New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.

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R Henderson

New Member
Oct 23, 2024
38
Southeast Missouri
Just finished installing the stove pipe tonight and probably going to build a fire tomorrow. Southeast Missouri here warmer than normal highs this week in low to mid 60s but want to ventilate during its first burn. Long-time lurker on here (how I found out about the kuuma actually) it's heating a ranch style 2600 sq ft. With full basement and replacing a victor wood furnace that was found to be cracked in a large area it was in service nearly 50 years original to when the house was built by my grandfather. Had a new 6" insulated flexible stainless installed before last burning season. I'll try uploading some pics and welcome any pointers or suggestions as I'm sure this will be a learning curve from the antique I was using before.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
 
Congrats RH, looks like a clean install!
 
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Ok I lit the first fire at 1:10 this afternoon house was 60-62 it took about 8 minutes to go from "C" to "3" on the computer at 1:38 the blower kicked on and has been running constant as of now 4:40 pm. It went to "2" about a half hour later then to "1" shortly after. It has been back at 3 for probably 30-40 minutes pic currently below. I have left the computer on low the whole time. The coals in pic are from the starting pieces and I raked them forward.

By 3pm I had no smoke or visible vapor from chimney. The barometric damper would jiggle slightly every little bit, weather outside is mid to upper 50s but breezy.

My question or more concern now is when the blower kicked on it seems awfully loud is it possible it kicked high speed on instead of low speed? I can hear it upstairs and by the registers.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
 
Was your thermostat calling for heat? If so that kicks the blower to high.
I leave mine off so the blower stays on low all the time.
 
Was your thermostat calling for heat? If so that kicks the blower to high.
I leave mine off so the blower stays on low all the time.
I have not installed the room thermostat I am just using the computer control. I'm not sure if it hurts to run without it. I'm wondering if I wired something wrong possibly. Other than that I loaded 4 more pieces house is at 70 and still climbing basement is even pretty warm. So far first fire I am happy with it just have to learn it.
 
Also double check that the white button on the high limit thermostat is pulled out to auto. When it is pushed in to manual the blower will also run on high.
Yes I checked it again and right before I fired it up. I did have to move it to the rear left corner because my AC A coil is in the plenum. However I spoke with lammpa and they said it would be alright.
 
Push the white button in, see if the speed picks up, if not then something must be wired wrong, or maybe the high limit switch is just set too low?
 
Push the white button in, see if the speed picks up, if not then something must be wired wrong, or maybe the high limit switch is just set too low?
I did this and the blower did get slightly louder and sounded like it picked up speed. Is there just not a drastic difference between the two?

I did pick up thermostat wire and going to install the room thermostat so I can test further. Other than that very few coals left after the burn, I let it go out highs approaching 70 by the weekend. I pulled the clean out door on front and just saw some back and white ish fine dust. I peeked inside the barometric damper and saw nothing on either side of the stove pipe.
 
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I did this and the blower did get slightly louder and sounded like it picked up speed. Is there just not a drastic difference between the two?
Not night and day different as far as sound, no.
 
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Good to know, I do appreciate all the help I have received so far.
No problem...the VF is pretty easy to use, but it still has a pretty good learning curve, especially if you are coming from an old school wood furnace!
 
I've left some pics below of what build up I'm getting, what is your guys thoughts is this normal or do I need to make any adjustments?

This is about 5 days worth of fire Tuesday and Wednesday, let it go out then lit it Friday night and let it go out Sunday afternoon (60s-70s here again). I was running on either low or the next mark up from low.

Thermostat is installed and I did verify that it does engage high speed on blower.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
 
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I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is creosote starting or the fly ash? Inside the stove pipe it's a little darker in color. I did get some water vapor leaking out of my adjustable elbow at the furnace a few times at the beginning and after reloading and it taking off again.


Below are some pics of what I was dealing with last year furnace and the build up after 2-3 weeks of burning. How we never had a chimney fire is beyond me!
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
[Hearth.com] New furnace ( kuuma vapor fire 100) and new member here.
 
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I've left some pics below of what build up I'm getting, what is your guys thoughts is this normal or do I need to make any adjustments?

This is about 5 days worth of fire Tuesday and Wednesday, let it go out then lit it Friday night and let it go out Sunday afternoon (60s-70s here again). I was running on either low or the next mark up from low.

Thermostat is installed and I did verify that it does engage high speed on blower.View attachment 332103View attachment 332104View attachment 332105View attachment 332106View attachment 332107View attachment 332108View attachment 332109
Looks good!
 
Looks good!
I figured a lot of that came from having 2 cold starts close together. Im guessing it would stay cleaner running more constant when it gets colder.

I am thinking about getting a manometer if that's right? for keeping an eye on the draft. My barometric damper does move when I got the fire going good and calms down when the fire is slowing down.

When it comes time to clean the furnace would you do it at the end of the burning season? Or just before the next? I think I will remove the stove pipe during the off season I noticed last night it was really stormy and windy and the barometric damper was hanging wide open. I figured over the summer take it down to avoid it flapping excessively.
 
I figured a lot of that came from having 2 cold starts close together. Im guessing it would stay cleaner running more constant when it gets colder.
True
I am thinking about getting a manometer if that's right? for keeping an eye on the draft. My barometric damper does move when I got the fire going good and calms down when the fire is slowing down.
Yup, I like having a manometer just to be able to verify draft level.
When it comes time to clean the furnace would you do it at the end of the burning season? Or just before the next? I think I will remove the stove pipe during the off season I noticed last night it was really stormy and windy and the barometric damper was hanging wide open. I figured over the summer take it down to avoid it flapping excessively.
I generally clean mine when I see the exhaust temp start going up, which it just depends on the weather and how you are burning, but I will do mine at least once during the winter too (not that I would have to, just my OCD trying to keep the efficiency up)
 
my blower kicks on and off through out the whole burn. It’s never done this before. What would make this happen? VF 100
Draft still -0.04 to -0.06"?
Clean the HX lately?
Still have the same quality wood?
Different air filters than before?
ANY other changes in/to the house? (or furnace)
 
my blower kicks on and off through out the whole burn. It’s never done this before. What would make this happen? VF 100
That is unusual mine although it is still new to me usually runs till toward the end and will cycle off but there is still coals in the rear of the firebox and I can pull them forward and sometimes it will cycle back on for awhile as I'm burning the coals down before a reload.
 
What’s HX? And yes same wood as last year. Draft is still at about 6. Same filters and no changes to house.
HX heat exchanger...cleaned it lately? Lots of shoulder season cold starts can leave more buildup of fly ash than normal...and that insulates pretty well.
Only thing I did do was was moved the low temp switch from original spot on side of stove to high on the plenum but I did that last year and it worked fine
Very odd...maybe call lamppa, see what they say?
 
Mine was cycling a lot through the whole burn and it ended up being the low temp switch being bad. I had it turned all the way down to 105 (I think) and the when I put a temp probe in my plenum it appeared to cycling at 140-160. I was skeptical it was a the switch though, but i changed it anyway. With the new switch set at 110 the blower comes on and stays on for hours. Temp probe in the plenum is reading more in line with the switch now too.