Osburn 1100 Install

[fishki]

On a positive note, it does look good, nice little modifications for air control could almost pass as factory, nice clean lines with trim and the chase to route the cord. You did put time and thought into your modifications to make this work for you.

But is this something that meets code or that I would personally use? No. But to each his own. Good luck.

 

[RobbieB]

Thanks, I needed that -

In return, I promise to not promote this. I will never chime in on anyone's question on "how do I do an insert in my zero clearance"

I figured it out myself and they can too.

 

[kennyp2339]

Do you have access to the chimney chase from the outside? If you do, when you get your IR gun and running the stove for a few hours take some readings from there, also the top wood framing in the chimney. I'm curious to what you have there.
*FYI I would be very picky on how you reload the stove, I would never do a full hot reload in fear of the stove taking off, this sometimes happens even with the air control all the way in, sometimes you get a few super dry pieces of fire wood that act like gasoline and no matter what you do, the stove top jumps into the 700's and the flue temps spike, it happens to new people, senior members, anyone, its like the perfect storm of good draft, perfect wood, hot coals.

 

[RobbieB]

Thanks, I'll do that. Easy to access the roof and with the temp "gun" I can get the flue cap and the chase cover. The big 12" outer flue goes all the way up and the original flue cap mounted to the 12" diameter. The 8 inch exit was a couple of inches up on a reducer. I used a 8" to 6 inch reducer to secure the flex liner. I can measure the top temps and also the outside of the whole chase.

I never "hot load" much, just 1 split at a time, door is not open long and the split is not large either. I split the stuff in the bundle with a hatchet as it's too big. My little splits are 2"x3"x16" max

 

[RobbieB]

Ok, everything arrived, CO meter, 4 channel K type thermocouple meter, lots of couples, laser IR thermometer and the Greenlee chassis punches and my mechanical probe thermometer that goes to 220 F.

I added the dozen vents to the surround and used 1/4" hardware cloth to make 'em look cool. And the big SS dial is easy to read.



Tomorrow will be the test burn with the new setup, heading over to girlfriend's house tonight. I spent a lot of time labeling and placing 7 couples all through the cavity, top bottom, vent holes, between the double walls.



The couples all work and the info they say makes sense. More tomorrow!

 

[SterlingSL]

What is the cable hiding conduit you are using on the fan power cable?

 

[RobbieB]

3/4" aluminum angle, 1/16" thick. Bottom glued to bricks with hi-temp RTV, top painted and rivitted to bottom.

 

[kennyp2339]

Read this while gathering data http://www.rumford.com/woodburningregulation/clearancetest.html

 

[bholler]

Honestly it does not matter how much testing you do this install still is no where close to meeting the minimum safety requirements set by code.

 

[fishki]

It's obvious by now he doesn't care about code compliance. But I am curious to see his test results

 

[blacktail]

Have you talked to your insurance agent?

 

[bholler]

Have you talked to your insurance agent?

Obviously not

 

[RobbieB]

I started the burn at 11:00. It was 66 inside the house and 52 outside. Stopped adding fuel at 1:00 because I was getting too warm with a T shirt on. House got to 78. Opened windows and turned on attic fan to cool off. Nothing left but a couple dying sparkles in a bed of ashes. Stovetop now at 225 and blower is still on, usually shuts off at 200. Going to wait for blower shutoff and then walk the dog.

Have lots of good data and also good news, zero CO whole test. Nothing, nada, vent works great. I tested the meter too, flick a bic a foot under it and you get 3 ppm in 1 second.

Results after dog walk.

 

[bholler]

Have lots of good data and also good news, zero CO whole test. Nothing, nada, vent works great. I tested the meter too, flick a bic a foot under it and you get 3 ppm in 1 second.

It is very rare to get any co from a wood stove. That was never my concern with this install. The problem with the data you are collecting is that it is on a normal burn. Unless you are going to test it under chimney fire temps your data means nothing as to the safety of the install. And it will still fail any real inspection done on it regardless of your results or testing procedures.

 

[RobbieB]

OK, here's the data;



I was really "stokin' it" too, hottest burn I ever did. Really too warm (out of season here) but I needed to test.



That's some serious heat.

I had 7 couples installed. One "high wall" top of the inner wall in front of the insulation between that and the outer wall, which is in the chart. The flue couple I put in between the flex duct and the 8 inch inner flue. The stove top is the stove top and the the dial is that big white dial thermometer. All the other couples were less temp and I mean a lot less, more than 20 degrees. Heat rises, big surprise.

Got up on the roof and found the flue top just over ambient. The 12 inch vented outer flue was 120 at the vents. The "hood" that keeps rain out of the vents was 140. The 8 inch to 6 inch reducer I installed to secure the SS flex duct was 160 and the flex duct itself was 175. The chase cover was ambient.

The laser infrared confirmed the accuracy of the "inferno" magnetic stove top thermometer.

I am happy.

I don't care about the "code" and I don't care about my insurance agent. I care about not burning the house down.

I have also found that the blower is very important to temperature control, just like the stove air control. I installed a thermo switch bypass just so I can test the blower before I fire to make sure it works, not to run w/o control and I ordered up a 300 watt inverter so I can power the blower if the grid goes out. I have (2) 12 volt 35 amp-hour deep cycle batteries on the deck to power the LED BBQ lights that I can use.

Last but not least I ordered up a 10 lb CO2 extinguisher. If a chimney fire breaks out I'll load 10 pounds of CO2 into the surround where it will be drawn into the stove and up the flue.

I'm done, not going to worry anymore -

 

[bholler]

I care about not burning the house down.

So why not just follow code and manufacturers instructions. They have already dont the testing needed to make sure that doesn't happen. Your testing means nothing because it is absolutely no where near the temps possible in the system if something goes wrong. You say the blower is very important for heat control. Well what happens if you loose power? Your plan of a fire extinguisher is great other than you have the wrong type you should have an abc not a co2. And that only works if you know you are having the fire. Many times people don't.

 

[kennyp2339]

I don't care about the "code" and I don't care about my insurance agent

I figure as much, I ran into people like you during basic training, when you get caught with your pants down the whole unit gets in trouble.
My biggest fear is that, someone as head strong as you reads this thread and it gives them the false confidence your displaying and they end up getting hurt or hurting someone else.

 

[fishki]

I don't care about the "code" and I don't care about my insurance agent.
I'm done, not going to worry anymore -

Sorry, but your arrogance pisses me off.

My concern now would be for the next homeowner, we don't live forever you know. You have flat out ignored all the advice given from people with countless years of experience working with and/or installing these units safely and to all applicable codes.

You realize this is not acceptable and will continue to use it knowing the risk. "Ambiance and Romance" is all you want, so you will only burn small attended fires and possibly get away with it.

The next owner might see this as a heat source and start burning 24/7, oblivious to the fact that this is nothing more than a hack job that is not installed per code and a danger to themselves and their family.

Hope you leave a note.

 

[RobbieB]

As I've said before, this is my install and mine alone. I promised to not advocate this and I will keep my promise. The risk is mine and mine alone.

If I move I'll take it out and put a wine cooler in there.

I'm not like you guys, trying to heat your homes with wood. I want the romance w/o the chilly room. I buy wood at the grocery store, 6 bucks for 15.5 liter bundles. I think I'll burn like 20 bundles a year? That's 310 liters. You guys go through cords of wood a year. Let see a cord is 128 cu-ft and there are 28 liters per cu-ft, so 3600 liters. A cord of wood would last me well over 10 years.

My fire will always be attended, I'm not going to start a blaze and then go hop in the car and run a bunch of errands. I'm not going to keep a burn going overnight so I can stoke it up at dawn, I have the 80,000 BTU/hr natural gas furnace for that. I live in the central valley of CA, it doesn't get to freezing more than a week a year.

So one more time, all you people reading this don't do what I did.

 

[edyit]

I'm not like you guys, trying to heat your homes with wood. I want the romance w/o the chilly room.

then maybe a natural gas fireplace would be more what you're looking for

 

[bholler]

The risk is mine and mine alone.

Is there anyone else living in your house? If so do they know how many safety recommendations and regulations you have broken with this install? How close is your neighbors house?

 

[firefighterjake]

So why not just follow code and manufacturers instructions. They have already dont the testing needed to make sure that doesn't happen. Your testing means nothing because it is absolutely no where near the temps possible in the system if something goes wrong. You say the blower is very important for heat control. Well what happens if you loose power? Your plan of a fire extinguisher is great other than you have the wrong type you should have an abc not a co2. And that only works if you know you are having the fire. Many times people don't.

I'll refrain from pointing out what already has been pointed out about how the code is in place as a minimum safety standard . . . and how not installing something to code can sometimes come back to affect folks (i.e. true life example with my parents who did not install their OWB to code (and did not inform their insurance company) and when they had the fire ended up having the insurance company not pay full replacement value.) OK, I screwed up . . . I pretty much pointed out what has been said already . . . but I think it bears repeating.

I will also mention that as BHoller stated . . . a CO2 extinguisher is the wrong extinguisher for a Class A fuel fire (i.e. creosote). An ABC dry chemical extinguisher is the preferred extinguisher since the CO2 extinguisher generally lacks the penetrating power on Class A fuel loads.