Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Portage & Main => Topic started by: jreimer on March 26, 2014, 08:53:49 AM
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Hi all,
I've been experimenting with a technique for running my Optimizer 250 in warmer weather. Temperatures here are still well below freezing at night, but can climb above freezing during the day.
What I have been doing is loading the boiler full at night with all my pumps and heating circuits running normally, then shutting the boiler and all pumps off in the morning before going to work. I have radiant floor heat inside a concrete slab in a part of my home so the house doesn't cool off too much during the day.
Because I loaded the boiler full the night before, there is still a good amount of charcoal and charred wood in the firebox. When this charcoal burns, it doesn't produce any water vapor as the hydrogen part of the wood molecules have already been burned, leaving the carbon part to be burned next. This fact prevents it from leaking any water or condensation in the firebox during the day while it's shut off and the fire goes out. Then after I get back from work around 6:00 I turn the pumps back on but not the stove. The tank has stratified and I am pumping 180 degree water for a few hours. Before bed I relight the charcoal with a quick blast from the propane torch. The water temperature in the stove is now down to about 140.
I load it full of wood again for night and the stove then works fairly hard all night to bring the water, slab and house back up to temp. I repeat this process the next morning.
So far this seems to be working well. Am I missing anything that might be harmful to the stove? It seems to be a much cleaner way to burn in the shoulder seasons. I guess it's kind of like using storage, but not burning the wood batch completely. The tricky part is to correctly gauge the amount of wood needed at night to only have really charred wood and charcoal left in the morning so the firebox isn't full of steam all day.
Comments? Your feedback is always appreciated!
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That sounds like it works for you, does seem like a hassle turning it off and relighting it everyday tho. I usually turn down my boiler temp from 175 to 165 and decrease my differential because during the beginning and end of the season we tend to burn junk wood, not necessarily green but gnarly pieces from cutting that won't stack, maybe a bit rotted or light, basically oddball stuff and it all tends to smolder less easily.
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What are you gaining by all of that???
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What are you gaining by all of that???
I am getting a hotter, longer burn all night as the stove is working harder. It's also not idling all day with a bunch of fresh wood creating creosote and condensation.
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That sounds like it works for you, does seem like a hassle turning it off and relighting it everyday tho. I usually turn down my boiler temp from 175 to 165 and decrease my differential because during the beginning and end of the season we tend to burn junk wood, not necessarily green but gnarly pieces from cutting that won't stack, maybe a bit rotted or light, basically oddball stuff and it all tends to smolder less easily.
It's just a flick of a switch and 30 seconds with the propane torch. It's really no more work than loading it with wood twice a day.
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Wouldn't there be a concern of condensation occurring in the firebox which leads to corrosion with the water temps at 140? Thanks, Roger
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Jreimer, I think you are on the right track, if it is working for you, Great, it sounds like you have thought it through, there is another way that may help to protect the boiler as well if you are interested in trying it.
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So are you going to enlighten us slim?
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Sure Randy, I don't remember if I installed the second aqua-stat and timer on your boiler or not, Did I ? If so the second aqua-stat kills the boiler on temp drop automatically, this would help Jreimer to protect the boiler from extreme temp drop by shutting off the fan for him and the timer is a simple way to bypass that aqua-stat. How are you doing with your unit so far? I think mine is doing great, I can feel the heat from it all the way down here in sunny Melbourne Florida, I'm going to call my wife and tell her to cut the temp back a bit, it's getting too hot down here!!
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If it works for you and you're not noticing any condensation then why not? More importantly if slimjim doesn't see a problem.
I have one of those lil dragon weed burners that's great for starting fires or brush piles.
I'm thinking when I finally have everything done in my new setup when it gets to that time of year where you wonder if it's really worth keeping a fire going, I'll go out in the shop once or twice a day and fire the waste oil boiler to get water temp back up. Preliminary figures gives me a minimum of 500 gallons of water between the two boilers so once a day should be enough.
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Sounds like jriemer accidentally learned the benefits of batch burning and storage benefits. Anything to be more efficient. Nice sharing ideas
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Last year I was looking at some storage options, but after this winter I have reservations. For a lot of this winter it was running almost full out and I wouldn't have had enough extra heat to put into storage. This is the importance of sizing the stove correctly. It's only now in the shoulder seasons that storage might be useful, but with my technique I seem to be getting by without it.
The weather forecast is calling for wet snow on Thursday so I better keep the boiler going another week. :P
FYI, this has officially been the coldest winter here since 1898. Yikes. I've been stealing from next year's wood for quite some time already!
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Jreimer, I have been trying your tech. For about a week now. It does seem to work good. My water temp is down to 150 160 range when I load it at night. Plus I have an additional 330 gal of storage, the boiler runs for about 2.5 hrs and then all that water is up to temp.
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Hi Coolidge, that's great. I agree that it would work even better if I had another 300 gallons of storage like you. I should look for a 500 gal. propane tank to hookup sometime.
The key to easy re-lighting and to keep the condensation from happening is to judge the amount of wood correctly. I like to have a good amount of charcoal left for the next lighting. It starts gassing right away when the conditions are right. The interesting thing about burning wood in a gasifier is that you learn a little bit of something new every day...
Stay learning and yearning for burning my friends.
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Jreimer, I think you hit the nail right on the head, this is how I run them at the shows, simply shut it down with some coals left in the firebox, they won't burn off without the fan coming on and will keep the refractory cement hot for days, the trick is shutting off the fan, sure makes it easy to relight it doesn't it? Have you noticed how quickly it starts gasifying?
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Coolidge, did you get your pipe in the ground yet, are the fittings going to work out?
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Not in the ground, unloaded from the truck, roads are still posted so I can't get any machinery up it. Might not even get to it this year, work is crazy right now.
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Make Hay while the sun shines my friend!
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Never gave it a thought to pick up some new door gasket while I was there.
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I'm not sure i have any left