More woodburning questions

[ejb]

OK guys, a few more woodburning related questions for this upcoming season...

1. My chimney unfortunately, is a big brick one (lined) that is on the outside wall...everything I read says the best place for a chimney is inside the envelope of the house for a better draft...it works OK for my oil burner, but how bad is this going to be if I hook up a woodstove or woodboiler to it? I really don't want a lot of smoke in the house? Besides installing a new SS one inside the house, which would be expensive, is there other improvements I can make to improve the draft if need be?

2. Heating with a woodstove. For those of you that do this, do you have problems with your pipes freezing? the reason I ask is I have a boiler with baseboard systems, but of course if I am firing the woodstove full-bore the thermostats is not going to kick on, so it won't be circulating warmth around the perimeter of the house....last time I had a woodstove I managed to "save so much money on oil" that I ended up paying the plumber a thousand bucks or so to repair the pipes after they all froze up. Of course in that old house it was poorly insulated and had no basement (just an unheated crawl space) and the pipes ran under the house....so will freezing pipes up be not a problem in a more modern house (45 y/o)?

 

[Donnyj]

I have a wood furnace that uses a outside masonry chimney. I do have more than normal creosote problems from what I have been told is related to the outside wall chimney. I was given 2 things to try to help. First leave a outside window open near the furnace to help with combustion air. I was told that a wood stove or furnace needs outside air for combustion. I will try it and see. Next tip was installing a draft blower in the smoke pipe. I seen one in Northern's catalog.From what I understand the draft fan will come on to help with smoke draft up the chimney. I'm going to try the leaving the window open some and see how that works first. Probably won't completely fix the problem, but it might help some.

 

[beenthere]

Are you trying to fix the creosote problem, or fix a draft problem?
Dry wood will go a long way to fixing the creosote problem, and outside air coming in through a pipe will be more comfortable than leaving a window cracked open. Just an opinion, as I have tried the window idea. Cools the house down too much, IMO.

In-chimney draft fans will creosote up pretty quick, but will help some with forcing a draft. A therometer on the smoke stack will help get the fire hot enough for both draft and for creosote problems.
If you are burning wood that has been split less than a year (I prefer at least two full years), then the fire isn't getting hot enough, I don't think.
Some woods, like hickory, can be burned before a year and still get the heat. They have less water in them to start with, and burn hot.

 

[beenthere]

Can you leave the pump running that moves the water around, and avoid freezing?

I heat the water with wood and pump that around.

 

[tawilson]

My opinion is that there is a chance of pipes freezing. I would buy some glycol and add it to your system. Even if it only gave you protection to 10- 20 degrees or so, and a pipe freezes, it may still prevent a pipe from breaking. Just an observation, I left some RV antifreeze sitting outside last winter, and at 30 below it froze solid. The jug didn't expand though. That must be where the protection is. Freezes but doesn't expand. Like I said, just an observation.

 

[Donnyj]

Actually I'm getting rid of the wood furnace here next week and installing a multifuel furnace. The wood furnace I have now is just to big. The smoke pipe usually runs around 150 to maybe 200 degrees. I know that is way to low and that is alot of the creosote problem there. We could not stand to stay in the house if we kept the pipe up around 250 to 300 degrees. Hopefully this new furnace will use less wood and not creosote up so bad. I have always heard that a outside wall chimney does not stay hot enough causing alot of creosote problems. I know the wood has alot to do with it. When it is real cold and I can open that furnace up, I don't have near the problems with creosote. I don't know if a wood furnace will keep the smoke pipe constantly hot like a wood stove will. I have heard burning more coal will help with cleaning up the pipes and chimney. I know most of my wood has not been split longer than a year. It is hard to get a year or two ahead. You are right though. The longer the wood has been split the better it is. How big was the pipe you used for outside air?