Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Central Boiler => Topic started by: Roger2561 on October 27, 2018, 02:00:24 PM
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Well, I finally did it, the CB Classic Edge 550 HD has been providing heat to my house since around 9:00am this morning. This beast is so different than the E-Classic 1400 that it'll take a bit to learn how to operate it. I'll keep everyone updated regarding operation, pro or con. It is so nice to be able to turn up the thermostat to 70 degrees and not hear the oil burner turning on. This past spring I had a professional contractor spray foam (closed cell) all of the walls in my basement, I got tired of providing heat to the outdoors. With only the oil burner running at times the temp in my basement never got colder than 70. Now that I've fired up the OWB and the pipes coming in from the OWB not being insulated and temperature of the water coming into the house at 180, the basement is a nice cozy 77 degrees. I've spent all of my 57 years living in this old house and it's never been that warm in the basement. I'm thinking of installing some floor grates so that the upstairs area can benefit from all this warmth especially when the temps will dip below zero this winter, perhaps it'll be bit more comfortable while watching TV. Roger
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Good to hear its finally up and running. Your previous experience with a gasifier hopefully will make for a short learning curve. The WiFi monitoring that central boiler has is second to none. Theres a ton of information available on how the stove is performing. You can see what different wood types and moisture contents can do to your reaction chamber temps. Even when and how you load the stove makes a difference. It'll all get logged into your history that you can look back upon and learn how best to run the stove.
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So far she's running great with only one problem. I had the high set point at 180. When it's been reached the temp continues to creep up into the 190's. Yesterday it spiked at 198. I have lowered the high set point to 170 trying to see how high she will go after it cycles. It still continues to rise into the 180's which is about a 10 degree creep. Have you experienced the same thing? I'm wondering if the warm temps are a cause. If it continues to creep up I'll give my dealer a call to get his input. If I'm not satisfied with his answer I'll contact CB directly. Roger
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Mines set for 185 and only creeps 2-3 degrees after shutdown. I wonder if you've got an air leak somewhere. Maybe the door needs adjusted or your primary air damper isn't closing all the way? I believe the new stoves now run a stepper motor to control the dampers vs a solenoid that the older models ran. Maybe one of them is hanging up?
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After reading your thoughts on this problem I think I'll adjust the door first, it's the easiest thing to adjust. If I continue to have problems with the temp creep I'll then test the air gap on the primary air elbow, if it needs adjusting I'll that. Thankfully I have the week off from work so I'll have the opportunity to adjust and monitor it as the week progresses. Thanks for the input. Roger
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Congratulations Roger, I got a new phone over the summer and just figured out how to get back here lol ! Good luck with your new adventure
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Hi fireboss - Thanks and welcome back! The Classic Edge 550 HD is running really good other than the temp creep. I spoke to my dealer and he consulted with the big boys at CB, around 6:00pm that evening one of the CB reps called me and he said he's shipping a new controller to me. He believes the problem is in the controller not with any of the seals. Once it arrives I'll swap it out and they're providing a call tag so I can ship the old one back to them at no cost to me. I'll post the results. Roger
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Hey Roger, I couldn't stand to let you have all the fun with that new Edge 550 HD of yours, I pulled the trigger on a new 750 HD and installing this weekend. We can compare notes! Looking forward to your updates.
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Hey Roger, I couldn't stand to let you have all the fun with that new Edge 550 HD of yours, I pulled the trigger on a new 750 HD and installing this weekend. We can compare notes! Looking forward to your updates.
boilerman, That's exciting! If it operates like the the 550, you like the 750. After operating the E-Classic 1400 for the past 7 winters this is, hands down, much, much easier to operate. This Saturday I'll be performing a bit of cleaning mainly to look things over and to see what kind of ash I can expect to see. Plus, people have been asking for a picture of the stepper motor and heat exchanger set up so I hope I remember to take a couple.
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I hope this works; this is a screen shot of the fire star,
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Roger any idea on the amount of wood being used by the 550 vs. 1400, or to early to make the comp. Interested on your thoughts on BTU output. Thanks
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It hasn't been week yet heating the house so it's kind of difficult to read on wood usage but I think it's comparable to the 1400. Every 12 hours I'm putting in about 6 or 7 (depending on ambient temp) pieces 20 inches long by 4 or 5 inches diameter. I try not to load it too much as I'm trying to gauge how much it may take when it gets cold.
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Thanks will check back in a couple months
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I see you're in Plymouth, NH. Anytime you're in the Enfield area or you want to see the Edge 550 HD in action, feel free to stop by and have a look. I'm home most weekends. Roger
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Thanks, will take you up on that in a couple of months.
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Glad to hear your fired up and running!! Ya its really nice not hearing the oil boiler fired up..Ive been reading heating fuel prices will be up 30% compared to last year..We'll see...Is your new baby stainless steel? (fire box) I got a buddy who has the edge 550 (non stainless)..Slick boiler it is! Im assuming you got yours in Newport..
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Yes, my baby the has stainless steel fire box. She's been running great other than the temperature creep, it's consistent at 10 degrees over high set point. I did indeed get it from Newport. When I spoke to Wes about the temp creep he's the one who initiated the contact with CB. I was surprised when a rep from CB headquarters called me later in the day and said they are sending a new controller. Compared to the E-CLassic 1400, this is by far a much simpler unit to operate and the cleaning looks much easier too.
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I received the new controller for my Edge 500 HD on Friday. Between rain storms I swapped it out. I ran into another problem though, when I turned it on the digital display asked for the model. I could not find in the manual how to select the model and no instructions came with the new one and it will not run with the model selected. I tried calling my dealer but there was no answer so tried calling CB but everyone was tied up with other customers. So, with rain approaching I decided to put the old one back. I'll be trying to connect with my dealer or CB on how to select the model. Once I have that I'll let everyone know how it goes. Roger
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XP wifi up and running. Connected easily to my router. I'm attempting to attach a screenshot of XP chart. Seems to run very similiar to my 2400. Fan shuts off at 185 and water temp overshoots by 4-5 degrees just from the intense burn and coals which is about the same as my 2400 at current 30 degree temperatures. Will probably overshoot less once get more of a winter heat load on it. No problem. Very stingy on wood usage, best guess is pretty similar to the 2400, but can better compare when gets colder. Firebox seems to be burning a little drier than the 2400 and burn recovery time may be quicker. My wood all has been seasoned for about a year which I've been ahead on now for many years, so getting nice reaction chamber temps of 1,000 - 1,400 degrees each burn cycle.
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I finally had a day without rain so I was able to install the new controller. With a little help from Tyler (IT guy)at CB, I was able to select the model and connect to the wifi. After monitoring the Firestar the temperature overshoot hits about 4 degrees which is what I expected to see. Now we'll see how she operates through the winter. Roger
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Roger Great to hear everything is what you expected. Are you generating as much creosote or less. That is one of the draw backs with my 2400 in the Primary air tube and always has been. Just curious if the newer designs have resolved some of those issues.
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Roger Great to hear everything is what you expected. Are you generating as much creosote or less. That is one of the draw backs with my 2400 in the Primary air tube and always has been. Just curious if the newer designs have resolved some of those issues.
trailmaster - I've only been running for a couple of weeks, on Saturday I need to do a thorough cleaning and I'll have better idea of how she's burning. What I know so far is she doesn't seem to use as much wood as my 1400 did but that's kind of hard to gauge due to the warm daytime temps we've been experiencing. What I will like a lot is not having to lean into the fire box and poke through the holes to clean the primary air holes, the Edge 550 has removable primary air channel panels, simply remove the panels, scrape out any creosote buildup and put them back, castle nuts hold them in place. The heat exchanger is accessed through the rear, remove the outer protective cover, open the inner door and walla, there she is! I picked up a boiler brush from my local supply company to scrape the Hx it should make it a breeze to clean it. The other thing I love about it is the reaction chamber is accessed from the front as well as the rear. I'll report back after I give her a good cleaning tomorrow morning to let you know how it goes and any observations regarding creosote build up. Roger
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Roger - Great to hear CB to care of your 10-15 degree overshoot issue. Sounds like it is running great now with new controller. I think my Edge firebox is running much drier than my Eclassic, with very little if any creosote buildup on the air hole areas and channels, are you finding the same to be true?
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Yes, it appears to be a drier firebox and I have not experienced any creosote build up whatsoever in the air channels. I've had to baby sit her today due to not having established a coal bed after I cleaned her out this morning but she's getting better with hotter reaction chamber temps.