Creosote buildup in Central Boiler; help!

Cool video FatBoy!

 

Dealer has been less than helpful. Looks like I'm on my own.

 

Hit them on social media. At least if they still refuse to help you, others will be warned. Fbook, twitter, instagram. Tweet the picture of the creosote buildup and post it on their fbook wall.

 

Yes an OWB exposeé

 

It's a different manufacturer, but in the manual for a Portage & Main it had an interesting paragraph regarding creosote. Creosote forms when wood is burned at a slow rate. Condensation of creosote vapors occur in the chimney which is relatively cooler than the outdoor water furnace, causing a creosote lining to form inside the chimney and boiler chamber. The bullet points were 1) burn well seasoned wood. 2) Minimum once, preferably twice per week, get the boiler burning in the morning at max burn- to accomplish that, it says to open the ash pan door and burn for 10 minutes, then close the ash pan door (important to prevent overheating and water boiling away to an unsafe level). The max burn temps will bring the unit up to temp quickly, aid in decreasing the moisture content in the chamber and chimney, and thereby decrease/eliminate the creosote residue before it really gets a chance to build up.

 

I actually spoke with the president of P&M at the Bangor Logging Expo and he told me to fill my stove more frequently. Right now I fill once/24 hours. He said to fill it at least twice/day and try to get it to burn thoroughly. Going to take some learning to figure out how much to load each time, but I'm going to try it this year.

 

That makes sense, just like in a conventional fireplace. If you go with kindling and small splits, you get a faster, hotter, more complete burn; if you light up just a little kindling and top it with logs, you're lucky to get anything but a lot of smoldering for a good while before you get a good fire, if at all...

 

Sounds like a fire that would be good to use softwoods like a bunch of cottonwood, the flames that cottonwood makes is indeed a hot fire. If anything I say get some wood that will burn hot and fast and it should burn out the creosote really well. Just like VOLKEVIN said, if it smolders, your problem is perpetual from here on out. I understand a lot if OWB owners don't season their wood because they gotta process 10-15 cord every year and that's all they have time for. No time to get it seasoned all the way so its picking the right kind of wood is key for them. Hope you get this figured out, I think the guys gave some sound advice about getting that fire going. Quick hot burns and smaller softer wood splits to help that out.

 

You know burning wood in a boiler can really have a long learning curve. Your fuel (wood) may seem to be consistent, but it really is not, your (heating) demands vary as well changing the behavior of your boiler. All this adds up to be a big head scratcher at times. I'm on a 500+ page long "personal message" of 8 guy's with the same boiler on another forum. All of us have these "I'm doing every thing the same as usual" .....but.....
All I know is I'm not buying heating oil and I'm much more comfortable than if I were

 

....now if I could only cool with wood

 

There has to be a way...they have propane fridges...

 

Now that is where I think we could revolutionally change wood burning.

 

Reverse exothermic reaction.

 

OK...so somebody get to cipherin on this wood fired AC, gimme sum reverse mah utility bill action...

 

I believe its doable. Just need to find a safe way to heat something that induces a cooling reaction.

 

Don't wanna post from another forum but at least we're on the same topic! Apologies to OP,
Wood fired boiler to power air conditioner/chiller

Well this is right on the topic that using a boiler to power a chiller with water/ammonia solution.
We may just have to use water heated current for a small turbine..then you handle the rest on what your power needs may come to. Definitely could come in handy as possible to provide external power to your fridge/freezer in a major outage.

 

That's one of my favorite pics to use also, in the right situation. I keep it and this one handy.