This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

1

Home Made / Re: My Homemade OWB

« on: March 08, 2010, 08:21:12 PM »

Thanks- food for thought! If anyone has time theres some good reading here -  http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm#1KSolarWater

Some of the ones I'm looking at are less than a couple hundred dollars to build. I think it may be worth a gamble- I have to keep on reading!

2

Home Made / Re: My Homemade OWB

« on: March 06, 2010, 08:46:50 PM »

Well I finally have a power bill for electricity in my hand for a full month using water heat on the hot water and it has gone from $175-$200 a month down to $87!!! Wow- what a great feeling! Now I am wondering if I could utilize a solar water heating /exchange panel on the roof of the building that houses it. I am wondering if I could drop directly down and use the boiler tank in the summer months when its not burning wood as the storage tank. Anyone have experience in this? I have been reading up and looks like most people use a solar panel going into a storage tank  with an exchanger inside it. Just wondering if I can drop into my tank and pump on into house as it does when its working with any kind of good results???

3

Home Made / Re: My Homemade OWB

« on: February 16, 2010, 06:15:11 PM »

Kouts- I have pretty close to $2500total investment into the set-up- thats built, and complete parts and installation. As far as time - I didn't really keep track of the hours closely but  I would say approximately 40 hrs into the build.
  Yes I have burned corn very successfully for the last 6 years - the Superior furnace has been trouble free. My only fear was the open flame in the house.  That was one reason to switch to wood outside and the other was the corn furnace wasn't able to heat my water and my polebarn.  I have nothing bad to say about that old set-up and am re-thinking keeping it as a back-up source.

4

Home Made / Re: My Homemade OWB

« on: February 15, 2010, 06:09:42 PM »

Well its been a month or so of burn time now and I have to say I am very happy with the burner! It has been trouble free so far. I am getting an easy 12-14 hr burn time out of it running all different kinds of hardwoods. I also have been mixing in at least one log of pine from a pile that I need to get used up everyday. I fill up in the morning before I leave for work at about 6am and refill at nite again at 6pm. Its really fun going out to fill and seeing just what it has used for the cycle- has given me something to do for a few spare minutes in this cold crappy weather!

5

Home Made / Re: clean project parts

« on: February 01, 2010, 05:59:32 PM »

I had my tank sandblasted inside and out - was well worth the $50 to have it nice and clean to work with.

6

Home Made / Re: My Homemade OWB

« on: January 23, 2010, 10:58:30 PM »

Thankyou- yes its a great feeling! Thanks for your help also!

7

Home Made / Re: My Homemade OWB

« on: January 23, 2010, 08:57:36 PM »

Wow- thats great thanks willie- and thanks for your help !

8

Home Made / Re: My Homemade OWB

« on: January 23, 2010, 08:35:49 PM »

Ok guys- sorry it won't take my uploads- all my pics are on my Facebook photo album- try the hyperlink but you may have to be a friend of mine on facebook to see them- let me know if it works or not please!

Thanks, Bob

9

Home Made / My Homemade OWB

« on: January 23, 2010, 08:33:41 PM »

Well I have made it through building my own owb and have been running it for 5 days now and just can't believe how well it is working to start out with. I was wanting to purchase a Shaver, but after thinking about it, and researching- I realized that I could build my own way cheaper. I decided to copy thier unit basically. I didn't know at the time that they had issues with them or I had probably changed my mind. But I guess in the end i am so happy right now to see it work I may have made the right decisions- time will tell. I used a 36 in diameter air tank cut in half to 45 in long- has a 1/4 wall. I used .120 for the outer jacket- all mild steel on the unit. I wanted to use 1/4 but the cost factor held me back. I had 2 sheets broke and welded them into the box so it saved me 2  4ft long welds. I did weld everything inside and out with the exception of the front panel which I installed last and could only do the outside. Total capacity 203 gallons. I ended up using a 75 cfm dayton blower- turned so the fan inlet pointed to the ground. I jb-welded a dryer vent onto pVC then to the fan housing. I drilled 5- 3/16" holes above the vent in the pvc adapter to use for draft while in idle mode. I figured I could adjust by putting a #10 screw in them and plugging if needed. Inside I ran my hot "out" lines into the bottom and all the way up front staying about 3 inches off the bottom and about 12 inches from the front. The returns dump in at the top in rear. I am pulling the water out of lower left front corner and dumping back in top right rear corner. I used a Grundfos 3 spd pump at the outlet on the tank. Ended up with a Ranco controller with the sensor going into a well in the top center of unit. My lines are buried closer to 5ft deep- wrapped in the foam pipe wrap and placed in 4 in pvc. I have 2 sets- each run to the house- one set for house hotwater and forced air exchanger, the other will run on to my polebarn through my basement and run a future hotub and existing polebarn. I  alos used a sidearm water heater exchanger - bought one that has the roll threaded inner tube- seems to be keeping up fantastic. Thanks to you guys for your help and suggestions- I managed to find my furnace schematic and get the blower wired to rn just my exchanger and that was it- I was into business! Now- let me see if I can add pics into this post - I'll try just a couple first......http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=8524&id=100000268149132

10

General Discussion / Posting Pictures

« on: January 22, 2010, 04:06:51 PM »

Before I even try- whats the best method to include a picture in a post on this board?

11

Electronics / Re: How do I wire in my OWB to my existing forced air furnce blower?

« on: January 21, 2010, 08:39:38 PM »

Well after pulling the electrical print for the cornburner- I was able to find the hot spot from the relay and tie in. I have been lit up and running for 3 days now and so far so good! I want to thank you guys for the help- gotta love the internet! I will try and start a new post in the next few days along with pictures of what I have done . Sure is nice to have plenty of hot water to do all the kids baths and laundry at same time- unbelieveable!

12

Home Made / Re: Combustion blower size for my homemade boiler?

« on: January 12, 2010, 07:15:51 PM »

Just wanted to say thanks for the help fellas- I am hoping to fire this thing up this weekend possibly or the following for sure!

13

Electronics / Re: How do I wire in my OWB to my existing forced air furnce blower?

« on: January 12, 2010, 07:05:30 PM »

cooch- yes on the 110 blower, yes on t-stat low volt, yes on the extra blower control. I think I understand what your saying- even though this stuff is Greek to me! So the contact I am looking for will be at the blower itself I assume?

rosewood- limit switch will come before the exchanger. Blower won't run when the unit is off- unless the manual button on the Honeywell is pushed.


My ultimate goal is to have a blower on a seperate exchanger /box and not have it in the cornburner.Due to ductwork and time limitations- that configuration isn't going to be possible at this time so I need to cut the exchanger into the cornburner plenum and make it work.

14

Electronics / Re: How do I wire in my OWB to my existing forced air furnce blower?

« on: January 11, 2010, 07:29:03 PM »

Yes the probe for the honeywell is in the output plenum. The thermosat is low voltage. I think the honeywell is 110.

15

Electronics / How do I wire in my OWB to my existing forced air furnce blower?

« on: January 11, 2010, 06:09:34 PM »

Well as I work my way through my homemade boiler setup I am nearing the end. One of my last major obstacles( I hope) is figuring out how to connect into my existing furnace to use the blower. I currently am running a Superior Bio-mass Forced air furnace burning corn. This is my only furnace- it has a standard wall mount thermostat just like any other forced air unit. I plan on shutting the unit off as soon as the OWB is up and running, but need to figure out how to be able to run the blower on it as my OWB heat exchanger will be mounted in the furnaces plenum.
One thing I can add is that it has a honeywell controller on the side of it that senses the firebox temp and can be adjusted for blower on off time. This controller has a button on it which allows to run the blower in the summer to draw cool air out of basement without having the furnace running. Its just a simple button that pushes in and pulls out. I am no electrician- so if anyone can help- please try to keep it simple!!!!

Thanks, Bob in Mi.