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My Garn Puffs

Started by jerry sundberg, January 28, 2015, 08:40:47 PM

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jerry sundberg

It seems that no matter how I fire my Garn it wants to puff until the wood is 1/3 consumed and it seems to be getting worse! This year all our wood is Aspen, Balsam, Black Ash dried at least 8 months. If I crack the loading door open a bit it quits but then the exhaust temp drops and then it's not burning clean. Any ideas?
Farmall  man

beenthere

When my boiler puffs, it is getting too much air. Trim the air opening back a bit and mine doesn't puff.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Holmes

 Puff , like in back draft into the room, puff, like gasses are igniting in small explosions?
Think like a farmer.

Reddog

They use a draft inducer motor. Sounds like its not working/drawing right.

Check the manual or give them a call on how to diagnose it. If I remember right the cleaning is pretty spelled out to keep them running right.

jerry sundberg

I do clean regularly but it doesn't help any. I'm wondering if the distance between the eye of the impeller and the exhaust flue is too great?
Farmall  man

bandmiller2

Is your chimney clean.?? Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

jerry sundberg

The Garn I have doesn't use a chimney, just vents through the wall. I talked with the factory rep this morning and he says' to check the air intake screen, may have some leafs sucked in there. Hopefully that's it!
Farmall  man

beenthere

The vent would be the "chimney" referred to by Frank, and it should be clean.

Where would a leaf come from that could get sucked in? 

I still think it is air adjustment, and is getting too much air causing the very fast, hot burn and ignition of gasses which are the puffing sound (mini explosions if you will).

But maybe that is the way Garn works too.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

jerry sundberg

The air intake is about three feet away from the exhaust and it has picked up some fly ash on the screen over the five years of use, so I cleaned it up and it stopped the puffing during the burn. Easy fix thank goodness!
Farmall  man

Reddog


Holmes

 I only know what I've read when it comes to Garn boilers... They seem like an excellent product.
Think like a farmer.

r.man

If it is a squirrel cage blower you could also check that the cage is tight and the fins are not full of debris.
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

hedgerow

Surging or puffing with the Garn is a problem you will learn to deal with. I have run one for 6 years and if your wood is too dry the first half of a burn cycle it will do what you are describing. I have started mind up and come back in the building 30 minutes in the burn cycle to find it surging so hard I thought it was going to blow the door off. I have had it blow the screen out of the vent you are talking about on the air intake. Try to always have a piece of wood side ways in the front when you load your wood. That helps defuse the air over the load of wood. I never fill mine with a full load of dried hedge any more I mix the hedge with some locust we just split this year and still is a little wet. That slows the burn down and stops the surging. I run my Garn year around as I heat my domestic water with it also. I like the unit but if I had to do it again I would build my own.

bobby s

Jerry, can you shed some light on your Garn setup like model, square footage your heating, wood usage and how often you fire? I ask because I think Garn makes a great boiler and see it as my next boiler somewhere in the future.  Thank you

jerry sundberg

My Garn is a 1500 model bought in 2010. The first year we used 6 cord less wood over what we were using with the Heatmor OWB. Our home has base board hot water heating (24'X48'). We make domestic hot water, heat my shop (24'X32') when I'm out there, and heat our green house March through May. When running the green house a lot of the times I'll fire it twice a day (morning-evening). Depends on outside temps. Greenhouse is (10'X34') double layer poly with air blown in between.
Farmall  man

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