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1

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Blower Fan Chugging

« on: October 23, 2014, 06:34:18 PM »

I fired up my homebuilt OWB on Tuesday.  Today I noticed that when the forced air draft fan was on it was sounding like it was chugging and some smoke was coming back out of the fan unit itself.

I used a commercial door unit with the solenoid operated fan installed in the door.  I believe it's about a 65 cfm rating.  I have a 6" flue.

I don't recall much of this last year, my first year or actually half year.

I did extend the flue a bit lower in the fire box and also added about 4' to the flue pipe as I added a shed around the unit.

I'm wondering if I need a higher cfm blower or if there are any other ideas.

Thanks

2

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / THANKS

« on: February 14, 2014, 04:03:17 PM »

Thanks for this great forum and the great contributors on it.  Especially the professionals that freely give their knowledge and experience so that us newbies can learn.

I recently finished my home built boiler and it would have been much harder without the help and knowledge on this site as well as some personal help from some of the regulars contributors.

It feels great to have saved some money as well as having built it myself, but the help I found here is much appreciated.

3

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / OWB Making Too Much Charcoal ?

« on: January 25, 2014, 11:10:25 AM »

My home built OWB (can be seen on Home Made section) has been online for a week now.  It has been very cold here and I'm very thankful to not be using propane.   I have been using lots of wood though, and it seems to not be burning the wood completely.   I have filled it up almost to the door with small chunks of basically charcoal.


One day this week I got home from work and the wood I had put in before work was gone, and the bed of coals left was not burning.  The temps were way down.  100 degree coming back to unit and about 120 coming out.
The blower fan was on but the coals were not lit up.

I purchased a commercially made door from Burnrite with the integrated blower so I figured this would be a good set up.   One thing I did yesterday was to install a diverter on the lower blower exits, thinking that shooting the air more downward into the fire would help.


It was inconclusive as I put wood in this morning at 4:00am and at 11:00am most of the wood was gone and the temps were starting to come down at the boiler.   

I then left the door open slightly where the fan was blowing onto the coals and getting more air into the unit with the open door.  The coals started to light up and the temps also started coming up .

So I guess that is telling me it's not getting enough air.    I'm just wondering what some of you veteran users have to say about it.   I was expecting to burn the coals down to a fine ash but so far thats not happening.

The blower only has about a 2" diameter exit coming out of it so maybe I need a bigger one.   I also have a 6" flue pipe.  Blower model is a Fasco model 50748-D500.

4

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / How To Get Lines Into House

« on: January 27, 2013, 05:24:58 AM »

I've been posting about my build, but I have a question that's been on my mind about actually bringing the plumbing into the house.  I searched and couldn't bring up anything of value.

I don't rally want to go through the block wall of my basement, especially below grade.   My thoughts are to bring the insulated pex line up from the trench to rim joist level then put a pex 90 on each line and drill through rim joist. 

I would then plan on building a box, probably out of pressure treated 2x12, to cover the exposed plumbing.  I would insulate with fiberglass around the connection area where it goes into house.

Are there possibly any better ways of doing this?

5

Home Made / New Build, pics and questions

« on: January 18, 2013, 05:24:55 PM »

I finally got started on my OWB.  Actually a friend and I are building 2, one for each of us.   The firebox is 1/2 of a 500 gallon propane tank cut down and additional 9" for more water volume.  The water jacket is 1/2 of a 1000 gallon anhydrous ammonia tank.  I wanted to keep things pretty simple and basic.

We are running the flue pipe horizontal out the end and then vertical once outside of the housing.   I figure I will be close to 300 gallon water volume.  This will have a fan forced draft incorporated into the door.

I'm heating about an 1800sf home and will eventually want to heat part of my pole barn with in floor heating.
I'm kind of learning as I go and understand the basics but when it comes down to the actual details I don't have everything figured out yet.

Here are a few of the questions I can think of right now.

Should I run a pipe 3-5 feet into the water jacket for either the feed or return line so that I get better circulation in the tank.   

How do I figure out what pump or pumps I need.

Should the pump be installed on the return side or the feed side.

Is an aquastat better than a thermostat from an electric water heater.

What is the best insulation to use around the water jacket.

The water jacket is about 3/8" thick.   Can I safely drill and tap for fittings for the water level sight glass, and the  thermostat or should I weld in a bulkhead fitting. 

For fittings or pipe that I weld on should I use galvanized or black iron pipe.

Fire box being welded to front plate


Flue pipe coming out of firebox


Laying out flue pipe exit from water jacket
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welding water jacket to front plate,  flue pipe coming out of end at top of tank
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Thoughts, answers and commentary appreciated, Thanks



 

6

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Using OWB for cooling

« on: January 15, 2013, 04:52:03 AM »

I have had an idea kicking around in my head about using the pumps and heat exchanger I will be putting in my furnace plenum from my in process homemade owb.

The idea is to bury separate from my insulated pex lines for heating, some uninsulated pex about 48" or more down in the ground, allowing the ground to cool the piping.   Then during summer, hook up to the lines running to the heat exchanger in the furnace and running the fan to force the cooler air into the house.

Looking for ideas on what's right or wrong with this idea.

7

General Discussion / Stack out of TOP or END

« on: February 23, 2011, 02:51:02 PM »

Hello,   I'm getting my materials together to build my OWB,   I'm using 1/2 500 gal propane tank for the firebox, and 1/2 1000 gallon ammonia tank for water jacket.  I found some heavy walled pipe that is a bit under 6" ID, 
Is that large enough for use with a forced draft?
I am also wondering about the pros and cons of taking the stack out the top like you see on most of the commercial boilers, vs out the end and using a saddle T connection with a clean out.
What about depth of stack inside box or baffle systems.   
Any opinions, Thanks

8

Home Made / PRE MADE DOORS

« on: February 05, 2011, 04:15:51 AM »

Hello,  just found this forum and it looks like what I've been looking for.  I hope to be able to learn and contribute as well.
Does anyone know of a supplier for a pre made door kit.    I have a friend that built a few of these and he was buying doors with the blower and everything built right in and pre made.   The problem is the company which was in Canada went out of business.
It was a good looking door and it looks like it saved a lot of work and time over building from scratch.
Also any suggestions on other supplies at the best prices.

I'm going to build one using a 1/2 propane tank 37"od, and 1/2 ammonia tank at about 47"od for the firebox and water jacket.