motor to control the air inlet door either does not work or was also not hooked up. So I've been just playing with the door settings manually. Really no way to do it efficiently I find. It's either keep the stove pipe hot to not form creosote and have an 80 degree house, or choke the fire to have a 70 degree house and a 150 degree stove pipe making lots of creosote I'm sure.... I think I am going to run the oil while it's kind of mild and save the wood for jan-march and maybe I'll be able to keep it hot and my house won't be a sauna. I have sips panel 2100sqft and it's a tight house. I've been opening a window and door a few hours a day with this thing running to keep the house cool and get fresh air... but $5/gallon oil makes me sick. I'm getting a heat pump system soon so this will likely be the last year the chimney is used anyway. Thanks for the response!

 

[brenndatomu]

I think I am going to run the oil while it's kind of mild and save the wood for jan-march and maybe I'll be able to keep it hot and my house won't be a sauna

Sounds like a plan

 

[a2zgunther]

I have had a Charmaster Wood/Oil Furnace going on 36 years. Its still working for me, and oil prices being what they are, I keep the wood going in it.

I do buy oil too, use a couple tanks a year plus 5 cord of wood plus a little bit of backup electric basebd- (only very mild days- 1or 2 rooms) before Fall Winter start.

A few lessons learned and some pointers.

Just about everything on the stove/burner is replaceable by another manufacturer or same (of replaceable items)

All the relays and electric at the top panel you can buy online- I dont recall exactly where off hand- but amazon or a Electrical supply store, Excepting the silver Damper motor- mine still works and i bet i could find something similar online.

The burner (Wayne- all those parts replaceable- Electric Motor, Fuel Pump, Igniter electrodes, HI Voltage ignitor box (I use Carlin) the Honeywell thermastat / Safety device on top right of burner.

Yep replaced all of it overtime, the Hi voltage box (Burner Ignitor) on top of the burner that fires the electrode for the burner ignition - thats the 3rd one im on.

The blower Motor, bracket and the Plenum Fan control unit- all replaced. Just finish replacing the motor bracket on blower motor today because it broke and middle of night heard this loud motor screech to halt sound!

So the Baremetric damper- yes it lets too much cold air in, two solutions both not liked by the burner guy- -burner efficiency- I made a cover with double thick aluminum foil and wraped it over opening and used a copper wire(piece of unisnulated ground wire -electrical 14 gu) to tie it around the lip to keep it tight. (you could remove it when you only run oil in spring/early fall or make a clip that prevents damper from opening when using wood- but that still lets some air in)

Finally - when it fell off a few time (foil)- i took the barometric damper out when i replaced the stove flue pipe - the stove pipe to chimney will get fatigued over the years from cleaning/heat.
I've replacedthe stove pipe 4x's. So burner guys don't like it because it doesnt make the draft as good for oil fired operation, but mine works absolutely fine- Efficiency 83-86% i believe and Burner flame looks fine. (open the top damper every time you put would in and open the front damper, for 1-2 mins and youll get very little puff except on non windy warm days.)

As far as creosote- yes- unless you have a good fire going- plenty of hot coals- you will be creating creosote, Use good Hardwood - well dried- 7mos min, a year better.

I get creosote- heres how i handle it

1. I have a stainless steel Chimney liner- The creosote doesnt stick to it hardly(clean up thru when i inspect with mirror- only slight stained) - but empty Chimney Ash cleanout- 2x per yaer- once in mid winter- once for Pre Fall pipe cleanout and stove use (by the way a stainless steel liner- just wrap with hammer side to side at chimney cleanout hole and any loose soot cones down)


2. I put the creosote fighting Rutland or other product on hot coals (not fire) one scoop etc 2 weeks /every day, then drop off to once every 2-3 day or more sometimes (not sure how well it works- i just do it)

3. I dont have that screw setting open much on the door- just barely a crack- and as long as i put wood in it- i get a 10-14" x 28" bed of coals going that will melt your face on cold days with the door open- no creosote But yes on a warmer day off and on wood add- the temp on the stack is low 150-200, maybe 250 hard to control- either run oil on warm days- or just clean the Stove Pipe every year(during a dry summer or early dry fall day) taking it apart and scraping the buil up creosote off with wire brush and chisel scraper. thats what i do.

Its a 4 hour job to dismantel the stove pipe in 3 sections off stove, shovel out ash in the heat exchanger area (use bottom pipe flue outlet stick your arm in there with a ash shovel and scraspe edges to middle then shovel ash out) then i do the pipes, then the chimney cleanout - I get a bucket of ash/creosote (all in bottom of chimney- 1/2 a bucket if i do it mid winter, and one bucket of ash from stove pipe and heat exchanger area ash. I also start the season with a rip roaring fire for a couple days (clean out any residue in stove pipe).

I have ever only had one chimney fire, at it was because i forgot to empty the Chimney cleanout that fall and i beleive some sparks , hot ash floated down and lit the pile in the bottom of the chimney cleanout- it got up to 650 degrees in the chimney (measured by firemens thermal cam) I had thrown an extinguishing flare into the fire box- that killed that fire, but chimney burned from bottom.
This shows the value of the stainless steel liner- as the chimney is single wall- the fire never caused any damage and died out when all the stove openings were closed. (low oxygen)

Im not an expert, nor a Burner guy, or code inspector, and laws vary state to state, I just know what works for me and I am happy with my 36 year old Charmaster stove and its big 30" firebox and large ash pan draw, and oil burner that comes on at around 6AM-7AM when i stoke the overnighter logs in at 10pm. (still coals in the firebox to ignite off the next load of wood at 7-8AM).

3200Sqft house
2 to 2 1/4 tanks of oil used per yr
5 cords of hardwood used per year

 

[CabinFever]

Hello all. I am trying to get some information and nobody really seems to know anything about these things. I bought this house 2 years ago and it has a charmaster furnace. It has an oil burner in the side which is what I've used to heat for the last 2 years and it has worked fine. 2100sqft house and I used around 800 gallons of oil. Well with oil at $5/gallon I decided to see how the wood portion would work today. I got the fire going no problem. I have 2 thermostats in the wall so I assumed one was for the oil one for the wood. I left the oil one off. Well once the fire got hot the blower kicked on. Cool. Now I started checking temps at the stove pipe, I left the damper open on the top pipe to get heat in the pipe as it's not too cold and didn't pan on getting a rip roaring fire going. Well it was about 150 degrees. That's too cool. Looked at the fire and it was barely going, I see that the front door has an air inlet door, it has a chain that's attached to a hook that goes into a little plenum on top of the stove, chain is slack so it just leaves the door closed. So I tighten the turn buckle to keep the air inlet door open about half way. Cool for kicks up got the stove pipe to about 300 degrees. But the blower runs constantly. Also there's a draft pipe by the chimney so the pipe is much cooler by the chimney. So a few questions.
Is the blower supposed to run constantly when burning wood? It didn't on the oil side.
Is that air inlet door supposed to be automatically controlled?
What temp is good for the stove pipe, should I close the damper force the exhaust to the lower pipe and give it more air to get it hotter?
I had a wood stove at my parents when I was a kid and am nervous about burning wood don't want to burn the house down and kill anyone.. they had a fire once, not fun. But these oil prices.... rock and hard place.

View attachment 302808 View attachment 302809 View attachment 302810

Hello, I saw your posting about a Charmaster dual furnace. We also just acquired one with the house we just bought. How have you made out with it? Id be interested in any pointers you may have as we've had a boiler man her;ping to figure it out. Our furnace burns an extreme amount of oil (1/2 a tank in 5 weeks) and we want to shift to wood, however unclear on how the transfer from oil to wood occurs given that there is oil in the tank etc. Any information would be helpful - thanks in advance. (grateful to whomever posted the manual!)

 

[brenndatomu]

Hello, I saw your posting about a Charmaster dual furnace. We also just acquired one with the house we just bought. How have you made out with it? Id be interested in any pointers you may have as we've had a boiler man her;ping to figure it out. Our furnace burns an extreme amount of oil (1/2 a tank in 5 weeks) and we want to shift to wood, however unclear on how the transfer from oil to wood occurs given that there is oil in the tank etc. Any information would be helpful - thanks in advance. (grateful to whomever posted the manual!)

Make sure the heat exchanger is clean, that will affect efficiency with oil or wood. Those machines would make some heat, but they are hungry beasts too.