In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

First firing of the season.

Discussion in 'OWB's and Gasification Boilers' started by Gasifier, Sep 30, 2014.

  1. Gasifier

    Gasifier

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    :thumbs:She's running very nicely. A moisture check and some temp. readings.

    (Kids are taking showers after winning the soccer game! Creating a small demand while the boiler tries to finish bringing tank up to temp.)
     

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  2. coal reaper

    coal reaper

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    I had my first fire tonight...in a week! DHW man!
    Good an yah there mr. Gas
     
  3. Gasifier

    Gasifier

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    How much water storage do you have in your system coal reaper? Mine is only a 400 gallon buffer tank, about 60 gallons in the boiler, and whatever I have in all those pipes.
     
  4. coal reaper

    coal reaper

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    1000gal. going about a week between burns for summer DHW. that spray foam on the tanks is great aint it?
     
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  5. Gasifier

    Gasifier

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    Dam straight. I did my own. :emb: It's a little uneven. :doh:
     
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  6. milw saw

    milw saw

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    I'll be burning tomorrow . That will be the 2nd of the season.
     
  7. campinspecter

    campinspecter

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    Just love it !
     
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  8. fuelrod

    fuelrod

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    Hey Gas, I just "lit up" this afternoon for the first fire of the season. You know, you'd think hot water is hot water right? Every year that first shower with wood hot water just feels a little bit better in some way.
     
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  9. Gasifier

    Gasifier

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    I just cleaned the boiler again. Dam, I waited a little too long that time. It can breath better now!!!!! It still wasn't having any problem getting up to temp though. But I don't like letting it go that long. It's sorta like campinspecter leaving fresh baked goods on the table while he goes out to cut wood. :rofl: :lol:He'd be out in the woods where he could still see through the house window......:binoculars:
     
  10. fuelrod

    fuelrod

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    Have you done the bearings yet?
     
  11. Gasifier

    Gasifier

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    :zip:Quiet you!


    :rofl: :lol: How the hell are ya man?
     
  12. fuelrod

    fuelrod

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    Pretty good Gas, enjoying the wood heat. It just hasn't been cold enough, we have not had a hard frost yet although I think that is VERY local as some of my neighbors have. I put a new pipe from the cyclone to the class A and it seems to be sealed nicely vs. that double walled stove pipe that I had been running. Also added an hour meter just for giggles to watch the run times.
     
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  13. Gasifier

    Gasifier

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    Niiiice! I have been burning one or two fires a day when needed. Going to 29º or so tonight so I am currently making my basement a storage tank and warming it up to about 82ish or so. I will then turn the thermostat down and bring the boiler and tank up to full temp and shut it right off for the night. What did you use to seal the new pipe? I have been using a container of Rutland Cement and a small putty knife. Works gooder.
     
  14. fuelrod

    fuelrod

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    Well as for sealing, you know how hard it is to seal up a (stove) pipe that is designed for natural draft i.e.; no pressure. With the big fan we have, and being tired of playing around, I ran my pipe backwards where I could. That with the joints open to the stove side, along with HT silicone in the joints prior to assembly. With absolutely never having any creosote with our units, I'm not concerned, so far at least. Like I said I'm only a few days into it.
     
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  15. haveissues

    haveissues

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    Can I ask how many people are in your house? I'm thinking of doing the same for the summer months and am curious how far my 660 gallons will get me.
     
  16. coal reaper

    coal reaper

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    two kids bath every other day, wife and i daily. dishwasher daily and washing machine is cold water only. i can squeak out a week but at that point there is really nothing left. takes two load of wood to bring everything back up to temperature. a bit of effort to heat the boiler back up and storage once it drops so low. i go through a little over a cord during the non-heating months. FWIW, i am pretty sure i will be installing a heat pump water heater with my tax return this spring.
     
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  17. haveissues

    haveissues

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    I considered the same thing. We can get a $400 credit for installing one around here so that knocks it down to $600 and is one of the few things they will give you a credit for even if you self install.
     
  18. coal reaper

    coal reaper

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    yeah, i run the dehumidifier in the basement all summer long anyway so that would take the place of it. not only will i not need to go through the wood, but i would save a bit of electric not running boiler fan and circs. i wasnt pressed to do it this year because i had a couple cords of short splits i wanted to get rid of.
     
  19. nsmaple

    nsmaple

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    I also have 660 gallons (two stacked 330's) - and I can get a week between burns in the summer. Typical family of 5. How long you can go between burns depends on a few things, and not just how much storage you have - as I found out in the last couple of years of trials & errors. First thing of course is insulation. Has to be good, everywhere, on the bottom & piping too. Second is how you heat the DHW. I started out with a sidearm. Real good for when burning for house heating , not so much when just using storage to heat DHW. Even after rearranging for real good convection flow & zoning & pumping the supply side, it would mix up my storage water too much and storage wouldn't be much good for the task once it got below 140. I added a flat plate HX to the sidearm, and a small recirculation circ to the DHW side controlled by a Johnson A419. Works great, I can get hotter DHW from cooler supply water than before. Another thing is procedures & timings of burns. I burn on weekends when DHW use is highest (laundry time). I also use the 'second setpoint' function of the A419 when I burn so it will heat the DHW tank up 20° higher than when not burning. I have an 80 gallon DHW tank, with extra insulation - so if I get that up to around 150° when burning, it will coast a long time before it even gets to needing more heat. I also pre-heat the incoming cold DHW feed by sending it though 2 rolls of pex that I have stuffed inside my storage enlosure, between tanks & insulation. That part alone does likely 95% of my DHW heating during infrequent light use (like a quick morning shower) - huge help. So from start to finish - I used to only be able to go 3 days or so when I started out with the sidearm alone, and had to fire again when all my storage got down to 140 or so. Now I go a week and don't have to fire again until my storage gets down to around 95/120 or so (bottom/top) or even a bit lower than that.

    Having said all that - I burned for DHW all this past summer. I might not next year, and I didn't the year before that. Even though it's only once a week, a break from it for a while is kinda nice, and if using good firewood you're not really saving much. This past summer I had junk wood to get rid of, so that's why I kept burning. If I don't next year, I likely won't - it only costs us around $30/mo in $0.18/khw electricity to keep us in DHW all summer using the 80 gallon electric hot water heater. A heat pump water heater is definitely something everybody should consider especially if you would also normally be using a dehumdifier or A/C some.
     
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  20. coal reaper

    coal reaper

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    my my maple! what are you doing over here?!? im not the only varm guy now!!
     
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