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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / When does Slim come back from Banned Camp?
« on: June 02, 2018, 04:46:45 AM »
From reading here, I understand he’s on FaceSpace but I’m not a member over there. Looking forward to his future input.
2
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Anyone seen Slimjim?
« on: September 30, 2017, 07:36:24 PM »
I mostly lurk in the background- but have a question for slimjim. Haven't seen him around here in quite a while. Anyone know if he's still on the site?
3
Portage & Main / O-250 Primary Firebox Brick Replacement?
« on: July 20, 2015, 03:05:17 PM »
Has anyone had the need to replace any of these primary firebox bricks yet? The red circle is the space where two bricks used to be, but they fell in on my fire one day this winter so I just took 'em out.
Several of mine are broken right down the middle - probably about half of them actually. They look like standard fire brick but they've got an angled edge cut off the top of each brick to make it taper - so not sure if you can buy them like that or if you have to cut the edge off each brick.
If you haven't seen karlk's nozzle - that's a brand new one I installed ("installed" is grossly overstated ...
... I just dropped it in after breaking the old one out!) this spring after I shut-er-down for the season. Highly recommended if yours is in need of replacement!
Several of mine are broken right down the middle - probably about half of them actually. They look like standard fire brick but they've got an angled edge cut off the top of each brick to make it taper - so not sure if you can buy them like that or if you have to cut the edge off each brick.
If you haven't seen karlk's nozzle - that's a brand new one I installed ("installed" is grossly overstated ...
... I just dropped it in after breaking the old one out!) this spring after I shut-er-down for the season. Highly recommended if yours is in need of replacement!
4
Portage & Main / O-250 Blower Motor on Amazon
« on: January 04, 2015, 06:20:17 AM »
There was a post recently about the Optimizer 250 blower motor. Someone was wondering if there was a US source. I actually found them on Amazon of all places. It wasn't the cheapest - but I've never done business with the 1/2 dozen or so other sources I was able to find. And the cheapest was only a few dollars less including shipping.
Here's the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Marathon-O701-Motor/dp/B007ZQL9CU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420377475&sr=8-1&keywords=marathon+O701
If you prefer to google it yourself - use search words Marathon O701. (That first number/letter is a capital oh not a zero!)
Here's the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Marathon-O701-Motor/dp/B007ZQL9CU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420377475&sr=8-1&keywords=marathon+O701
If you prefer to google it yourself - use search words Marathon O701. (That first number/letter is a capital oh not a zero!)
5
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Why is 9 actually 11?
« on: January 20, 2014, 05:59:31 AM »
I have my differential set at 9 degrees right now. Why is 9 degrees actually 11?
In other words -in my logic- if I have my high set at 195, the fan should come on at 186, right? Nope. It comes on at 184. It doesn't matter what the differential is set at, the fan comes on 2 degrees lower than what I would expect.
In other words -in my logic- if I have my high set at 195, the fan should come on at 186, right? Nope. It comes on at 184. It doesn't matter what the differential is set at, the fan comes on 2 degrees lower than what I would expect.
6
Portage & Main / Water & Creosote in Air Box
« on: January 14, 2014, 09:18:58 PM »
Gave the 250 a good cleaning yesterday. After that stretch of sub zero temps, it seemed like a good time to do it.
Part of my cleaning routine is to check inside the air box. There was a fair bit of chunky creosote on the floor that I could just vacuum out. I've found it in there probably three of the last four times I've cleaned it this season.
Last night and today it was a LOT warmer than it has been and I noticed black liquid on the floor of my stove in the back. I opened the air box and there was about 1/4" of water sitting in the bottom. I mopped it up and left it alone until about 1/2 hour ago. Opened the air box again and there was the 1/4" of water again.
So, summary: It doesn't seem to get the water inside the air box when it's cold out and the stove is running a lot - just the chunky, dry, vacuumable variety of creosote. But when it's warm like right now and the stove is idling a lot, here comes the water. I should also mention that the entire inside of the air box is coated with a thin(ish) layer of creosote.
I'm running 195 as my high temp setting with a 6 degree diff. When it gets colder, I'll bump the diff back to 10. Been using these temps since start up this year.
I have a feeling slimjim's gonna say I have an air leak - but I have the new silicone coated door gaskets and they're not leaking. Yes, the flappers are making a positive seal over the primary air inlet and over the secondary inlet.
What does everyone else do to combat the air box goop?
Part of my cleaning routine is to check inside the air box. There was a fair bit of chunky creosote on the floor that I could just vacuum out. I've found it in there probably three of the last four times I've cleaned it this season.
Last night and today it was a LOT warmer than it has been and I noticed black liquid on the floor of my stove in the back. I opened the air box and there was about 1/4" of water sitting in the bottom. I mopped it up and left it alone until about 1/2 hour ago. Opened the air box again and there was the 1/4" of water again.
So, summary: It doesn't seem to get the water inside the air box when it's cold out and the stove is running a lot - just the chunky, dry, vacuumable variety of creosote. But when it's warm like right now and the stove is idling a lot, here comes the water. I should also mention that the entire inside of the air box is coated with a thin(ish) layer of creosote.
I'm running 195 as my high temp setting with a 6 degree diff. When it gets colder, I'll bump the diff back to 10. Been using these temps since start up this year.
I have a feeling slimjim's gonna say I have an air leak - but I have the new silicone coated door gaskets and they're not leaking. Yes, the flappers are making a positive seal over the primary air inlet and over the secondary inlet.
What does everyone else do to combat the air box goop?
7
Portage & Main / Burning Opti 250 through summer for DHW
« on: April 09, 2013, 04:03:51 PM »
Does anyone keep their 250 running through the summer just to heat their DHW?
For my set up I'd have to leave two pumps running through the heat exchanger so there would be some electricity to pay. Is it worth it?
Otherwise I have to burn oil all summer.
For my set up I'd have to leave two pumps running through the heat exchanger so there would be some electricity to pay. Is it worth it?
Otherwise I have to burn oil all summer.
8
Portage & Main / Going away for a week P&M 250
« on: January 22, 2013, 07:02:39 AM »
I know the obvious answer is to get someone to feed the stove...But in the event that it's not possible - would there be any harm in leaving the pumps running and let the fire go out for a week in my P&M 250? The oil burner would still be heating the water to about 140*.
9
Portage & Main / P&M 250 Mythical Smokeless Burn
« on: October 14, 2012, 08:55:12 AM »
Greetings Folks,
Just found this site after a year of Optimizer 250 ownership. It's great to find a bunch of other people that have the 250!
I should preface this post - I wanted to love my stove. The promise of reduced oil consumption, the promise of saving money, the promise of a warmer home, the promise of a **smoke free burn** ... All very enticing! But entering my second season, all I've had - and continue to have - is problems getting my stove to run right.
Last season, it could be blamed on trying to burn green wood - but I don't have green wood anymore.
I clean the stove religiously every two weeks, I fuss over it, I mess with it, I research it, I call my installer, I call Brian @ P&M. Both he and my installer seem genuinely interested in helping me sort out my issues. They've both even made special trips to my house to sort it out, but, this is still what I get:
It's obviously gassifying but then there's still a billow of between 8-15' of white (steam?) smoke out my stack!
The settings for my air box are 3 turns out top and 5 turns out bottom. I have the retro-fitted clip door on the fan box, so taking it off and cleaning the creosote inside is a part of my regular maintenance. I regularly burn a few pieces of dry soft wood to burn down my coal bed and then remove a few shovel fulls of ash about once a week. My nozzle was replaced this summer because mine was trashed after last season, so I'm running a new nozzle as of my September 14 start-up for the 2012-13 heating season. My reaction chamber bricks are flat instead of upright. My installer rebuilt all my gaskets at the same time the nozzle was replaced, so they're no longer leaking.
What say all you veterans? What the heck am I doing wrong???
Just found this site after a year of Optimizer 250 ownership. It's great to find a bunch of other people that have the 250!
I should preface this post - I wanted to love my stove. The promise of reduced oil consumption, the promise of saving money, the promise of a warmer home, the promise of a **smoke free burn** ... All very enticing! But entering my second season, all I've had - and continue to have - is problems getting my stove to run right.
Last season, it could be blamed on trying to burn green wood - but I don't have green wood anymore.
I clean the stove religiously every two weeks, I fuss over it, I mess with it, I research it, I call my installer, I call Brian @ P&M. Both he and my installer seem genuinely interested in helping me sort out my issues. They've both even made special trips to my house to sort it out, but, this is still what I get:
It's obviously gassifying but then there's still a billow of between 8-15' of white (steam?) smoke out my stack!
The settings for my air box are 3 turns out top and 5 turns out bottom. I have the retro-fitted clip door on the fan box, so taking it off and cleaning the creosote inside is a part of my regular maintenance. I regularly burn a few pieces of dry soft wood to burn down my coal bed and then remove a few shovel fulls of ash about once a week. My nozzle was replaced this summer because mine was trashed after last season, so I'm running a new nozzle as of my September 14 start-up for the 2012-13 heating season. My reaction chamber bricks are flat instead of upright. My installer rebuilt all my gaskets at the same time the nozzle was replaced, so they're no longer leaking.
What say all you veterans? What the heck am I doing wrong???
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