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[blmike]

This is my first post,2840 has been running for 2 weeks.  I have water drip out chimney clean out,i have brown ice sickles hanging there.b Smoke at fill up-if the fan is on it is not bad but you have to be fast or it gets HOT fast. If I fill it like they say, I cannot see from the smoke.

Has anyone added a length of chimney to get better draft? 

Thanks, Mike

[hondaracer2oo4]

Excessive moisture come from one place. Your fuel. What is the moisture content of your fuel?

[RSI]

What kind of wood and size chunks are you burning? Wood that is causing that much condensation the the exhaust usually won't burn that fast while loading.

[tinfoilhat2020]

Yeap.....95% sure its your wood.....green wood or big round that are not properly seasoned are probably the issue.also what temps are u running and what is the current outside temp in your area???

[blmike]

My wood is cut and delivered in 14' in the spring,the next spring i cut it in 24".It is piled in a shed with tin roof,i have no gauge but never had problems with my inside stove or the boiler i used for 12 years.It only leaks when it is cold out - 30 to -10.I believe the problem is the draft fan drawing in cold air,which drops the water temp 20 to 30 degrees.The boiler i made i ran a vent pipe from the draft fan above the insulation and the roof so it of the boiler were the air was worm,never had this leak at the clean out. 

[Strawbale Builder]

What are your set points? Try 185 degrees with a 10 degree dif . Also keep your ashes to no more than about 6" that will insure the refractory in the bottom gets hot enough to preheat the combustion air and keep the boiler dry.

[blmike]

It is running at 180 and some times it seems that it boils over,i have temp gauges that i can keep an eye on it now.It is 10 degree dif now.I keep the ash down almost to nothing.I hate the way it smokes,need a hazmat suit to fill the stove LOL.

[Strawbale Builder]

Are you taking the supply water off the top? Their manual has not been updated since they changed designs from a wet to a dry bottom boiler. If you are heating just one building you should taking the supply off the bottom left and return to the top right and make sure the pump is big enough to give proper circulation. If you have are heating two buildings just make sure the supply for both buildings come off the bottom and return to the top. To check turn your pumps around to see if the boiling stops, if it does replumb when you can and also bump up the temp to 185. For the smoke issue try starving the boiler a bit, use just enough wood to get you to the next charge time so when you open the door you have more coals and less smokey charcoal. Hope this helps.

[timothy4140]

Hey, guys; hate too chime in, I am having the exact same issues... I have the 34-44 and everyone said my boiler would be undersized. Not the issue at all. Came home this evening to find mine boiling off again, 4-5 time this season... I think I lost a pump this time... I am at a loss. My manual said to supply - top; and return - bottom ports. My wood is well seasoned 4+ years - from a power line clearing. Supplying 2 buildings (house 3500 sq ft and 1800 sq ft shop). Running grundfos 26-99 to house and grundfos 15-58 to shop. I am located in Virginia (northwest).

[Strawbale Builder]

I am a P & M dealer from northern WI, the older manuals are wrong. Switch the supply to the bottom and return to the top, the boiling will go away. The probe for the aquastat enters the water jacket below the top of the heat exchanger so when the boiler is operating the aquastat will give you an actual reading of the water temp in that place in the water jacket but as the hot flue gasses move through the heat exchanger the water at the top gets much hotter. By dumping the return water on top you will cool the water enough to prevent boiling and also grab more BTU's. On our installs we put the pumps in the back of the boiler at the bottom supply ports so the pumps can never run dry.

[tinfoilhat2020]

mine is the same way: supply on bottom and return on top

[mlappin]

I am a P & M dealer from northern WI, the older manuals are wrong. Switch the supply to the bottom and return to the top, the boiling will go away. The probe for the aquastat enters the water jacket below the top of the heat exchanger so when the boiler is operating the aquastat will give you an actual reading of the water temp in that place in the water jacket but as the hot flue gasses move through the heat exchanger the water at the top gets much hotter. By dumping the return water on top you will cool the water enough to prevent boiling and also grab more BTU's. On our installs we put the pumps in the back of the boiler at the bottom supply ports so the pumps can never run dry.

Exactly how my G400 is hooked up as well. I also hooked the waste oil boiler I built the same way much to the consternation of my father, I have  a temp probe on a supply line for a differential controller and my Ranco high cutout is in the top in it’s own well, both read with in a degree of one another. So basically you get better mixing pulling of the bottom and returning to the top and eliminate any stratification.

[Strawbale Builder]

Hi blmike and timothy, have you had a chance to reverse your pumps? Don't do it if the pump is in the back of the boiler on the top port, don't want you to run it dry and burn it out. If any of the pumps are in a building try it, the boiling will go away then replumb when you can. Let us know if it works.

[blmike]

I was told by the dealer if you plum it to pull off the bottom and return to the top you also lose or drop the water temp by 20 degrees going to the house.

[mlappin]

I was told by the dealer if you plum it to pull off the bottom and return to the top you also lose or drop the water temp by 20 degrees going to the house.

Not if you have proper flow. I have gauges in my supply and return lines, the supply gauge will read within a degree or two of what the controller says that reads off the top. My waste oil boiler is the same, pull off the bottom and return to the top, the gauge on the bottom reads the same as the high cut out on the top.