? about firewood usage

[getbent]

Last Thrs, 1/22, I had a cord of wood delivered. We have wood furnace in the basement/garage, connected to the duct work. It uses the fan of the hvac to circulate the air through the house. We have a Cape Cod, apprx. 1640 sq. ft. I feel like this wood may not last 2 weeks. I use this wood furnace all the time. If I'm home, it's going. At night, I'm up reloading it if the house starts to cool down. Am I doing something wrong? I feel the wood should last longer. Is my house that bad at holding the heat in or is it normal considering how cold it's been?

 

[aps45819]

It's 14 degrees outside

 

[RPMDAD]

Not knowing for sure getbent. but that sounds like a lot of wood to be going through. Is this an older uninsulated house with a lot of air leaks? It has been extremely cold lately. Do you have dampers on your wood stove to turn it down from a full burn.

 

[getbent]

Not knowing for sure getbent. but that sounds like a lot of wood to be going through. Is this an older uninsulated house with a lot of air leaks? It has been extremely cold lately. Do you have dampers on your wood stove to turn it down from a full burn.

The house was built in 1979. We did recently find out the exterior wall insulation (at least in the kitchen) looks to be foam but basically falls apart if you look at it wrong. The wood stove has the door you load the wood, the door to empty the ashes, a small flue and another opening that I don't think you can do anything with. I close the flue almost all the way with both doors closed as well. The fire still burns but once the thermostat on the wood furnace drops below a certain temp, the hvac fan cuts off. It doesn't seem to get hot enough again unless I crack a door. Any of this make sense? I know it's probably easier if you could see it in person.

 

[John Z]

It doesn't seem to get hot enough again unless I crack a door. Any of this make sense? I know it's probably easier if you could see it in person.

Sure, this makes sense to me. Depending on a lot of factors, our fire may not burn hot enough unless we have the lower door open a bit. Our magnetic thermometer which is on our wood stove pipe about 16" above the stove has a yellow zone between 250* and 450* that we try to keep the fire burning at for optimal heat/efficiency.

Sometimes when the fire really gets going, we have to close the lower door and also twist the little round opening partway closed.

 

[getbent]

I'll try to post some pics. I apologize, both units are old. HVAC original to the house and wood furnace may be 1980's?? I tried to Google the unit.
First pic, wood furnace left side, hvac right side. Second pic is the flue and that's how little it is open . Third is a chain attached to what looks to be a trap door (for lack of a better description). If you turn the knob it opens or closes it. Not sure where it lets air in at, somewhere low down. Never used it until just now. Figured, what the hell.

 

[getbent]

Last pic was supposed to be the thermostat on the furnace. It won't load

 

[DQ2B]

Sounds similar to what we have but ours is backed up by oil. Our house is about 2200 sq. ft. two story and if we are home all day I'd say we go through about 20 pieces of wood. That would be from about 7 am to about 10 pm though. After 10:00 or so we just let the oil kick on if the temp drops below our thermostat setting. Hope this helps.

 

[getbent]

Sounds similar to what we have but ours is backed up by oil. Our house is about 2200 sq. ft. two story and if we are home all day I'd say we go through about 20 pieces of wood. That would be from about 7 am to about 10 pm though. After 10:00 or so we just let the oil kick on if the temp drops below our thermostat setting. Hope this helps.

We have oil back up to. Only used it for a very short time first 2 winters we were here. Recently found out it leaks oil. There is oil on the underside of the floor vents. Husband doesn't want to fix it because he doesn't want to pay for oil (500 gal. tank). We are looking to upgrade the hvac very soon. So basically, no back up heat right now.

 

[General Lee]

Can you post a pic of the wood your burning? In its fresh unburnt state. Any idea what kind of wood your burning?

 

[getbent]

Can you post a pic of the wood your burning? In its fresh unburnt state. Any idea what kind of wood your burning?

I can once I get home. I don't know, by looks, the difference between the trees. I know it's great wood, seasoned.

 

[General Lee]

If you wouldn't mind. I may be able able to help with what could the problem. Take some close ups of the bark and split sides too.

 

[getbent]

If you wouldn't mind. I may be able able to help with what could the problem. Take some close ups of the bark and split sides too.

Ok, will do.

 

[nutz]

The house was built in 1979. We did recently find out the exterior wall insulation (at least in the kitchen) looks to be foam but basically falls apart if you look at it wrong. The wood stove has the door you load the wood, the door to empty the ashes, a small flue and another opening that I don't think you can do anything with. I close the flue almost all the way with both doors closed as well. The fire still burns but once the thermostat on the wood furnace drops below a certain temp, the hvac fan cuts off. It doesn't seem to get hot enough again unless I crack a door. Any of this make sense? I know it's probably easier if you could see it in person.

Are you cracking the door on the furnace or an exterior door? Can't tell from your pic. of the front. Is there any kind of wheel or knob to allow air in to the wood stove? The picture of the firebox is of the rear damper?

 

[getbent]

Are you cracking the door on the furnace or an exterior door? Can't tell from your pic. of the front. Is there any kind of wheel or knob to allow air in to the wood stove? The picture of the firebox is of the rear damper?

The door I usually crack is the lower door on the wood furnace (where you would clean the ashes out). There is something on the side of the wood furnace that has a knob with a chain attached. Near the knob it says turn one way for warmer and the other way for cooler. I never used it before because I thought it was broke. Apparently it's connected to a metal flap below that you can open and close (like a trap door). I tried opening it last night to see if it did anything. I didn't notice any difference. I'm not sure where that door leads too.

 

[getbent]

If you wouldn't mind. I may be able able to help with what could the problem. Take some close ups of the bark and split sides too.

Here are couple pics of the wood. It all looks to be the same type. Some pieces are heavier than others. Not sure if it's because they are bigger but I use those at night so the burn longer. Let me know if these are ok or if you need a different pic.

 

[General Lee]

Your wood appears to be red oak from the pics, and it looks dry and seasoned enough. Should burn well, hot and get decent burn times. I wanted to rule out wood being an issue in case you were burning green unseasoned wood or soft wood like pine or popular.

If would is green, you would have to burn hotter, leaving door/vents open more to get it to burn. Soft wood will give decent heat but burns fast causing you to reload the stove more.

With this recent load of wood you bought, do you find yourself operating the stove any different from past wood supplies?

 

[getbent]

Your wood appears to be red oak from the pics, and it looks dry and seasoned enough. Should burn well, hot and get decent burn times. I wanted to rule out wood being an issue in case you were burning green unseasoned wood or soft wood like pine or popular.

If would is green, you would have to burn hotter, leaving door/vents open more to get it to burn. Soft wood will give decent heat but burns fast causing you to reload the stove more.

With this recent load of wood you bought, do you find yourself operating the stove any different from past wood supplies?

Just trying to keep from going through it so fast. I got a delivery of wood, last minute cause the guy forgot, and it was green. I burned it because I had to so definitely left the door open longer. I'm wondering if it is mostly due to how cold it's been. Last nigh I have no idea of the low, but I was literally up every hour to hour and a half adding wood. The temp inside the house would barely get to 64. I fell asleep a little to long once and it dropped to just under 62. I try to keep the house around 66. Once it gets there and the fan shuts off I don't add any wood unless the fire is about to die or the temp gets to 64. I figured not letting the fire go out and furnace go cold was worse than adding a log every so often to keep a flame lit.

 

[General Lee]

I'm familiar with how your furnace works, I operate a newer version from time to time for family. I load that puppy up full and once the fire gets rolling I shut all air inlets and I can get 12 hour burns no problem and have plenty of hot coals left over to reload on.

Are you just loading a log or two at a time? If so I doubt the furnace gets very hot and puts out little heat.

It could be just the cold temps, but I would think that furnace could heat your 1600 sq foot home no problem at temps higher than 66.

Did the snow last a couple days on your roof? If it melts fast and other houses around you have snow on the roofs longer, your losing heat through the attic insulation.

 

[getbent]

I can get it up to 70 but lately its been hard. The fire will die out and the thermostats in the hall will say 60-62 by morning before these frigid temps. I wouldn't think it would keep the house warm unless the fan on the hvac unit kicked on. Once it goes off (cause the temp drops on the wood furnace) it doesn't kick back on unless I add more wood. The warm air doesn't circulate without the fan. When I add wood, I add as much as will fit so I don't have to go down there so often.