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[slimjim]

Works for me!

[coolidge]

The one I am using is the smartphone one, $250

http://www.flir.com/flirone/android/

[slimjim]

Well Coolidge just left, he EMailed me a bunch of pics that tell an awful lot, I will go over them and post the pertinent ones but my preliminary results are that a good cabinet can make a big difference in heat loss.
For your enjoyment here are some to start. Keep in mind that both boilers are burning the same green oak, both have a water to air heat exchanger operating with roughly the same load, the Polar is running at 185 with a maximum stack temp of 280 degrees and the HeatMaster is running at its max temp of 180 with a max stack temp of 380 degrees. Oops, crap I think I have to put thepics in my files before I can post them!

[coolidge]

The door jam is to be expected.
Two pics of my hole I chiseled through my closed cell foam that is around my Pipe.

[RSI]

I just dug out mine and took a pic of the G100. This is from a $200 Seek Thermal camera. I let the fire go out and cleaned some ashes out earlier today so it has been running continuous for quite a while. I am guessing it doesn't get as hot from normal cycling.

[RSI]

Having a cabinet around the boiler will make it look a lot better on a thermal imager because it can dissipate the heat and spread it more evenly. The only real way to compare them would be to put inside another enclosure and compare temp rise or the air around each.

[mlappin]

Having a cabinet around the boiler will make it look a lot better on a thermal imager because it can dissipate the heat and spread it more evenly. The only real way to compare them would be to put inside another enclosure and compare temp rise or the air around each.

 

[schoppy]

Slim are you selling Polar furnaces now? Do they use stainless steel or something else? I had looked at these about the same time I looked at Heatmaster, curious how similar they are in design.

[slimjim]

Yes I am Schoppy, I'm having trouble loading the pics that Coolidge shot for me but I'm not so sure of your explanation RSI, we finally figured out how to get his camera to pinpoint temps, all around the doors on both units were quite high, mid 120 to as high as 136 but when the Polar outer door was closed, it showed some leakage at the very top edge at 95.4 degrees while the remainder of the door showed 67.9.
Let's keep in mind that this opening in the top of the Polar is about 3/4 inch wide by about 30 inches in length while the HeatMaster is about 4 inches wide and almost completely surrounding the entire loading door, I don't think we need to be rocket scientists to understand that wind blowing at any speed whisking away that heat during the winter months will increase wood consumption so it stands to reason that the more we can reduce the available heat loss the better.

[robertj1]

I bought a FLIR i5 camera when I started to fix up my house. They are awesome. Shows every thing with temp differential. Will show no insulation, every stud and windows that lost there gas between the two panes. What is really cool it will show your heat signature reflecting from the glass of picture frames. Looks like a ghost looking back at you. You wave at it and it waves back.

[aarmga]

I almost bought a polar furnace a few years back.  I do like how they look.  I wonder if they stand behind their warranty better than the last company polar made the furnaces for.  I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.  Slim are you still selling heatmaster?

[slimjim]

Just so everybody understands, yes the same factory that built Wood Doctor originally now builds Polar but what most people don't know is that the factory in Sperling, Manitoba did not build all the Wood Doctor boilers, you see I know because I barely survived through it all with my home and property, Arthur Turple and Dave McCullough were the distributors and owned the name, they also dictated the build that originally was a very well built unit. When things got very busy in sales Dave and Arthur moved some of the gasser builds to the US and that is when the crap hit the market/ fan, I personally had 4 customers with leaking boilers in about 18 months from rust in the firebox. Every single one of those units were built right here in the good old USA! Last year when I did the show in Halifax NS I drove right past Arthur Turples exit in Stewiacke, believe me it was a hard temptation to fight off having a little visit with him.

At this point aarmga, no I am not, I have 5 units here in the yard that we are in dispute over and I can't seem to get a straight answer from Jake to save me, it has been over 2 months! I ask you and Please feel free to check it out, I have those units floor planned ( another topic for later ) and was selling the hell out of them this year until I was the only one having the issues with the damper plates  (as per Jake) now we are moving just the Polar brand because I'm concerned that the issue still isn't resolved and that when we took on Polar and WoodMaster, Jake pulled our name and contact info from his dealer locator in retaliation, he has 2 dealers in Massachusetts who stock or invest absolutely nothing and they are on the locator but I have $50,000 invested in just stock not to mention the paint that I used color matching my equipment to his colors and I'm pulled from the locator, we found this out from 3 separate potential customers trying to find us after hearing about us or seeing us at a show, I ask you, would you want to invest more money in a company that chastises you for simply trying to make a living and rewards a non investing fly by night guy or two, this is what I do for a living!

[aarmga]

Man I'm just in awe over hearing that.  Talk about little to no appreciation for someone who has literally devoted their life and business to a company and have them throw it all away on you. This is the exact reason I have not purchased a central boiler.  That is completely crap, I don't understand why so many manufacturers do this to their dealers. 

[slimjim]

Well the last word has not been spoken yet, at 8:30 last night I got a call again from the 78 year old man that I sold the last G 400 to that I had in stock, it has been upgraded and is still having issues with the damper every 3 days at minimum. What is important isn't how they are treating us, we can move on to another product or at the very least become a fly by nighter in this field and I can go back to driving a truck, the issue is how they are treating the customer.
I have been talking with a man from Vinalhaven island off the coast of Maine for a few months now but I will not sell him a unit until this issue is fixed once and for all, he tells me that Jake told him that he could get one from the dealer in NY or that there was a super dealer coming on board here in the Northeast to replace me, now that makes sense!

[slimjim]

Soooo, I finally figured out how to save / send those pics that Coolidge did for me, here are a few for your comparison, remember that the water temp on the HeatMaster is below 180 degrees because that is the factory setting and they do not want us going above 185 while the Polar is at 195 and it can go to just below whatever steam is at your location, both pics are as you would operate the boiler in the field, notice the temps from around the exposed doors and compare that to the temp from the top of the door on the Polar.