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Topics - MarkP

Pages: [1]
1
Plumbing / Adding capacity
« on: October 28, 2022, 07:38:47 AM »
I'm using a homemade boiler and this is year #5 with it.  All steel, and I'm heating my 1000 sq ft garage with 10' ceilings, and a 1680 sq ft house.  Both structures are well insulated.  I built both around 2003-4.  The boiler is 180 gallons, and uses 3+ cord to heat the garage from mid October to May 1.  I'm very pleased with it, and it produces almost no smoke at all.  In the last 2 years, I've added the house to the boiler.  How much can adding 50-100 gallons of capacity help?  I'm thinking adding a tank in my crawlspace, and insulating it very well.  My last stove was 340 gallons, and it seemed to work so much better with less wood. I know there can be other issues, but capacity was the first thing that comes to mind.  As of today, I have the temperature set point at 145 with a 15 degree differential.  I increase the temperature as the ambient temperature drops over the winter.

Thoughts???

2
Home Made / Correct pump and heat exchanger for house and garage
« on: December 10, 2021, 09:18:28 AM »
I have some questions regarding my homebuilt boiler, and the best combination of pump/heat exchanger.   I built the stove about 4 years ago, and only built it for my garage, but decided to add the house to it this week.  Here's what I have:
180 gallon boiler with a 24"W X 28"H X 36" L firebox. 75 cfm draft fan on the door, and 6" stack out the top.
20X20 heat exchanger with Taco 009 in the garage 1000 sq. ft with 10' ceilings.... well insulated.
12X15 heat exchanger with Taco007 for the house 1680 sq ft built in 2004.. also well insulated.

Does this combination seem adequate?  I know the garage is working great, and it's only 15 feet from 009 pump on the back of the stove to the heat exchanger.  My question is more around the house.  Is 12X15 heat exchanger enough for a 1680 sq ft house, and is the Taco 007 enough to keep the hot water there?  I have a total of 100 feet of 1" pipe from the pump to the heat exchanger, with 25 feet of that in the crawlspace. Both pumps are approx. 48" above the ground, and both heat exchangers are at ground level.   Lines on each are insulated, and buried 30", inside a 6" pipe.  The pipe is covered in sand, and 4" hard foam insulation on top of that, then the dirt.   Also.... will a 180 gallon stove keep up with both.  Water temperature is set at 170 on the stove.

thanks!!

Mark


3
Plumbing / No hot water to the heat exchanger
« on: November 16, 2020, 06:49:01 AM »
I just fired my boiler this year.  I only use it to heat my garage.  It is a homebuilt furnace, 180 gallons, and I'm heating a 1000 sq. ft. garage with a 10 foot ceiling.   It takes 2.5 cords a year. I fired it up yesterday, and it's not circulating.  I use a Taco 007, and even tried a spare pump.  The water drops 3.5 feet from the pump, over 8 feet to the garage, back up 2 feet, and then is plumbed to a floor level 18" X 20" heat exchanger. I re-plumbed everything in the garage last week, and flushed the heat exchanger, so all the lines were empty.   I have the supply going in the bottom of the heat exchanger.  I think I may have been better taking it in the top.

My first thought was airlock.  Not sure that the 007 has the power to push the air out of the heat exchanger, and back to the boiler.  Anybody have this issue or any suggestions?

4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Incomplete burn
« on: January 01, 2020, 09:54:51 AM »
Hey Guys..... This will be my first full winter with my 3rd. homebuilt boiler.... 180 gallons.  My wife lit it Oct. 22nd, so it's been burning for about 10 weeks.  I've used about a cord of wood in that time.  My wood is cut about 16-18 inches long, and not over 4-5 inches in diameter, and has been cut and split for about a year, and inside a shed on pallets, for 4 months.  I had to have it cut smaller, since I had back surgery Oct. 14th., and I still have a 10 pound weight limit.  It's using about 5 pieces of wood a day.. 6 at the most. 

Two issues I'm having is cresote, and an incomplete burn.  I have the temperature on 130 degrees with a 10 degree differential, which heats my 1000 sq. ft. garage very well (70 degrees).  Thinking that both may be cured with a higher temperature, and a longer differential???  Also.. thinking a better rake to bring the chunks to the top of the ashes may help.  I'm using a short tine cultivator at the moment.  Great for pulling wood forward, but not good for bringing the chunks to the top. Thinking more like a pitch fork with close tines may be best.  What's your thoughts?  Only issue with cresote is the flapper on the draft fan sticking at times.  Not a real big deal on either, but I know I can save a little wood if I get this fine tuned. I appreciate any input and opinions.   

Mark

5
Home Made / OWB #3
« on: December 19, 2018, 01:49:55 PM »
Hello........   I haven't posted for many years, but I come back to the site anytime I have a question on a build.  I've built 2 OWBs in the past, one I used for 10 years, and one for 3 years.  Both were similar, 1/4" sheet steel, 340 gallons, and did very well for me, heating a 1680 sq. ft. house and a 1000 sq. ft. garage with a 10' ceiling.  Home and garage were built in 2004 and well insulated.  I used 7-8 cord of wood each year in WV.  I have some health issues, and decided to install a new high efficiency propane furnace/AC for my house and a propane space heater for the garage. It works great, but I miss my wood heat.

With the cost of propane, and the lack of comfortable heat, I've decided to build a stove for my garage only.  I'm thinking a 3' X 3' X 4' water box(270 gallons) with a 2' X 2' X 3' firebox(90 gallons).  By my calculations, I should end up with a 180 gallons of water capacity.  (Larger firebox is a thought as well)  All new sheet steel will be used.  3/16" steel for everything except the floor and end walls/door of the firebox. Those will get 1/4" steel.  One of my stoves got a 8" flue, and one got a 6" flue.  Otherwise, the designs were similar.  The larger flue stove was much a better burning stove, and more efficient. 

With a smaller stove this time, I plan on a 6" flue out the top as the prior stoves have been.  Water will be pulled off the top and returned towards the bottom.  I plan on a White Rogers digital temperature controller and a simple, inexpensive Taco 007 pump for the 15', level run to my garage.  With years of OWB use, I have a general idea of what I want, but I'd like to have opinions from you on a smaller stove.

1.   Is there a calculation or rule of thumb for "gallons of water per sq. ft of space to be heated" that works
      well?
2.   Can BTUs be estimated for this size of stove?

I appreciate your input, and plan the build in the next couple weeks.  I can have it complete and fired in a week pretty easily.   

6
Electronics / 2 wire digital thermostat
« on: January 10, 2010, 11:44:28 AM »
Does anyone know of a 2 wire digital thermostat they can recommend?  I'm using a Honeywell 2 wire thermostat with a dial in my garage because it was easy to wire in, but and it is not very accurate.  I set it on 45 when I am not working in the garage, and the temp will range from 45 to 65.  The garage is insulated and finished on the inside and heats well, but when I want to save on wood, I set the thermostat to keep the garage around 50 degrees.  I often go out and find that the unit is running and it is 65 in the garage. 

Suggestions anyone??

THANKS,,,

Mark

7
Fire Wood / cleaning up the farm
« on: November 14, 2009, 06:23:05 AM »
I've had my stove burning for just over a month.  I cut a little over 7 cord of good hardwood, and have it split and stacked in my shed.  As I was using it the first week or so, I got to thinking about all the pine and sasafrass that fell in Feb. 2003 in a bad icestorm we had here in west/central WV, and then I took the Stihl and went to the woods. 

I cut a couple cord of "junk wood" that was down in a twisted mess, and found that even though the pine was getting pretty soft, I could load the stove full and get easy 24 hour burns.  Best part, I save all my good wood til bad weather hits, and I get the chance to clean up the farm without having the risk of wildfire by burning wood/brush piles.  The pine that fell onto other trees is still pretty hard, but the ones on the ground are soft enough that I can poke my finger in it, AND IT STILL BURNS.  I'm gonna keep cutting the pines and might not have to use my good wood til things get bitter.

8
Fire Wood / Is your woodshed filled??
« on: September 15, 2009, 07:36:09 PM »
Just wondering where everyone is on having their wood ready for the heating season.  I've worked the past couple weeks, along with my wife and a guy that works for me in my construction business, at getting mine on the ground and cut up.  I want to have 8 cord in the shed before I fire up the stove.  I should have at least 6 cord on the ground and cut up now.  I ordered a new log splitter last week, and will get to splitting as soon as it comes in.  I used 7 cord last year with the unusually cold temps. so I figure 8 this year should be safe.

This year, I have been able to drop mostly dead trees.  Mostly oak, that lightning struck, or bugs killed.  Some quite large in diameter,,, 32" or more.  A bear to handle, but each slice makes quite a few pieces.  I'm anxious to see if dried wood will make much difference than the mostly green wood I used last year.

How is everyone else doing so far???

Mark

9
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Incomplete burn
« on: February 01, 2009, 02:34:48 PM »
With this being my first year with my OWB, I'm still learning.  One thing I'm finding is that the wood isn't burning completely.  Anytime I try to take ashes out, I find that there are very few ashes, and lots of small chunks of charred wood, charcoal, etc.  As I check the stove morning and night, I typically find about 8 inches of hot coals, and the charred wood under that.  I usually just throw more wood in on top of it all and keep the cycle going.  Eventually,, I have to take out coals, wood pieces, ashes, etc. to make room for more wood. 

My brother has a CB 5036, and was telling me he had the same problem at first.  He called the CB representative, and was told he was loading it too full, and too often.  He wasn't allowing the chips and coals to burn up completely. 

The past couple days, I've been trying to stir the ashes, and let the coals alone until they are down drastically.  It's just with working, I can't always leave the stove without wood until it burns more.

Ideas and opinions anyone???

10
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Aquastat sticking??
« on: January 28, 2009, 03:20:56 PM »
I've had problems lately with my homemade OWB steaming really bad, and using alot of water (4 or 5 gallons a day)  After posting the problem on here, and getting several replys, I made some changes to the vent pipe on Saturday per Ron's suggestion, and have been very pleased with the difference.  I also dropped my max temp. from 185* to 175*.  VERY LITTLE STEAM,,,,, until today. 

Today I looked out and saw the stove steaming ALOT, and went out to take a look, and the draft fan was running, but the temp on the gauge was 195*.   I'm not sure of the accuracy of the gauge, but the stove seemed to be overheating to the point of water spitting out the vent pipe that is over 20" tall.  I turned the blower off and within minutes, the stove was back to normal.

Bad aquastat??   It is a Honeywell L4006A 1678 with a direct imersion well, and I have the differential set at 15*. I have the aquastat insde the back cover on the stove, and it is covered with insulation.  Does it need exposed to the outside air temp to be accurate?  Are there better aquastats out there?  Does anyone use the White Rogers, or the Ranco digital temperature controller??  Can the Ranco be used in the same well as the Honeywell??

Suggestions??

11
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Water loss from STEAMING
« on: January 22, 2009, 07:49:53 AM »
I built my own OWB, and I'm really happy with it so far, except:  My biggest problem is having to add water from STEAMING.  Seems that steaming a couple months ago wasn't too bad, and I rarely had to add water, but with the colder weather, and the stove heating more often, the steam never stops.  I saw a post from mid-November that mentioned this same problem on a Shaver, and he suggested extending the vent pipe out further and using a 90* to turn it up a bit and filling a little more water.  My vent is out the top, so that won't work for me.  I DO have an unused fitting on the side that is about 7 inches below the water level that I like to maintain.  If I pipe this out the side of the covering of the stove and 90* it up a few inches, will this work, or will it just push the water out the 90* as it heats??  This one has me stumped, and I'm really tired of adding water every couple days. 

I'm new at this and looking for HELP!!!!    :bash:

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