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

New OWB Install Planning

Discussion in 'OWB's and Gasification Boilers' started by lukem, Nov 14, 2017.

  1. lukem

    lukem

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    Learned a cool little hack for the boiler last night. If the water temperature is below 180 and you want to open the door without getting smoke in your face, power cycle the controller. It will cause the boiler to kick on the draft fan to get it back to 180 and suck all the smoke down and out of the boiler.
     
  2. lukem

    lukem

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    First "cold" (21) night for the boiler. Interested to see how much wood is left by the AM. I put 6 splits in today instead of my normal 3 for DHW.
     
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  3. lukem

    lukem

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    Boiler exceeded expectations last night with an overnight low of 19. House was toasty warm and still had a very healthy coal bed on about 4 6x16 prices of wood. I put 6 or 7 in and figured 2 or 3 covered DHW and idling yesterday. If this holds true I'm going to burn a lot less wood than the old blaze king in the basement.
     
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  4. VOLKEVIN

    VOLKEVIN

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    How do you orient your splits in your boiler- all in a line, side by side, stacked? Are there different schools of thought?
     
  5. lukem

    lukem

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    On mine the nozzle runs north and south. I place one medium split right on top of it then push coals up around it. Then I tightly stack splits in a pyramid right over the nozzle. Lately I've been loading in the AM and going out in the evening and giving it a good jostle, not stir, with the poker to make sure everything is settled over the nozzle.

    A good, deep, coal bed is essential for a clean burn. 4-6 inches deep is ideal.
     
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  6. lukem

    lukem

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    Had some decent cold the last few nights and a was cold all day today. Boiler is more than up to the task...honestly probably not even running at 25% capacity. I still have the main circulation pump set at speed 2 out of 3...can crank that up if I need to get more heat out of the boiler and into the house.

    Wood consumption what I would consider very low compared to the non-EPA wood stove. Based on how much wood it has used in the past 48 hours I'm thinking I'll burn 1/3 less wood than the ol' smokey in the basement. That's a big deal.

    The only negative I have so far, and I use this term loosely, is that the auto-wake-up feature tends to burn down your coals when the boiler spends a lot of time idling. I suppose that's better than the fire going out completely and a needing restart. If your coal bed is low you will get a small amount of smoke when it cycles.
     
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  7. lukem

    lukem

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    Boiler still running well. I measured yesterday and have used 1/3 cord of wood so far this season. That's kinda ridiculous compared to how much I used to burn....in a good way.
     
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  8. Creekin

    Creekin

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    What kind of wood are you burning?
     
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  9. lukem

    lukem

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    A little bit of everything. Oak, hickory, hedge, black locust, odds and ends.
     
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  10. brenndatomu

    brenndatomu

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    That's just nuts! :jaw:
     
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  11. lukem

    lukem

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    Put a 75% full load in the boiler before heading out if town. Hoping it will last until tomorrow night when I get back. Temps supposed to be in the teens and twenties so it might be a stretch. Mostly hedge and a little black locust. Enough BTUs to send it into low orbit.
     
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  12. lukem

    lukem

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    Boiler has a few unburned chunks and a huge bed of coals after 36 hours. I tossed in a couple uglies to help burn down the coals, but could have easily gotten a 48 hour burn. Last night it was 17 and didn't get above freezing in the past 36 hours. Pretty not bad.
     
  13. brenndatomu

    brenndatomu

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    :jaw:
     
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  14. lukem

    lukem

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    I am burning rocket fuel.
     
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  15. brenndatomu

    brenndatomu

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    How big was the load? With those outdoor temps 48 hours is just stinkin impressive!
     
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  16. lukem

    lukem

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    About 16 normal sized splits. 4-5" x 16".
     
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  17. lukem

    lukem

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    Just looked back through some old posts and on Oct 19th I finished moving 4 rows of wood that are about 24'x4'x16" over to the boiler. Just loaded up the last split of the first 1/2 of the first row...or about 1/2 cord. This was another big 36-48 hour load, so from 10/19 - 12/4, 46 days, I'll have used slightly more than 1/2 cord. I say more than because I have put a few loads of misc stuff that didn't come from the pile.

    Anyway...getting all the way into December, especially considering how cold this November was, on 1/2 cord is freaking ridiculous compared to what I used to burn.

    Even more ridiculous when you consider I turned off the pilot light in the water heater months ago.

    And even more ridiculous when you figure the house is now always 73 or 74 and last year it was anywhere from 68 - 72, but averaged around 70.
     
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  18. lukem

    lukem

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    My boiler is cycling. The neighbor's propane furnace is also cycling. The neighbor has way more visible stuff coming out of the chimney. Lots of steam from them....just a little heat signature from mine.
     
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  19. Creekin

    Creekin

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    I often go outside to check the boiler and wonder if its even burning, walk inside the shed and hear the draft fan going, see some smoke on reload, next cycle pretty much just a heat signature out the stack
     
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  20. Creekin

    Creekin

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    Yesterday went out to scout a new cutting area with the land owner and mentioned i needed quite a bit of wood,
    He asked if i had a boiler and said yep! Then proceeds to tell me abou his brother who has one and said the nice thing about a boiler is it'll eat anything
    I told him that my boiler actually works way better with dry wood, seemed surprised

    Another guy i was talking to was telling me about his neighbor, was heating his average size house and workshop and going through 28 full cords of wood per season!!:hair:
    Told him i couldn't imagine doing that much wood!!
    To me something in that system was not working
     
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