So frustrated and losing hope

[Lilcheese]

OK I could really use some help here...

I feel like I have spent a tremendous amount of time one Facebook / websites / these forums trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong, or if I just need a new wood furnace.

Quick back story:
We recently moved into a new (to us) house with a wood burner. We were told if we weren't careful it would get so hot in the house you would have to open the windows.... We struggle to keep the house at 68 degrees (with using the lp for a couple hours in the morning to heat the house back up).

I am going through a good amount of wood just trying to keep the temperature up The thermastat is set to turn on at 150 and then back off when it reaches 90 degrees. The fan turns on, then the temp seems to drop pretty drastically going back down to 90 degrees and shutting off. I bought a switch to regulate the fan speed (I was told it was maybe too powerful) and with the fan all the way down it helps... But doesn't feel like it's pushing much heat through the vents.

So long story short I'm burning a lot of wood trying to push enough heat to keep the house between 66-68 degrees (again with the help of the LP in the morning). I cannot seem to figure out what's going on and why I'm struggling so hard to keep the fan on and the heat up! Below are a couple pictures of the furnace... I'm starting to think I may just need to upgrade.. Thoughts?

Wood Burner Front

• Lilcheese
• Jan 2, 2019

Side Shot

• Lilcheese
• Jan 2, 2019

 

[bholler]

What moisture content is your wood at?

 

[Ludlow]

Did you have any rapport with the sellers? Maybe ask them why they were warning you of being too hot while you cant even get it warm. Are you filling it up full of wood ?

 

[Simonkenton]

Well, that is what we call a "smoke dragon" because it is an old stove and not as efficient as new ones. You get more heat out of a truckload of wood, with a new stove, than a smoke dragon.

However, the old smoke dragons put out pretty good heat! I have had 5 of them.
I suspect that your wood is too wet. When was the wood cut, when was it split?

 

[Lilcheese]

What moisture content is your wood at?

So I realize this is a pretty newbie statement... But is there some way I should know this or have a good answer?

Here is what I can tell you I know the wood I am burning is at least six months old because it was down on the property before we moved in. I also tried ordering some wood from an actual wood company (who I have learned from here are often lying) and tried their wood. Both seem to be giving me about the same result.

 

[Lilcheese]

Did you have any rapport with the sellers? Maybe ask them why they were warning you of being too hot while you cant even get it warm. Are you filling it up full of wood ?

Unfortunately I do not have a great rapport or way of getting a hold of the individual we bought the house from. Plus, they did lie about a couple things so who's to say they didn't lie about this too... No idea why you would though, especially since we were already buying the house when they told us that.

I have tried filling the firebox full of wood.. It almost seems to make it worse if I cram more wood in there, the fire gets pretty low for a bit

 

[Lilcheese]

Well, that is what we call a "smoke dragon" because it is an old stove and not as efficient as new ones. You get more heat out of a truckload of wood, with a new stove, than a smoke dragon.

However, the old smoke dragons put out pretty good heat! I have had 5 of them.
I suspect that your wood is too wet. When was the wood cut, when was it split?

When you say old smoke dragon are you thinking prior to the 1993 time frame (seems about the split between stoves on here the way the threads are setup) ?

The wood is at least 6 months old As for split, usually the same week I burn it. We haven't lived here that long and I'm just figuring all this out, so I don't yet have a year or two of split wood ready to burn. But like I said it's been down at least 6 months.

 

[bholler]

So I realize this is a pretty newbie statement... But is there some way I should know this or have a good answer?

Here is what I can tell you I know the wood I am burning is at least six months old because it was down on the property before we moved in. I also tried ordering some wood from an actual wood company (who I have learned from here are often lying) and tried their wood. Both seem to be giving me about the same result.

Get a moisture meter and test your wood on a fresh split face. If you are splitting as you use it your wood is way to wet

 

[maple1]

Sounds like your wood is wet. It won't even really start drying out inside until it gets split. Should have a couple of years drying time, stacked, after it is split.

You might want to post this in or have it moved to the Boiler Room. Lots of furnace guys over there who might be able to help you with your settings. But you are kind of hamstrung if your wood is wet.

EDIT: This can also build up creosote in your pipe & chimney way before it should. So inspect that regularly. Like, weekly. Don't know how long this has been going on, but I would likely get it all cleaned now then watch close. Chimney fires are no fun, usually.

 

[peakbagger]

A major warning is that burning wet wood increases the likely hood of creosote building up in the chimney. Hopefully you got the chimney and installation swept and inspected before you started burning, if you didnt I would suggest you do so ASAP. Once you know things are safe, go to a hardware store and buy some "biobricks" which are compressed sawdust/wood shavings. See if you get adequate heat from the biobricks. Generally if you resplit the wood into small splits you can get the fire going with biobricks and supplement with thin splits. Once the fire is burning hot you should be able to taper off the biobricks and switch to thin splits. You wont get long overnight fires this way although that type of wood furnace is generally not a long duration burner.

Not much you can do with wet wood. Generally wood doesn't really dry significantly if its in lying on the ground in log form so its how long its been cut and split and preferably up up the ground with pallets and covered. For fast drying it needs to be in sunny spot with air circlation ideally piled on row deep. Unless there is a wood seller that has a kiln to speed up drying which is unusual in most areas trying to buy dry wood in winter is almost pointless, good wood suppliers dont need to advertise and generally sold out long before the heating season

Its sad to say but this is not unusual for a first time wood burner. A lot of folks just give up the first winter as rarely do they get dry wood to start with. If they can struggle through the first winter and manage to get some wood drying for the next heating season their next season will be better and the season after will be even better. The tough part is unless you are very lucky and find a dry source of wood, for the first year or two you need double the wood so that you can get two years of wood in advance. On the third year in theory the amount work decreases as the wood is much drier so you use less and you only need to replace the wood you burnt that winter.

 

[kborndale]

Stack the wood you bought this year and split and stack the rest of your logs. Next year it will burn much better. For the rest of this year you are going to have to use an alternate heat source, hopefully the house has one.

 

[Pertzbro]

Buy one of these:

(broken link removed)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00275F5O2/?tag=hearthamazon-20

Take one of your splits and bring it inside for 24 hours so it's at room temperature. Split it in half. Stick the moisture meter in the middle of the fresh split (not on the ends). This will tell you the true moisture of your wood.


Wet wood is typically a huge problem with EPA burners. However, it's not as large of an issue with an older burner like yours. However - your wood could easily be just that wet..

 

[darktower007]

Do this.. go to Home Depot or Tractor supply and by dry fire wood... or some redstone bricks. Pack them in and see how it runs. I bet it will Run you out of there is so hot.

Keep an eye on getting it too hot... watch the air control.
(broken link removed)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Woody Stover]

If you can get some soft Maple (Red, Silver) split (not too big) and stacked in the wind now, it will be dry by fall. Oak will take 2-3 years.
Soft Maple won't burn as long as Oak, but at least it will burn next fall.

 

[ShawnLiNY]

Lilcheese , as suggested above wet wood , get a moisture meter , in the meantime get a source of pallet wood some are deposit and reused those are generally painted and standard size , most pallets are junk and get trashed talk to people in different businesses and trades ( for example fence men ) fence is made of cedar , or spruce , or locust for post and rail 1 takedown fence could give you several weeks of heat

 

[TWilk117]

I am preparing a new stove install for soon.
I brought a couple of clean stacks in the house to come to room temperature and help dry it out. I had just split this wood myself not too long ago, so I know it doesn’t have bugs, and it wasn’t laying in water. In fact it’s been in my ventilated sun room.

One of the big old garden markets near me has pallets of stacked dry wood for 75$ they keep it in under a huge open ended barn.
Look for something like that.

 

[ShawnLiNY]

If you have the room inside stove room bring in freshly split wood and stack in an alternating crib/log cabin stacks try to stay 3-4 days ahead of what you are going to use you’ll be amazed at what 4 days indoors can do .

 

[Simonkenton]

Yes the smoke dragons are the stoves made before 1993. And, some made since.

I like the old time stoves they are more forgiving of moisture in the wood but I suspect your wood is really wet.
Also the old stoves draw better, more forgiving of 90 degree bends in the pipe.

Hang in there and get some dry wood! Like someone said bring some split wood inside and lay it near that stove it will start drying quick.
I bet you will grow to like this old stove once you figure out how to use it.

 

[Lilcheese]

First off, thank you so much to everyone for the comments and help! What a great forum.

Secondly, I did what was mentioned here and went to the store and got a moisture meter. I came back and tested wood that I put in my basement over 24 hours ago. The meter read anywhere from 14-32% depending on the piece or area I tested.

Im guessing that's bad? But I have no idea... Should dry wood actually be close to 0%? Is 20% considered still really wet?

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[TWilk117]

I’m pretty sure 20% is considered seasoned.

To get an accurate reading, you need to split one of the room temperature splits and test the inside of it.

 

[SpaceBus]

First off, thank you so much to everyone for the comments and help! What a great forum.

Secondly, I did what was mentioned here and went to the store and got a moisture meter. I came back and tested wood that I put in my basement over 24 hours ago. The meter read anywhere from 14-32% depending on the piece or area I tested.

Im guessing that's bad? But I have no idea... Should dry wood actually be close to 0%? Is 20% considered still really wet?

Thanks again for all the help!

15-20% is usually considered ideal. When checking for moisture, check in several places, and take an average of your readings. If any of your wood is am average of 20% or less, then it's good to go. Whatever isn't in that range, leave it to dry longer. I also understand how starting out with a wood stove is like, so do what you must to stay warm. I suggest getting a bio brick type product to supplement your firewood. Tractor Supply sells a brick type product called Red Bricks, and members report good results using them. Depending on where you live, there are better compressed wood brick/log products.

 

[bholler]

First off, thank you so much to everyone for the comments and help! What a great forum.

Secondly, I did what was mentioned here and went to the store and got a moisture meter. I came back and tested wood that I put in my basement over 24 hours ago. The meter read anywhere from 14-32% depending on the piece or area I tested.

Im guessing that's bad? But I have no idea... Should dry wood actually be close to 0%? Is 20% considered still really wet?

Thanks again for all the help!

Are you testing your wood at room temp and testing right after splitting it in half on the fresh face?