Heat Transfer Analysis Needed

[smwilliamson]

Ok, I need help. I've got a stove that was purchased new that isn't heating a 14x14 room very well. So, they swapped it out for a new stove thinking something was wrong with the first stove. Same thing. So, the stove dealer is asking me to go out and perform a transfer analysis to see what's up. Anyone have any clue how to do this?? *srcatching my head*

 

[Don2222]

Hello
what kind of stove? Does it have an oak? What kind of pellts was used?

 

[jtakeman]

Scott, I think he means heat loss analysis. Pretty sure you would need a very pricey Flir camera to do it correctly. Seeing how much the house looses heat and what it would take to comp for the heat loss. If the house is drafty/not tight. It may require a stove upgrade(MORE BTU'S) to control the house's overall heat loss.

You may be able to use one of the heat loss calculators on the web. But your going to have to plug lots of numbers in. Also measure what the shack has for pink stuff in it. Window condition ect ect! It won't be perfect but close is good enough.

Google is a good friend. Heat loss calculator should get some hits.

 

[The Radiator]

Scott, it sounds like they should have you do an installation examination first to see if it is even hooked up right. A lot of times a visual is worth a thousand words. Slant fin boiler used to have a downloadable heat loss calculation software set up for boilers/hydronic baseboard, it was free. Using it you can figure out the btu's for the space.

 

[Lousyweather]

Scott, it sounds like they should have you do an installation examination first to see if it is even hooked up right. A lot of times a visual is worth a thousand words. Slant fin boiler used to have a downloadable heat loss calculation software set up for boilers/hydronic baseboard, it was free. Using it you can figure out the btu's for the space.

I think Scott is adept enough to have already checked this.......also sounds like the dealer is at a loss as well.......I wonder if you can simply check surface temps of a "good" heating stove with a infrared thermometer, then check the unit in the house, and compare the numbers?

 

[smwilliamson]

I don't want to say who makes the stove or who is calling me to do the analysis...sorry to be so secret.

I do know that it is hooked up to a masonry chimney. There is no laws in NH saying that it has to be lined so I'm thinking that it may be pulling too much draft, not sure. I do know that they house is very old but apparently was refitted with blown in insulation this past summer. I haven't been there yet.

The dealer that is selling the stove basically wants me to go out to the house and find out why a stove rated to heat 2200 sqft isn'r heating up 300 sqft.

Who knows. I'm going to check out the stove itself and find out how much heat it is throwing out and at what temp. I should be able to tell pretty quickly whether the stove is undersized,

We'll see. I check into the heat loss calculator too.

 

[The Radiator]

Scott, I checked on the Slant Fin site and couldn't find the calculation software anymore. I do have it on cd and just made you a copy. I'll send it to you in the mail. I think you will find it useful. They used to give them to people in the trade at the supply house. Is 579 Tremont St the correct address? Also, I think you might be correct with the draft. They must be heating the house with a furnace/boiler which could be warming the whole chimney creating more draft in the liner the pellet stove is in. It could be pulling the heat from the stove if the damper plate area wasn't blanked off right too. Good luck.

Roger--

 

[jtakeman]

I don't want to say who makes the stove or who is calling me to do the analysis...sorry to be so secret.

I do know that it is hooked up to a masonry chimney. There is no laws in NH saying that it has to be lined so I'm thinking that it may be pulling too much draft, not sure. I do know that they house is very old but apparently was refitted with blown in insulation this past summer. I haven't been there yet.

The dealer that is selling the stove basically wants me to go out to the house and find out why a stove rated to heat 2200 sqft isn'r heating up 300 sqft.

Who knows. I'm going to check out the stove itself and find out how much heat it is throwing out and at what temp. I should be able to tell pretty quickly whether the stove is undersized,

We'll see. I check into the heat loss calculator too.

I just wonder what pellet is in the hopper as well?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I don't want to say who makes the stove or who is calling me to do the analysis...sorry to be so secret.

I do know that it is hooked up to a masonry chimney. There is no laws in NH saying that it has to be lined so I'm thinking that it may be pulling too much draft, not sure. I do know that they house is very old but apparently was refitted with blown in insulation this past summer. I haven't been there yet.

The dealer that is selling the stove basically wants me to go out to the house and find out why a stove rated to heat 2200 sqft isn'r heating up 300 sqft.

Who knows. I'm going to check out the stove itself and find out how much heat it is throwing out and at what temp. I should be able to tell pretty quickly whether the stove is undersized,

We'll see. I check into the heat loss calculator too.

Scott the best heat loss calculator I've seen is on builditsolar. You'll need a boat load of figures in order to use it correctly.

If the stove has a really, really good natural draft, a good portion of the heat it is producing is going up the flue. You can mitigate that by closing the damper (hopefully you'll have enough play in order to do it).

 

[Don2222]

Hello Scott

I have my Avalon Astoria 45k BTU stove rated for 2,200 SqFt also going into a Masonry Chimney in my Basement. The chimney has a 8x8 flue with a clay flue liner. However before I used it I did a few hours of research and talked to quite a few people because from what I understand, the chimney can be too high for a pellet stove which likes only 5 foot high pellet pipe. So finally on the web I found something that said it should not be more that 25 - 30 feet. My chimney is about that high from the basement and I finally talked to a pellet stove salesman that also had his hooked up to a chimney of the same height. This finally made me at ease about the whole issue and I bought my Avalon with the 4" flue and got a 8 - 4 inch adapter to hook into the same spot as my old Extra Large Vermont Castings Consolidated Dutch West Federal Design Wood/Coal stove!

So the end result is that it works great! It heats the whole 2,000 sq ft house upstairs and down in the basement with ease usually on a heat setting of 3 or less out of 6.

If the masonry chimney is taller or wider, then there may be a problem and maybe a metal flue liner is needed. As a matter of fact, I was just watching Holmes on Holmes last night and the wood fireplace had a problem where the smoke backed up and came out into the room! The problem was the irregular stone flue with jagged edges inside that kept the smoke from properly evacuating. The solution was a metal flue liner That Mike make it right is great! LOL

Well hope this info is of some help and good luck. I am sure you will find the issue and it may be very obvious like a big open window!

See pic of my pellet flue behind my Taco 007 cartridge circulators that do not get used much any more!!