Burning Too Much Wood In Your Outdoor Wood Boiler?

Burning Too Much Wood In Your Outdoor Wood Boiler?

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Do you believe you are burning too much wood in your outdoor wood boiler? A variety of reasons can contribute to high wood usage, but many of them can be readily addressed.

If your outdoor wood burner is consuming wood, those BTUs are going somewhere. If you think you are burning too much wood, then the question you will want to answer is “Where did those BTUs go?” You want that heat energy to go into your home, not somewhere else! Let’s look at some common culprits:

1. The biggest culprit to burning too much wood is this: NO CHIMNEY EXTENSION! Chimney extensions greatly improve efficiency and cut wood consumption.

This is the easiest to resolve also – just get an INSULATED chimney extension! Click here for our Chimney Extension Collections. 

Remember that chimney extensions must be properly insulated so they don’t harm your boiler! Don’t just add a section of single-wall pipe to your chimney – that will harm your boiler. Click HERE to read a FREE article titled "Why Chimney Extensions MUST Be Insulated" that discusses the details.

2. We all have these Chimney Extensions on our outdoor wood stove and we LOVE them! They Save Wood, and you get no smoke in your face while you work around your outdoor boiler!  

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3. The wood has not been properly seasoned. If your wood is green, technically you are burning almost 40% of your woodpile just to burn off the moisture in your wood! 

4. If your wood isn't properly seasoned, you will likely have thick layers of creosote inside your outdoor wood burning boiler. You should remove those layers of creosote by tossing a creosote stick into your firebox once per week.  Get creosote sticks at OutdoorBoiler.com.

5. The next culprit is insulation in your furnace. If you will feel warmth when you touch the skin or roof of your furnace, you may need to upgrade your insulation.

6. Be sure you use ONLY our proprietary Heat Mizer Brand underground insulated PEX. If you think you may be losing heat underground with an inferior insulated PEX brand, check your underground pipe for heat loss. You may want to perform a “Delta-T” test which is simply a measurement of how much heat is lost in your underground pipes. Click HERE for instructions on how to perform this easy test. If you have a low-quality underground pipe, we can help you fix that in the Spring.

7. Ash Maintenance – If the level of the ash in your furnace is too high, this kills the efficiency of your furnace and far too much of your heat will just go out the chimney.   

8. If your Aquastat Controller is not functioning properly, it must be replaced. Get Aquastat Controller at Outdoorboiler.com or call our technical support team for a proper diagnosis. 

9. One final thought: If your traditional model furnace has a pull rod, the normal operating position of that rod is pushed in. If you operate the boiler with it pulled out, or if the plate has become disconnected from the pull rod, most of the heat generated in your firebox will escape too quickly up the chimney and you will waste wood.

Hopefully, this was helpful! We promise that if you follow these instructions you will be able to burn wood without wasting any of the actual burn power!

This will help you protect your investment in your outdoor wood furnace, reduce maintenance, and improve the efficiency of your heating system so you burn less wood! This will allow you to save tons of money on your heating bills!

Visit our online store OutdoorBoiler.com for more outdoor wood boiler parts!