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Topics - helmick1

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Electronics / Hand held laser thermometers
« on: January 13, 2014, 06:51:52 PM »
I have a question for the guys that use the hand held laser thermometer. I used one this evening and my ranco stat showed 171 and the laser reading on the pex coming out of the pump was 159. The return on pex right before the return valve going into the stove was 156. I took several different readings and came up with the same numbers. Could I be losing 13 degrees going through the pump, because that is all that is between the ranco needle and where I took the readings? Or is the laser that inaccurate? The furnace blower wasn't running so the 3 degree difference through the return sounds good. I'll check again in the morning if the blower is running to see what the difference is through the exchanger. I plan on getting the wireless meat thermometers to monitor the temps from inside the house.

2
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / pump issue
« on: January 01, 2014, 08:36:10 PM »
Had my first issue with my OWB a couple days ago. We had a momentary power outage on Sunday evening, maybe a couple seconds. I went out to fill the stove about an hour later and the thermostat on the boiler was at 203 and the pump was not running, this was about 8pm. I took the pump off and couldn't see anything stuck in it and it spun by hand. I plugged it in at the garage and it ran, so I went back out and put it back on the stove. by then the temp at the stat went down to about 160, as soon as I put the pump back on and opened the valves the temp immediately started going up to over 190. The hot supply line leaving the stove was very hot to the touch, but the return line was not hot at all. The pump was running, but making a whirring noise. I went inside and cranked up the stats in the house to try to help move the heat, but the air was cold. I crawled under the house where the heat exchanger is and the supply and return lines were not hot at all. So then I figured I had an airlock so I hooked a hose to the stove drain and closed the valves and unhooked the lower line at the circulator pump and backfed water through the lines. Seemed liked there was some air that came out, but didn't seem like a lot. I hooked the pump back up and opened the valves and tried again and still had the same problem pump running but not pushing hot water and the stove temp started spiking again. So, I went through the whole airlock process again, same results. By this time it was 1am and I was stumped so I shut the power breaker to the stove and went to bed. The next morning I took the pump off again and everything seemed fine. I put the pump back on and opened the valves and again the temp started spiking, I left the valve to the pump open and closed the return valve and the pump stopped making the whirring noise and I opened the return valve again and it started whirring again. I done this four or five times and could hear air moving through the lines, so I opened the fill valve at the front of the stove and run about 5 gallons of water trough it and some air came out. Went to the back and the temp started dropping and the lines started getting hot. Running perfect now (so far). I'm stumped, any thoughts? Stuck pump? I get the problem with the air in the lines, but what could have caused the pump to stop working in the first place? Also, about the air in the line could it be that it was the pump getting primed that was making the whirring noise? Hopefully it was just a freak thing and doesn't happen again. Sorry for the long post, but just trying to see if anyone else has had this happen or any thoughts about it.

3
Earth Outdoor Wood Furnaces / Earth Woodsman 400
« on: December 17, 2013, 06:01:32 AM »
Newbie here. I just installed a Woodsman 400 a little over a month ago, got tired of paying for multiple LP tank refills every winter. So far this stove is great. The only real issue I have had so far is the forced air blower flapper getting stuck, has happened 4 times, but I read another post on here about putting a paper clip on the flapper itself  :thumbup:. We have 5 year old two story home, about 3000 square feet and I have been keeping the temps between 73-78 degrees depinding on how cold it is outside. We live in north central WV and have had a colder than usual start to winter, so I am glad I am burning wood instead of paying for propane. One thing I need to do when it warms up a little is do a better insulation job on my supply lines at the stove and under the house. Right now I just have the foam pipe insulation around the pex and nothing on the pump or the fittings at the pump. What does everyone else use to insulate the pump? Just regular pink fiberglass? Also my forced air blower is set to come on at 155 and go off at 160, Would I get better results bumping up to 175-180 as the shutoff and 160-165 as the low point? Thanks ahead of time for any tips and suggestions!!

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