iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

e 2300 summer use...

Started by ken999, January 17, 2010, 11:58:59 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

ken999

Anyone use their 2300 during summer for domestic hot water?

I had an oopsie last night and forgot to check the afternoons load of pine before bed. It bridged. As I was headed out the door to reload this AM our oil boiler fired up downstairs...."what the??..." Sure enough, all the pine was suspended a foot above the bottom of the fire chamber and was out...great....

I got it relit and have been poking at it trying to get the smoke to clear. The pine burns so fast that it needs alot of attention to keep a pile of hot coals over top of the RC opening.

This all makes me wonder how things are going to act over the summer when I'll be basically starting from scratch with the fire every time in need some heat.

I realize that this video was made to showcase the Greenwood, and all kindling was kiln dried, but this boiler was gassing in 5 minutes from start-up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jm7_h6HZF0

I can make alot of very dry kindling splitting very fine and laying on the blacktop drive to bake in the sun, but I wonder how fast the 2300's can get to gasification??...Anyone have any experience with summer use? I'm reguired to get a permit for summer use here in our town. I need this thing to clean up quick and not bother the neighbors or else I'll likely get the permit revoked.

It seems I get a fair amount of smoke for hours, including this AM relighting with wood that was dried from yesterday afternoons' failed reloading. That stuff was pretty dry after being partially burned. With the smoke I saw this AM I have to wonder if it is going to be at all possible to get gasification in minutes, not hours...

Thoughts?

beenthere

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

wi woodcutter

I was wondering if running the furnace in the summer was worth it? If your just heating your hot water, I would think it would be a lot work and messing around just to save a few bucks. Maybe by the time you figure in wear and tear on the furnace and running the pumps you might not save anything. I was told it takes about $20 to $30 a month to run the pumps. It costs me about $30 a month to heat my hot water in the summer. If that was the case I think I would just shut the furnace down and save your wood for the winter.
2-066's ms660 034av 076av huskee 27ton splitter CB5036
A guard dog needs food, water, shelter, walking and training.
My Smith & Wesson only needs a little oil!

ken999

I thought about a way smaller pump for summer use and even then I'd only turn it on 2x a day when I needed to recharge the 37 gal tank downstairs.

Ideally, I'd get some evacuated tubing and let the sun heat the 450 gallons of water in the boiler...problem solved...lol...

stumper

I have a 3 speed pump.  I start the heating season on low and bump it to medium as it get colder.  Last year I ran it on high through the winter and may need to bump it to high in a cold snap (been good down to abou 10 below). 

I would suggest this type of pump instead of switching out pumps. 

To me it is not worth it to run just for hot water in the summer.  I have also thought of linking in a solar water heater for the summer but I can not justify the expence of the system to heat some hot water.

ken999

What pump do you have Stumper? Pex size? Distance to house?

stumper

I have know idea what it is for a pump.  I'll look this weekend (the only time I am home during daylight).  I know it is red and was recomended to me as a better pump.

75 feet of the smaller thermo pex.

ken999

We have had some wamer conditions already this spring and I have shut the stoves (E-Classic and oil) off completely while we are away during the day as there is no need for hot water while we are at work/school. This has given me a peek at how things will work for summer use.

So far, I'm tickled.

When I get home from work and flip on the boilers, I usually have around a 3 deg. temp drop in the E-classic. Not bad for sitting all day and doing nothing.

Relighting has been a snap since I started using noodles. I pile in a big handfull on top of the leftover wood in the center of the firebox, hit them with a propane torch and voila...much like the top-down firestarting method for indoor stoves. Once I close the damper and the fire HAS to go down through the already charred wood, I get a clear stack and good gasification within minutes just like the Greenwood video I linked above. I'm really wanting to empty the firebox and start one from scratch to see if I can get'er to gas as fast as the folks from TWH got the Greenwood to gas. Anyways....once the boilers lit, I head up to the wood pile and get a fresh load for the day and put it on top of the new fire. I'll get a bit of smoke with the fresh load, but that usually clears up quick (3-5 minutes) and I get a nice shimmer of heat whille the E-Classic does it's thing.

So far I'm fireing every day and still loading a 3/4 full wheelborrow load each time. I'd say around 1/3 of a full firebox. The coal-charred wood bed is right below the airholes and I am having no trouble keeping most of them open every day as opposed to the monsterous pile of wood and coal I was fighting through mid winter. Back then I learned to just toss in the towel during the week and load gently after I saw the air had found it's own pathways. Every weekend I'd burn it down real good and get all the holes scraped clean. Since we still have variable weather (15f last weekend) I'm not on any set cleaning pattern, nor do I know how many days I can go between fireings doing just my domestic.

Stay tuned.... ;D

superwd6

After replacing my fusion cumbuster last week mine is burning clear  again. for the last month or so a slight blue colour would show even while gasifing. Anyway I wouldn't run it for just hot water but did order my Pool heat exchanger today ;D.

ken999

I've been working in the yard all day (read fiddling with the boiler  ;D) and have noticed that things get a hint of smoke when the boiler steps down to low burn. Backing up a bit, I'll let the boiler get down into the 160's then re-light as my summer routine...seems to be working well...anyhow...I've noticed a bit of smoke on the tail end of the heat cycle lately, so I just pulled the back cover off to inspect the solenoids as I was thinking of adjusting them to give the boiler more air on low. Sure enough, I notice that there is some creosolt scattered around in the 'black box' and upon peering down into the open solenoids...there it was...BUILD UP!!...lol...gonna have to schedule a cleaning for those soon. Never done it before so I will read around and check out the previous threads you fellas have been nice enough to post about such subjects.

I will say that there has been nothing to deter me from buring this puppy all summer long for domestic hot water. I can have the thing gassing in minutes by piling in the noodles I make and sticks that I've been picking up around the yard. The unit has certainly been good for spring cleanup in that regard. All that stuff I used to toss into the woods to rot I can now burn up for hot water...gotta love it.

thecfarm

ken999,I use the wood that I use to throw onto the brush fire.Just came to me one day.I have to pick it up anyways,might just as well get some good from it.It does take more time to fill up.Most of it is just the right length too.This wood is all coming from the grown up pasture.Will run out of this wood this year.I did not get my firewood from there this year.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

ken999

I've had all my wood cut since last year, most covered since then too. I'm just finishing up getting the rest of it under cover...it'll be nice and dry come fall.

I cleaned the solenoids today...much better...

Lit the beast @153, most smoke gone in 5 minutes....ALL gone in 15 minutes.

70 minutes after lighting, the 2300 hit 190 and kicked into low burn, with NO smoke like the last few times I've watched.

Good to go....

I'm finding that the less I root around in the firebox with a bar-scraper-rebar etc. The BETTER!. It seems that the stove struugles more trying to re-establish the airchannels that it had burner through on the previous cycle/lighting.

Today I had dug around in there and that is why I THINK it took so long to completely clear up.

Anyone else notice this?

ken999

Allrighty...tonights burn results.

Lit @ 163.

Some smoke @ 5 min.

No smoke @ 13 min. Temp to 170.

23 min. 175

40 min. 185

51 min. 190


I let the boiler run all night last night and didn't add any wood this AM, so the firebox was pretty low on charred wood. 3/4 of the wood in there tonight, I took off the 'ends' pile that has been uncovered since the end of last summer. Unknown MC, but certainly not as dry as the wood that I've had covered all winter. I think I'll diddle with an empty firebox for a while and not try to keep extra in there for drying purposes.

The adventure continues... :D

superwd6

Same here, three days in a row now I turn stove off in the morning (frost every night) and when I get home 151 to 154  every day. Light the charcole in the center and be amazed at how fast it goes to o visible smoke. Still waiting for my pool heat exchnger before plumbing starts.
  Got a brand new stainless plate heat exchanger for my hot tub for FREE ;D , it's brazed with copper so it won't last forever but it's free :D. Will wait till the fall to hook it up as I just changed the water in the hot tub.
   

ken999

Things were not so good tonight. I cleaned out the upper firebox and RC as there was little left after the last burn. Could be the lack of charred wood in the firebox. Things took off like normal with a big reduction in smoke by the 5 minute mark. Another good reduction by the 10 minute mark, but then the boiler fell flat with a small reduction at the 15 minute mark, then holding steady with a hint of blue smoke right on out past a half hour....The unit didn't seem to build heat as well either.

By NO means was tonights burn retchid or obnoxiuos in any way, it just didn't clean up to the clear shimmer that I've seen it do previous. For a change, the wind was back across our property and I walked around downwind of the until and couldn't really tell it was burning other than the thin blue smoke.

We've got some cooler damp weather headed our way for the weekend, so I'll probably let it burn more and won't be doing the 'summer routine' again until sometime next week.

superwd6

7:30 am 185f - turned off and shut off water flow. 7:00 pm water still177. Turned on after puting all charcole in the bottom and blackened wood on top clean and no visible smoke in less then 5 minutes, closer to 2 or 3 8). Have been burning very dry spruce , maple and Beech. I'm not worried about running for pool heater any more ;D

ken999

The boiler was sluggish again tonight, even with some leftover wood in it from earlier today. I'm still way below the airholes with the charred coal bed...mebbe I need to get some more buildup before it get's back to pre-cleaning performance...??...

It took 15 minutes to clean up to the thin blue smoke, and it had made up 7-8 degrees in that time frame.

I'm not using any kind of kindling either. I might make up some fine splits and see if that helps things along. It could be that the wood in the 'ends' pile is a tick too moist yet. I'd like to think that I'll have this thing %100 dialed in before too much longer. It's definitely fun to monkey with.

Glad to hear your running well superwd6.

superwd6

started tonight with a hard wind @ 168 degrees. Took around ten minutes to get rid of the faint blue smoke. My boiler is wood only without firestar controller. gasses DO like to collect in the reaction chamber when you fire the boiler this way and add new wood five minutes into firing. Watch out for the boom and fireball  , it does make life exciting . It's done it twice now when the door closes and fan starts :D. I always stand behind the door to keep my hair :D

ken999

yup...I got nailed one time half way through a loading when a big gust of wind sucked the fire right out the door into my face...not cool...

I've learned to duck behind the door and open it slowly...most times it's fine, but everyonce in a while...lookout... ;D

superwd6

two nights in a row took over ten minutes to clean up. Last night , with 155000 btu pool heat exchanger tied in it smoked---bad big blue cloud  around the back of my house . Air in the house turned blue as four letter words filled the room smiley_furious. The wind had picked up and clouds rolled in as it started burning.  Tonight , no wind, clear sky , pool is heating, boiler cycling from high to low and back to high. Hasn't stopped burning since 5:30 pm, glad I didn't get the 200000 pool heater :D. It takes lottsa wood to heat a pool. Luckily , i've got 20 dead and dry spruce trees for pool heating season 8).Been out three times to knock wood down when the boiler started smoking a bit.I'm happy again fire_smiley
   Hows yours doing Ken?

ken999

Pretty good.

I get a hint of blue smoke that lasts for the entire burn sometimes. I'm pretty sure its the wood though. I'm still trying to clean up most of the 'ends' pile that was uncovered over the winter. I've got 2-3 weeks worth in that pile before I switch back over to some of the real dry stuff that's been covered.

It's hit or miss. Last night the oiler cleared up quick and there was NO smoke in less than 15 min. Best night I've had in a week.

ken999

OK...it's not the wood.

I cleaned out the RC today and peared up in at the Fusion Chamber...it's toast...

You guys that replaced them already...did you notice better overall performance, or just less/no smoke?

stonebroke

NYS DEC just proposed the total ban on burning outdoor wood boilers during the spring summer and fall.

Stonebroke

stonebroke

NYS DEC has also proposed a ten year grandfather for OWB unless you have installed it before 2005 then you have only five years before you have to remove it. I think 2300 will come under the new regulations and be allowed

Stonebroke

ken999

It's interesting that DEC puts set-back regulations into their proposal even when they can't enfoce set-backs.


Thank You Sponsors!