I installed and started my system in October, and have been burning ever since. I usually light a fire in the morning, and head off to work, my wife will refill the boiler during the day. The good news is that I'm not burning any oil. The bad news is approx 5 cords so far.
Earlier this month I was at one fire and 1 reload for the day with 20 degree daytime temperatures, showing my tank temperatures up to 180-190 at night. Now I'm burning more than that again, and it's been a litlte milder out. I don't care about the wood consumtion so much as I have plenty of wood available, I just hoped for better. I've been sticking the wood with my moisture meter, most is close to 30%, and so I shouldn't be surprised.
The week of great success I had I attribute to a rack of dry wood- I didn't keep track- what it was, probably not oak, which I have a lot of.
I think My next project is going to be a wood rack made out of black pipe which heated water will pass through- a home made wood drier. since I'm going to be in the same boat for next year. My boiler room is large enough to bring the wood in, store it, dry it etc. so we'll see how that works out.
From my btu calculations, I think best case would be 15 degree / hour temp rise in my storage - without any heat load in the house.
I should add that I get virtually zero solar gain in my home, and my wife likes to see 72-74 degrees on the thermostats ( we have radiant heat) I wear shorts at home.
I'm going to attribute it to 1. A learning curve. 2. Wet wood
My buddy who is a logger came over- he thought my system was great, and could not get it through his head that the wood was too wet. He splits wood all winter - (a lot of ash) and burns it 2 weeks later in a wood stove as he's been doing for 30 years.
Stay tuned
Earlier this month I was at one fire and 1 reload for the day with 20 degree daytime temperatures, showing my tank temperatures up to 180-190 at night. Now I'm burning more than that again, and it's been a litlte milder out. I don't care about the wood consumtion so much as I have plenty of wood available, I just hoped for better. I've been sticking the wood with my moisture meter, most is close to 30%, and so I shouldn't be surprised.
The week of great success I had I attribute to a rack of dry wood- I didn't keep track- what it was, probably not oak, which I have a lot of.
I think My next project is going to be a wood rack made out of black pipe which heated water will pass through- a home made wood drier. since I'm going to be in the same boat for next year. My boiler room is large enough to bring the wood in, store it, dry it etc. so we'll see how that works out.
From my btu calculations, I think best case would be 15 degree / hour temp rise in my storage - without any heat load in the house.
I should add that I get virtually zero solar gain in my home, and my wife likes to see 72-74 degrees on the thermostats ( we have radiant heat) I wear shorts at home.
I'm going to attribute it to 1. A learning curve. 2. Wet wood
My buddy who is a logger came over- he thought my system was great, and could not get it through his head that the wood was too wet. He splits wood all winter - (a lot of ash) and burns it 2 weeks later in a wood stove as he's been doing for 30 years.
Stay tuned
