Manometer and Wood Burning.

HarMark3500 · Post by **HarMark3500** » Thu. Oct. 22, 2015 9:47 pm

Good evening.,

Im burning a Harman sf-3500 wood/coal furnace. Id like to burn wood alone on the warmer days and on the weekends while im home ( after all it is free). last year I dident have much luck, so I installed a manometer. Im courious to see if there is anyone burning only wood and measuring the draft. If so, what is it? Ive read between .04 and .06 is ideal. Thoughts??

Thanks

joeq · Post by **joeq** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 6:17 am

I'm no expert, but that draft sounds pretty good to me, as far as supporting combustion. Was the wood seasoned? What grates were you using? I've heard wood needs more over-fire air to burn well.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 7:01 am

Barometric dampers and burning wood are not a good combo.
Creosote coats the back-side which messes up the calibration and also when a chimney catches fire from the creosote in the chimney, even a clean baro will open wide and allow very much more oxygen in to make the chimney fire a giant torch to the sky up through your chimney.

My question is...
What does Harman recommend for use for your situation?

p.s. There is no creosote in coal.

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 7:53 am

If you have no or little secondary air and no burn tubes at least you are wasting wood time and effort.

Post by **coaledsweat** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 7:54 am

Remove the baro, the creosote will render it useless except to feed a chimney fire. Install a MPD.

Photog200 · Post by **Photog200** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 8:33 am

The OP's question was not about a barometric damper, it was who was using a manometer while burning wood. He wanted to know what draft readings we used if we did. (at least that is how I understood his question)

I do still use the manometer when I burn wood. I have been using .03 or .04. I have not had any problems with smoke coming inside with those draft readings.

Randy

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 9:07 am

For me I get higher readings than with coal, at least until creosote starts plugging it. Its not a very accurate measurement with wood as mentioned already. Make sure to clean out the tube when you switch to coal.

If your not smoking out your house you likely have enough draft.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 9:32 am

Photog200 wrote:The OP's question was not about a barometric damper, it was who was using a manometer while burning wood. He wanted to know what draft readings we used if we did. (at least that is how I understood his question)

I do still use the manometer when I burn wood. I have been using .03 or .04. I have not had any problems with smoke coming inside with those draft readings.

Randy

How does a mano alone make any adjustments to draft?

Waiting for OP to reply with Harman's recommendations for this model stove/furnace...

Photog200 · Post by **Photog200** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 9:42 am

McGiever wrote:
Photog200 wrote:The OP's question was not about a barometric damper, it was who was using a manometer while burning wood. He wanted to know what draft readings we used if we did. (at least that is how I understood his question)

I do still use the manometer when I burn wood. I have been using .03 or .04. I have not had any problems with smoke coming inside with those draft readings.

Randy
How does a mano alone make any adjustments to draft?

Waiting for OP to reply with Harman's recommendations for this model stove/furnace...

It doesn't make any adjustment. He asked if anyone was taking measurements with a manometer, if so what were the readings.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 11:04 am

Photog200 wrote:The OP's question was not about a barometric damper, it was who was using a manometer while burning wood. He wanted to know what draft readings we used if we did. (at least that is how I understood his question)

I do still use the manometer when I burn wood. I have been using .03 or .04. I have not had any problems with smoke coming inside with those draft readings.

Randy

Randy,

Only having a wood burner thermometer on the stove pipe back when I burned wood, I'm curious to see how that equates.

Do you know what the skin temps are at those mano readings ? Is there any creosote starting to accumulate in the pipes ? Visible smoke from the chimney top ?

Paul

Photog200 · Post by **Photog200** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 11:19 am

Sunny Boy wrote:
Photog200 wrote:The OP's question was not about a barometric damper, it was who was using a manometer while burning wood. He wanted to know what draft readings we used if we did. (at least that is how I understood his question)

I do still use the manometer when I burn wood. I have been using .03 or .04. I have not had any problems with smoke coming inside with those draft readings.

Randy
Randy,

Only having a wood burner thermometer on the stove pipe back when I burned wood, I'm curious to see how that equates.

Do you know what the skin temps are at those mano readings ? Is there any creosote starting to accumulate in the pipes ? Visible smoke from the chimney top ?

Paul

As you know, I have the back pipe on the Andes, with it engaged in indirect draft, it has been averaging 200℉ on the barrel and 150℉ on the stove pipe. Once the fire gets going and is in indirect mode, you see very little smoke coming out the chimney. Even after re-loading, there is very little smoke. Before I switched over to coal last week, I cleaned out the back pipe and chimney, I only got about a pint jar of soot out of it. My fire wood is quite dry so that helps. My wood shed has three clear roof panels on it so it gets like a greenhouse in there and has plenty of ventilation for moisture to escape. The wood dries very well in there.
Edit: Those temp readings on the skin were with a magnet type thermometer not my IR gun. Those reading were with both primary and secondary air closed off. I need to work on getting the load door tighter sealing when burning wood. works fine when burning coal.
Randy

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 11:51 am

I burned wood for quite a bit and glad it is over. I used a probe to measure internal temps in the pipe and kept them above 300F as creosote settles out around 275. This read low on the surface temps but after 4 cords a year could not get a half a coffee cup of anything after cleaning chimney.

Photog200 · Post by **Photog200** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 12:00 pm

ddahlgren wrote:I burned wood for quite a bit and glad it is over. I used a probe to measure internal temps in the pipe and kept them above 300F as creosote settles out around 275. This read low on the surface temps but after 4 cords a year could not get a half a coffee cup of anything after cleaning chimney.

I agree, it would be better if I could burn hotter, but as it was, I had the doors and windows open. If I was burning wood during the middle of winter, I would not get hardly any soot either. I was surprised at how clean this stove burned wood. I use to have a fisher wood stove and it smoked terrible from the time you started the fire to when you had to reload. I had to clean the chimney with that stove 3-4 times a year. I have switched over to coal for the season in the Andes but will continue to burn wood out in the cooking range until probably Jan when the temps really start to get cold.

Randy

tcalo · Post by **tcalo** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 12:16 pm

I have my manometer permanently hooked up. I run my wood fires hot to avoid creosote buildup, besides if I close down the stove too much I start to get smoke from the fire smoldering. My mano readings average -.07 to -.10 burning wood with my mpd wide open. When I burn coal I keep the mano reading at -.03 to -.04 set by the barometric damper. Hope this helps.

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Fri. Oct. 23, 2015 12:32 pm

I will make an attempt to get my magnehelic gauge set up tonight. I burn a good deal of wood in the fall and spring. Seasoned as well as green. I will relay my numbers soon .