Need some advice/instruction

[Drewsy64]

Get comfortable, this may be a little long.

We've recently moved from the city to the country (finally!) and in doing so inherited a CB 6048 with our "new" house. I had absolutely no idea what the thing even was when we first saw the house, so I've been doing as much research as I possibly can on the subject. That being said, I don't know if I'm using the boiler to its full potential.

We purchased approximately 15 tons of seasoned wood before late fall in preparation for the cold months here. The boiler heats our 3500sf late 1800's farmhouse and hot water. It heats via two exchanges on the furnace in the cellar and in the attic. Best I can tell, the water travels around 100' from the boiler, through pex tubing into the cellar and splits to the furnaces and hot water tank from there.

Currently, I can expect a 14ish hour burn when the weather stays above 30 degrees, and when it gets into the teens and below, I'm lucky to get 10-12 hours. I know our windows are drafty, but the house has been inspected by an insulation company and we were told the house is very well insulated.

My biggest question/concern is, is that a typical burn time and does that consumption sound right? We've probably used around half of our wood already. When I load the boiler, I use probably 40 pieces of split wood to fill the box bottom to top, one single stack, right at the front of the box. When I return from work at 8am, I find that the wood is largely gone but large coals are left over. Another issue I'm seeing is that I wind up with a huge amount of coals, very little powdery ash. I have so much coal that I have to scoop out what I assume are perfectly good coals to make enough room for more wood. I empty the firebox of coal/ash at least two to three times a week. To the tune of 2 barrows full.

Am I emptying to frequently and filling with wood, therefore wasting a viable heat source? Should those coals be enough to heat the water back up? I have a feeling that I'm jumping the gun on filling the box up when the coals may be enough to heat the water up again. The taco 009 pump burned out and was replaced as soon as we fired it up, but no other issues to date.

I've read the good, bad and ugly on CB but really enjoy the unit and what it provides. I'm just way behind on these things and want to be sure I'm doing the right thing. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I've don't my best trying to explain what I have, but I'm a special snowflake and my knowledge is limited. If you need more information, I'll do my best to provide answers.

Thanks!

Drewsy64

 

[warno]

I don't know your life schedule but what works for me on my personal boiler is:

Load in the morning before work(between 4-5 AM) on top of last night's coals

After work (between 230-330 PM) I rake coals forward and put 2 or 3 splits in

Before bed (around 8-9 PM) rake coals again then load up for the night run.

I didn't look up your boiler but mine has an ash clean out pan under the fire box all my ash drops into, I never take coals out I just rake them around. If there's a lot in there I spread them out flat, if there's only a few I pull them forward.

The coals will burn down, if you are noticing an abundance of them maybe adjust wood input. I notice on not so cold days that I get alot then on really cold nights I may have little to nothing left in the box.

 

[Kristen]

Two thoughts:

I wonder if "excess coals" is because the moisture content of the wood is not dry enough - do you have a moisture meter?

I find that any unburnt coals / charcoal left burn easily, so I use them as "kindling" to help light the next fire.

 

[Fred61]

You may be suffering from "novice woodburner syndrome". Someone who thinks there should be wood burning in the box 24/7. There's a lot of btus in those coals that are gifted to you at exactly the right time of the day. In the morning when the heat load is starting it's lowest point of the day.
Congratulations the excess coaling indicates dry wood and the fact that you just purchased it is actually a surprise. "Dry or seasoned" wood from the average wood vendor usually is no different from green except for the price.
I suggest leaving the coals in the box or perhaps adding more from your coal dump for the daylight burn and see if the boiler keeps up. Sounds like you're not doing badly for a 6048 and 3500 sq. ft.

 

[maple1]

How much & when to put wood in the boiler depends on the water temps in it, and the rest of the system. Don't think we heard anything about water temps anywhere. If you want to get a handle on how the system is doing, you should be measuring water temps on all ins & outs of everything the water goes through - boiler, underground pipe, heat exchangers.

That's a lot of wood, but may not be any way around it for a house & boiler that size.

 

[Drewsy64]

Thanks for the input, everyone, I'll try and answer the questions the best I can. Fred definitely hit the nail on the head. I look in, see nothing but coals and think I need to load up. I'll experiment some tonight and leave the coals burning and see if it'll keep hearing my water up. We are very fortunate to have a solid wood source. He's a local fella that seems honest and has a two day turnaround for a dump truck full of wood. It's a 5 ton truck, so I may not have burned as much as I thought. It seems like a fair amount, though. I'm used to cords as a unit of measure, out in the sticks around here it's all about tons which muddies the water a bit for me.

Maple1, I don't measure the temps (aside from what the thermometer tells me on the unit) and quite honestly wouldn't know how. I have it set to 180 degrees, but that's about all I can tell you.

My typical load times are 8am after work and 9:30pm before I leave for work if I can stretch it that long. I think the OWB is fantastic and we love the heat it provides, just don't want to watch money fly out of the stack if it doesn't need to.

Thanks again.

 

[Heat1285]

i dont know your set up, But: with a natural draft stove like a CB, make sure that your flue is clean and also make sure you have 9-12ft of chimney extension coming out of the boiler. this will create a much better draft and you will be able to burn hotter and faster. That big coal bed will be able to burn right down and provide plenty of heat. Liek was stated...there is a TON of BTU in that charcoal pile u are finding at night. also, i suggest running with a 5° Differential on that unit. Byt the time the first actually gets rocking up will be at about a 10-12° differntial.

 

[Heat1285]

with a boiler that size you should only have to load morning and night...no matter the weather conditions. Load more wood and bigger wood when it is below 20°F and load less when it is warmer. Over loading a boiler can kill efficiency, shoot for a 12 hr burn.

 

[maple1]

I have it set to 180 degrees, but that's about all I can tell you.

It's set to that - but how much does it cool off to before you reload?

And as mentioned above - don't load it up the same way every time. If it's warmer out, just load enough to get you to the next loading time. That will take some trial & error over time - once you get things right the coals will burn down about the time you go to reload. A big load of wood when its warmer out will waste a lot of it when the boiler is just sitting there with the damper closed - and make creosote. Most of which can then go up in a big smoke bomb the next time the damper opens up & the fires takes hold.

On the temp measuring - a decent IR temp gun can work pretty good. You might have to go around with a can of flat black BBQ paint the first time, and spray the spots you want to measure first. IR guns don't like shiney surfaces, which includes copper.

 

[Fred61]

Glowing red charcoal is at least 1500 degrees so it should have some effect on the surrounding water.
Wood must char to burn. Wet or high moisture wood slows down the charring process so the charcoal burns away as fast or faster than it is made because the water must be evaporated first. One of the contributors to bridging! With dry wood the charring is accelerated and is produced faster than it can be burned away. Nice stuff though. Tar and smoke are all burned away giving you nice clean heat. HEY, throw the steaks on, fire's ready.
Just remember that the pile of charcoal burns away quickly.

 

[Drewsy64]

Fred and Maple, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to let this load burn and start raking the coals to see how it holds up when the logs are gone. What usually happens is I go see no logs, a bunch of coals and the water temperature is down to ~169 or so. From what I understand the CB's have a ten degree buffer, therefore if I set it to 180 and it drops below 170 the damper opens and stokes the fire to heat the water up. I guess I just assumed the coals wouldn't heat the water up, and the house would begin to cool off. I'm getting ready to go check the box now and see where I'm at. It was fairly warm today with a high around 27.

Thanks again for the help, I'll update once I figure things out a bit more.

 

[BoiledOver]

Is this wood fired boiler an old style with just the one firebox? If so, would the coals be close to useless as the blower is just shoving the heat out the chimney?

There is another place to visit that covers all information on outdoor, regular combustion boilers. There are probably many members their who own the same unit as yourself.

http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/