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31
General Discussion / Re: Rude/ ungrateful children rant
« on: December 18, 2017, 01:23:33 PM »
I'm the only one with kids in my family, and every one of them has gotten the ass-kicking they've deserved at one time or another. My oldest is 26 and an Eagle Scout, aside from being one of the most self-centered people I've ever dealt with, he's a hard worker and unfailingly polite and respectful. My middle son is a hard worker, charitable and respectful. My oldest daughter is a wonderful person to everyone but her own family, and that is why she doesn't live at my house anymore. Sometimes we just can't win some battles. My youngest son, in spite of also being a Boy Scout and a really good kid, likes to tease his younger sister, and she is dealing with bullying issues at school. It came to a head a few weeks ago and I let him have it, pushed him around, yelled at him, kinda gave him a taste of his own medicine. I told him if he ever wanted to bully someone, go right ahead and pick on me or your uncle (who is 6-4 and 275#) and see where it gets you. I cannot tolerate rude people, never mind little brats that belong to someone else.
I remember as a kid, my dad's best friend from high school was up visiting and he brought his kids with him. The daughter was OK but the son was a holy terror and decided he was going to do whatever he wanted in our house. My father said something to the kid and he got the whole "you're not my boss I don't have to listen to you" crap, so then Dad turned to his friend and said if you can't or won't control the little brat, then I hate to see you go but take your kid and get out. The guy visited a couple times after that but always without the kids, and last I recall the kid was doing time.
As far as the OP's relatives, if those were my kids I would have burned every single gift in a big bonfire in the yard and forced them to sit there and watch it. And that they have 364 days to get their Sh*t together or it will happen again. No the kids are probably not 100% to blame but the parents are enablers and that's the worst kind.
I remember as a kid, my dad's best friend from high school was up visiting and he brought his kids with him. The daughter was OK but the son was a holy terror and decided he was going to do whatever he wanted in our house. My father said something to the kid and he got the whole "you're not my boss I don't have to listen to you" crap, so then Dad turned to his friend and said if you can't or won't control the little brat, then I hate to see you go but take your kid and get out. The guy visited a couple times after that but always without the kids, and last I recall the kid was doing time.
As far as the OP's relatives, if those were my kids I would have burned every single gift in a big bonfire in the yard and forced them to sit there and watch it. And that they have 364 days to get their Sh*t together or it will happen again. No the kids are probably not 100% to blame but the parents are enablers and that's the worst kind.
32
HeatMaster / Re: can the G200 handle it???
« on: December 14, 2017, 02:07:13 PM »i have only had to load about 8 inches above door frame at most so far.
Yikes, that's overfeeding for me. It's rare I fill mine above the doorframe at all, but my demand is pretty low and until recently it's been relatively warm out.
33
Plumbing / Re: Manifold/zone loop materials
« on: December 14, 2017, 02:03:25 PM »Type L copper will easily support 4 pumps if properly hung (I use split ring hangers) though.
Pretty much what I had in mind. I am building a zone loop for my garage heating, single zone, and it is all laid out horizontally on a plywood sheet, using split ring supports. I'm building as much of it as I can (well, all of it) before it gets hung on the wall. Everything is 1" Type L copper.
34
Plumbing / Manifold/zone loop materials
« on: December 13, 2017, 09:43:05 AM »
Got a question that may or may not be simple. When I built my house, 13 years ago, I had a local plumber help me with my heat piping. I don't know why he did what he did. When the PEX from my OWB comes into the house, it transitioned to copper to go through my flat plate HX. On the other side of the HX, he came out of it with copper and then transitioned to black iron for the main loop. Yet, every zone off that main loop (there are four heat zones and one hot water zone) are all transitioned to copper with a threaded fitting, then the rest of the zone is copper. The main loop is 1-1/4" black iron and the zones are all 1" copper.
I have never asked the guy why he used the black iron. I know all my circulator pumps are cast iron (all Taco 007) but why build some of the system with black iron and some with copper? All the black iron is rusting on the exterior, it's ugly and looks like crap.
I am planning on installing a new heat-pump electric water heater as a backup system in the spring, and as part of that work I would like to replumb the entire thing in 100% copper and get rid of all the black iron. Any reason this shouldn't be done? I have looked at dozens of photos of heating manifolds and piping systems online and most of them stick to copper pipe (although some are using more and more PEX).
I have never asked the guy why he used the black iron. I know all my circulator pumps are cast iron (all Taco 007) but why build some of the system with black iron and some with copper? All the black iron is rusting on the exterior, it's ugly and looks like crap.
I am planning on installing a new heat-pump electric water heater as a backup system in the spring, and as part of that work I would like to replumb the entire thing in 100% copper and get rid of all the black iron. Any reason this shouldn't be done? I have looked at dozens of photos of heating manifolds and piping systems online and most of them stick to copper pipe (although some are using more and more PEX).
35
Equipment / Re: Work Gloves
« on: December 13, 2017, 08:25:53 AM »Around here I'm seeing a lot if these cloth gloves with a rubbery grip on fingers and Palm. Why are these so popular? Seems the rubber would get cold easy.
Well, they do get cold. I am finding that in sub-freezing temps, I am going back to the leather gloves. However, the company that makes the gloves I use (Atlas) also makes a thermal glove that is supposed to be a lot warmer - probably an insulated knit glove with the same rubber coating. I haven't tried them yet but I am going to get a pair or two and see how I like them during the winter.
What I like about the rubber coated gloves is that they are incredibly durable and cheap. I cut, split and stacked all of next year's firewood, about six cords now, with a single pair of the Atlas Showa 300 gloves, and they are filthy dirty but show no apparent wear. I normally would have holes in at least four fingers and split seams in a pair of my usual Wells Lamont leather gloves. Plus the coated gloves fit my hands much better, and I find that I have pretty good finger/hand dexterity with the rubber coated gloves that I don't have with the leather ones. They also grip tenaciously to splits of firewood, where the splits would just slide out of my grip with leather gloves on.
36
HeatMaster / Re: Wood Consumption
« on: December 12, 2017, 11:39:32 AM »
I put my G200 in on January 4, 2017 and it has been operating 24/7 since that day, to supply domestic hot water and heat. I did not keep track of wood usage until 01 October, when I started taking wood from a full wood shed. Best estimate, I have burned just about 1-1/2 cords of wood since 01 October. Might be a little more since I filled it a half-dozen times with splitter trash and ugly chunks that weren't in the wood shed. I think I'm about 40% lower in consumption on average than I was with my old wood boiler. I heat 4300 square feet of a 12-year-old timberframe/SIP hybrid home. Also DHW for 4 people daily, sometimes more when family visits. I am going to be adding a significant heat load in a couple of weeks, being a partially insulated 800 sf garage with a second floor loft. I think my wood use will jump back up quite a bit until I get the garage insulated and the temp stabilized. I plan on keeping it around 55-60 degrees. Enough to work in a tee shirt but not warm enough to sweat.
37
HeatMaster / Re: Ok so I got a call from one of my customers last night
« on: December 07, 2017, 08:54:33 AM »
I can't imagine the cloud that would be created by directing a leaf blower inside my boiler. It's bad enough just hand-cleaning it out. 
38
HeatMaster / Dumb question about cleaning
« on: December 07, 2017, 08:51:01 AM »
This may be a dumb question but I want to hear from you guys with G-series boilers. I have cleaned the ash out of the firebox of my G200 simply by raking the stuff through the slot in the bottom of the firebox and dragging it out through the door on the secondary burn chamber. I use the little half-moon shaped tool/rake that they give you. What I have not figured out, though, is how to clean, or even see, the section of firebox that is right inside the firebox door. In other words the front wall and the front 4-6" of the firebox. I can't really get in there to see if there's a lot of creosote or ash built up just inside the door.
Does anyone have any good ideas on how to view this area and clean it out?
Does anyone have any good ideas on how to view this area and clean it out?
39
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Pumps
« on: November 28, 2017, 02:35:31 PM »
Just a user, but I have had Taco pumps on an OWB and in zone loops since 2004 and I will not buy another. I have replaced every single pump except one, at least once, and a couple of them would burn up every three or four years. It's not just a single problem either. One cavitated to death, a couple locked up due to overheating or steam, a couple more blew gaskets and would not stop leaking, and one of them I replaced simply because it made so much noise I thought it was a Cessna.
My new OWF has Grundfos pumps and I will be using them from now on. Basic models, 15-58 for circ loops, but I am considering an Alpha for the basement central zone and planning on consolidating a couple of zones.
My new OWF has Grundfos pumps and I will be using them from now on. Basic models, 15-58 for circ loops, but I am considering an Alpha for the basement central zone and planning on consolidating a couple of zones.
40
Equipment / Re: Work Gloves
« on: November 28, 2017, 02:27:58 PM »
Showa Atlas 300 gloves for summer use, or Showa Atlas 451 Thermafit gloves for the winter. Comfortable and wear like iron. Much better than the Wells Lamont cowhide gloves that I had been using for years.
41
Equipment / Re: Chainsaw oils both bar and 2cycle
« on: November 21, 2017, 10:50:02 AM »
I use nothing but Tractor Supply bar oil ($6 a gallon on sale) and have done so for years. Got tired of paying two to three times the price for Stihl oil with no noticeable difference.
I don't use 2-cycle oil. I buy either TruFuel or VP Racing SEF 94 premix. I get the VP Racing stuff from my dealer for $85 for a 5-gallon pail and it lasts me a full year in all of my 2-stroke equipment, summer and winter. In the five years I've been using it, I have had zero problems and no repairs needed to gas lines, filters, carbs or anything else. Cheap insurance, considering that a new carb and labor is $100+.
I don't use 2-cycle oil. I buy either TruFuel or VP Racing SEF 94 premix. I get the VP Racing stuff from my dealer for $85 for a 5-gallon pail and it lasts me a full year in all of my 2-stroke equipment, summer and winter. In the five years I've been using it, I have had zero problems and no repairs needed to gas lines, filters, carbs or anything else. Cheap insurance, considering that a new carb and labor is $100+.
42
HeatMaster / Re: New G200 Member
« on: November 08, 2017, 08:20:52 AM »
Welcome. I've been running my G200 non-stop since January this year. Almost a year now. Things I've learned:
1. Keep it clean. Remove ash from the secondary burn chamber frequently, at least monthly and more often if you're inclined.
2. Burn the same type of wood you would use if you had an indoor woodstove. Split small and bone dry. A big chunk now and then won't hurt as long as there is a good coal bed. Keep a good coal bed in it.
3. Let it burn out every couple of weeks and clean ash out of the firebox.
I'm no expert but there are guys here who have run these things a lot longer than I have. I had a Central Boiler classic model before this one, and it is a totally different process (aside from the actual tossing in firewood). You also learn the burn patterns, smoke patterns and general behavior of the unit over time. For example, I have learned that if I feed it 4-6 splits twice a day (7 am and 5 pm), I get a full 12-hour burn and then some, to the point where after 4-5 days I have so many coals in the firebox that I can skip a 'feeding'. I also monitor smoke colors and patterns, to see if anything needs cleaning or adjusting. Normally there is zero smoke coming out of the unit, even at the start of a burn cycle. I will occasionally catch wisps of smoke (more likely steam) coming out of the chimney during idle, but it does not stink up the neighborhood like the old boiler used to.
1. Keep it clean. Remove ash from the secondary burn chamber frequently, at least monthly and more often if you're inclined.
2. Burn the same type of wood you would use if you had an indoor woodstove. Split small and bone dry. A big chunk now and then won't hurt as long as there is a good coal bed. Keep a good coal bed in it.
3. Let it burn out every couple of weeks and clean ash out of the firebox.
I'm no expert but there are guys here who have run these things a lot longer than I have. I had a Central Boiler classic model before this one, and it is a totally different process (aside from the actual tossing in firewood). You also learn the burn patterns, smoke patterns and general behavior of the unit over time. For example, I have learned that if I feed it 4-6 splits twice a day (7 am and 5 pm), I get a full 12-hour burn and then some, to the point where after 4-5 days I have so many coals in the firebox that I can skip a 'feeding'. I also monitor smoke colors and patterns, to see if anything needs cleaning or adjusting. Normally there is zero smoke coming out of the unit, even at the start of a burn cycle. I will occasionally catch wisps of smoke (more likely steam) coming out of the chimney during idle, but it does not stink up the neighborhood like the old boiler used to.
43
HeatMaster / Re: G200 Installed.....excited to fire up!!!
« on: October 26, 2017, 10:39:19 AM »
I am routinely getting 24 hour burns with mine, due to the low demand during the summer and fall months. I have had to dump huge amounts of heat into a heat exchanger for my swimming pool, just to prevent the fire from going out. I can easily do 12 hour burns during the worst of the winter, and on a particularly warm or low-demand day, can get by with only loading two or three small splits into the firebox.
44
HeatMaster / Re: G200 Installed.....excited to fire up!!!
« on: October 13, 2017, 01:48:28 PM »
Good luck with the new Heatmaster. I heat 4300 sf house with mine (in-floor radiant) plus domestic hot water, in southern VT. In past years I burned 10 cords+ in a Central Boiler classic, this year since Jan 4 I have burned approximately 5 cords but that was burning all summer long for DHW. I have not gotten into my stacks for this coming winter yet, I know I have 6 cords in the woodshed, so I am going to document the date I start burning it and the day it's empty, or May 1, whichever comes first. Hope to burn less than 1 cord/month for the winter. It is really efficient.
45
Plumbing / Re: Flex hose for pump hook up at boiler
« on: September 18, 2017, 12:57:12 PM »
Another vote for the rubber heater hose. Mine was supposed to be temporary but no reason not to keep it permanently.