Question about Clayton furnace

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and need some help. I'll play the sympathy card and tell you that my husband handled all the heating and plumbing stuff in the house but he left and I'm trying to be as independent as possible. I have a 3,500 square foot house with two heating systems. The primary one is a Clayton wood/coal furnace with the natural air draft. The back up is LP, but that costs around $700 a month to keep my house at 60-65 so I am trying to rely on the Clayton.

I use wood, not coal, so I hope you will be able to help me - it looks like this is a coal forum for the most part. My question is about using the thermostat. I set it to 74 and it does a good job of keeping the house around 70 but I worry about how low the stove temperature goes when the damper is closed. I have a temp guage on the exhaust pipe and it registers in the "too cool" zone. Isn't that creating a lot of creosote? Is it better for me just to burn a hot fire with no electric damper or to let the damper work?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Your Clayton furnace is a very good unit. In my opinion, the Clayton furnaces are the best. Once you get the hang of using your Clayton, you'll love it! I'm not clear as to whether you have the optional Clayton combustion draft fan kit with thermostat, but I would highly recommend getting it and having it installed, if you plan on mainly burning wood. http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=69143

Here is a post that may help you. CLAYTON FURNACE FIRED ON WOOD

Explain what you mean by the damper. Is it a manual draft damper installed into the stovepipe or an automatic barometric draft regulator? Some pictures would really help. Do you have the electric combustion fan/limit kit, with thermostat, or just the air draft spinner between the cast iron doors and the spinner on the ash door?

Either way, we could get you tuned in short time for a really efficient heating appliance, that you'll be very happy that your former guy installed for you.

I'll be checking back later to help you out. DOUG

Hi Doug, thanks for replying. I'll try to answer your questions without sounding too clueless. My furnace has an electric draft regulator installed. It closes automatically when the ambient air reaches the temp set on the thermostat. When it closes, the temp guage on my stovepipe goes below 200 degrees. The article you linked for me says to keep the stove above 250. I am afriad of creosote build-up because of the low temp when the draft (damper) is closed.

I'd sure like to see a picture of your electric draft regulator. I want to see how it works to help answer some more questions.

As to the stovepipe temperature around 200, If the wood is dry and you keep the chimney clean with a good 15 minute hot fire a day and/or monthly cleanings, I don't see much problem. Now if the wood is green, damp, wet, or frozen, that is when I would be concerned. If you are forced to use any of that kind of wood, just make sure that you only put it on a hot fire and in small doses, so as to burn off the moisture.

Thanks. I'll take a photo tonight. How do I post a photo here?

Doug, never mind. I think I see how to post an image.