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46

Fire Wood / Re: Shorts and chunks

« on: April 23, 2014, 08:43:53 PM »

I basically just burn the uglies left over from selling wood.  No issues in my 250.

47

Fire Wood / Re: stacking firewood

« on: March 23, 2014, 05:21:20 PM »

I was told years ago by an old timer that it does not matter. Cut firewood drys from the ends via the sievecells / tubes. When wet wood burns it releases moisture from the end although alittle steam does come from the sides. Dry wood changes color from the ends much more than the sides. I thought it made sense, do you?

If cut wood only dried from the ends, splitting wouldn't speed up the drying process.

48

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: help, why are gassers troublesome?

« on: March 23, 2014, 05:06:49 PM »

My first and only owb has been the opt. 250.  Since I didn't have any other experience aside from an indoor wood stove at my parents house and a fireplace at my house, I don't think I had to endure the learning curve as much as some guys.  I will be finishing up year 3 whenever spring decides to show up and have never had a fire go out on me but I did reach out once because it wasnt gassifying.  I sell firewood and burn all the crap I can't sell and some of it just crumbles when I run it through the splitter but nothing green goes in.  Some of it is all different sizes and shapes to the point where it's easier to just pile it on pallets instead of trying to stack it and yet I've never had a bridging problem.  I do go out twice a day and as said before you can get away with bigger pieces when it's cold.  I try to clean mine every other week during the coldest part of winter but it went 4 weeks until I cleaned it today.  All of the heat exchange tubes were still clear- not by a lot but enough.  I don't worry as much about efficiency as some guys because I look at it as getting rid of wood I don't want- hell I still have full 13 cords under cover that I put up this past summer but I do have neighbors so smoke is always a concern.  Thankfully it was only smoking a little bit before this last cleaning. 

49

Fire Wood / Re: White Oak?

« on: March 17, 2014, 08:31:02 AM »

White oak can be stringy stuff.  It will be lighter in color than the red oak and it doesn't smell like cat piss like red does.  Pictures will help.

50

Fire Wood / Re: log splitters

« on: February 28, 2014, 08:25:46 AM »

I have an Iron and Oak 22 ton with a 4 way wedge.  It has split somewhere around 400-450 cords.  I don't have any complaints about it.  As others have stated, the tonnage isn't the big deal here.  I would be looking into the cycle time.  Why stand there and watch a wedge slowly move when you can be getting work done?  As for the 4 way, if you have the right sized wood, it's not twice as fast but 3 times as fast as a conventional wedge.  Run a log through once and it's in 4 pieces.  Grab the next log and go.  You will be amazed at how fast you can pile it up.

51

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: -20 this morning

« on: February 28, 2014, 08:18:26 AM »

You should shoot for the 100 degree difference!

52

Portage & Main / Re: Soon to be owner

« on: February 21, 2014, 12:30:08 PM »

I'm on year 3 with my 250 and each winter my splits get bigger and bigger.  What I've learned is the big splits work quite well when it's cold but the smaller splits work best when it's warmer out and the stove isn't working as hard.  Just out of curiosity and because it splits like hell, I put some real big gum ( 16-18" diameter, 28" long) in during our coldest stretch.  I then threw smaller pieces around it.  This worked but I wouldn't go quite that big again - maybe up to 12"-14" in diameter max.  I sell wood and what is too ugly/rotten/softwood that I can't sell goes toward heating my house.  I've burned a large variety of wood (pine, gum, maple, walnut, dogwood, oak, holly, sycamore, cherry, elm, poplar) and it's all burned just fine but at different rates.  I've also found that most anything over 6-8 months works just fine.

53

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Cherry wood

« on: February 07, 2014, 06:58:38 AM »

Nothing wrong with cherry.  In fact, for the fire place people out there, it's considered primo wood by many and will bring top dollar because of its aroma when being burned.

54

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: -15 last night in ne ohio coldest night so far (I think I may be an idiot)

« on: January 30, 2014, 08:16:57 AM »

I never turn it off just so I don't run into this problem.

55

Portage & Main / Re: p/m years of service

« on: January 29, 2014, 01:53:49 PM »

Opt 250 first fired Oct 2011. 

56

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Optimizer 250

« on: January 29, 2014, 08:20:02 AM »

I must be lucky because my 250 has run like a champion.  This was my first owb so I didn't have any old habits to kick to run this thing....maybe that has helped me.  I did some thorough research and initially pulled the trigger on a Wooddoctor but thankfully I paid for it on my credit card so after 6 weeks of getting the run around from them, I was able to file a grievance and recover my money.  3 weeks later my 250 was sitting on my property.  The only issue I had was within the air box but as some of you have seen from my post last week, I hadn't touched it since owning this (3rd season now). 
This flare up complaint I don't understand.   I never turn the blower off when loading.  Each time I go out to load, I open the door and step back and to the side.  Did I get surprised the first time?  Hell yeah but a little common sense has saved me since then. 

57

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Which gasification model Can it be inside?

« on: January 26, 2014, 02:06:15 PM »

I have the P&M 250 and I pretty much only burn uglies leftover from selling firewood and haven't had a bridging issue since I got the unit 3 seasons ago.

58

Portage & Main / Re: 250 not gassing/running right

« on: January 23, 2014, 02:27:39 PM »

Thank you both for your responses.  As soon as I got home from work and while it was still light out I took the cover off the air box.  Remember this is my first time looking at it so I didn't know what I was looking for or at for that matter....sad I know but as stated tinkering with moving parts/electronics isn't my thing.  What I did discover was that a small bolt was out that belonged to the flapper that covers the entry way to the burn box and the flapper wasnt moving freely on its own.  I put the bolt back in and cleaned up the flapper and let ER rip and it seems to be back to its normal self.  Now I just have to tinker around with my air flow knobe since I turned them all the way out this morning. 

And now after taking that apart, it doesn't scare me as much but if something big really goes wrong I will be out of my league.

I am very thankful for all the people who post solutions on this site for idiots like me!  Keep on burning!!

59

Portage & Main / 250 not gassing/running right

« on: January 23, 2014, 11:57:55 AM »

My 250 started acting up about a day and a half ago.  Symptoms: eating up wood like crazy, smoking heavily nonstop, having a hard time keeping up with heating demand, not gasifying.  This is my 3rd year with this unit and have been very happy with how it's performed.  I just gave it the normal cleaning - heat exchange tubes, ashes from the burn box and ashes from the lower secondary burn.  I believe its not getting enough air.  This morning I turned the knobs all the way out today just to try to get it some more air but it hasn't made a difference. 

I have read about some of you taking apart the air box in the back of the unit from time to time to clean it out.  I haven't done anything to this unit besides the general cleaning simply because it has performed like a charm up to this point.  I am also not the most mechanical guy in the world and am really unsure what I will find and what to look for.  Any info or tips you could pass on would be helpful and remember, even though I'm on my 3rd year, taking anything apart on this or tinkering with it is all brand new to me.

60

Portage & Main / Re: What to do when our optimizer 250 won't gasify?

« on: January 13, 2014, 09:58:35 AM »

This is my 3rd year with this unit and I love it.  I did have one little issue the first year with it not gasifying correctly but it was just operator error and it was solved the day it was discovered.  I have actually found the more I leave it alone, the better off it runs.  Outside of brushing the tubes every few weeks, I just throw wood in it and forget it.  Letting it burn to the point of no recovery is the best method for consistent burns.