Wood-Burning Furnace
(Page 3 of 3)
January/February 1979
By the Mother Earth News editors
And that's about all there is to the mechanics of the setup. The entire system (except for feeding the firebox with wood) is fully automatic and controlled by a thermistor which is connectedthrough an electronic circuit-to the conventional oil burner and the fan-and-damper system on the primary combustion chamber. This forced-draft fan (and its damper control) is powered by a 12-volt automobile battery that's recharged at timed intervals by a trickle charger ... so the all-important blower system isn't dependent on public utility power.
Since Allan built his wood burner from scratch, he was actually working on a trial-and-error basis. But, as it turned out, everything was so well planned on paper that there was little room for error. In fact, the only real problem that the engineer encountered was in his primary air feed tube. This was originally a section of iron pipe ... and it subsequently disintegrated because of the intense heat in the firebox (Allan quickly replaced the vulnerable pipe with the flue tile shown here).
Strangely enough, while Mr. Brown was designing his wood burner, Dr. Richard Hill of the University of Maine at Orono (a mere 40 miles away from Lincoln Center) was also designing a similar system . .. and it wasn't until Allan had his unit completed that he read about Dr. Hill's research. Needless to say, they have since been exchanging information in an effort to improve upon both designs.
Since burning wood as fuel is not uncommon in the Pine Tree state, most folks in the area predicted that Allan Brown would have to pay the price of inconvenience in exchange for his savings on fuel oils. But, according to Allan, there's hardly any bother at all. "I have about 35 acres of beech, maple, and oak that I use for firewood ... I have to cut and split it, of course, but I do that in the summer when I don't mind so much. In fact, I hope to get a full year ahead by next summer. Anyway, after the wood's split, it's just a matter of stacking it on the ground floor right near the furnace, ready for the first chilly day. We used about 12 cords of wood last winter without any problems at all ... andexcept for when there's a real cold snap the firebox will stay hot for eight hours or more. Of course, the ashes have to be shoveled out once every week or so, but even that doesn't interfere with the heating process ... because the storage tank holds enough thermal energy to keep the house warm until the job is done, without causing the oil furnace to kick on.
" Needless to say, Allan is more than pleased with the performance of his wood burner ... and even happier about the $200 a month he's saving on fuel oil. Also, the initial cost of his furnace only came out to about $500, though he's quick to point out that-being an engineer-he was able to get his materials at a lower price than the average person could. Building a similar unit even with salvaged materials, Allan figures, could cost someone else $1,000 or more.
But, even at that price, the furnace would soon pay for itself ... and it's just as effective as a large oil heater (the wood burner puts out about 150,000 Btu's per hour, as near as Al can figure it). Brown plans on installing a series of solar collectors within his system next summer ... to cut down on wood consumption. Between these two sources of heat, he and his family should be sitting pretty when winter rolls around again.
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