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[racnruss]

Well, I purchased all of Nature's Comfort "upgrades" for my GT 220 this year.

New Floor plates, new fire brick, new draft actuator door, new refractory door liner, new turbulators for 6 upright tubes.

Stove is up and running again.  Basically it is the same stove with more standard fire brick that can be replaced with store bought bricks instead of needing any custom shaped brick.

Pros:  easier to replace fire brick if needed.   Stainless refractory door liner that won't disintegrate.

[slimjim]

How high is the stack temp and how clean does it burn, I took an old Wood Doctor and added 12 feet of copper into a homemade heat exchanger in the stack, I raise the return water temp by 10 degrees with that before it returns to the boiler. Maybe one of these guys on here will start a new company that builds retrofit kits for harnasing some of that lost heat on conventional boilers.

[Scott7m]

How high is the stack temp and how clean does it burn, I took an old Wood Doctor and added 12 feet of copper into a homemade heat exchanger in the stack, I raise the return water temp by 10 degrees with that before it returns to the boiler. Maybe one of these guys on here will start a new company that builds retrofit kits for harnasing some of that lost heat on conventional boilers.

Pretty sure he's around 550 plus

[Scott7m]

You would see some wood savings I agree, whether its going to be night and day difference I'm not sure.  I know we've talked many times, and I agree you'd save some wood but how much is hard to tell.

I looked for your YouTube vids the other day and couldn't find em

[racnruss]

another video of 220

http://www.youtube.com/user/racnruss/videos


Nature's Comfort gt-220 in gasification mode outdoor boiler furnace

[Wiredwelder]

Hi all im also a gt220 owner.... Mine is a early one also. I have replaced all my fire brick and upgraded to the gt6000 pressurized blower.  The new blower  makes all the difference! Im on my 3 floor plate in 4 years. 

Im planning on for next year making a retrofit set of tubes to make the gt6000 transformation. Also plan on deleteing the steel plate setup and using the steel to hold a firebrick floor.

[Wiredwelder]

stack temps are close to 500 degrees as measured with heat gun on the pipe, the actual air inside the pipe may be hotter.  And keep in mind the draft blower is a 350 or 500 cfm blower, so not only is the exhaust hot but moving really fast too. 

Because the stack is only hot when blower is running would mean that a heat exchanger in the exhaust would only get heat during cycles, the rest of the time it is cold.  So to reclaim heat from exhaust, it would almost have to run through a water storage of some sort to hold heat between cycles.

When I bought the stove, I got a great deal (?) at 3-4k less than a P&M optimizer 250 and a couple g less than an Empyre pro 200.  But now I wish I'd have spent the money because lower stack temp translates into less wood usage.  I assume.

You still come out ahead on the extra heat exchanger tubes. Ive been doing my research and its about a 30% difference in heat recovery. Look at portage and main there gasification stove has alot of tubes!

[mlappin]

Turbulators are a joke, they are just 3 inch tall deflectors that go in the bottom of the 6 tubes, not all the way through.

I did get a quote from Nature's Comfort for turning my GT 220 into a 6000 at the factory with me providing shipping.  $4000.  cost prohibitive to say the least.

Conclusion.   I have a early gassifier.  Purchased in 2009.  It makes hot water without much smoke.  It is hungry.

How about some custom made turbolators to run the entire length of the heat exchanger tubes?

Heres a link to a company that specializes in fuel efficiency: http://www.fuelefficiencyllc.com/fehxturb.html

[racnruss]

Wiredwelder,

Have you switched to the newest rear plate that has the nozzles turned 90 degrees from the original? And replaced the firebrick underneath with common sized brick? That stopped my rear plate from breaking.  Also, I covered the 3 cast floor plates with one large 3/8" plate. It's  quite heavy but it protects the cast plates.  I cut holes in the 3/8 steel plate above the nozzles.