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Topics - maine owb

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Empyre / RUNNING BETTER THAN EVER and USAGE AMOUNTS
« on: February 27, 2015, 07:37:14 AM »
This is my 7th winter running my empyre (aspen) OWB and somehow I have learned how to run it. I struggled the first two years and took notes
every night on how i loaded it and what problems I had. It was always something. So far this has been a really good winter. I think the keys are:

1) letting the fire burn down all the way and not mixing the coals and ashes to much.
2) I push a thin rod down the two front slots from time to time to keep that clean.
3) I use good clean and dry split wood. I mix big pieces with little ones and a couple round ones as well. 24" long.
4) I also spray marvels mystery oil into my fan when it starts to stick.
5) I do not use the flapper kit on my blower anymore.
6) My water temp is set for 183 degrees.

I live in Maine and this has been our coldest February on record and I still get almost 12 hours burn time on one load. This includes
my hot water. I started running this boiler at Christmas and I have used about 3.5 cords of wood thus far. My house is 3100 sq feet
plus my full basement is above 70 degrees as well. I plan on using another 3 cords from now through may 1st. That would be a
total of 6.5 cords for 4 months. That would be 1.6 cords per month or .4 cords per week. This is more than the last few years
but it has been colder as well.

2
Empyre / Caution with the Blower Flapper repair kit
« on: April 26, 2014, 07:13:46 PM »
This is a kit that pro fab made to fix the problem of smoke drifting back to the blower and causing it to fail.
Since I put this bolt on kit on the back of my aspen 175 I have not had as many problems with my blower
but there is now a huge build up of wet thick creosote in the blower chamber and this has rusted out the metal sides.
I have since taken the kit off as to stop any further damage. I would buy a central the next time around. The
customer service at pro fab never truly fixes anything. This would be similar to the emypre pro 400

3
Empyre / how are things running
« on: January 22, 2012, 05:57:19 AM »
anyone having problems with their empyre, curious about your wood consumption? l
Let me know, perhaps I can help.

4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / WOOD USAGE
« on: March 15, 2011, 07:59:17 PM »
From Dec 9,2010 - March 9,2011 I used 5 cords of wood to heat a two story house 2500 sq ft plus basement and a 600 sq foot garage and my hot water. This was a cold winter here in maine with a lot of wind and snow. Now I am using much less, I think when it is all over I will use 7 cords and stop the first week in may.

Like to hear what other people used and how cold it was at their house.

5
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / BUY A USED E CLASSIC for Half Price
« on: October 29, 2010, 06:56:47 AM »
A 2008 E Classic is for sale in Maine for $4500.00, the couple is getting a divorce. a new one list price is 0ver $11,000, with a rebate you can get it for around $9200.00

Let me Know if anyone in New England wants this.

6
Please respond to the wood usage in the "firewood" section so we can all learn what people used for wood. Thanks

7
Fire Wood / FIREWOOD USAGE
« on: April 19, 2010, 08:36:02 AM »
Curious about wood usage. I live in Maine and have a two story 2800 sq foot house plus a 600 square foot garage plus hot water and I began burning in December 2009 and will end in the next two weeks and I have used about 4 1/2 to 5 cords of split hardwood. just about 1 and 1/3 cord per month. I am happy with that. I have an Aspen 175.

8
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / My System Runs Great
« on: February 05, 2010, 10:01:24 AM »
I am in the plumbing trade and I decided to buy an OWB in 2008, I have now run it for a full year in the cold and can provide folks
with some tips I have learned as well as ways I have set my unit up. I have an Empyre Gasification unit located 75 feet from my house.
It runs through a heat exchanger to keep it isolated from my main system. The house uses forced hot water in base board and in the floor.
I am heating about 3000 sq feet including a 600 square foot garage with radiant heat. I also heat my domestic hot water. I have 30%
glycol in my system. My system has a total of 85 gallons of water. The glycol gives me good burst protection. In addition to that
I have a refrigeration control connected to the OWB which will keep my water at 40 degrees if my wood boiler goes out, it uses very little hot water from my oil system to maintain this if needed. I used 1 and 1/4" pex lines for my supply and return and use a small pump to circulate water around that OWB loop, My pump uses .65 amps at about $10/Month. The pex is burried 3 feet deep and insulated and each line is placed in its own 4"
pvc conduit. I placed a 2' wide strip of 2" thick rigid insulation on top of that. I get less than a 1 degree drop in temperature from any ground losses.
I do not worry about going on vacation in January or the fire going out. I left suddenly for a week last month and everything worked perfectly and
the oil burner came on as planned. I use 1 and 1/3 cords of wood per month during the cold months. Much less than most people I know using a traditional OWB with a similar sized house.
I am always trying to make things better, I would love to know how other peoples systems are working.
Josh

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Fire Wood / Wood Usage using an ASPEN 175 OWB in Maine
« on: March 15, 2009, 05:26:07 PM »
Jan 23- Feb 21 (4 weeks) = 1.5 cords (colder than normal (-25 one night)
Feb 21 - March 15 (3 weeks) = 1 cord or 1/3 of a cord per week

Based on this wood usage i will use 7 cords of wood from November 1 - Apirl 1, that is what i will have cut and ready this summer.

My house is a 4 bedroom two story house (9 foot wall height on first floor)in a very windy field in central western Maine. I heat 3100 square feet and all my Domestic hot water. In addition to that my basement  (1100 square feet is between 70-73 degrees)

I burn dry, cut and some split/some logs wood. A mix of white ash, red maple, birch, red oak, a little cherry and apple wood. I have this wood in a wood shed beside my OWB.

I will not burn wood during the summer...

I am keeping track of this day to day as well as heating degree days and wind.

10
Empyre / Aspen Owner is Looking for Feedback
« on: March 13, 2009, 03:44:23 PM »
I currently own an ASPEN 175 and would like to talk with other owners of the same boiler to see what is working and what is not.

11
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Wood Usage
« on: March 09, 2009, 09:08:38 AM »
I used 1.5 cords of wood during the 4 weeks of mid jan to mid february. I live in maine and it was colder than normal this year, it hit -25 degrees on night. I heat 3100 square feet and heat my hot water. I have a greenwood aspen 175. I have used less wood now that it is march. I have kept a detailed journal of my wood usage and i predict that i will use 6 cords of wood from November to May.

Last year i used 150 gallons of oil during the same time, as a rule of thumb i would say one cord of wood should equal 100 gallons of oil if the wood boiler is of good quality and a gasification type and the house is insulated well. my two neighbors each have the central classic and go through 8 - 10 cords for houses half the size. They can burn green wood but much more of it. But they like it that way.

12
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Consider An Aspen OWB
« on: March 09, 2009, 08:53:14 AM »
I own the Aspen 175 and live in Maine and began using it in mid january. I am working out a few problems but i do like the unit. During the 4 week period from mid january to mid february i used 1.5 cords of wood, this was a colder than normal month well below 0 many nights. I am heating a 3100 square foot house which includes a 600 square foot garage with 10' high ceilings. I am also heating my hot water. once the temp gets into the 30's the wood usage goes down. I estimate that i will use 6 cords of wood to heat my house and provide me hot water from November to May. I have kept track of every time i have loaded wood, what the weather was and how much wood i went through from week to week. During the coldest times of the winter i got a 12 hour burn time and once it's close to 40 degrees outside i get close to 24 hours. I used 1 1/4" pex buried 30 - 36" deep. Each line i insulated with 3/4" wall thickness foam and then wrapped with one layer of reflextix(looks like bubble wrap 1/4" thick). I then put each line in its own schedule 35, 4" pipe. For good measure i  put a 2' wide sheet of 2" rigid insulation on top of that. I have the boiler 75' from my house.

My wife is in the health field so it was very important to have a clean buring unit.

A few problems  i have had are that the  unit tends to drip a small amount of condensation in the front of the aspen during certain temps and i do from time to time get a bit of brown like condenstation on the foof of the boiler from the chimney. I believe this may be because the low stack temps along with dew point. You wouldnt see this in an older style wood boiler as much because the stack temps are higher. but that also means you will burn more wood and pollute more.

Freeze protection: My system has a 30% glycol solution giving me a low burst point. One good thing about the aspen is it only uses 75 gallons of water plus whats in the pex and it only costs a little over $200 to glycol the system. I believe this system has the lowest amount of water. It would cost a lot more to glycol most other systems.

My system also is isolated from my heating system using a heat exchanger. I believe this is important because the aspen like most or all outdoor wood boilers is an open loop system and hooking them directly to a closed loop system is not a good idea in my opinion. Because of this i have an aquastst that shuts the wood boiler circulator off if the water goes below 140 degrees. If the circualtor didn't shut off the oil burner it would heat the wood boiler water through the heat exchanger wasting oil. I also have a low temp aquastat on the wood boiler that turns the wood boiler circulator back on if the water drops below 35 degrees. This aquastat keeps the water between 35 and 45 degrees to further protect the system. I can now leave my house whenever for any lenghth of time without worry and without burning a bunch of oil to keep my house and wood boiler heated.

You also need a dump zone to keep the boiler from boiling over, my dump done has only come on a few times, less as i get better at understanding the wood loading part of things.

I would love to hear from other aspen owners.

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