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Topics - patvetzal

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / wood type vs price
« on: May 19, 2018, 12:55:08 PM »
Last spring i bought a load of logs, mostly maple, beech, oak, ash, etc for  $950. First time I've had to buy in 15 years but my bush is getting thin. The supplier says that he has a couple of loads of white birch that were ordered last winter then cancelled . I realize that birch has fewer BTUs and can produce creosote if burned indoors, but I have burned a bit over the years and like it.  just always got it free from my own property.  Anyone have a btu chart handy so i can offer him a reasonable (cheap) price?

2
General Discussion / Manure
« on: June 19, 2017, 05:25:47 PM »
I had a tenant who dumped a load of mixed pig/cattle manure behind the garage. Tenant is now history and I have got rid of most of the manure. What I couldn't scrape out with the fel I covered with sand/dirt, but the stench remains especially when wet.
Anyone have a suggestion of something that I could work into the sand to kill the smell for my new tenant.

3
Electronics / Second zone
« on: March 26, 2017, 03:43:32 PM »
So everything is working the way we hoped except that the basement is a little cold. Decided to install another heat exchanger (read truck radiator) down there with a fan on it. After 24 hours the upstairs was 80 degrees, basement even hotter, floors all toasty etc. Realized that I gotta control that fan so I ran a pair of 110volt wires up to the kitchen and bought a Honeywell digital line voltage t'stat. As luck would have it, the kid gave me one for baseboard heaters, the one with the triac that cycles the fan every 10-20 seconds when the temp is close to the set point.
Currently I have an old dial type baseboard t'sat in place but we would like one with a little more precision and a readable dial. Don't need multi stage or programable.
Any suggestions of a model number for a line voltage, digital stat? That new truck radiator will then be the main heat source for the main floor as the heat distribution is better than the rad in the furnace duct....

4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Wireless thermometers
« on: March 16, 2017, 03:01:13 PM »
I have an old style P&M sitting in our driveway which heats our house and our tenant's. Our tenant is in charge of filling the stove. I have added a string of Christmas lights that come on with the blower fan but I would like to be able to check the water temperature from our kitchen without either going outside or downstairs.
Does anyone know of a wireless thermometer that I could add at a reasonable price? Indoor outdoor weather units only go up to about 150F and any BBQ units I have found only trip an alarm but do not give a reading.

5
Portage & Main / Huffin and puffin
« on: February 20, 2017, 08:10:24 AM »
Every so often when there is a good fire going my furnace (an old ML36) will start to do its steam engine thing. I tell my wife that it is just trying to get up steam to move to a better location :thumbup:
This doesn't seem to effect anything and I suspect that it just needs more draft for the size of fire...

6
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Draft or pressure?
« on: December 11, 2016, 12:29:12 PM »
Had years of experience with airtight (and not so airtight) stoves and fireplaces but now we have a OWB with a small fan and gravity damper. It heats two houses (and DHW) and when it gets much below freezing  runs fairly constant.
When the fan runs and it is calling for heat we get a "nice" steam/smoke plume but we also get irregular puffs of smoke out the adjustable vent hole in the door, indicating a varying firebox pressure. When the fan shuts down the door hole sucks fresh air in and keeps the fire going, like the vent/damper on an airtight stove.
Is it normal for smoke to puff out this hole or does it indicate a restricted chimney?  The hole  is only about 1/2" diameter.
Right now we are burning blocks of frozen hardwood that got left outside and are pretty icy when they go into the firebox :pic:

7
Plumbing / More air in system
« on: November 24, 2016, 04:06:55 PM »
Last fall we connected an old P&M  ML36 to out tenants house. Just set it beside the house and ran in about 10 feet of Logstor, then split to the water tank and a rad in the heating system. Worked like a dream. So much so that this fall we moved the furnace 200feet to our house and ran the good PEX pipe back to the tenants. Since we are now feeding the other end of the house, most of the interior PEX was relocated.
Tee fittings, hanging loops,unions, random ball valves and air locks.
Has anyone come across a vent valve that could be installed in the high points? I know we have flow from the furnace when we open a drain in the basement but we cannot get that circ pump to move water on its own.
Do the old style radiator vents work when you only have a few lbs pressure?
Any hints on how to get rid of the air ? Tomorrow we plan to install some hose cocks and try blowing it back to the furnace....

8
Plumbing / 1" "rigid" pex
« on: November 19, 2016, 02:48:13 PM »
By the time we relocated our OWB and started on the indoor plumbing  I had a couple of 8' pieces of Logstar pipe left so I stripped them to use the 1" pex. I did expect it to be easier to bend than it is however.
If I heat it slightly with an electric heat gun, does it flex easier? Gotta be some secret that the pros use ....

9
Portage & Main / Wood size question
« on: July 24, 2016, 07:55:38 AM »
I realize that I can burn limb wood that is 3' long or 12" trunk wood, but I am 71 years old. I have a great splitting system that I developed back when we were using our insert and don't mind cutting and splitting into small, light pieces that I can handle easier in my old age.
Last winter was the first year for our OWF and the fan only called for heat about 20% of the time so this year we are going to double the load and heat two houses.
Am I really loosing that much efficiency by cutting small? Don't know the moisture percentage but it is beach, maple, birch, etc that has been cut for two summers and seems pretty dry( we have had wer wood some winters)

10
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Smoker
« on: March 28, 2016, 02:05:30 PM »
Neighbour is going to kill some hogs next week and we were wondering about building  a smoke cabinet on the OWB chimney.
Don't burn any garbage, just oak, maple, birch, etc. The boiler spends most of its time just idling now that spring is here.
By using the chimney cleanout to feed the cabinet we could control the amount of smoke.
Any of you smokers tried this?

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