Hi everyone, new to the forum and to wood boilers in general. My wife and I moved onto an acreage last summer that had nothing but electric heat in all the buildings. We installed a Central Boiler classic edge 360HDX this fall, and got it fired up in the first week of December. We're heating two buildings- our 1700 sq ft house via a forced air heat exchanger, and our small (4-500 sq ft) cabin, with the CB fan convector (part # 1971).
I'm burning mostly pine and spruce as that is what makes up most of the firewood around my area (Northern BC). Ideally I'd burn hardwood but it's hard to get around here. It's definitely dry as it all reads below 20% on my moisture meter, most of it around 12-14%.
When I first started the boiler, I left the settings as factory: 185F setpoint, 20 deg temp differential, 30 min idle pulse timeout, 225F target pulse temp. I found it almost impossible to keep a fire going, I would get one good burn, and then the fire would go out the next time there was a call for heat. I called CB and discussed settings with them, they recommended a 15 deg temp differential, 20 min pulse timeout, and 260F target temperature. Even with these settings, the fire would still go out every few days.
I've been playing with the settings ever since, and initially set it for 185 set/ 15 differential/ 10 min timeout/ 310 pulse temp. Extreme, I know, but it's the only way I could get it to run. Now I've gotten it down to a 15 min timeout and 300 pulse temp, and it mostly does ok, but still goes out once every week or two and I have to watch it like a hawk.
This was fine when the weather was colder (we had almost a month of 0F to -35F weather, but now that it's warmed up to around 30F, my pulses are so close together that the water is getting close to overheating in the afternoon when the sun is out and warming my buildings.
I played around with it a bit tonight when I got home from work- I pulled both air delivery elbows off and made sure neither are plugged up at all. I also checked the firestar software version number and it is up to date. I set it back to a 10 deg differential, 20 min pulse, and 260F target temp. It got through two burns and then was about to go out, dropping to 7% and 155F. I pulled all the wood out and found 3-4" of coals, but they weren't lit at all, and the charge air tube was not obstructed. I closed the door for 2 minutes and when I opened it back up I had a glowing hot coal bed. I just loaded the wood back in and returned to my 15 pulse/300 target temp settings as I'm about to head to bed.
I've never seen a reaction chamber temperature over 1000, usually in the 800s even after it's been at 100% for 10+ minutes. My coal bed is always at least a couple inches deep, and when the boiler does go out, there's still tons of coals underneath the unburnt wood.
The previous owners did leave a bunch of dry, split birch in a firewood shed that measured at 12%, so I tried that for a while but it didn't seem to make much difference. Neither did burning some reject 2x6 that i had lying around. Obviously I'm burning more wood than I'd like with such extreme pulse settings, but I don't seem to have much choice. I've been cleaning the reaction chamber and heat exchangers every week, and the firebox once a month.
Lastly, the firestar manual says that the "Burn Time Monitor" will accumulate whenever the fan is running, but my burn time monitor only goes up when the furnace is in demand mode, and not during pulses, which can be 8-10 minute sometimes.
Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
I'm burning mostly pine and spruce as that is what makes up most of the firewood around my area (Northern BC). Ideally I'd burn hardwood but it's hard to get around here. It's definitely dry as it all reads below 20% on my moisture meter, most of it around 12-14%.
When I first started the boiler, I left the settings as factory: 185F setpoint, 20 deg temp differential, 30 min idle pulse timeout, 225F target pulse temp. I found it almost impossible to keep a fire going, I would get one good burn, and then the fire would go out the next time there was a call for heat. I called CB and discussed settings with them, they recommended a 15 deg temp differential, 20 min pulse timeout, and 260F target temperature. Even with these settings, the fire would still go out every few days.
I've been playing with the settings ever since, and initially set it for 185 set/ 15 differential/ 10 min timeout/ 310 pulse temp. Extreme, I know, but it's the only way I could get it to run. Now I've gotten it down to a 15 min timeout and 300 pulse temp, and it mostly does ok, but still goes out once every week or two and I have to watch it like a hawk.
This was fine when the weather was colder (we had almost a month of 0F to -35F weather, but now that it's warmed up to around 30F, my pulses are so close together that the water is getting close to overheating in the afternoon when the sun is out and warming my buildings.
I played around with it a bit tonight when I got home from work- I pulled both air delivery elbows off and made sure neither are plugged up at all. I also checked the firestar software version number and it is up to date. I set it back to a 10 deg differential, 20 min pulse, and 260F target temp. It got through two burns and then was about to go out, dropping to 7% and 155F. I pulled all the wood out and found 3-4" of coals, but they weren't lit at all, and the charge air tube was not obstructed. I closed the door for 2 minutes and when I opened it back up I had a glowing hot coal bed. I just loaded the wood back in and returned to my 15 pulse/300 target temp settings as I'm about to head to bed.
I've never seen a reaction chamber temperature over 1000, usually in the 800s even after it's been at 100% for 10+ minutes. My coal bed is always at least a couple inches deep, and when the boiler does go out, there's still tons of coals underneath the unburnt wood.
The previous owners did leave a bunch of dry, split birch in a firewood shed that measured at 12%, so I tried that for a while but it didn't seem to make much difference. Neither did burning some reject 2x6 that i had lying around. Obviously I'm burning more wood than I'd like with such extreme pulse settings, but I don't seem to have much choice. I've been cleaning the reaction chamber and heat exchangers every week, and the firebox once a month.
Lastly, the firestar manual says that the "Burn Time Monitor" will accumulate whenever the fan is running, but my burn time monitor only goes up when the furnace is in demand mode, and not during pulses, which can be 8-10 minute sometimes.
Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
