How Have I Lived Without My Magnehelic Pressure Gage?!

Monday morning, while nosing around on eBay, I found a listing for a Dwyer 2000-00AV magnehelic pressure gage. It was the right range (0 to 0.25 inches of water) and priced at 30 bucks with free shipping.

I've been meaning to get a manometer but could not pass this up. It arrived this afternoon and I installed it when I got home. I zeroed it out and connected it to the flue...and nearly fell over when faced with a reading of 0.030.

Loading or poking has been a smokey affair all winter and I knew my pipe was leaky. I used some 3m 3350 aluminized HVAC tape and furnace cement and was up to 0.0475" within an hour.

Out of curiosity, I opened the load door all the way on a fairly new batch and should have been blasted with smoke. Instead...nothing. It was glorious. My baro is properly set now as well.

Praise be the gods at Dwyer!

Yep, I do the same after opening my MPD (takes less then a second) & get the same results. Pretty nice huh?

voodoochylde wrote:...and nearly fell over when faced with a reading of 0.030.

This is what I run my furnace at. It's a good pressure.

voodoochylde wrote:Loading or poking has been a smokey affair all winter and I knew my pipe was leaky. I used some 3m 3350 aluminized HVAC tape and furnace cement and was up to 0.0475" within an hour.

Careful, could have been other variables that led to the stronger draft. You would need some pretty excessive leaks in the pipe for it to make that big of a difference.

But yes, everyone should have a mano on a coal burning appliance.. Very valuable information.

freetown fred wrote:Yep, I do the same after opening my MPD (takes less then a second) & get the same results. Pretty nice huh?

Are your pipe joints sealed?

Ya think that's important? Just looked----YEP:)

Lightning wrote: This is what I run my furnace at. It's a good pressure.
Careful, could have been other variables that led to the stronger draft. You would need some pretty excessive leaks in the pipe for it to make that big of a difference.

You got it, my initial connection to stove pipe at the cast elbow was pretty horrible. I saw almost no difference until I sealed that. I was also being too conservative with my baro setting.

Stove seems a bit happier. Easier to get a new load running. Haven't been able to see a difference in consumption either way.

And that my friend, is what it's all about

If you have a chimney with a cleanout, check the cleanout door. I had not crawled under the deck for awhile to check mine and a little rust buildup above the hinge had pushed the door open slightly . A wire brush and a little paint fixed that.