Wood Heat Thread ~ post pics

Wouldn't work too well with a masonary chimney unless you designed it into the equation . With a metal chimney you could only utilize the interior portion of the chimney as it is uninsulated and generally the make up volume should be around 4"

 

I figured this could be incorporated into the design before the house built. It could be done with a masonry chimney, but would be far easier with the type of chimneys you see on wood or vinyl sided houses. The heat exchange duct could be incorporated into the chimney and insulated while the framing was being done.

 

Yeah but you can only use rated insulated chimney through walls and ceilings so the only place your intake pipe would harvest any heat would be in contact woth the uninsulated pipe which would be in the room

 

Only been on TW for about 4 months, first time I stumbled upon this thread.
Ok, for the don't laugh part.
I live on Maui, at roughly 3800' above sea level.
We have a wood stove in the cedar chalet that we rent.
I own a Husque chainsaw, splitting axe,and am always on the lookout for firewood.
Between November and March, it dips down to the mid-40's, overnight.
I know, you guys on the big island of America consider this t-shirt weather.
Oz, I really enjoy your input, throughout the forum. Interesting thread.
I know, it was started a long time ago, just wanted to take the chance to greet you.
FYI, I have to order fat wood on Amazon.
I understand, if there is a lack of sympathy.

 

Welcome

 

Kinda like...

Outside temp.-15°F, indoor temp. 71°F. Steel smoke chimney warm to the touch outside
Most pellet burners have fresh air intake (mine is powered) for combustion.

 

I swear you snuck into my house and took a picture of my stove. Mine setup is almost identical. I've got a P43 setup just like that in the corner and the tile is almost the same too.

 

Hawaii is lovely. But no sour grapes from me.
I believe they are cutting a lot of invasive species on the islands.
Any chance of hooking up with any of those folks?

 

Yep, Harman P43 FTW!
As you can see the pussy likes pellet burners too!

 

I don't believe I would trust a pipe around a chimney unless it was welded and stainless for make up air too much of a chance for CO. but there is no reason you could not make an intake for make up air with PVC right at the stove. Many automated HVAC system have provisions for outside make up air.

 

Don't take my word for it, but I am nearly certain that when I was looking at stove pipe last year online they made just the thing you are talking about. If I remember correctly it was a double wall pipe with the top end open, perhaps lower than the exhaust outlet to prevent drawing exhaust back in, and the bottom hooked up to something on the stove like a cold air intake would. I do not recall specifically how the bottom was plumbed up. But like I said don't take my word for it, look it up!

 

Its getting cool again, and most of the bugs seem to have died off.. Time to start cutting!

 

I deal with HVAC controls for work and have thought about trying to come up with a way to keep more heat from the fire in the house. What I have seen at work is usually something like a dual radiator setup. First radiator (heat exchanger) is set up in the exit path of the exhaust just before the duct dumps outside. The second heat exchanger is just inside an exterior wall for the outside air coming in. The 2 heat exchangers are plumbed together with a circulation pump to keep the fluid moving. What I would be afraid of in that situation would be creosote buildup on the exhaust heat exchanger, not to mention and small ash getting caught up in it. I have also seen air to air heat exchangers, so there was no plumbing needed, but they are still something like a radiator, but with bigger slots for air to pass through.

Something to consider with heat recovery and pushing it into air intake on wood stove/fireplace/pellet stove would be controlling the incoming air. Will there be a damper on it to slow the fire down so you don't have to keep loading in more fuel every hour?

 

I would just get the most efficient woodstove you could buy and pour a concrete wall behind the stove and a slab under it , that thermal mass will absorb and distribute heat long after the fire is out , this is the set up I have at my place . Trying to get all the heat out of flue gasses seems like a lot of work for negligible gain

 

I've seen battery backups for them, they hardly draw anything.

 

Yes air to air exchangers work fine in a tight house the problem with wood smoke is the creosote by cooling the smoke trying to heat the house you'll end up with tremendous creosote build up just like a cold chimney and tight draft. Years ago they made a device that was above the stove in the stack it had a small fan behind it and a stack of tubes yeah it made heat and also made a lot of creosote it even had a rod you pulled to remove the crap from the pipes. Haven’t seen one in ages.

 

Like this OZ? http://russianstove.com/brickyard/

 

Those take it to the extreme but I know of a couple houses that had them built into them and they work well , but I was just talking about a conventional freestanding woodstove and a concrete wall and slab to act as the thermal mass

 

I burn 5-6 cords a year to heat my 2000sqf 1940's farm house.

I have a thermostatically controlled Big Jack wood furnace in the basement. There is nothing romantic about it but, the house stays 71 degrees in the day and 65 at night and my gas furnace never turns on. It was the best thing I ever did.

 

My house has a similar setup, but with bricks. The fire can go out, but between the soapstone in the stove and the brickwork there's still heat being thrown for a few hours.

Man, this thread jumped a couple of pages while I was on vacation. I like it!

Oz- I found a Madrone tree dropping seeds all over the place while I was in the PNW last week. Those hulls are sticky little bastards. Going to see if I can sprout the seeds and grow a couple of Madrone trees in Maine. Should be big enough for firewood by the time I'm 70

Edit: Got some chestnut seeds too; we'll see if they end up being blight resistant since they're not from around here. Maine's chestnuts are blight resistant, but I wanted to experiment with the ones from the PNW.