Central Boiler Draft Fan

Hey folks, I have a 6048 that I am contemplating on installing a draft fan and taking the damper/solenoid off.

I've done a few searches online with a lot of mixed reviews.

On long burns I am struggling with restarts after its been idle. I would say 75% of the wood i load in is seasoned, mostly hardwoods

Any comments/reviews are appreciated.

 

I’m in year #4 with my 6048. I contemplated the fan in my first year as well. But after learning a little more through experience I have stayed with the damper/solenoid and have really never had any problems other then damper solenoid going out last winter. Bought a new one quick and was good to go again. My biggest problem early on was letting it burn to long and not maintaining a good bed of coals. I’d let it go so long that I’d end up with mostly ash instead of coals. Now when I load more wood in it usually takes off before I close the door. I burn mostly seasoned wood as well but not exclusively. Also in my experience I’ve had better luck with bigger splits instead of burning whole logs/chunks. The big unsplit logs don’t seem to burn nearly as efficiently in my experience.


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Ever have the fire go out?

Or just slow to get back up to temp?

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I have a different OWB and the forced fan is standard...so I have no experience with just a damper opening/closing when needed....

However, Ive opened my door when its sat idle for a long time before and the fire literally looks dead. Even with the door completely open for a long time it barely builds and takes forever to really get going...however when that fan kicks on it takes very little time to really build the fire back up.

Just my $0.02, but forcing air in when its been sitting idle for a long time seems like a much better/quicker way to build the fire back up vs just opening a damper and waiting for it to naturally build.

 

Lol, yes...no...maybe. never burnt all my wood out completely, but on numerous occasions I have went out with plenty of wood and it's just smoldering/very little flame. After the door is open and I rearrange the rounds it takes off just fine.

This morning is the first time I really scratched my head. Setpoint is set at 180, when I got out after 10 hrs of "burning" it was a 137*. I move things around and stir the coals and it takes off. Seems once my coal bed in front of the damper turns to ash, is when I struggle.

Keep in mind this is my first year with the boiler. I'm still learning, that I know.

If the wind is out of the south in any direction I'm fine as it blows straight at the damper, but Northerly winds it seems to lack air/draft

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm going to try and build up my ash bed a couple inches to lift everything up more flush with the entering air and see if that helps? I almost keep it too clean in there and I think that hinders me somewhat

 

Right there with you, exactly.

I just feel sometime with forced air, it will relight/recover a lot faster and the burn cycle won't be so lengthy.

Lately when I stoke the fire, if the damper isn't open, I adjust my set point to make it go through a cycle. Sometimes it takes a while to get going, DON'T LAUGH, I bring out a battery operated air mattress blower and it takes off instantly, this is why I'm contemplating the fan option over natural draft. Should help burning green wood too, at least I would think

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New boiler or just new place?

I'd pull the cap and check the stack at the elbow, and check the rain cap too.

Otherwise if the coals are present they don't take too long to recover with natural draft.

Now If it's a new stove the stack may be a bit too short.?

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New to me Joe. It is a 2011 model that I bought used this spring and finished the install in late Oct/early Nov. I cleaned everything before initial start-up.

Pulled the cap the other day, had very little build up. Stack has two- 4ft sections.

 

The rain cap? Or the one coming out the back?

Hmm seems odd to pull down that low without a draft problem.

Just heating the house? Or barn too?

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No rain cap. ...just heating the house/water this year. Next year will be her 24x24. Got a run underground. Just need to insulate and put up some osb

 

Hmmm.

Seem to use a ton of wood?

Dad has the same stove. 1 fill per 24 hr above 20* with decent wood. heating an old farm house 2k sqft and the barn 15x60 only time it dropped that Much was when the stack was plugged.

Forced air will help, but seems it may be another issue.

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I usually fill it twice a day. On my days off if I'm home, I'll duck with it 3x a day.

I've been running it now a month and a half and have only had really 2 issues. First was kinda my fault, the rounds basically rolled in opposite directions after the logs below them burned down and wouldn't light. And last night was my only real issue, still don't know what happened.

As for wood consumption, yes it's starting to chew through some wood with these negative degree days.

 

You must really have a large heat load to justify the size of the 6048! Typically residential and nothing larger than the 5036 unless its a commercial application or multiple buildings around these parts.

Yeah, with that size firebox, you have to learn just how to stack the wood so it'll burn down and try to prevent the rolling off to the side and not continue to burn type of pile.

With this cold weather, I pretty much give it a full load of wood for overnight. There have only been a few times that I have loaded it to the gills; looking for chunks/pieces to fill in the gaps. But that was years ago when we would be in the 30 to 45 below overnight temps.

As far as rigging up a fan for induction, I had thought about it way back in 93 (with the first central I had) but quickly saw that I did not need it. I don't know, but something like that would most likely void any warranty also?

 

I have had 3 central boilers in the past 12 years. Had the 6048 then had the high tech unit and then back to the 6048. Don't ask why but got duped into the less wood less ash thing. Not true at all. Plus many issues with the high tech unit. As far as burning wood never had any issues with restarts. There is a learning curve for sure with the stoves. This time of year I load 2 times in 24 hours. In live in sturgeon bay wi. You need to let the ash pile build up. Need to watch your coal pile as well. Load to often and your coal pile gets out of hand. I let my stove get very full of ash before I clean out. You can burn all the wet wood you want if you have proper ash and coals. Draft fan will up your wood consumption by about 20%. One thing that I did is raise my chimney to 16'. I have some buildings around my unit. Any other questions feel free to call me at 920-559-3420

 

I've found the key to keeping the Woodmaster happy is just feeding it sort of on a schedule before it burns down too much and doing a quick rake and rotation of the coals. As mentioned I think the key is coal management or making sure there are enough coals to just chuck wood in and shut the door and the coals will do their thing. I usually throw wood into it in the morning and the at night or the evening more or less 12 hours apart.

I do know the draft induced blowers on my 5500 Woodmaster do help tremendously but they are part of the design. I can let the fire burn out, rake and scratch some coals about or basically dig them up out of the ash some, throw in wood and shut the door. The induced blowers revive the fire in short order. Even after I have neglected feeding the PIG in a timely manner.

 

My dad has a 6048 that I've had to tend the last 3 years due to his health.
Ash volume is important . I'm not sure but I've often wondered if the bottom of these things even have insulation. I've noticed burn times drop if you clean a lot of ash out.
On a reload I rake coals right in front of the door. If there is a massive amount of coals I'll rake them all to the sides and some in front of door.
I load a couple layers of slabwood on the coals then rounds and then fill the cracks with more slabwood.
I think some small super dry wood on coals at reload may help your recovery time.

 

I have the old Central Boiler Model CL40 with cyclone side draft. I don't know why they stopped making the side draft but I have never had any issues with draft.
I find that a good amount of ash build up does help with longer burns. I stir the ash daily and rake the coals forward throw on a few splits and they take off then load to the top. I get 24hr burns until it drops below zero then it is 18 - 20 hrs. between fills.
I think at one point CB offered a kit to supply forced air draft.

 

Dad has the blower still new in box. The door has worked well enough no need for it

 

Thx for all the replies fellas. The last few days since I posted this I haven't taken any ash out. Before I would take out a shovel or two, whatever I thought was needed. Seems as though I get a better burn since I have raised up the wood/coals 4".

Still have thoughts of a fan tho for those long burns. I work a 12 hour shift, so I'm essentially gone 13 hrs without tending to it.

JustWood see if dad wants to get rid of it

 

When you reload do you load right at the door or back further. The natural draft needs the coals and wood right at the door.
Is there ash build up at the back where the smoke dam is ?
If so this may slow draft if there is a big build up