Wiring inherited wood furnace

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.

MinnesotaSnow

New Member
Mar 2, 2019
2
Minnesota
I purchased a home this Fall, and the wood stove is in place but electrically disconnected. I'm comfortable with home electrical wiring, but I don't know much about wood stoves. Here are pictures of what I have:

White, black, brown, green from the fan limit control (first & second pics)
-Brown and green go to the top of the transformer
-White currently connected to white from fan
-Black not connected to anything

Backside of fan control center (third pic)
-Black and white come out of center together
-Separate black (line) and red (load)

Overview photo- black and white from fan (white connected to white from fan limit)
-Green and brown from fan limit to transformer
-Black from fan and black from fan control not connected to anything

I have power from a switch available (not seen in pics).

I have a separate gas furnace that works fine. This system to separate. I can't find anyone who will work on a wood stove in the area for liability reasons is what I'm told. I really wood appreciate some help, haha.

Thanks!

IMG_0730.jpg
IMG_0731.jpg
IMG_0732.jpg
IMG_0733.jpg
IMG_0734.jpg
 
Look up the make/model online for a wiring diagram...but before you do that, better inspect every inch of that thing first...make sure someone didn't disable it on purpose, due to a failure of some sort or another (looks like it may have had a hard life...)
 
  • Like
Reactions: sloeffle
It's a Firepower 2230, supposedly made in the early 1980's... I suppose I should've mentioned I've done a search, and I can't find the manual or wiring diagram as they don't appear to exist on the web. The vent to the chimney appears in good shape, and the chimney has a steel liner in it.

Thanks for the reply!

IMG_0740.jpg
 
Firepower...oh boy, that's a new one to me. Is there any relevant info on that ID tag on the front there? There's usually a manufacturers address...although I'm sure they are gone now...but may have been bought up by someone else...that happened a lot back when it seemed like everybody with a weld shop made a wood burner.
The wiring on that should be pretty simple really...and many of those types of furnaces are wired more or less the same. That would be fairly easy to troubleshoot in person...but even with your pics and decent description, I'm not gonna be a ton of help.
Maybe try looking up a Yukon Big Jack wiring diagram...I know they use much the same controls. Here's the manual...there will be a diagram in here...http://store.yukon-eagle.com/content/JackLineManual_May2015_web.pdf
 
Just another thought...you may not find a HVAC company that wants to work on it...but try posting an ad on CL or some other ad service...chances are good you'll get a HVAC repair guy that will do it as a side job...
 
You really should find out why it was pulled so far out of service. Something like a cracked firebox or heat exchanger is nothing to fool around with, it could fill your house with CO.
 
Once you figure out the wiring and hvac its best to get a co2 detector near the hot air ducts if you don't already have one. Ofcourse it would be great to know the history of the old unit... if it were my guess, could have a faulty plenum stat if it was disconnected. Tough to know forsure people do weird stuff all the time.

Who knows might have even been in the middle of installation.
 
As far as the wiring these things are very simple. First, the fact you have a transformer is interesting. What exactly is running off of the (I assume) 24vac? What does the blower on the front of the unit do?

Basically you have a switch that turns the blower on and off. I use a Johnson Controls 421 box to control the fan on/off. You could just get an RIB relay and a 421 box and run everything on 120vac and eliminate the rest of it. That's what I'd do.