The Ash Bin

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I took a good picture of my ash bin. This is what I see when I get down on my hands and knees and peek up into the ash bin door. The top of the picture are the grates. The bottom of the picture is the ash. For you Hardy owners, this is about as high as you want your ash to get. I keep the ash at this level when the temperature is warmer and there is a longer time between burns. This will help keep your fire from going out in warmer spring/fall weather. When the outside temperature is much colder...32 degrees and below, you would most likely want your ash lower than this...about 2 to 3 inches lower. This will keep the extra heat off your grates and prevent them from failing. Please see my earlier post on Hardy Ash Maintenance where I go into more detail on this most important topic. If you look close at this picture you can see the center grate sitting a little lower than the other two. I have noticed the fire in a Hardy firebox seems to concentrate on the center grate and all the heat and weight of the logs can make the center grate sag over time. What I did to combat this was simply flip the center grate over...just like rotating your tires. Each time I go out to my Hardy to add wood, I also open the ash bin and shove a stick inside to knock down the ash and move it away from the grates. Keeping the ash down also helps the blower maintain the firebox's draft. The blower inlet is in the back-right of this picture...although it is just out of site in this photo just below the ash-horizon.

Below is what the ash bin looked like when I first opened the door this morning. You can see how the coals are sitting real close to the grates. This can be bad if you don't do anything about it...but usually what you get after a long 12 hour burn. All I do to fix this is I shove in a long stick and mash the ashes down. The first photo is what my ashes look like after I use the long stick. When the bin gets too full, I shovel out about a bucket full.

I hope this helps. Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Smokin

Life's Precious Moments

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Like most of the eastern United States, northeast Ohio was pounded by a significant snowfall from Tuesday evening all the way into today. We have about a foot of new snow on top of what was already on the ground. I was just becoming able to see most of my woodpile from the previous snow until this most recent storm. Now all my wood is covered in white again. Last night I was able to select the type and size wood I will be needing this week and stacked it under the roof of the woodshed. This makes my mornings go a lot easier on me when I want to get my furnace filled and get my day started. I installed a light in my woodshed to help me see in the dark but still the early morning fill-ups are my most problematic. Usually, my firebox is in good order, the burning logs are nicely positioned on the grates, and all I have to do is toss in some big stuff, along with some smaller logs, and off I go to work. Other times I have to fiddle around with an arch, or crooked log...but eventually, I get on my way. My wife usually takes a trip out to the Hardy in the afternoon when she gives the chickens fresh water.
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So today I had one of those "life's precious moments" things that you hear about on evening radio or on Oprah. Because of the large snowfall, all the schools in the county were closed...and me being "semi-retired" decided to hang out at home and dig out the driveway. Anyhow, while I was digging, my two daughters came outside and built a snow fort. They got their little shovels and dug out a hole and piled the snow around the sides for the walls. A miniature Fort Sumter...if you will. When I finished up on the driveway I went around back to check on their progress. They both were excited to show me the house they built, their beds, the dining room and...to my glee...they showed me where they put their "furnace" so they can keep their house warm!! They went as far as to make a path in the snow out to their miniature Hardy, and collected a pile of icicles for their wood. I tell ya...two girls after my heart. Of all the things that make up a young girl's world...Hanna Montana, roller skates, Webkinz...you know how it goes...my two daughters made a Hardy H2 out of snow...Tell me that an OWB doesn't become a part of your family!
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I wrote in an earlier post of how an OWB is more than a furnace, but rather it becomes a lifestyle. For me, having my Hardy helped me develop a love for wood cutting, chainsaws, trees...alive and dead...woodpiles, woodsheds, trucks, you name it. I guess until today that I had never realized how much of a positive influence an OWB has not just on me but on the whole family. The kids are growing up with memories of dad wearing a path in the snow to the Hardy, the smell of cut wood, wood smoke, ash...everything associated with the OWB.
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I figure that if we lived in the city, my girls would have made a snow apartment complete with a bicycle rack and bus stop...instead they made a house with an OWB. My wife and I must be doing something right. I hope that if you have an OWB that with it you too experience the simple joys of life that I do. I will be the first to admit that OWB's aren't for everyone and every "neighborhood situation" but there is something undeniably special about heating with wood. Tell me what you think.
Smokin

Furnace Moments

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Northeast Ohio has been blasted again with Arctic cold air. Our thermometer read 2 degrees this morning as my wife went out into the frozen tundra, fed the chickens and checked out the Hardy. She let me sleep in today...but that wasn't for long. When she opened the firebox only one log remained from my last-evening's filling. It was a large 14 inch round piece of cherry that I shoved in last, on top of all the logs. According to my wife, the cherry log wasn't burning well as it then set alone on the grates. She threw in some small logs on each side of it to help it out. The OWB's temperature was down below 150 degrees and it was having a hard time coming back to maximum temperature...so she came in to wake me up. I put on my smoking coat and hat then went out to the OWB to see what was going on.
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By the time I got out to the Hardy its temperature had risen to 160 so I knew things would be OK. Once I took a peek inside I saw what was causing the problem... it was that large cherry log as it had burnt away mostly on its middle leaving only its edges sitting on the grates. The center had burnt away. I threw in a couple extra smaller logs, about 4 inchers...and rolled the large log on top of them. This is a technique I have learned to help the fire burn hotter and allow the larger logs a chance to burn more evenly. It seems in the Hardy most of the burning is concentrated on the center grate so...when there is a big fat log sitting there...the center tends to burn away leaving only the edges touching the grates...Its not a major issue but it can make the blower work overtime to keep the temperature up. So all of this took me about 10 minutes of my morning. To some of you this may sound like a miserable way to spend my Sunday at 8:00 am but to me it is a privilege to watch my summer labor provide the family with a warm house. Remember...the woodpile is more than a woodpile...and because of all that wood in our yard, my wife and I don't have to experience the trauma of the propane truck backing up the driveway to refill our tank.
Smokin

Did the Fire Go Out?

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Since installing my Hardy H2, I have noticed that I don't sleep as well at night in the winter as I do in the summer. While I enjoy my OWB in that I don't have a gas bill, my house is much warmer than when I heated with propane, and I can buy chainsaws to cut all the wood (I love chainsaws) there is one thing that gnaws at me during the burning season. I lay in bed at night and I wonder to myself..."is it still burning? Has the fire gone out?"

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I guarantee that any OWB owner does the same thing. Maybe some worry more...some less...but I am certain that all worry about the fire going out. To be honest, the fire going out isn't that big of a deal. If it goes out...just go outside and light it again. But for me...I worry. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and notice the house feels a little cold..."did my fire go out?" I think to myself. I can go to the window in my upstairs bathroom and peek outside and I can usually tell by the smoke coming from the stack if the fire is either burning, smouldering...or out. Every OWB has a personality and the way it smokes tells you what it's doing...or not doing. If you have an OWB, you know what I mean. If you are planning to get an OWB...you will know what I mean. The smoke is telling you something.

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My Hardy H2 maintains its water temperature between 150-and 170 degrees. The aquastat works in conjunction with the blower motor which stokes the flame to keep the water temperature up. My Hardy has a temperature switch installed in the water tank and if my water temperature goes below 100 degrees because the fire isn't burning, my forced air furnace in the basement will cut off. This is my Hardy's way of telling me that the fire is out...since the furnace in the basement isn't blowing hot air into the house...and the children can see their breath when they wake up in the morning!

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So what makes the fire go out? Sometimes, in warmer weather the fire can go out because of the length of time between burns. Sometimes it can go out because the ash had been emptied and the coals are too far away from the grates. I wrote about this in earlier posts. However, specific to the Hardy since it has grates, the fire can go out because of a condition I call "Arching."

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If all logs were created equal, they would be the same size, length, type and burn at the same rate. Well, of course, that isn't the case. Logs are all different sizes, have big knots sticking out on one side, burn crooked...you name it. The fire box on the Hardy isn't as big as say...a Central Boiler...where you can put a small Volkswagen inside it. The Hardy firebox is smaller. It measures 24x32x44 inches, which is big...but not as big as you think. Anyhow, when you put your logs in, filling up the firebox, the logs at the bottom burn, turn to ash, fall thru the grates which makes the logs on top to start their descent to the bottom of the fire box for their turn to burn. Well sometimes the upper logs, on their descent to the grates can become wedged between the two walls, creating an arch. This is bad because the logs forming the arch suspends all the wood off the grates...and once all the coals from the grates burn off...your wood can't burn...its 6 to 12 inches up above the grates. This is the most common reason my fire goes out and I fill my furnace with this in mind. I try to mix big and skinny logs to avoid the Arch and I only burn goofy shaped logs during the weekend so that I can keep an eye on my fire box.

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The picture below shows the Arch although you have to really look close because there was too much heat for me to stick my camera in there any farther. The three logs at the bottom are wedged against the walls and can't fall onto the grates...hence the Arch. If you look at the bottom of the logs you can see they are about 7 inches away from the grates. If I had been at work there is a good chance my fire would have gone out. All the coals you see would have eventually burnt away leaving no more wood to fuel my Hardy.

When I am faced with this condition, all I have to do is grab my poker and punch the logs down. Each day my wife makes a trip to the Hardy to punch the logs. Every now and then I will get a text message from her telling me that "Archie had stopped by today." This is her special way of telling me she kept the fire from going out that afternoon.
Smokin

Heating the Home

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I am posting a picture of our house so that you can get to know us better and also see what you can heat with an OWB, or specifically a Hardy H2. My house is 3000 sq ft. and it sits on 6 acres in northeast Ohio...in what is known as "the Snow Belt" to us Buckeyes. I bought this house off the bank for a good price but had to put a lot of time and money into it to make it livable.
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We live in farm country and out here the houses are pretty far apart. My closest neighbor is probably 400 feet up wind from my Hardy. What made me start looking for alternative heating was the propane company. There is no natural gas line out here in the sticks and most other farmhouses heat with oil or propane. My first year with propane was interesting. When I signed the contract with Mr. Propane, I was given a 500 gallon tank they placed next to my barn and with that, I was to keep an eye on my gauge and call them when it read 20% full...easy enough. What I didn't know was whenever that bottle truck backed up my driveway, that beeping noise coming from it signified to all my neighbors that I would be $500 poorer once the truck left. Wow! Propane is expensive...and that was when we first moved in this place...when propane was $1.19 gallon. On top of the house's high propane usage, we kept the house cold...so cold we should be in jail for child abuse...well...not that cold but you get the idea. I didn't want to just grin and bear the gas bill if I could do something about it. This is what drove me to seek an alternate way to heat my house and eventually to installing a Hardy OWB. As you can tell by this blog, I have been very pleased with the results. Now, with propane going for up to $2.68 a gallon, I don't know how we could make ends meet and heat the house at the same time. With the Hardy, not only can we save money on our heating bill, there was also a major improvement in quality of life. We now live in a toasty warm house and the kids have stopped complaining about seeing their breath when they wake up in the morning...just joking. On top of the "free" heat of the OWB, we keep our house as warm as we like. We have total disregard for the thermostat setting and never worry of the monthly bill coming in the mail. What a life!
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This is a recent photo of our house...taken during this most recent cold snap. We have about a foot of snow on the ground. This picture was taken about half way down the driveway and if you look to the left of the house, you can see the woodshed and my Hardy H2 sitting proud. You can see how I stack the wood in front of the Hardy to serve as a windbreak and snow fence. I show you this to get a perspective of what I am heating and how far away from the house I installed the OWB. You are looking East in this picture.
Smokin

NOW...It Is Cold!!

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Wow, so this is what cold is! This morning my dashboard on my car said it was minus 11 degrees. The weatherman said the temperature never got above 9 degrees throughout the day. Interesting to me...however...was my pre-work commute visit to my Hardy revealed a half-full firebox of wood...go figure. The coldest night of the year and I was still half-full well into an 8 hour burn. I'll take it. Our house has been warm as toast...by the way.
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What confuses me was that on Tuesday the temperature just began dipping into the single digits and when I opened my firebox on Wednesday morning, I was staring at nothing but grates...all the wood was gone...ashes to ashes...dust to dust. I was concerned because I knew colder weather was coming and this wood consumption was substantial. But when life deals you a lemon...make lemon aide. So I took that opportunity...the empty firebox... to rotate my grates. I grabbed my long hook and I flipped the center grate as I saw it had been sagging a little...noticeably lower than the front and back grate. Please refer to my blog entry titled "Hardy Ash Maintenance," where I go into more detail on keeping your grates healthy. How you "work" your ash has a lot to do with the lifespan of your grates. I tried taking a picture of my grates from the view I get when I peek up into the ash bin but the camera didn't like the lighting situation. I will try again tomorrow, in the daylight and if the picture comes out good I will post it. Perhaps this will give you a better perspective of what I see.
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Anyhow...the Hardy grates are symmetrical...that is they are the same for all three grates, front middle and back, upsides and down. My experience has been the center grate seems to get the most abuse from the heat and weight of the logs so I keep an eye on it by peeking up into the ash bin and checking to see if any of the grates are sitting lower than the others. This cold morning, I took the opportunity of the empty firebox to flip the center grate and put the sagging side up. Once I did that I threw in a bunch of small round logs, then a row of larger logs, and then one huge log on top, just big enough that it fit thru the door. I do this so the small logs burn down quick and make a nice bed of coals. This helps the larger logs burn and relight easier when the blower kicks back on. The huge log on top will be nice and dry (kiln dried) by the time it gets its turn to sit on the grates...which will be my bed time...by which time I will have filled the firebox up again with new wood while the huge logs burns away. Nice system...it seems to work for me.
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What confounded me thru this cold snap so far was that I burnt thru an entire loading of wood Wednesday morning when it was pretty cold, but on Thursday and Friday, when it was really, really cold I only went thru a half of load of wood. I think all the logs were about the same size...and all of it was cherry...and I never adjusted the home thermostat...so...whatever the reason, I'll take it.
Smokin

Here Comes the Cold

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A major cold snap is heading to northeast Ohio and we are expecting temperatures near or below zero for about the next three days. This isn't the first time my Hardy has faced this type of cold and probably won't be the last.
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I remember the first cold snap my OWB lived thru was in our first year of operation and we had zero degree weather for a week in early February. It was real cold. I worried about my house's demands for heat would overwhelm my Hardy H2 but, to be honest, I don't think my little Hardy even broke a sweat. Now, that's not to say it didn't burn thru a lot of wood...it did...a whole lot....but never did our house feel cold or needed supplemental heat. The Hardy passed its first test with flying colors. I remember one night during this cold spell how I stuffed my firebox as full as I could get it with round logs of cherry and maple. The next morning before I left for work, I opened the door to the firebox and my jaw dropped as I was looking at nothing but grates. My Hardy had burnt thru that entire filling of logs. Wow! I thought. It was amazing to see how all of those logs...probably about nine 8 inch logs had just disappeared to ash. But at least our house was warm. Our house is a 3000 sq foot two story but we shut down a bonus room in the winter since we never go in there except when visitors come.
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My two friends have Central Boiler (CB) brand OWB's and despite our BTU outputs being almost similar...My H2 is rated a little lower than theirs...their furnaces dwarf mine in size. Theirs are about as tall as a porta-potty and twice as wide and deep. When I hang out at their place and watch them tinker with their OWB's I lose perspective of how much smaller my Hardy is compared to theirs. When I go back home and out to my Hardy, I am taken back at how small my H2 is compared to the CB. I believe my friends' both hold 250 gallons of water compared to mine which holds 100 gallons. I know the square footage of our houses are roughly the same but I just can't get over how much smaller the Hardy is in size compared to the Central Boiler...and it heats my house just fine. I have the feeling that my Hardy will use more wood than theirs this winter...but how much more I don't know. I don't think I will be way off compared to their usage.
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One thing I know for sure...my Hardy was much cheaper than the CB's. When I was pricing OWB's prior to purchasing my Hardy, the CB's were about $5000 more than what I paid for my H2. I was told that the CB's are much more efficient than other OWB's but I don't see how that can be so. If I am honest, the OWB is not that efficient to begin with...a lot of heat is lost out your smoke stack, and into the ground as the hot water is pumped into the house. But I paid $5000 for my Hardy and I think that the $5000 savings would buy me a lot of firewood. If my Hardy is not as efficient as the others...I will take the savings on the front end and spend the savings...if I want to...on insulation, or Chainsaws...probably chainsaws...I love chainsaws.
Smokin