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[hondaracer2oo4]

I may be looking at a used 2008 2300. I know this was the first year model and it has upgrades available from CB but I can't seem to find any online links to them. Could some people familiar with the 2300 tell me what to look for as far as problem areas and what upgrades should need to be done to it. Thank you. 

[Big Wood]

If you are real serious about this pm me and i can tell you all about it but you had better be buying it cheap maybe a little over scrap price you can make them run but you have to have patience And be able to put a load on it

[Corneroffice]

i have this unit, new to me this year, been up and running for about 6 weeks and here is my .02
heating a 2k sqft home, DHW and garage with a modine heater.
Im burning less then ideal seasoned wood, its been cut and split for 3 months. (Oak, maple, birch, beach)

Upgrades: New Door, drain holes in the fire box, upgrade reaction chamber kit.
I also welded many crack in the air channels, looks like stress from heat causes cracks around the air holes.

25-35 degree weather I have no issues maintaining 185 degrees on the boiler, 0-15 degrees has been a challenge, as Bigwood said, patience has been key. Also need to keep feeding the wood to it before it gets down to coals. colder weather thats about every 12 hours.

if you keep the wood to it (filling when its down to about 25% remaining) then it will maintain temp, but if you lax on the wood and let it get too low, it take days to recover... again the quality of wood im sure has a lot to do with this.

the biggest issue Im having is due to the wet wood and creosote building up in the fire box, which then lends itself to blocking up the air channels. once these are blocked and restrict air flow you get areas that burn hotter within the fire box and the result is your wood does not fall into the coals as it should. Temp drops and then you fight to get it back up.

A friend of mine has had the same unit new from day 1 and this is his 6th year with it. he does have similar issues, but he also has given me a few tips that have surly helped the unit perform better.

Loading wood, dont let it burn down too far, fill it as often as you can in cold weather - no longer then 14 hours. Also, stacking the pieces of wood so that the bark is always up and stack so you reduce the air gaps between the wood.
Clean out your reaction chamber weekly. scrub your air tubes every 2-3 weeks.
maintain a good bed of coals, about every 2 weeks let the unit burn down to coals, with a shovel/rake, move the hot coals to one side and shovel out the ash bed - push the coals to the other side and repeat. this will allow you to keep a good amount of coals and your restart up time will be much quicker.
wrap your exposed pex lines in the back of the unit with insulation. its minimal but it helped.

overall Im very happy with how the unit is performing and with a bit more experience Im sure I will get the hang of it.
I have been burning wood for 5 years to heat the house, wood stove inside. loading it 5 times a day, dealing with too hot, then too cold in the house. I dont miss those days
I paid 5k for the unit used, got another 4k into thermopex (unit is 120' from the house), Hx, plate X, modine, piping, etc... knowing that 9k could buy you a very efficient boiler for in the house, I had to weigh the savings of wood vs. oil over 5 years - I have great access to free wood so Im prob closer to a 4 year payback.

[hondaracer2oo4]

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. I talked to the owner on the phone and he says that he has owned the boiler since new and has never done any of the updates to it. I find that hard to believe since everyone that I have talked to says that they have done the door upgrade, reaction chamber and done something with the air channels. I think that ultimately I won't bother going to look at it. He wants $4k for the boiler. I will need to get a new boiler in the next few years since I plan on adding an 800 sqft addition to my 2600 sqft. My Hardy just simply wouldn't be able to keep up unless I did 8 hour loadings which isn't something I am interested in. At these temps below 15 degrees I am lucky to do 10 hour runs with my 2600 sqft. I would like to be in the market for a gasser.  Either a CB2400, PM 250 or G200. I think these are all about equal as far as 12 hour btu output and I think would fit my load requirements. Might end up with a 2400 since they come up used for sale pretty often unlike the pm 250 or g200.

[dwneast77]

Hi Honda,
I find it real hard to believe he has done no upgrades as well.  I think you hit the nail on the head, I'd say he got frustrated with it.  As they are designed there is no way to clean out the primary air channel.  The newer ones can be.  As I said in my e-mail, primary air is key.  If his channel was blocking up there is no way to maintain a good fire.  I do not in any way discount what Corneroffice says but I'd like to add to it a little.  I've experienced the same reactions at times.  Wet wood is a real problem with this furnace.  When I have burned less than well seasoned wood I found myself filling when still at 25% fill or so as not to lose my coal bed.  Even with drier wood I get more bridging than I should.  Now, remembering back to my first season bridging was never an issue, and the wood was from that season, not greatly seasoned but fairly dry.  I would go mostly 24 hours to a fill and when left to burn down too long there would be hardly any evidence of wood left other than ash.  No chunks at all.  It doesn't do quite that well now even with my new air channel.  I think maybe I need to drill the holes out a little bigger as I mentioned.  I might still be starving it a bit from what the original design allowed (when clean). 

Something I need to mention too about filling while still 25% full is that I can only get away with that a few days and then I will have a buildup of creosote and ash around the air channels (mostly on the left side) which would partially block air flow.  Not only that, but I find it necessary to keep the coal bed loose with the rod they later provided.  I actually use my crowbar since the rod they gave me broke after a year.  If you let the ashes build up they get chunky and air flow around the nozzle is changed.  Whatever it is it makes it harder to maintain gasification.

After all the time I've spent on this site my primary choice for a replacement would be the PM250 (or maybe 350 since I have a high demand).  After that I reluctantly would say the CB2400 or even 3200 (again for my high demand).  I really like CBs new firestar with e-link or whatever they call it.  I'd love to be able to monitor the combustion chamber temps.  I really like PMs heat exchange setup and low stack temps.  Nice to know your getting all that heat transfer to the water.  I'm also very interested in the PM Chip Burner for my heat load.  Nice consistent fire.

If I may, if it were me I'd wait.  If you are not in a rush save up more money and get a better unit.   So much has changed since the 2300 came out.  I personally can't wait to replace mine.  And it sounds like you'd end up doing an awful lot this unit.

Jeff

[mlappin]

  Either a CB2400, PM 250 or G200. I think these are all about equal as far as 12 hour btu output and I think would fit my load requirements. Might end up with a 2400 since they come up used for sale pretty often unlike the pm 250 or g200.

Might be a reason for that.