Hyfire II First burn underway!!

Kicked off one burner on the Hyfire II to cure the paint. Little bit smelly down in the basement. Windows are open down there to let fumes out.

Ductwork is putting out some good heat. House temps up 3 degrees already. (have not started oil furnace yet for the season so it was getting a little cool in the house ) Couldn't be happier...

Lighted up very easily with the LL starter bag. After 2 hours I have a good 4-5 inch band of burning coal on the grate.

Still need to run the return air ductwork. I hope to run one large return from center of house. My supply ducts run to the three furthest points of the house. House is shaped like a "T".

Should return air cross section sq inches be equal/more/less? I have 3 8" supplies @ 50sq in each. Should returns be 150 sq inches total?

Congrats. If i had to do over again i would have got the Hyfire II probably a overkill to put in my kitchen which is where my Pioneer is located but why not

Hello 4tees, I'm not a ductwork HVAC guy, but in general your ductwork question is correct, the areas should be equal.. if you look at most furnace systems this is what you see..

But with your Hyfire, are you planning on hooking the return to both of the distribution blowers?? or are you running the stove with these removed and a bigger fan pulling hot air off the stove??

Take a look at this ductwork: not a Hyfire, but an impressive job. Any amount of return air to the stove will help establish the circulation loop needed.

Ductwork Question

Greg L

You will enjoy it! It will kick out some heat. Anything else, just ask!

I am using the supplied convection fans to supply my 3 8" duct runs.
Run 1 is pretty much straight above stove to living room floor. 6-8' length
Run 2 is horizontal and then up to family room wall. around 20' length with inline duct fan 1/2 way
Run 3 is horizontal to the far end of the house in the kitchen floor. around 50' length with inline duct fan 1/3 way
Registers are 10x10 with two dampers in each.

With my test run I was getting some good heat from run 1 and 2(without duct booster fan). Run 3 is going to need some boosting. By running the inline fan in run3 I was getting acceptable heat to the kitchen but I know it could be better. I am thinking about insulating this whole run. I have around 5 feet of this run insulated where it runs through unheated crawl space.

Thanks for the link to the return air photos. That's what I have in mind... Maybe a 12-14" return run from the center of the house that will feed the 2 combustion fans and also the sides of the hot air jacket. I will be the guy at home depot and lowes this week standing and staring at the duct supplies with that blank look trying to figure out how to tie this all together.

Manometer is on order from Coleparmer.com. Still need to get my cousin the electrician in to install an outlet next to the stove. Don't think the inspector would pass on running the powervent and stove off an extension cord.

Sure was fun the other day sitting in front of the stove and watching the fire!!! And then running to each of the registers to feel the heat... I felt like Chuck Noland in Castaway..."Aha. Look what I've created. I have made FIRE. " .... and HEAT!!!

Nice!

I am the guy who is already standing in front of the duct work in home depot, trying to piece this all together.....See you there!

I have a Hyfire II on order, and I'm trying to piece everything together before it gets here. I have so many ideas, the trouble is using the correct one!....lol

A lot is trial and error. We only used the 8" off the top of the stove last year to heat the first floor of our house, it would crank just maintain temps, most was lost in the basement, This year is a heat jacket and extra blower to wash the sides of the stove...on idle now, it really cranks the heat upstairs.... It should be much warmer this winter...

4tees wrote:I am using the supplied convection fans to supply my 3 8" duct runs.
Run 1 is pretty much straight above stove to living room floor. 6-8' length
Run 2 is horizontal and then up to family room wall. around 20' length with inline duct fan 1/2 way
Run 3 is horizontal to the far end of the house in the kitchen floor. around 50' length with inline duct fan 1/3 way
Registers are 10x10 with two dampers in each.

With my test run I was getting some good heat from run 1 and 2(without duct booster fan). Run 3 is going to need some boosting. By running the inline fan in run3 I was getting acceptable heat to the kitchen but I know it could be better. I am thinking about insulating this whole run. I have around 5 feet of this run insulated where it runs through unheated crawl space.

Thanks for the link to the return air photos. That's what I have in mind... Maybe a 12-14" return run from the center of the house that will feed the 2 combustion fans and also the sides of the hot air jacket. I will be the guy at home depot and lowes this week standing and staring at the duct supplies with that blank look trying to figure out how to tie this all together.

Manometer is on order from Coleparmer.com. Still need to get my cousin the electrician in to install an outlet next to the stove. Don't think the inspector would pass on running the powervent and stove off an extension cord.

Sure was fun the other day sitting in front of the stove and watching the fire!!! And then running to each of the registers to feel the heat... I felt like Chuck Noland in Castaway..."Aha. Look what I've created. I have made FIRE. " .... and HEAT!!!

Do you happen to have the heat jacket?...If you metioned it in an earlier post, I missed it, sorry!......Would you say that the convection fans move the air pretty well, without boosters installed? Also, with the boosters running, did you see a noticable temp loss in the air flow?

Just trying to figure all of this out....lol

EDIT- To Clarify:

What I meant by temp loss in air flow is....Obviously I know the air is still heated, and I know it will cool somewhat as it is moved, BUT I thought a slower, steady air flow would heat better....I guess that's why I need to play with rheostat settings....lol

Dave, can you attach a pic of the back of your Hyfire, showing the cold air ducting to the two distribution blowers??

Greg L

Here's the thread I did a while ago on my cold air return. hope that helps

Cold air return from existing run

Hunlock: Yes, I have the hot air jacket with 3 8" holes. On my shorter runs there was a nice stream of hot air coming out of the registers. On my long run without the booster fan the air was definitely cooler and had less flow. I think insulating this run would help. When I ran the booster fan the air did seem warmer. Maybe less time to cool or simply the booster fan was sucking more of the heated air from the stove and away from the two other runs. I am sure I am going to be tuning my setup for weeks/months playing with fan speeds, register dampers, thermostat settings, etc.

I have seen Dave's (WNY) setup and his design is my inspiration. I also like his new hot air jacket. My plan is to extend my hot air jacket to the floor along the sides of the stove and run a cold air return feed low on each side and also feed the convection blowers like Dave.

Thanks for the info. I guess tweaking is key here.

My lines will be insulated, including the cold air return, so I guess I'll pick up a few duct fans and go to work!

Any thoughts on duct fans? Best brand for the buck?.....I have a home depot nearby and they sell fans, as well as duct stats, but I heard that their CFM is not as high as others....Any thoughts?


By the way, sorry for the thread jacking!!!!

Tim

I didn;t like the inline booster fans, I tried one, but it was really noisey, I wanted to keep as much noise in the basement. Most of the time you can barely hear the stove running, especially if the blowers are on low (less than 35%). You can here the stokers every so often, but pretty quiet upstairs.

i am building my duct work now and bought the off shoots wit built in dampers. i hope to be able to dial in a constant pressure. if the flow isnt good enough i will go with the inline 14 in fan right out of the stove.

Sounds like you have it pretty much designed, sometimes trial and error. But as long you are warm and it works...that's all that counts.!!