Boiler Furnace: your experience.

[Ali Berte]

Hello,

I just had a boiler installed to replace a fuel boiler at my home, north-west of France in the countryside, a very old house which served as a summer house for its former owners, little concerned with current ecological problems. A house whose development over the past fifty years has been badly managed, entrusted to various craftsmen and entrepreneurs with unequal skills ...
Three years of savings on our wages of temporary workers allowed us, my partner and myself, to carry out this first project, while taking the time to live, that is to say to stop completely to work, a situation that we are trying to prolong as long as possible. Indeed, one cannot want to find a simple and peaceful life while continuing to nourish this perverse system which puts the masses to sleep.
In short, other projects are closing in our heads, perhaps they will see the light of day in a somewhat obscure future, I admit. Still, I post today, in order to have the advice of those who practice this complete log heating mode:
- radiators / DHW / cooking.
Three weeks of experimenting with the stove have shown me that the least obvious is baking ... which does not easily go up to 180 degrees! FYI, I bake my bread at 240.
So I hope to find here some sharing, advice or even encouragement.


thank you in advance.

[Ahmed]

This heating method is indeed very interesting since it meets all the heat needs of the house in a particularly efficient and economic way.

The disadvantage lies in the difficulty of managing different caloric flows with a single device ... which therefore operates on the basis of inevitable compromises.

In any case, I salute your approach, both courageous and sympathetic!
I much prefer it to (for example) that of the "free energy" zealots who prove nothing except their (unconscious) will to strengthen the system.
Know that the future is no less uncertain for those who confine themselves to the usual conformism.

[Rabbit]

To bake the bread 180 degrees are enough. 180 ° c true 180 ° c because this
that indicate the thermometers built into the oven do not match
not always reality.
240 ° cc is for pizzas.

In order for the stove to heat up, there must be
enough radiators. Otherwise it’s wrong. The wood must also be well
dry. Preferably beech.

[Ali Berte]

Thank you Ahmed for your passage on this post. A first positive response is always pleasant!

Thanks also to Rabbit! on the other hand, Rabbit, if you could explain to me a little more detail this story of radiators, it would not be bad because a priori I do not understand.

For my bread, which I knead with natural sourdough, baking at 180 degrees is insufficient, I have experienced it, it rises too badly, and does not have the desired softness.

I obviously use the driest wood possible, and of course cut short and split fine. In the hearth which accepts 420 mm long I often bake 250. On the other hand I use a little all types of wood, except the conifers: it is clear that I do not obtain the same output each time, but benefiting from a beautiful raised ground I manage my trees in priority. I still bought a few cubic meters of dry oak from a local farmer, at a reasonable price, in order to be provided in the event of a galley.

In short, this is where I am currently in the management of this machine:
in the morning I rekindle the fire and heat my buffer tank with wood of medium section, so as not to have a compaction of the coals on the ash grate, then when the DHW and the heating seem to me to turn well, I switch to mode cooking (smoke register) and uses much finer woods to obtain an increase in temperature of the oven without clogging the hearth. This only when I want to use the oven, the hot plate is very easy to heat. Despite this, it takes me over an hour for the oven to painfully reach 175 degrees, and I see an impressive rise in the level of embers in the hearth.
The installer had warned me that baking in the oven is not easy with this type of appliance, that it is a matter of habit and that only experience counts.
"You will see for yourself, will make attempts, many tests in order to understand how it works, because with wood heating there is no standard, but it works well when you use it well"

Waiting for your advice, I will come back later!

[Rabbit]

In fact when the water in the stove heats up the
the air adjustment valve closes. To be able to heat
the cooker has to be thoroughly cooled from the radiators.
I also had this problem to make my jams with my
stove. The hob of the previous one was super hot
because the stove was smaller and turned on full power.
When I changed it for a bigger one, I was disappointed because
the boiler is idling it is indeed too big for the
number of radiators that I have. It makes 20kW for 2 X200 ld sanitary water
and 2 radiators. I haven't had time to install the others yet.

[Ali Berte]

Ok Rabbit I can see better.

But I am not sure that our devices work in the same way, in any case I did not see mention of this automatic closing of the valve in the notice, and my installer did not speak to me about it.

My stove works on the following principle:

Combustion:
- ignition record (two-position pull tab for direct ignition draw)
- manual regulation of primary air
- manual secondary adjustment
-thermostat with manual adjustment acting automatically on the primary to compensate the amplitudes of heat between the ignition / combustion / extinction of the fire

Hydraulic / cooking:
- height adjustment of the hearth grid
(lowest position favors water and oven heating, highest position favors plate heating) designed for cooking in summer.
-Smoke record:
manual adjustment, 2 positions: hydraulic or cooking (plate and oven) inducing a semi-direct draft for the hydraulics, and a longer course of the fumes in the furnace for cooking.

This stove is equipped with DSA security:
if the water in the circuit exceeds 85 degrees, a valve ejects part of it while another injects cold. It hasn't happened yet, and I only use 3 of the 5 radiators available on my heating circuit.
The water rendering of the machine is 15,1 Kw.

Hoping that this data allows you to view the system!

[Ahmed]

Ali Berte, you are talking about the species of wood used, I do not know if this information applies in your particular case, but, be aware that bakers who heated with wood used split birch.
This wood has interesting features for bread ovens; rapid combustion (therefore significant rise in temperature) and considerable flame volume (therefore better heat distribution) (moreover it does not generate too many embers ...).
You can always try and see how it works ...

[Rabbit]

I do not understand what is the problem of embers.
It is when we have embers that the temperature of the
stove starts to go up. Especially the embers of
beech and beech charm. To heat up quickly
and over a short period (in summer for example) I use
birch and fir, both dry and split max diam 8 cm.
To bake the bread the best is still to have an oven
bread. I have been using a sheet metal bread oven for almost 35 years and
I think this is the best for it. Except that if
it was the round model ca m would avoid changing the breads from place to
end of cooking.

[Ali Berte]

Yes Ahmed I think the essence of the wood is important depending on how the stove is used, and as Rabbit recommend it I will start to sort my fuels by variety and section.

I already see a marked improvement (speed) in the rise in temperature of the oven just by selling oak wood, I will therefore experiment with other species (fayard hazel ash sycamore birch poplar)

Rabbit, the embers indeed have a strong heating power, but mainly in the hydraulic system; the cooking part (plate and oven) of this stove is designed to be activated by the flame and the gases, which circulate during this mode under the plate and around the oven. (A bit like in old pot ovens, or even porcelain ovens, very long reverse flame which circulates in part of the exhaust circuit.)

Unfortunately for me, I currently have almost only hardwoods to burn. I should wait a little longer before using my woodcutter from last year, which is just 10 months dry. I even think that the waiting period of one year recommended by some is not sufficient to obtain quality wood, however tender it may be.

Rabbit, about the tree, you do not have a problem of fouling? I admit to being a little wary when using softwood. I do have a few cedars of thuja on drying because this conifer is very little (on the other hand its fumes would be toxic? And it does not make a nice flame) I know on the other hand that the white fir and the larch are used in mountain , in stoves, ranges and boilers, but generally not recommended by manufacturers and fumists. So any objective sharing of experience on this subject interests me greatly!

[Rabbit]

Until now I have no problem with softwoods.
But there are still a few precautions to take.
Always very dry.
Always split, the 30 cm diameter log split in 2 ca does not.
Never slow combustion. It has to go up in flames.
Chimney sweep twice a year. Once around the month of December and
next time in spring around March-April.
The idea is that the chimney gets dirty when we make intermittent fires
and in slow motion at mid season (fall, spring). In winter I heat
non-stop and in summer they are strong, short-lived. In the
two cases very little fouling.
In winter, when the roof is covered with snow and there is no wind.
I set fire to the chimney for the annual stripping.

About thuja I am not aware of the toxicity of fumes
specific to this wood. Parcontre I find that it smells very good. Reminder
incense.
On the other hand it is not necessary to stick your nose to the chimney during
that we burn it.

Poplar and willow are not worth a round to heat. Even offered I don't take them. I already tried.
The hazelnut is like warm birch. Very good but
it's work.