Fahrenheit Endurnace 50F Project

haha That's awesome good to know. I can see I'm going to get a lot of use out of this site going forward.

 

You've been here long enough, so I hate to say that you should know better HAHA

 

Ok. So I spent the evening in the basement installing all the new parts I got from Fahrenheit Technologies that allow the an increase in air flow for the older 50F stoves. My only regret is not tracking down a manometer to check the difference in air flow before and after. Going by "feel" I have to say that I think the side swinging sail switch allowed the largest amount of air flow increase. Just my thoughts.


New exhaust manifold.


New exhaust manifold



Old exhaust manifold. You can see it is quite a bit different than the new one.



The larger impeller, mounted on the larger 1.75A motor. Turns out I had a motor kicking around as it is the same one that is in my P61A. I graphite coated the impeller and put high temp copper ant seize on the motor shaft!


The upgraded exhaust manifold assembly remounted in the stove.


Just a shot from the back showing the different motor. I should note, I had to add a ground wire as the old motor never had one, but the new one does.


New side swinging sail switch


Old top swinging sail switch.

Again, just my 2 cents, but I feel the sail switch made a huge difference. I had installed the new exhaust assembly and powered the stove up to see how things were flowing. I then shut it down and installed the sail switch. So when I restarted it I could feel a difference in air flow.

Feel free to offer up comments if you see something off.

 

Speaking of sail switch, can it be adapted to the older furnace like mine? I see the exhaust manifold looks like mine with the heat sensor, I like the new one

 

The plate on the new design is thinner as well, and the opening doesn't have the grate. I'm impressed, that's for sure.

 

Does your stove have a sail switch now? What generation is your stove? I may be speaking out of turn on this, as I am still learning these stoves, but it will depend if the wire harness has the wiring to accept the sail switch. If it does, and you know any fabricators you could put one on. Anything is possible with enough time and .

I seem to recall reading something about why the older ones didn't have the sail switch but can't recall why now. I'm sure Dex will know. If you need anything though, call down to Fahrenheit Technologies and ask for Matt Fitts. He's the guy I've been talking to there about the parts I bought and when I've had specific questions about my stove that pertains to the build generation. I gave him my SN and he could confirm what upgrades would and wouldn't fit.

The only thing I wasn't crazy about with the new manifold, is that it only uses 3 studs to hold it on, vs the 4 of the old one.

 

When I was emailing with Matt, he sent me some numbers on the flow increases. Here they are.

"The sail switch increases airflow around 250FPM (Feet Per Minute) as the manifold increases around 300FPM."

I don't think the manifold made that much difference, but again, the guys that build them would know best and would have had the proper equipment to correctly test the results of the changes. Either way I'm happy with the upgrades.

Getting close to the first fire now!

 

Dex is a good guy but he is good at costing me money. He gets something cool, I need something cool. My old saw wasn't big enough so then came the next saw and then a bigger one yet, then a Fahrenheit, don't know what's next but I should probably avoid talking to him at the holidays before he puts some ideas in my head and a dent in my checking account. Now, every place I go in 2 states I am looking for pellets or saw stuff, its a bad road he leads me down. lol.

 

Naw, it doesn't! I'm just thinking ahead of myself. I don't want to go the "chbryson" route just yet! DEX, you're a bad influence

 

HAHA, I think it has to start with a specific personality type. He's just the wind that gently guides you in a certain direction

I know myself, I have that type of personality, and it doesn't take much of a push. Cost me lots over the years. Anytime I get a email from a certain buddy about something on kijiji I dred opening it. But I have some high-end stuff that I enjoy so what the heck.

 

What's the chbryson route? I assume Chris did some massive upgrades to his stove? I'll have to search the threads I guess lol.

Jeepers DEX, better get a body guard. Some real bashing going on here . I'd be lying though if I said your posts didn't have some influence on me buying the 50F. You don't get commission from Fahrenheit do you?

 

Not too many upgrades to the stove. Larger impeller last year and that was it so far. and closers for the door to seal better.
Big changes to the house since last heating season.
2 exterior walls of the house rebuilt (rot and no insulation), one area is a slab and after redoing the walls I installed a vapor barrier, 1 1/2" foam board insulation, 1 1/2" air space, new sub floor, vapor barrier pad and then new luxury vinyl floating floor across the whole back of the house.
new windows, new doors, insulation everywhere. One big change is a new hopper insulated window in the basement, slick setup to get pellets in the basement. Back the truck to the window (next to driveway), set up my ramp and as quick as you can stack in the basement, bags are coming down the chute. Only have to handle once when the pallet is set right in the bed. I think all of this should make a big difference. This year I have only used 6 bags of pellets ( I have the hopper extension too so probably 2 in the furnace still) and this time last year I would have been probably over 30 bags just to keep the house close to comfortable. Now I leave for work, shut off the furnace and it is still in the 60's when i get home 10 hours later.

Chris

 

WOW! That's a lot of work on the house. Sounds like it was worth it though.

What are the new closers you put on the stove door?

 

I used Metal window latches screwed into the outside so you can actually draw the door tight with better foam around the door. A couple bucks at Lowes and the door seals a lot tighter and you don't have to worry about those cheap plastic ones breaking or losing any spring tension. Bought a set of hinges as well but I haven't taken the time to replace them

 

More Dex influence, do this, do that, there you go man, that's how it's done. The rubbing of Dex is everywhere, first the furnace, then the chainsaw, pellets, stacking, renovate, etc, etc, etc..... Love is in the air, Dex is in the air
I'll keep quiet now, I'll be getting no more help from buddy Dex

 

Nice, I'll have to look into it.