Todays adventure. Think heat reclaimer

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moresnow

moresnow

Minister of Fire
Jan 13, 2015
2,356
Iowa
Sooo I got a call from a stubborn buddy last night. Guess what was happening at there house? No watchy the big game. Can't even see the TV! Windows, doors etc. all wide open. Kinda chilly time of the year.

The mighty Vogelzang heat reclaimer he swore by finally reared its ugly head_g There was a opening the size of a thumb for the exhaust to go through. How it went this long I have no idea. One of the orneriest, stubborn, argumentative guys on earth suddenly had a change of heart. I've never been thanked so many times in a day as I was today;lol Needless to say the reclaimer is retired. His connector pipe is new.

How he did not have a chimney fire is beyond my range of knowledge. Now if I can just get him to respect properly seasoned fuel he will be on his way. After 20+ years of burning.....
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He hasn’t had a flue fire because the stove always smoldered wet wood! If it had a chance to breath it would have fired the flue off I bet!
 
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Ludlow said:
I had a hearth store put more effort into selling me on that than the stove itself. I didnt buy it, or their stove.
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Good for you!

As a gas furnace repairman, I found quite a few Rube Goldberg gadgets attached to vent pipes or into vent pipes, none of which were designed to be there by the manufacturer. There were automatic vent dampers designed to shut off the flow of air up a vent when the furnace was off. They were designed to open the vent pipe when the furnace was turned on for heat, and would prevent the furnace from operating if the vent damper didn't open fully.

Now that was a safe gadget, but they tended to fail after a few years of being installed, which meant no heat!

Many's the time I tore out the damper and the motor, effectively removing it from the system.

In more recent years, gas furnaces eliminated the need for such vent dampers by designing in powered combustion air motors which circulate combustion gasses through the furnace and into the vent by the use of the motor, rather than gravity, increasing the efficiency of the furnace.

Even more, condensing gas furnace cool combustion gasses off much more, allowing 90% plus efficiency.

Manufacturers can always design equipment to take more heat out of the combustion gasses. But there is probably a reason why they leave that heat there if they do.
 
Personally, id have to light a fire in that thing and try to get that creosote to cook off. Id be taking pics.
 
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wooduser said:
Good for you!



In more recent years, gas furnaces eliminated the need for such vent dampers by designing in powered combustion air motors which circulate combustion gasses through the furnace and into the vent by the use of the motor, rather than gravity, increasing the efficiency of the furnace.

Even more, condensing gas furnace cool combustion gasses off much more, allowing 90% plus efficiency.

Manufacturers can always design equipment to take more heat out of the combustion gasses. But there is probably a reason why they leave that heat there if they do.
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Yes, The inducer motor is the invention that pushed gas furnaces into the 80% efficiency spectrum. Then they got the bright idea to add a secondary heat exchanger to extract another 10-18%. Power dampers were used on the old natural draft furnaces. There are quite a few still around surprisingly.
 
I am not advocating for flue heat reclaimers- but those pictures are less a warning against magic heat devices, and more a warning to inspect and sweep your entire flue once in a while, and hopefully also to use a flue probe and dry wood.

A 5" thick wad of creosote doesn't build up in a section of pipe right on top of the stove under normal circumstances, even if there is a radiator cooling the pipe abnormally.

Just think, in that section of the pipe, probably just a foot or two from the flue collar, the temperature was regularly under 250°F. He would have had that same problem at the top of his pipe without the heat reclaimer.
 
jetsam said:
I am not advocating for flue heat reclaimers- but those pictures are less a warning against magic heat devices, and more a warning to inspect and sweep your entire flue once in a while, and hopefully also to use a flue probe and dry wood.

A 5" thick wad of creosote doesn't build up in a section of pipe right on top of the stove under normal circumstances, even if there is a radiator cooling the pipe abnormally.

Just think, in that section of the pipe, probably just a foot or two from the flue collar, the temperature was regularly under 250°F. He would have had that same problem at the top of his pipe without the heat reclaimer.
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I doubt it would be nearly as bad. That kind of device usually plugs up the draft, providing inadequate combustion air for the fire to burn, even with green wood.
 
The sad part is chimney that look like that are really not that uncommon.
 
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