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1

Home Made / Re: Homemade gassifer build In progress.

« on: February 09, 2015, 10:56:02 AM »

I was watching some of the videos on the independent home energy website and see there was quite of bit of trail and error on that boiler. I also noticed that in the earlier videos that he used 2 pipes for heat transfer. I haven't watched all the videos, but its good to see he worked out the bugs on the boiler.

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Home Made / Re: Homemade gassifer build In progress.

« on: February 08, 2015, 06:58:00 PM »

Sounds good. I guess that would work.

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Home Made / Re: Homemade gassifer build In progress.

« on: February 08, 2015, 10:39:37 AM »

I was looking at your pictures and i didn't notice any smoke bypass. Almost all of these downdraft style boilers have a trap door smoke bypass in the top of the firebox for getting the fire started. How are you going to start the fire?? It looks like your welding is with a 110 volt wirefeed. You must be really pushing that welder, welding 1/4" steel? I see some of the welds are flux core wire. How much water do you think it will hold? What thickness are your 4" pipes? Keep up the good work!

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Home Made / Re: Homemade gassifer build In progress.

« on: February 07, 2015, 11:15:35 AM »

One 6" pipe isn't going to give you much heat transfer. Your 3-4" pipes should provide more heat transfer. What is your reason for having the V tunnel panels removable?

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Home Made / Re: Homemade gassifer build In progress.

« on: February 07, 2015, 08:12:09 AM »

Looks like your build is going good. Are you sticking to the plans? Did you make any modifications?

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Home Made / Re: Loading Door

« on: February 06, 2015, 10:42:12 PM »

Jeremy.flaugh do you have a build thread for your boiler? Where did you get the plans??? Do you have your boiler up and running? How has it been working for you?

Hello vpd66 I started a new topic so we don't hijack this thread.
http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=7256.0

Thank you!

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Home Made / Re: Loading Door

« on: February 06, 2015, 07:52:55 AM »

Jeremy.flaugh do you have a build thread for your boiler? Where did you get the plans??? Do you have your boiler up and running? How has it been working for you?

8

Aqua-Therm / Re: slow the fan down!

« on: December 18, 2014, 08:02:39 AM »

My stove has a blower and (2) dampers.

The dampers were installed as a backup if power were to go out.

I've tried running it with the blower, blower to start the fires and dampers only (after a bed of coals has been established).

I was under the same impression the the slower the fire the more time for BTUs to transfer but I keep proving myself wrong.

Burning as hot a fire as possible to more efficient and transfers heat better. Burning a slower fire (i Believe) adds creasote and
ash to the transfer surfaces and restricts transfer.

Just my beliefs, my situation may be a little different as well because I batch burn and have a large water volume.

Thats the problem with these AquaTherms. Too much heat goes up the stack. They are just a barrel in a barrel style (fire box with a water jacket around them) and they only hold 45 gallons of water. Heat transfer is fast and alot is wasted up the stack. We are trying to just use the blower to restart the fire, then shut it off and just let the fire burn with the damper open. With the damper open and blower going it is like a blow torch in mine after the fire is going good.

9

Aqua-Therm / Re: slow the fan down!

« on: December 11, 2014, 10:18:30 AM »

I'm a longs ways from them guys and did not want to bother them , they  did not say how ,but the idea is a good one ...so I'm going to work it out myself   they did tell me to put a snap disk on the supply pipe and have it shut off the blowers when > it is out of wood/ u were late in filling >so as  to not keep blowing cold air on a non extant fire  -thus cooling the water/boiler even more...

I guess I could figure it out myself,but I've been waiting for my Aqua-Therm to die so I could replace it with something more efficient. So i don't care to spend too much time or money on this boiler. By the way, did you know Aqua Therm had a Eco one upgrade that was claimed to up efficientcy before they went under. It replaced the baffle and added another blower to the door that looked like they were trying to burn the wood gas above the fire. They wanted like $500.00 for this upgrade. To rich for my blood.

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Aqua-Therm / Re: slow the fan down!

« on: December 11, 2014, 07:43:56 AM »

I talked to a guy in MI , they have installed a system where the fans come on /the fire starts, then once the fire is really going >it cuts the fans and then holds the flap up for natural draft, then shuts off at AQ temp ......says it keeps from blowing all the heat out the chimney........

Cool! Any contact info for this guy that is doing the mod??

11

Home Made / Re: problems using 500 gal. propane tank

« on: November 05, 2014, 07:58:48 AM »

First off patching a leaky boiler is a job I would avoid. Chances are if it is leaking in one spot it is ready to start leaking in another. Its a blind repair. You can't see the side thats rusted and the side your welding on is very contaminated with ash,soot, and creocote. Every welder I know that has patched a boiler have always stick welded it. I believe a 6010 rod is preferred has it is good on dirty steel. The magnifier lens work good. Several guys I work with use them.

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Home Made / Re: problems using 500 gal. propane tank

« on: November 03, 2014, 11:32:47 PM »

So true about the gun. Also use a copper nozzle, not the brass style. When welding in spray transfer you also keep a lot larger wire stick out. That helps the gun live longer too.

13

Home Made / Re: problems using 500 gal. propane tank

« on: November 03, 2014, 11:33:21 AM »

Well here is some facts on mig welding. Its real easy for someone that is handy to learn to mig weld good enough for simple welds on say angle iron,square, and round tube, but to weld up something with water tight welds take some knowledge and talent. Porosity,undercut,poor fit up, and cold lap are the most common problems. Not to mention the 3 transfer methods of mig welding and how to use them and where to set your machine. Short circuit transfer is the most common form of mig welding and is done on 3/16" thick and under steel. Anytime your under 20 volts and 300 ipm wire speed (this all varys with different machines.) your in Short circuit. It sound like bacon sizzling. Once you start getting up over 20 volts and 300 ipm wire speed your starting to get into Globular transfer. The sound won't be has smooth has Short circuit and you will see more spatter and the spatter will be bigger balls that will be harder to remove. Globular transfer is real tricky to weld in because it sounds vary different then Short circuit, but can provide good welds when setup right. The final transfer method is Spray transfer. When and how to get into Spray transfer has a lot to do with how many amp machine you have and what type of gas you are using. Spray transfer will just hiss (hence the name spray) when running it and will run real hot with a real nice smooth weld bead without spatter at all. To get into Spray transfer you need at least a 250 amp machine and 95/5 or 98/2 argon/co2 shielding gas. I have the same Millermatic 250 welder and with .035 wire and 80/20 gas I can just barely get into Spray transfer.
So now that I'm done with all the theory lets apply it to your weld situation. A propane tank should be a minimum of a 1/4" thick but most likely 3/8". the front of your boiler is somewhere between 1/8" and a !/4'". So you should be welding it in Globular transfer. You could weld it in Spray transfer if you have the correct gas and know how to set your welder for it (would be my preferred method if I used mig). Spray transfer because it welds so hot can only be done in the horizontal position. So most likely you were welding it in Globular transfer and like I said is the hardest transfer method to weld in. You must have all the mill scale cleaned off the joint and have good (tight) fit up. In my experience I would have welded with 7018 stick. I find it much easier to get water tight welds with it.

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Home Made / Re: how long to get the water to temp.

« on: November 03, 2014, 10:40:56 AM »

All depends on water capacity, wood quality, and outside temperature. I've had my AquaTherm up to temp in has little has 45 minutes, but most of the time it takes about 1..5-2 hours.

15

Home Made / Re: Starting Gasification build

« on: July 02, 2014, 07:48:43 AM »

I'll weld the tubes to the plate from the bottom side, then weld the plate to the secondary.  The plates just sitting on the secondary for the photo.

As for leak testing, not sure yet.  It might require making some panels/gaskets to cover the door openings temporarily.  I don't expect much trouble, the steel is all new/clean and welds nice.  If theres a leak it will be a spot I forgot to weld, so I'll need to just pay extra attention.

If I can think up a way to use flanges to mount the doors, then I could easily bolt block off plates/gaskets on the openings to test.  Thats probably my best bet.

There is a spray on dye with a developer that we use at work to check welds. It works good. Don't know what it costs, but I'm sure if you talked to your local welding supply store they might carry it. Welding something to be water tight is not has easy has people think. Stops,starts,and undercut are some of the places you get pin holes.