Full Bore 100,000 btu pellet heater

I first saw the zobo pellet heater on the other site where it was getting heaped with scorn as a chitty Chinese excuse of a product.
I have a very different approach and thought "gotta get meself one of thems"
So I had them sent out with another container of stuff so it ended up costing 1,000 bucks.
This is only the third one ever built, and it shows. But hey that is okay, and it worries me less when the angle grinder and mig come out to make improvements.
It runs great on pellets which is no good for us. Remember pellets here are $800/ton.
It is proving tricky to run on pits but we are gradually getting the runtime up from 4 to 16 hrs so far as we redesign the burn pot and ash box to handle our freaky fuel.
This is where the Chinese really differ from US companies. when I have conversed with the HHT engineers they say that the love the ideas we are spruiking but it is all too hard to worry about. When you talk to the Chinese engineers they want all the details and they immediately try it. If it works they just use it straight away. The silicone mounts are a good example; they sent me a new model stove to test. It had a new exhaust fan arrangement which had rubber mounts. I said to them I would try a different mounting idea on the current stoves. Found it works great, told em, now they are using it. This was in the space of 2 weeks.
Anyway here is a pic of the zobo;

Here is the crushed olive pit fuel we use;

 

Interesting topic to bring up, I'm sure someones head will be scratching. It good the engineers have open ears to help them launch a promising product. Now exactly what is it? Looks like a temporary construction room heaters.

 

Yep we call the gas version a "jetfire". It blows the heat out the round end on the left. The firebox is fully contained so it doesn't blow sparks or flames. May have potential for the future, who knows.
We will use it as a heat source for our pit dryer once we get it right. Could be used for lots of different heat related uses if you can get people to think outside the box. No easy task I can tell you. Making the machine work is the easy part....

 

Always like your imagination of tinkering. kap

 

Definitely interesting. Keep us posted.

800/ton for pellets? Ouch !! Regarding pits/shells and making changes for better burn times, you may want to contact and interact Snowy Rivers who burns the alternate fuels as well

 

Fuel availabilty is needed for such uses. Where can one get cherry pits or nut shells, food manufacturers?

 

We have an unlimited supply of crushed olive pits.

Thanks Kap. Thought I had the beast tamed yesterday- then today all it wanted to do was smoke me onto the street.
Have come back to the house smelling like a smoked eel. At least it washes off.
Here is a sneak peak at a new one we are working on. 9kW running on straight pits. Give a better flame and the glass stays cleaner longer. Pity I have a shed full of the older units but the new one will wait.
It has got the sides off in the pic;

 

Pits are available fro some olive oil mills where they extract the pits from the marc. Small mills are no good as they dont go the extra step of extraction and the pits are just left in the sloppy marc.

 

Looks like quite the beastie. lol kap

 

They havent put vermiculite or cast iron in the fire box walls of the new home pellet stove.
I told em that it will last about 20 secs before the box burns out. They didn't like that but it is pretty damm obvious really. Cast iron is a big job whereas the verm is pretty straightfoward. THe cast would be better, with such a large window it would radiate out nicely. THe verm tends to force the heat into the exchanger. Most pellet stove exchangers lack the capacity to extract enough heat and it just gets wasted. THe Piazettas do it well with cast.

The zobo, codenamed "Big Bertha" uses a bank of tubes with turbulators which is incredibly effective. I can get it dripping condensation in less than 5 minutes. THen just dial up the flue temp a bit and we are cooking. Well smokin at the moment. Due to the weather today is a day of "Total Fire Ban". So no stove running coz it is no illegal but the excessive smoke is a sure fire way of ending up with a chopper overhead and firetrucks everywhere.

I will put a pic of the innards of Bertha below.

 

How much experience do you have with the Piazettas? Those have always seemed to be a good heater

 

Yep they are good but way over priced.
You will get the same performance from one of ours or say a Castle Serenity for a fraction of the cost.
I have the odd run in with Piazzetta folk as I don't subscribe the bullchit surrounding their marketing hype. In pellet stoves there are "Show Ponies" and "workhorses". The Piazettas are a workhorse dressed as a show pony. This is the best kind of stove except you will be forced to pay show pony price. Our and other stoves are pure and simple workhorses and priced accordingly. You will get just as dirty cleaning out a Piazzetta as any other stove so be wary of fancy white tiles and such that they show in the ads.
I get bad reports on service and product knowledge from Piazzetta owners. This is not the fault of the stoves but the dealers so the number one rule, as with all stoves, is the stove is only as good as the back up. Vet the dealer more than the stove. THe problem is that as an expensive low volume product the dealers don't get to know them very well. It is a requirement of ours that every dealer of ours must have a running example of our stove in their home. Ask your dealer this. If they only order in to each sale then go somewhere else. I hear good things about Castle backup stateside so I would lean that way rather towards Piazzetta but then you are back to China vs Italy question.
That is just a wallet and personal preference. For me there is no question but that is based on the fact it is much easier for me to sort out problems with the Chinese than it is with Europeans. Your situation is different so your relationship with the dealer is paramount.

 

Check out our sexy new irrigation logo and control panel livery. Hot off the wechat press 5 minutes ago;


Love the colour.
Will arrive in a month then I'll be back into the field for installation.