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31
Plumbing / Re: Uponor (Wirsbo) ProPEX versus ViegaPEX PureFlow Crimp
« on: March 02, 2014, 03:28:49 PM »
We use the Wirsbo (expanding pipe style) at work but I use the stainless steel clamp style at home. Most of our site contractors use the Wirsbo style too but I have asked a few and they said they only use it because it became available 1st and once they bought all the tools and fittings it just wasn't worth it to change over. Rings are cheaper than the clamps but the ring tool is more expensive. Both are a pain in the azz to use in tight quarters. Wirsbo fittings might be a little harder to find, around here Home Depot and Lowes stock all the non pipe expanding fittings and tools.
32
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Newbie here-long time lurker
« on: March 01, 2014, 04:17:39 PM »
I bought a used Pacific Western, company has been out of business for years. I replaced the fan, aquastat, solenoid, and 2 new pumps. I bought it not knowing if it leaked or not, figured I could fix it if it did. I was lucky or at least so far anyway and no leaks. I've been reading about owb burners for years and had planned to build my own but this deal came along so I bought it. Mine is working good and I'm real happy with the money I have in it so far. Spend your money on good pipe, I used Logstor for one of my runs and a homemade one for a short 35' run. I heat 2 houses with mine, I installed the whole system myself including building the tinwork for the exchangers. Installed a plate and a tube heater for domestic hot water. I never did any figuring out on heat load, I just bought what I thought would work and it does. Next year I will have my shop heated for the complete winter and hopefully actually do something out there.
You might want to put your location on in case someone is local to you and you can see their system.
You might want to put your location on in case someone is local to you and you can see their system.
33
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Federal wood burning rule prompts rural backlash
« on: February 26, 2014, 05:36:31 PM »
To add to my last response.
quote from another website regarding shipping. Meanwhile, want the grim punchline? There are now about 90,000 cargo vessels plying the waters globally. Not all emit as much as the hugest ships, of course. But if you assume the average ship is only one-tenth as bad as the giants, that means cargo vessels on the seas emit more than 500 times the total pollution of the world's vehicles.
After that, we don't quite know what to say.
SHIPPING BY NUMBERS (from The Guardian article)
The world's biggest container ships have 109,000 horsepower engines which weigh 2,300 tons.
Each ship expects to operate 24hrs a day for about 280 days a year
There are 90,000 ocean-going cargo ships
Shipping is responsible for 18-30% of all the world's nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution and 9% of the global sulphur oxide (SOx) pollution.
One large ship can generate about 5,000 tonnes of sulphur oxide (SOx) pollution in a year
70% of all ship emissions are within 400km of land.
85% of all ship pollution is in the northern hemisphere.
Shipping is responsible for 3.5% to 4% of all climate change emissions
Yeah, we really need to clean up our owb's.
quote from another website regarding shipping. Meanwhile, want the grim punchline? There are now about 90,000 cargo vessels plying the waters globally. Not all emit as much as the hugest ships, of course. But if you assume the average ship is only one-tenth as bad as the giants, that means cargo vessels on the seas emit more than 500 times the total pollution of the world's vehicles.
After that, we don't quite know what to say.
SHIPPING BY NUMBERS (from The Guardian article)
The world's biggest container ships have 109,000 horsepower engines which weigh 2,300 tons.
Each ship expects to operate 24hrs a day for about 280 days a year
There are 90,000 ocean-going cargo ships
Shipping is responsible for 18-30% of all the world's nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution and 9% of the global sulphur oxide (SOx) pollution.
One large ship can generate about 5,000 tonnes of sulphur oxide (SOx) pollution in a year
70% of all ship emissions are within 400km of land.
85% of all ship pollution is in the northern hemisphere.
Shipping is responsible for 3.5% to 4% of all climate change emissions
Yeah, we really need to clean up our owb's.
34
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Federal wood burning rule prompts rural backlash
« on: February 26, 2014, 05:26:52 PM »
Outdoor wood boiler owners need to clean up their act and be as responsible as these people. http://www.viewzone.com/sixteenships.html
35
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Octagon firebox/water cooled door
« on: February 25, 2014, 06:22:08 PM »
Octagon firebox might mean more chance of weld failure due to extra corners? I would think that round would be more resistant to bending than flat steel. I can see that a small welding shop might prefer to build an octagon one because they don't have machinery to make a round one whereas a break would make an octagon one easily.
36
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Narrowing Down My Options
« on: February 25, 2014, 06:15:34 PM »
There are many good choices out there, as long as they fit your requirements. My requirement was I will someday have a huge heat load so I needed a big unit ( no joke) with a big firebox. There was nothing available at the price I wanted to pay (cheap bastage I am) so I ended up buying a lightly used Pacific Western. So far it's been great and I'm happy I bought a big unit. Load times are long enough for my lifestyle and having enough heat is no problem.
My nephew has a Heatmor and now that he's added heating a huge shop load to it he is saying that his wood consumption has gone way up. Unfortunately due to the size of the firebox he is having to reload often which is a problem as he works away from home most of the day. In a normal year a dual fuel unit would have been great but this year with the propane issue the cost of propane would have been unreal.
As for a local dealer, my manufacturer is out of business. There are lots of local dealers for other units however their prices leave me driving 80 miles to a more reasonable guy. I would be more concerned about the features of the owb than the dealer location.
My nephew has a Heatmor and now that he's added heating a huge shop load to it he is saying that his wood consumption has gone way up. Unfortunately due to the size of the firebox he is having to reload often which is a problem as he works away from home most of the day. In a normal year a dual fuel unit would have been great but this year with the propane issue the cost of propane would have been unreal.
As for a local dealer, my manufacturer is out of business. There are lots of local dealers for other units however their prices leave me driving 80 miles to a more reasonable guy. I would be more concerned about the features of the owb than the dealer location.
37
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Federal wood burning rule prompts rural backlash
« on: February 25, 2014, 06:03:37 PM »
Sluggo, voting in someone else just makes it their turn at the trough. In this day and age that really is an empty threat. Unfortunately it's the way everything seems to be going. Stupidity reigns. We ( the working class) are slowly being bled to death, death by a thousand cuts. The only thing that seems to get better and cheaper is computers, why is that? Every other single thing seems to be going up in price. And everything that is made is made to last a certain amount of time, then it is cheaper to replace it than to fix it. Look at muscle cars like 69 cameros, mustangs whatever, do you actually think that 40 years from now someone will be fixing or driving a car that is built today?
What do they plan on doing with all the wood from ice storms, snow storms, winds, tornadoes etc? I know grind it up using tons of diesel (that's clean) and put it on flowerbeds. Wait I'm allergic to flowers so you can't grow them any more.
What do they plan on doing with all the wood from ice storms, snow storms, winds, tornadoes etc? I know grind it up using tons of diesel (that's clean) and put it on flowerbeds. Wait I'm allergic to flowers so you can't grow them any more.
38
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: OWB reflections...
« on: February 25, 2014, 05:43:51 PM »
I don't do any "house" work, however I work away from home so when I am home I usually have house maintenance to do or her endless list of renovations to do. The deal that we have is that I do all the cutting, gathering, hauling, splitting and she does the stacking in the basement. Now that we have an owb she won't have to do any stacking. Last year she did go to the bush with me a few times just to cut rounds from the pile of logs and haul them home. She runs her own lawn care business and that keeps her busy.
39
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: OWB reflections...
« on: February 24, 2014, 05:14:54 PM »
Maintenance is a concern with everything. Wood burning is a time consuming project but so are other household chores.
Consider how much time your wife devotes to preparing your meals every day. From reading fliers for sales or coupons, getting in the car, driving to the store or several stores in most cases, time walking the aisles, loading the groceries, driving home, unloading them and putting them away. Planning the meal, preparing the meal, setting the table, cleaning the dishes and on and on. Now add in the cost of a set of kitchen cabinets to store the food, stove, dishwasher etc. Everyday.
Now consider your dirty clothing, washer, dryer, cloths line, soap, hydro, whatever. The costs and time spent adds up quickly too. Then there is cleaning the whole house.
Now before you guys jump on me and say you do the cooking, cleaning whatever, I don't do any of that so the time I spent getting wood is a lot less than what she spends do those chores.
Consider how much time your wife devotes to preparing your meals every day. From reading fliers for sales or coupons, getting in the car, driving to the store or several stores in most cases, time walking the aisles, loading the groceries, driving home, unloading them and putting them away. Planning the meal, preparing the meal, setting the table, cleaning the dishes and on and on. Now add in the cost of a set of kitchen cabinets to store the food, stove, dishwasher etc. Everyday.
Now consider your dirty clothing, washer, dryer, cloths line, soap, hydro, whatever. The costs and time spent adds up quickly too. Then there is cleaning the whole house.
Now before you guys jump on me and say you do the cooking, cleaning whatever, I don't do any of that so the time I spent getting wood is a lot less than what she spends do those chores.
40
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: planning for the future
« on: February 20, 2014, 03:27:09 PM »
cooter, I built a 24x56' shop last year and was planning to run pex in the floor. I had everything ready to go just needed to pick up the insulation and pex. My concrete guy screwed up some dates and called me at night saying they were coming the next morning to pour the floor. Winter time and concrete had already been ordered and put inside to warm up. I decided to just do it. I've been kicking my azz ever since. Floor is perfect but it's always damp from melting snow. I put in an exchanger but now I'm paying for hydro too and it doesn't work near as nice. The air in the shop is too hot to work and the concrete floor is freezing cold. Put the pex in now.
41
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: woodmaster
« on: February 19, 2014, 04:53:29 PM »
oz, I bought a used unit and the company that made it is out of business. I've never been one is give warranty much thought though. I wouldn't worry about the distance your dealer is away, you sound like a guy who is just going to fix it anyway. Unless you buy one of the new computerized ones there really isn't much that can go wrong. Even then it's likely just a module or some other change out part. Buy what you think is the best and get burning.
42
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Question about water tanks
« on: February 18, 2014, 11:46:09 AM »
There are dual burner owb's out there. A guy at work has CB one and thinks it's great. His princess doesn't like to get her hands dirty so if he's away it just switches over to propain.
43
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Grundfos 15-58 Check Valve?
« on: February 10, 2014, 04:14:13 PM »
Me. Don't have an issue that I am aware of either. Course I'm not very bright. Wood is burning, water is being pumped, house is warm, repeat.
44
General Discussion / Re: Snow again
« on: February 09, 2014, 03:28:37 PM »
Well, I never made it to the bush. Burnt another half tank of fuel blowing snow, got another third of the way but still too far away. I did manage to bring home the broken pieces off the trail though. There's the bush past all that snow. There is a 5' high fence just in front of the tractor. I got to the next hill past those maples. 4' deep with multiple layers of ice stopped me.
45
General Discussion / Re: Snow again
« on: February 09, 2014, 08:00:03 AM »
I have plenty of wood to last but because of work schedule and all the snow I haven't been cutting at all this winter. Yesterday I had to repair a water line so I dug/blew a path to my backhoe (quick attach) 100' of 4 to 5' deep snow. Fixed the line then decided I was going to go to the bush. Bush is 1/3 mile behind my house thru the fields and hollows. I had big bucket on and left the backhoe on for weight and extra pulling power if I got stuck. It took me 3 hours to get halfway. Snow was 6' deep in places, also had a layer of 1" thick ice about 1' up from ground. That's why I couldn't use the snow blower, it just wouldn't cut thru it. Finally ran out of time and desire so there was a rotten tree beside the fenceline within reach of my backhoe bucket. I beat that rotten 24"x 12' high chunk to the ground with the hoe and scooped it up with the hoe bucket. Trying to drag it sideways thru 6' drifts meant it broke all to heck and left a path of rotten wood all the way to the owb. I got there, fired up the Artic Stihl 440 and buzzed that sucker up. Put it all in the owb and headed for the house. Productive day. This was my 1st time cutting back there, it was originally my grandparents and my fathers farm, 536 acres, 75 acres of bush, my parents sold it when I was 12. We live on 10 acres that was severed off it. Last year we asked new owners about cutting wood and he said take whatever you want. So I took the rotten stump, off to a good start. I getting ready to head back again, this time with the blower and forks on, might even take a saw.