Hmm... Why'd it take so long to start gasifying?? I'm not sure what's going on there, but it seems it took a long time to get hot as well, usually as I'm wrapping up an install I build a fire in my stove and while I'm putting tools away and such, roughly 1 hour, a stove is generally at 155-160. As far as gasifiers everyone I've seen start gasifying within minutes. 10-15
I like portage and main though, they seem to be great stoves and the craftsmanship looks great
You'd have to see first hand how a P&M is put together. The refractory bed is around 5" thick and covers the whole floor of the primary burn chamber, plus there is refractory brick going up the sides 9 inches. There is over 800 lbs. of refractory in the 250. You can't really compare the P&M 250 to the NC220 as the P&M doesn't rely on any other means to burn smoke other than the nozzle going to the secondary burn chamber. The nozzle on the 250 looks to be only about half the size of the 220. There are no catalytic combusters (converters) like the 220. The great thing about the design of the P&M is that once the refractory gets hot, it remains hot. Both of my friends have theirs up and running and they both said that they only cycle about every 2-3 hours, and when they do cycle, gasification is instant. I just fired mine up at 9:00 tonight, so by tomorrow AM I'll know whether they are "blowing smoke" or not(pun intended). I shot the secondary burn chamber with my thermometer and it pegged it out (1047*-I'm sure it was much hotter than that), and the exhaust temp was 157*. I believe I understand NC's method for burning smoke, but for me, those little catalytic wafers just look like they would plug up too often unless your wood was just right all of the time. The one that I saw running was only a few months old and he was cleaning his about every three weeks, and it didn't look that easy, and he said you can't just bump them out, you have to use compressed air, as they become fragile as they age(kinda like you and I!).
I had narrowed my choices down to 4 manufacturers, and NC was one of them. The catalytic part of their(your) OWB just scared me a bit. I used to own a Consolidated Dutchwest Federal Airtight stove, and it had one 6"" combuster, and after about 3-4 months of burning, I had to replace it at 80 bucks a crack. That was a lot of money in the early 80's, and from what I've gathered, the catalytic components are now made in China and their quality leaves a lot to be desired.
Looks like It'll take about 20-40 lbs of wood to heat my friends DHW per day. That's about the same amount I was using with my Empyre. P&M does not, however, recommend using them in the summer, so all three of us will be shutting them down in a day or so.
Have a good evening.
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Topic: Optimizer 250 First Firing! (Read 4892 times)