We have a new exterior wood burning furnace. It is much larger than our last one. It has been installed for four to five days now. The burning temperature is at about 150 degrees. It is not heating our house sufficiently. The old furnace would burn at about 180 degrees. Is this the problem? How do we correct it? More wood? Big wood? Small wood? Please help.
does it put out the same btu's that the old one? 30 degrees makes a big difference,i think i would get in touch with the contractor that installed it and let them figure it out,cause i'm sure they didn't do it for free.
You get more heat from some wood than others. Best heat comes from: 1. White ash 2. Beech 3. Yellow birch 4. Shagbark hickory 5. Hop hornbeam 6. Black locust 7. Sugar maple 8. Red oak 9. White oak.
First....a few questions. 1. Forced hot air, radiators, what kind of heat exchangers do you have? 2. Did any of these heat exchangers get changed out with the installation of the new boiler? 3. Does your new boiler have a forced draft (blower) on the fire box? Most new ones do. 4. Is your water jacket vented or closed? Generally vented. Typically, a BTU in is a BTU out. The only thing that changes is the efficiency. This could be burning efficiency or heat exchanger efficiency. 30 degrees is a lot if you have radiators. Not so much if you have forced hot air. The blower motor on the forced hot air unit would run more often and the cycles would be longer. If you have forced hot air, the heat exchanger could be air bound, or partially so. Try venting the air out. My boiler runs at 180 degrees. There is a temperature switch or thermostat (sometimes referred to as an aquastat) in the boiler control box that turns the forced draft blower on and off. It is located in the same box that the water sight glass is in. The light switch is in there also, and perhaps a temperature indicator. This thermostat (temperature switch) is easily adjusted. It should be indexed in degrees F. Yours should be at 150 degrees. If it is not, then maybe it is broken. Talk to the manufacturer. If they suggest turning it up....peice of cake. Remember...water boils at 212 degrees. Not too far above 180 really. If you boil the water, it will build up pressure and could rupture the water jacket, or boil away. Dangerous and messy either way. If you do adjust this thermostat, do it in several small steps, allowing enough time in between for the temperature to stablize each time to help prevent this.
