Wood Cook-stove Arrives

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It might be worth investigating an HRV as a solution, or at least a valved air intake that is located near the firebox.
I was looking around at Home Depot and didn't really find anything. Do you have website or supplier you like? I just want a valve that let's in outside air when negative pressure is applied to the house.
 
I am not aware of valve that would do this. Heat Recovery Ventilator is one of these


Air is pulled in from outside where it goes through a heat exchanger where its warmed by air being exhausted out of the house.
 
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I did get a propane torch and a Coleman camp stove tank since it's a bit shorter. This can stand on the ash on the firebox floor and it points the flame towards the flue. After five minutes of this I lit some paper and no smoke inside. With the window cracked I started a small cedar kindling fire and then got a few splits going. I don't have the balls to try a top down fire with a full box. Maybe when Mrs SpaceBus is at work I'll give it a try.
 
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I am not aware of valve that would do this. Heat Recovery Ventilator is one of these


Air is pulled in from outside where it goes through a heat exchanger where its warmed by air being exhausted out of the house.

If I can't get anything else to work, I'll give an HRV a try. My wife is very much against additional holes in the house envelope.
 
Well, it's just an open drain into the slab. The previous owners ran the drain for the water heater into it. I've stuffed steel wool down to keep critters out. I do also have a vent that goes through the roof.

Either way, it wants to let air into the house. When the stoves are going its easy to find the holes in the house.

I attached some photos. Pay no mind to the rolling cart sitting over it, they have nothing to do with each other. This drain is in the plumbing/electrical closet.

That drain should have a trap under the slab. Its common practice to dump a bucket of water down the drain every now and then to keep the trap full and prevent sewer gas from entering your basement.
 
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That drain should have a trap under the slab. Its common practice to dump a bucket of water down the drain every now and then to keep the trap full and prevent sewer gas from entering your basement.
Thanks for the tip, we had no idea.
 
I am not aware of valve that would do this. Heat Recovery Ventilator is one of these


Air is pulled in from outside where it goes through a heat exchanger where its warmed by air being exhausted out of the house.
Bugger. I researched this a few weeks ago for someone else and posted here. Can't find the product thread yet. It had an interior offset box that had a damper. Sometimes this is called a ULV. I'll put this link in as a placeholder.
 
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The propane torch helped so much. Yesterday morning and this morning I had no smoke in the house.
 
Also, conveniently my billing cycle started on the day I installed the cooker. With the wood cooker and tankless water heater I'm using half or less of the electricity I used before hand. This was a large investment, but it should break even in ten years or less. Next summer I'd like to integrate my rooftop solar water heater for even less electricity usage.

Edit: I think my math might be a bit off since I calculated the cost of the cooker, chimney, tank, plumbing supplies, and chimney all together. Not only did I integrate the cooker into the DHW system, but I replaced all of the plumbing between my pressure tank and fixtures. So when thinking about just DHW or a cooker, the DHW side of things will pay off much quicker. The cooker can carry the heat load for the house on milder days, assuming the house is already warm. I'll have to figure out the exact pay off date for it all, but I'm not quite sure how to calculate it.

All in all with everything combined I'm about $8000 invested into the whole setup. I've seen on these forums that folks regularly pay that much to have a wood stove and venting system installed professionally. I feel pretty good about everything, but I installed it myself. With pro installation this would have probably cost much more.
 
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There is more ROI on the cooker than just the bills for elect and heating. I think you will find that over time it will become an integral part of the household and lifestyle. There are aesthetic and inner benefits that don't show up on a balance sheet. If it gives you great pleasure and maybe even has you cooking at home more, then that is a very important benefit too.
 
There is more ROI on the cooker than just the bills for elect and heating. I think you will find that over time it will become an integral part of the household and lifestyle. There are aesthetic and inner benefits that don't show up on a balance sheet. If it gives you great pleasure and maybe even has you cooking at home more, then that is a very important benefit too.
Indeed, we just love the way it cooks. It's really effortless to use. I'm waiting on a local shop to come pick up the old GE glass top to resell. The new cooker looks sleek and modern when next to the glass top. My wife and both remark that we feel cheated by being forced to use "modern" appliances for decades.

I realized today I was getting a 20 df temp drop between the stove water coil outlet and where it transitions to an insulated length. Despite looking worse than bare copper pipes I went ahead and insulated the exposed sections. I think the whole system will be significantly more efficient now.
 
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I'm a little late to this thread but I was gonna suggest this device attached to a Mapp torch fuel. The longer hose makes it easier to stuff back into the liner or exhaust, and it does say its a "turbo" device. Just a thought

torch.JPG
 
What a great stove- Thanks for the pics--looks like you and your Honey got the hang of things quick!!
 
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The ceramic top came in, USPS of all things. Imported from Serbia as well. The glass is actually made by Euro Kera, which I didn't expect.
 

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Also in my excitement I forgot to mention I was able to start the fire with the bypass closed (oven engaged). No preheating required when there aren't holes in the cook top.
 
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That is a great looking cook top, I really like that shot of the glow.
glad to see that it may have cured your start up problems.
let us know how the new top cooks.
 
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That is a great looking cook top, I really like that shot of the glow.
glad to see that it may have cured your start up problems.
let us know how the new top cooks.
So far I boiled some spaghetti and it was pretty fast. The stove is even easier to control without the draft getting diluted from the cook top. The water coil also seems to be more efficient without an air wash. Even if the steel top had a perfect seal, the ceramic top heats up almost instantly and is way easier to clean.

It seems like the rear vent setup was design to be used with the ceramic top. The plate over the old top vent opening was not a good fit at all. Perhaps in time I'll have a better lid made with countersunk holes and a gasket for the steel top. Eventually we want to learn how to can fruits and vegetables and Obadiah's does not recommend that kind of weight on the glass top. Maybe a better idea would be to have a local fabricator make me a better steel top or put supports in the center so I don't even have to worry about it at all.

I'm also hoping the ceramic top will help me hold coals through the night. The stove held coals all night with a firebox full of hard maple, but my Morso can do that with softwoods with a bit more than half the volume.
 
The cookstove has become much more responsive and controllable with the glass top. I'm not really sure how accurate my IR thermometer will be. Perhaps an emissivity adjustment could make it work? My flue temps are higher and I've had very little smoke spillage.

The heat entering the room is impressive. I was not expecting this stove to heat the house very well at all. This morning when I woke up the house was 66 and outside was 25 df and both stoves were cold. I lit a medium fire in the Morso and got the cooker going for breakfast and refreshing the hot water. Fast forward and I have three windows open, but the cooker has been going since I got up with moderate baking fires. Outside temp is 35df currently with full sun. The rock wool helps, but most of my band joist area is uninsulated as are four stud bays. The Morso only gets lit in the morning and cold nights now.
 
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I have no idea how accurate my IR thermometer is when checking the glass top, but with a 350-ish oven the top is 800df right at the firebox exit with a surface temp on the flue adapter to class A is 200df. This is with the ir thermo emissivity adjusted for black surfaces and glass surfaces respectively. I'm not really sure what to expect. The range boiler hasn't been as hot, but my wife is ill and has been living in the tub.
 
Bugger. I researched this a few weeks ago for someone else and posted here. Can't find the product thread yet. It had an interior offset box that had a damper. Sometimes this is called a ULV. I'll put this link in as a placeholder.


Now that the draft reversal issue has been rectified by the glass top I've been considering a range hood. While researching various valve and HRV devices I came upon a vent that only opens to let make up air in when a range hood or some other device is turned on. The range hood would primarily be used in summer when trying to get the heat out of the house, so the windows will probably be open anyway. The valve would allow me to use in the winter which is nice.
 
I feel kind of dumb, but I think I have finally mastered the cold start for the cooker. It seems I can even do it with the little butane torch, which is great for crisping up some chicken skin. If I put the torch in the stove in the very front pointed at the baffle area no smoke drifts out when lighting. I had been trying to get the torch above the baffle area to preheat the flue. Turns out I just need a bit of positive pressure to get it going. I had tried a hair dryer but blew ash out, so I had given up on heat near the door opening.
 
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I know it's dusty, but this is my connection from the appliance to the Class A chimney. @begreen or anyone else, do you think I could fit a key damper in that transition piece? The straight up 24' chimney can draft very hard on a cold windy night with gusts up to 70mph.
 

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I know it's dusty, but this is my connection from the appliance to the Class A chimney. @begreen or anyone else, do you think I could fit a key damper in that transition piece? The straight up 24' chimney can draft very hard on a cold windy night with gusts up to 70mph.
That looks tight. The damper needs room to swing open without catching on the screws joining the pipe sections. That's about 3" from each joint.
 
That looks tight. The damper needs room to swing open without catching on the screws joining the pipe sections. That's about 3" from each joint.

Maybe it's worth a try. There's only 2.5" of space between the cast iron flue collar and where the transition flares out to meet the OD of the class A. Maybe I could find a way to restrict the secondary air and get the same effect.