Truman Insert - anyone have any info?

[Hardfive]

Bought a house in Camas WA last year and it had this beauty. Obviously marked as a "Truman" but I can't find any info on it online. Has the 2 adjustment knobs on front, but otherwise I don't have any other ways to adjust airflow. The unit is in a fireplace that has the side fans, but those don't seem to do anything now that the insert is in place (they turn on and move some air, but don't seem to move any heat).

Seems to eat a lot of wood and produce ok-ish but not great heat. Made it through winter in our 3300 single level house, but had to rely on the furnace as this couldn't get heat to the bedrooms (north, west and east of unit, which is fairly centrally located). The room this is in could get to 80, but not much higher. I kinda expected it to blast so much heat that room would almost unusablely warm, but it never did.

The house is stucco and has good wall insulation and OK but not great windows.

I tried using the furnace in fan only mode, but the wood stove couldn't produce enough heat to offset whatever was lost running through the attic. Ground fans blowing in or out of the room didn't seem to help either; I just don't think it produces enough heat, or it's all going out the chimney. IDK. My 78 year old father has used wood stoves and fireplaces almost his whole life, and he agrees it doesn't seem to produce the heat you would expect (its pretty big, don't have measurements on me, but it's no lite weight).

I fixed the asbestos (or whatever that is) cord and replaced the blower assembly but I'm thinking of replacing the whole unit. I would like to know more before I make a decision as maybe I'm just ignorant on how to operate it efficiently. It seems to do better If I heat it to 700 but then it goes through a ridiculous amount of wood, and I don't get usable coals even if I load at 11pm and go to restart at 7am. Is 700 to low/high, I have no idea and I obviously don't want to damage it.

Looking at the Kuma Sequoia as an option, but wood like to not spend the money if this guy can do the job. any help or info would be appreciated. If I left out any important info sorry, wood stoves are new to me and I'm still learning.

 

[begreen]

Images did not come thru. Probably because they are pointing to a local drive.
Here's some tips on posting pictures on the forum:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/putting-images-into-your-forums-posts.87212/

 

[Hardfive]

Got one to work through Imgur. They are uploaded URL's Hopefully that one's visible.

 

[begreen]

It looks like the blower is under the ashlip. This appears designed to blow air around a convection jacket and out from the outlet above the door. Does that blower work?

Is the wood being burned nice and dried, seasoned after splitting and stacking for a year or two?

 

[Hardfive]

Yeah, the blower is under the door behind that bump. Pushes air into the box and it blows out from a space above the glass door. The original motor didn't work so I bought and wired in the replacement. Works well at this point.

Yes the wood is dried. Have a moisture meter and don't burn anything above 18%. Bought a cord of dry wood while testing it out and I'm confident it was dry. Have another 2 cords split and drying (1.5 years old) and 4 cords of wood in rounds fell 4 years ago but never split. All of this is open air, but covered.Trying to get way ahead on a supply of ready to burn wood. I also tried those pressed Idaho Energy Logs, but it would burn through 4 in 3-4 hours and I couldn't make the financials work at 1.20/log if I need to burn 20+/day. edit (and still need to use the furnace)

 

[bholler]

Yeah, the blower is under the door behind that bump. Pushes air into the box and it blows out from a space above the glass door. The original motor didn't work so I bought and wired in the replacement. Works well at this point.

Yes the wood is dried. Have a moisture meter and don't burn anything above 18%. Bought a cord of dry wood while testing it out and I'm confident it was dry. Have another 2 cords split and drying (1.5 years old) and 4 cords of wood in rounds fell 4 years ago but never split. All of this is open air, but covered.Trying to get way ahead on a supply of ready to burn wood. I also tried those pressed Idaho Energy Logs, but it would burn through 4 in 3-4 hours and I couldn't make the financials work at 1.20/log if I need to burn 20+/day. edit (and still need to use the furnace)

Is there a liner hooked to it?

 

[Hardfive]

Is there a liner hooked to it?

Yes I believe so. I can see the round tube coming out of the top of the stove and going up the chimney (that's a liner right?). If you need pics or I need to be more specific let me know as I know I'm pretty green to all of this.

Not sure if it matters, but the stove does drafts well; i can leave the door open and no issues with smoke.

 

[begreen]

You are trying to heat a very large area with an old insert. That's an uphill battle. A newer stove would put out more heat, but there may be other factors making it a challenge too, like insert location, house construction, floor plan, etc.. Some folks run 2 stoves in this situation.

 

[Hardfive]

You are trying to heat a very large area with an old insert. That's an uphill battle. A newer stove would put out more heat, but there may be other factors making it a challenge too, like insert location, house construction, floor plan, etc.. Some folks run 2 stoves in this situation.

Yeah. I kinda think that way too (its not as efficient and its a large spread out 1 story), but I wanted to check to make sure if anyone knew anything about this particular stove I heard it before I spend the money on an upgrade. I appreciate the responses so far so thank you and bholler for taking the time.

 

[begreen]

Does the Truman have a baffle?

 

[Hardfive]

Not that I can tell. I dont see anywhere to adjust airflow other then the two knobs on the front. This includes anywhere on the fireplace either.

 

[bholler]

Not that I can tell. I dont see anywhere to adjust airflow other then the two knobs on the front. This includes anywhere on the fireplace either.

That is a pretty normal way it was done on older stoves. The fact that you have or atleast think you have a liner is good for safety reasons. But unless a plate was put in around that liner to seal off the rest of the chimney you will still loose allot of heat up there.

 

[begreen]

With no baffle a lot of heat is going up the chimney. Adding one would help the stove. Replacing it with a modern EPA heater will make an even greater difference. That would make about a 25-35% gain in efficiency = more heat and less wood consumed + a cleaner flue.