Using a Clayton furnace

[JayW]

This is my first post. We just bought a house that has a central Clayton wood-burning furnace that is integrated into the propane furnace and located in the basement. It was used successfully by the previous owners of the house. I cannot see a model number on in, but it is about 4 years old and is big and green. We used it for the first time last night and were very pleased with all the heat it put out. Unfortunately, after about 45 minutes the smoke/CO alarms went off throughout the house, even though there was no smoke that any of us could smell. I think the alarms are set up such that if any are tripped, they all alarm. We aired out the house with cold air and the alarms finally stopped after 20 minutes or so. I just let the fire go out after that and the alarms did not come back on.

I wonder if I am using the damper incorrectly. We had the chimney cleaned about a month ago and the tech told me that the damper should be left all the way open until the fire is burning well, then I should close it to ensure a long recirculating burn. He told me that there is no role for having the damper only partially open or closed. Is this right?

I am new to this wood burning furnace concept and would appreciate any advice or help. My family was very unhappy with all that racket last night, and I cannnot use the furnace if it is going to alarm the detectors.

JayW

 

[JayW]

No responses to my inquiry yet, but I figured out at least part of the answer. I lit a fire again last night and thought to set the central fan switch on our house thermostat to ON instead of AUTO. Since the thermostat is normally set to a lower temperature than I am willing to pay for with propane heat, the fan was not running when the detectors went off the first night. As a result, the heat really built up in one area and may have set off the alarms. Turning on the fan immediately cooled that area and disseminated the heat quickly throughout the house. No alarm went off this time. I still don't know wether or not I should slide the wood furnace damper closed once the fire is going well, so I'd appreciate any input on that from this group.

Thanks,

JayW

 

[jeff_t]

If you're talking about a damper in the pipe, leave it open. Modern wood burning appliances are designed to burn that way. Most here install them only for use in the event of a chimney fire.

 

[JayW]

No, I am referring to the "slide baffle rod", as the instructions call it, located above the wood loading door. Looking inside, it appears that pushing this rod all the way forward completely seals off the burning chamber. If so, then how does the smoke escape? I guess there must be another way for the smoke to get to the chimney that I simply cannot see.

JayW

 

[laynes69]

I believe that rod bypasses the exhaust inside the furnace not shuts it. You pull that lever before opening and loading so the smoke goes straight out the flue, when the furnace is loaded and the door is shut then you push it in to allow for a longer flame path for the furnace. If there is a thermostat on the furnace it should only control the forced draft if it has one, not the blowers on the furnace. The blower the furnace is controlled by either a snap-disc or a limit control. So after the fire is going and you load then when you close the door, push that rod all the way in. When the unit gets to a set temo it should operate the blower on the unit pushing air through the home. If the blower is not running, then something isn't right, or set to on.

 

[freeburn]

+1 on the comment about the bypass Laynes69. It's not really a damper but a smoke bypass for when you open the door to add more wood or to warm your chimney. Most furnaces are able to be run without even messing with it.

Does this unit have blower(s) on the back? Is there a snap disc or fan limit switch? (fan limit switch will be a dull silver rectangular box a little larger than a deck of cards).

 

[JayW]

Freeburn:

No blower it attached to the wood furnace itself. At the bottom back there is an attached 2 foot square duct which is about 3 feet long. The air seems to be drawn though that, then a filter before it enters the propane furnace. It is drawn there by a blower in the propane furnace that comes on when I turn the house thermostat fan switch ON. Yes, there is a silver box attached at the top back of the wood furnace that says HONEYWELL and has some wires coming off of it. It is silver and a little larger than a deck of cards. What does that do?

I am using the system right now. I have a fire in there with the slide baffle rod now pushed forward (closed) and the house HVAC fan on. The house is nice and warm, and so far nothing is alarming. It appears that I am going to have to remember to turn that fan on and just leave it on all the time when I have a fire going. I wish there were some kind of automatic setting.

I appreciate the interest and comments.

JayW

 

[laynes69]

That switch or box in the back is the brain of the woodfurnace. It should control the blower on the central furnace. It sounds like woodfurnace is in series with the central furnace. Even if this is so, it can be automatic, but if you control the woodfurnace by the thermostat upstairs, then its not setup correctly. If you can set the central thermostat to lets say 50 degrees, and the woodfurnace is running than its correct. If not where the blower will only run with the central furnace set for fan on then its wrong. I had mine wired where 2 wires came from the fan limit/control which were low voltage. They were wired to r and g which when the woodfurnace hit a set temp, the limit control would energize the board on the central furnace to run fan only. That would be a much safer setup then having to manually operate the blower on the woodfurnace if thats how its setup. Its impossible to know how the system is setup without seeing it. But try that with the thermostat just set the thermostat to heat and lower the temp for the central furnace. If the blower runs but the central furnace doesn't fire then its right. If thats the case when the woodfurnace would burn out, or not keep up with the heating damand of the home, the central furnace would then kick the blower off, kick on the burners then shut back down once the thermostat is met. It sounds complicated, but is real simple.

 

[freeburn]

If you could take pics and post them that would help tremendously. otherwise, connecting the "R" and "G" wires to the relay in the furnace would be your best bet.

Laynes - where were those wires plugged into the fan limit control. Is that top and bottom on the right side with jumper removed?

 

[freeburn]

JayW - what model is your furnace? does it look like this one? (broken link removed to http://usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=1802G)

 

[laynes69]

Its been forever since I wired for series, but I just went into the basement and had a spare limit that I wired temporarily up to the circuit board. It only takes 2 wires and both are wired to the left side of the limit control which controls the fan only. The right side controls the limit for a draft inducer, etc. Those 2 wires on the left side go to r and g on the board. That way if the furnace hits a set on temp of 150 then it kicks on the blower only on the central furnace. Now if the woodfurnace gets low and doesn't meet heating demand, then the central furnace "Should" shut off the blower, fire, kick back on meet the heating requirement for the thermostat then go back to blower only if the woodfurnace still has a fire. Keep in mind its only for a series installation. By doing this they both worked together. Our furnace is 25 years old, and the board had built in relays that would go from fan only to heat back to fan. Don't know if they all work this way or not. The only issue being if the central furnace didn't fire correctly, it would shut down after 2 or 3 attempts. At that point you have no blower to push heat through the furnace. For us it never happened, and it was the simplest and most efficient setup. From what your saying Jay, I would think your in series. Yes the jumper was removed for low voltage. So no voltage in the 2 left connections otherwise you fry your board.

 

[JayW]

JayW - what model is your furnace? does it look like this one? (broken link removed to http://usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=1802G)

Sort of, though mine is a darker green. Here is a link to the owner's manual with a picture of it on the first page:

http://www.usstove.com/Downloads/Owners Manuals/16-1800MANUALcomplete.pdf

I'll try setting the thermostat very low and see if the fan kicks on by itself. I'll also see if I can upload some pictures of the setup this weekend.

Jay