Little bit of an update. Been burning off and on since mid-November, mostly on. If I have over a two day stretch in the 50's during the day I'll shut the boiler down. It's probably been shut down for a week total. So far I've burned 1.16666666667 cords ( based off of tote size ). I've had a few problems with bridging ( still trying to figure out the best way to stack the wood in the boiler ). Also had a problem with a week or so ago during startup with the top damper sticking. I posted a question about it in the Heatmaster Facebook group and someone mentioned that there were some boilers sent out with excess silicon on the seal behind the damper that leaked onto the damper. At first I thought it was creosote, but I think it's silicon. Once I can shut the boiler down again, I'll try and figure out what it is because you have to take the damper motor completely off. Outside of those few issues it's been running great. Picture is during a burn, that's steam not smoke.
Here's my loading routine. Rarely get bridging...and it mostly helps keep the coal bed fresh and not clogged up with ash. Expose the nozzle by raking all the coals to left and right, place a medium size chunk of "harder" wood right over the nozzle. Rake all the coals on the left side over to the right and place a couple splits right up against the wall. Repeat for right side. This drags all the ash over the center where it can either burn some more or flow down to the lower chamber. It also creates a "soft spot" where there are no splits that will burn quicker and allow the stuff above it to fall down rather than bridge up. Rake all the coals flat and load splits in a pyramid above the nozzle. Put bigger chunks on the outside and smaller ones in the center. It takes a couple minutes but never gives me problems. You might also consider lubricating your damper plates with a light coat of ATF.
lukem thanks for the information, very informative. Will definitely try your method next time I load. I've tried to rake the coals away from the nozzle when I load, but it seems like every time I do that I pack the lower refractory full of coals, and then it doesn't gas worth a crap. Do you use a poker, or are you using another tool like a small flat shovel to move yours away ? Next shutdown I plan on taking both damper plates off and putting some ATF on them. I cleaned the top one with some WD when it was stuck. It was cold that day and I just wanted to get it moving again. The folks on Facebook recommended ATF or high temp never seize too. I guess this was pretty common issue with the early Heatmaster gassers.
ATF works good because it has some detergent qualities to it that will break down any creosote formation. Mine needs lubed every 3-4 weeks, or whenever it is idling a lot. Not a big deal, just do it when I clean out the lower chamber. You might just want to throw a split over the nozzle, then rake the coals back away. Having the split there before you rake could keep too much stuff from falling through. I just use the tool that came with it. Long pole with half round on one side.
I'm using a home made poker to move my coals are around clean as much creosote as I can off of my firebox. The same tool came with OWB, I'll give it a shot tonight to move my coals around with.
Just be careful scraping creosote with something that might be made of harder metal than your firebox. Not sure what your homemade thing is made of but you could be scratching it up. My factory scraper is made from the same stainless as the rest of the boiler.
I'd say ATF is the better choice there...IME NS will dry out/build up and eventually cause its own issues in that application. Yep, using carbon steel on SS will cause the SS to rust. If you want to get in trouble in a fab shop, use a grinder on some CS when there is SS sitting nearby...might just earn yourself some TO...that's TO, not PTO!
Are you saying anitsieze dries out and does the opposite of what it was intended to do? I have heard that somewhere before
Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, and use the crap outta it, just not a good fit for this application. I use it on almost every SS bolt I touch...and use the HT stuff on all the bolts inside woodstove fireboxes...if you ever need it apart again in the future, it will likely come apart without twisting the bolts off...maybe not 100%, but darn close!
Thanks for the information. I'll let the poker do the poking, and use the tool that came with the stove to do my scraping with. I'm sure buying a 3/8 piece of SS rod to make a new poker out of will be ridiculously expensive these days. I don't know why I do it anyways, it seems like a lost cause. I do it mostly to ensure that the holes on the side plates are clean. My dad worked at and then was the shop foreman for a pretty big machine shop. I'll have to ask him about grinding steel near SS. I wonder if he gave anybody TO for doing that.
Just installed a G10000 around Christmas time. It’s definitely a different animal than my old Central Boiler 6048. This thread is very informative/ interesting to me.
Congratulations on the purchase. What do you think so far ? Did you get new lines or did you gave good lines in the ground already ?
I'm definitely still in the learning curve with this new stove. I cleaned it out today & noticed i have a bit of creosote building up in the corners of the firebox where the floor & walls meet. I'm wondering if thats normal? The wood i've been burning is between 12 & 20% so I think i'm good there. I did use to split my wood on the larger size for my old boiler & have been using it in the new stove & it seems to be working fine but I noticed the owners manual for the Heatmaster says splits 6" & smaller. Think that could be an issue? I already had Thermopex pipe in the ground from the Central Boiler & it wasn't giving me any noticeable heat loss so I reused it. I like your idea of the inline filter.Did you get that from Supply House as well? it seems to use less wood so far compared to my Central Boiler. I still load it full twice a day in cold weather but just by virtue of the size of the two fireboxes 60 cu. ft. vs 23.7 cu. ft. I have to be burning less wood I would think. So far I haven't experienced any bridging issues in the fire box thankfully. I also liked your idea about using heater hose for your back connections.
I get a little creosote in the corners of mine too. I just try to keep the ashes cleared out and it takes care of itself after a good burn.
Farmchuck , with the heat load you described on the phone, and the mild weather we have been having, I suspect you can get by with less than a full load twice per day...from what everybody that owns these tells me, they will use more wood if you load more wood, even if the heat load is not there to actually need the extra wood...they will just waste more heat up the stack during idle time. Which speaking of, how many hours of "burn time" do you see in a day? Or how many total hours since online? I'm not sure how far buried it is in the menu, but I know the Siemens keeps track of that info. Try slowly decreasing your load sizes, see where you end up.
Farmchuck start a new thread!! We have met at Well Seasoned GTG you are an interesting member ! Let other know you
My stove gets creosote built up in the back corners also. I notice it more when the stove isn’t running as hard vs when it is. Usually take my poker and try to clean it out as best I can when I load the boiler. Yes, I bought the spin down filter from Supplyhouse. The one I bought is a 100 micron filter. They have a chart on their site for the various micron sizes and flow rates. If you have 1.25 or 1.5 pipe you might have to go with a lower micron size. If you have Facebook there’s a really great group called Heatmaster Outdoor Wood Boilers. I get most of my tips from there. Concerning loading, I’d recommend only putting enough wood into the firebox for a 12 or so hour burn. The firebox needs to “dry out” at the end of the burn. Once I get mine in a barn I plan on weighing my loads based off of the weather. If you haven’t done so I’d recommend changing the damper settings for your wood moisture %. It’s in the back of the manual. I also set my timer to run for 5 minutes vs 3 as I was having some problems with my fire going out on warmer days. Outside of that I haven’t touched anything else with the PLC.
Thanks Dave. I woke up this morning it was 18 degrees outside & the water temperature was 158 degrees. It was pretty much burned down to nothing but coals. I fear if I don’t fill (at least at the temperature we are having, which isn’t really that cold) I would have no coals to restart the fire with. I will have to look at the book & see how many hours it’s been burning. I definitely don’t want to overload it & waste wood!
