Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Portage & Main => Topic started by: Trint on January 10, 2012, 08:08:06 PM
-
I have an ml 30 only had it up and running about 2 months but have been adding several gallons of water to the system a week. Specifics, have it direct plumed to old oil boiler and baseboards, on at 170 off at 180, draft plate half open, 6 foot of chimmney, taco OOR pump 3 speed 6-12 GPM normaly run in the 8-10 GPM range. Is water loss normal or is this a consequense of the warm weather or new install, have not had a good freeze to tell yet. Can't find any leaks anywhere seems to be a little better in colder weather, have even extended the filler neck and float rod to help cool any steam loss. Any suggestions can't drop water temp too much due to the basseboards.
-
Do not do not do not extend the filler neck if that's where the water is allowed to expand and push out..
We had a guy extend his up to far, stove got hot and the water rose up the pipe, froze, wouldn't allow the water to expand and well, it wasn't pretty
-
Have had mine up and running for 3 weeks. Havent added since intial fill. I suspect i will from time to time but that much that often dont seem right to me
-
Could it be over burning a little and loosing water by steam? Make sure you don't have any air leaks into the fire box.
-
You really shouldn't ever have to add water.. Last year my stove only held 1/2 gallon after heating all season. October through April
-
first question i would ask is...are you adding water at the proper time? by this i mean you should top of your stove when the burn cycle has just ended and your water is at its highest set temp. if you come back and find you think you have lost water when the stove is at it's lowest set temp and you add again, when your stove reaches the high set point you will be puking out water. your water willexpand when it is heated (not too much but still some) this may be enough to throw off your "readings" of when and what needs to be added.
i run my stove at lower temps 150 ON and 160 OFF and i have about 150 gallons in the stove. it will expand about 1 gallon or less in this heat range. (it seems to vary a little, i am not sure but that may be due to barometric pressure outside?)
if after considering this, you are still losing water and you can not see where then you need to start to investigate.
-
I only have to add after 2 filter cleans. and it is only 1 gallon
-
I started my P&M 250 Optimizer the first of Oct. and haven't added any since.
-
Boiler is not overrunning.
I am checking water at high temp.
Based on what I am reading, I will need to do some more investigating, might have to crawl under the house and make sure I don't have a pin hole in a pipe I can't see. I am double checking now to make sure it is not steam loss.
-
I hate to say it but you have a leak somewhere. You should not have to add more than 2-5 gallons per season. Let us know what you find.
-
My ML30 was new last winter so it should be like yours. When first started I thought I was loosing water but it turned out my float was leaking and sinking, they sent a new one. I wouldn't use an extended fill tube as it shouldn't be needed, I set the level to the middle of the marked area with a hot sove and haven't needed to add any yet this year burning since mid October. Methinks you have a leak.
-
Tried a test today, issolated the oilburner used it for heat and only used the ml 30 for DHW. Test got cut short however when the motor on oil burner gave out in that time frame the oil burner lost a few psi while no change was seen in the ml 30. Not enough time to tell it leak is inside or outside though. Likely inside
-
My ML30 was new last winter so it should be like yours. When first started I thought I was loosing water but it turned out my float was leaking and sinking, they sent a new one. I wouldn't use an extended fill tube as it shouldn't be needed, I set the level to the middle of the marked area with a hot sove and haven't needed to add any yet this year burning since mid October. Methinks you have a leak.
My float waterlogged too.
P&M sent a new one out fast.
Problem solved
-
Update, repaired oil burner motor and separated the systems for about 30hours this week as it was warm and would not use much oil. During that time frame lost nothing from the owb while the oil burner needed to have water added 3 time to maintain pressure :(. Now need to find the leak, all old pipe I can see in celler, ran new pex in crawl space to feed baseboards anyone ever had a leak in new pex? all fittings are where I can inspect them. Third possibility oil burner has been installed since the 60's afraid it could have an internal leak that is evaporating and not dripping out. Either way is going to require more investigating.