Look at this abomination of an installation.
The rear vent stove pipe makes a 90 degree bend the the right, goes through a long length of nearly horizontal pipe, and then another 90 degree bend into the chimney (where it obviously has to turn 90 degrees upward).
This is actually significantly BETTER than it was, because yesterday during temperatures approaching -20 F (-29 C) I had to disconnect this train wreck and clean out about 6 gallons of creosote (furnace was pouring smoke into the basement through the air intake!). This required dissembling much of the pipe for access. I reconnected it with at least a bit of incline. Previously it was completely horizontal and even had downhill dips in places.
This is a wood/oil combination furnace (Napoleon HMF 150).
Every single thing on this install was either wrong or done to such a low standard it is comical. After we moved in, I noticed what appeared to be lightning bolts across my kitchen floor. I thought I was imagining it. But it would happen periodically. I thought it was some sort of static electricity.
One day I flipped the power switch to the furnace on, and my wife in the kitchen screamed. I found the source of the arcing. I replaced the switch and the electrical wiring to the furnace.
My control box on the oil burner fried three times. The first time, this happened while we were away and the entire house froze. Luckily I turned off my water pump and drained the water so we did not have broken pipes. Furnace repair guy changed the control module.
Then sometimes I would touch the handle to the door to load wood and electrocute myself. But only sometimes. These geniuses did not connect the ground to the stove, despite it being grounded electrical wire to the stove! That would have saved me some shocks. Also there was some incorrect wiring that I corrected.
This in combination with a malpositioned igniter was the source of the problem. The shocks and arcing were happening only when the furnace was trying (unsuccessfully) to fire. Anyway, I have fixed the oil burner, but this gives some idea of what we are dealing with.
The fan limit switches were set completely wrong, causing short cycling (now fixed)
The oil and wood thermostats were wired incorrectly (this is very difficult to screw up, yet they did)
The duct work is terrible. They smashed through an old load bearing wall on this old 1800's house to put it in, and now my dining room floorboards lack support in some areas.
The air control does not work. It was apparently damaged in installation. The wood thermostat is supposed to open and close the air intake with a servo. I have to lock it in the open position (as is done in emergency situations of power outage). Normally one has to be careful because there is potential for overfiring. But not with this stove. There is so little draft, that I need to keep the air open all the time. Additionally, I need to open the ash pan to some degree to get enough air to burn.
The stove smokes into the basement.... unless it is burning well land hot, in which case we get only a small amount of smoke pushing back into the basement.
I am using wood stoves, so that I do not need to rely on this furnace. It is clearly a bad situation for wood burning. What about the oil burning side? Is that more or less demanding (and more or less dangerous) than the wood burning? Since the oil burner vents with some degree of pressure, will it push the exhaust out the chimney?
Even though I will mostly be using wood stoves upstairs, I need something as a backup and for when I am out of town. I think I would like to do a boiler and radiators. I am tired of the dust and noise. Is this current furnace going to be useful for anything? The basement generally doesn't need heating, but in the cold winters it needs to be kept at 40 or 50 degrees, and I wonder if it might be useful to have the furnace blow directly into the basement during those occasional times, using the oil burner.
Of course the biggest issue with it is venting.
Thank you.
The rear vent stove pipe makes a 90 degree bend the the right, goes through a long length of nearly horizontal pipe, and then another 90 degree bend into the chimney (where it obviously has to turn 90 degrees upward).
This is actually significantly BETTER than it was, because yesterday during temperatures approaching -20 F (-29 C) I had to disconnect this train wreck and clean out about 6 gallons of creosote (furnace was pouring smoke into the basement through the air intake!). This required dissembling much of the pipe for access. I reconnected it with at least a bit of incline. Previously it was completely horizontal and even had downhill dips in places.
This is a wood/oil combination furnace (Napoleon HMF 150).
Every single thing on this install was either wrong or done to such a low standard it is comical. After we moved in, I noticed what appeared to be lightning bolts across my kitchen floor. I thought I was imagining it. But it would happen periodically. I thought it was some sort of static electricity.
One day I flipped the power switch to the furnace on, and my wife in the kitchen screamed. I found the source of the arcing. I replaced the switch and the electrical wiring to the furnace.
My control box on the oil burner fried three times. The first time, this happened while we were away and the entire house froze. Luckily I turned off my water pump and drained the water so we did not have broken pipes. Furnace repair guy changed the control module.
Then sometimes I would touch the handle to the door to load wood and electrocute myself. But only sometimes. These geniuses did not connect the ground to the stove, despite it being grounded electrical wire to the stove! That would have saved me some shocks. Also there was some incorrect wiring that I corrected.
This in combination with a malpositioned igniter was the source of the problem. The shocks and arcing were happening only when the furnace was trying (unsuccessfully) to fire. Anyway, I have fixed the oil burner, but this gives some idea of what we are dealing with.
The fan limit switches were set completely wrong, causing short cycling (now fixed)
The oil and wood thermostats were wired incorrectly (this is very difficult to screw up, yet they did)
The duct work is terrible. They smashed through an old load bearing wall on this old 1800's house to put it in, and now my dining room floorboards lack support in some areas.
The air control does not work. It was apparently damaged in installation. The wood thermostat is supposed to open and close the air intake with a servo. I have to lock it in the open position (as is done in emergency situations of power outage). Normally one has to be careful because there is potential for overfiring. But not with this stove. There is so little draft, that I need to keep the air open all the time. Additionally, I need to open the ash pan to some degree to get enough air to burn.
The stove smokes into the basement.... unless it is burning well land hot, in which case we get only a small amount of smoke pushing back into the basement.
I am using wood stoves, so that I do not need to rely on this furnace. It is clearly a bad situation for wood burning. What about the oil burning side? Is that more or less demanding (and more or less dangerous) than the wood burning? Since the oil burner vents with some degree of pressure, will it push the exhaust out the chimney?
Even though I will mostly be using wood stoves upstairs, I need something as a backup and for when I am out of town. I think I would like to do a boiler and radiators. I am tired of the dust and noise. Is this current furnace going to be useful for anything? The basement generally doesn't need heating, but in the cold winters it needs to be kept at 40 or 50 degrees, and I wonder if it might be useful to have the furnace blow directly into the basement during those occasional times, using the oil burner.
Of course the biggest issue with it is venting.
Thank you.
watch out they are everywhere now,even in a stove forum
