Computer controller for wood stove...

Last year this time i remember a guy that had a controller for the draft on wood stoves. It was in the beta phase but for the life of me i cant remember what it was... Anyone have a clue?

 

I've worked on boiler controllers for 15+ years and PLC's, turbine controls etc.
There's probably dozens of reliable controllers running OWB's and pellet stoves right now but they are t-stat driven.
If you're looking for something to control a woodstove for CAT engagement you'd need a K-type thermocouple and some transducer to a simple PLC with a servo motor driver and feedback whether rheostat or LVDT would be limited to the inputs available.

The whole idea sounds cool but is a science project for a device that requires manual loading and would require onsite logic tuning for a multitude of stoves=pizzing money down the drain

 

I put this temp controller on my Tundra wood furnace. It already had a simple 24VAC driven damper motor controlled by the Tstat, I dropped a K type thermocouple in the stove pipe and wired this cheap chinese made PID controller (Mypin brand) in so that when the exhaust hits 550* it closes the damper, when (if) the exhaust temp gets down to 350* it will open the damper back up (if the Tstat is still calling for heat) You can program the controller to do a bunch of different stuff. It even has a "autotune" feature that can "learn" to control the temp to a target temp.
I have about $20 in everything buying it off the fleabay.

Probably a little different than what you were asking about...but if you bought one of these Honeywell damper motors and a transformer, it wouldn't be that hard to hook it up to a stove. On the Tundra the motor is just hooked to the damper door by a piece of wire, (looks like coat hanger wire)

 

SmartStove

 

This was it, thanks.

 

My case in point:
"Can I buy a SmartStoveTM for my wood stove?

Limited numbers of SmartStoveTM pre-production beta systems have been shipped to individuals with robust skills to retrofit their own stoves. Integrating a control on an existing wood stove can be a rigorous endeavor requiring a broad skillset.

We are working very hard toward volume production of the SmartStoveTM system and integration into commercially available wood stove products.

You can help by contacting your favorite wood stove dealer or manufacturer and asking them when they plan to offer a SmartStoveTM-equipped wood stove."

 

I'm sure your "dealer" will get right on that.

 

My dealer can suck my balls, the warranty process is painful and my dealer is inept, if i need anything in the futre it will be a 1.5 hour trip to the next closest dealer.

 

That's a very industrious use of a few cheap control elements

The concept and application on a furnace setup makes sense.
When put on an insert or free standing stove you'd need more Integral and not on-off control mainly because they don't have forced draft fans. Secondarily aesthetics, unless a stove manufacturer integrates the product into the design it'll probably never take off.

 

No forced draft here. The Drolet Tundra wood furnace is basically a 3+ cf EPA stove turned into a furnace

 

The only thing I would want from a controller like this for my BK is to WOT the draft at a fixed point. Based on cat temp and stove top temp. But mostly stove top temp.....

 

I didn't know that thanks.
I guess my main hangup would be when the stove is going out(in your case below 350) the draft opens full and burns out all coals.

 

I want it to do that.... so my stack stays cleaner.... when the cat stalls the coals still amoldrr. If it gets wot at that point it will help keep the stack hot and decrease creosote accumulation.

 

It will only open up if the Tstat is calling for heat. In mild weather I don't even use the Tstat, just load 'er light like any other stove. In colder weather the damper being open at the end of the burn is a good thing, usable heat from burning down the coals which tend to build up when loading full loads during cold weather.

There is actually as second alarm point in the controller that can be turned on to open the damper when the stack temps get too low even if the Tstat is not calling for heat. I usually don't have this feature turned on though

 

The dealer in Ephrata? Won't say their name. .

You would love dealing with Woodstock. They have helped me with even the smallest concerns.

 

good point on burning down the coals, almost forgot about the polar vortex stove coaling syndrome.

 

Yea, them. I had the cat probe fail, last year. that was a nightmare. The combustor has a 10yr warranty, when cleaning last month i noticed about 3 cells that had broken and become one big hole.... They gave me this BS of bringing my wood in to test, and sending me home with their wood. WTF, i have 3-4 year 13% oak. Im not playing that game, im buying a spare, sending the original back to BK for a voucher or credit... and geting the warranty replacedment that way. No where inthe literature does it say i should be interrogated and treated like a toddler.

 

Bk is great on the phone for any trouble shooting, the problem is the dealer network... The factory direct would be just awesome.