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31
Central Boiler / Re: Edge 750 users
« on: December 13, 2019, 10:53:46 AM »
I had a 750 HD installed this May. I was able to source 4 cords of seasoned wood along with 6 cords of greener wood, stacked in my woodshed for the 6 months since then. I hoped to get through the winter with only 5 cords total used, so I started out burning each load with 80% from the seasoned stack and 20% from the rest. I am very satisfied with the performance of the 750 on this mix. Then I noticed that my burn rate was probably going to have me run out of seasoned wood well before the end of winter and I switched over to about 2/3rds from the seasoned pile with the rest greener wood. Burn performance has gone down quite a bit based on peak reaction chamber temperatures (I was getting above 1500*F regularly, now occasionally getting above 1200*F). I think it would be nearly unusable if I were burning 100% from the greener stack. I will be splitting my wood a bit smaller to see if I can get back up to my 4:1 performance on this 2:1 mix. I would be very concerned about creosote buildup and needing far more wood than otherwise, if stuck with only unseasoned wood. Perhaps if split very small and managed carefully one can get away with greener wood, but I would agree with the dealer here.
32
Central Boiler / Re: Received an Alarm
« on: December 06, 2019, 07:08:09 AM »
Nice, quick, accurate and helpful response! Glad to see stories like this of them helping users out.
I have an outdoor wifi extender mounted on a pole that the Firestar controller accesses for its network connection (along with some outdoor security cameras), and it has been rock solid other than one instance where it did just this and I had to go down to the basement to yank the plug and put it back in, which brought everything right back online immediately. 8 months of that router working fine with only reset ever required, and of course it doesn't happen until I hook a furnace up to it.
Are you able to share contact info for Tyler? I have a few very minor changes to suggest to the Firestar web site that might make it a bit more usable for us, and I haven't been able to find the right contact to pass them on to, I don't want to just hit the regular customer service number.
Imagine if the dashboard showed, in addition to everything it shows now, the peak reaction chamber temperature reached in the current/last demand cycle. I'd also like them to add, when the dashboard is viewed during a demand cycle, the burn duration of the current demand cycle. All these details can be pulled from the history page, but it would save a click.
I have an outdoor wifi extender mounted on a pole that the Firestar controller accesses for its network connection (along with some outdoor security cameras), and it has been rock solid other than one instance where it did just this and I had to go down to the basement to yank the plug and put it back in, which brought everything right back online immediately. 8 months of that router working fine with only reset ever required, and of course it doesn't happen until I hook a furnace up to it.
Are you able to share contact info for Tyler? I have a few very minor changes to suggest to the Firestar web site that might make it a bit more usable for us, and I haven't been able to find the right contact to pass them on to, I don't want to just hit the regular customer service number.
Imagine if the dashboard showed, in addition to everything it shows now, the peak reaction chamber temperature reached in the current/last demand cycle. I'd also like them to add, when the dashboard is viewed during a demand cycle, the burn duration of the current demand cycle. All these details can be pulled from the history page, but it would save a click.
33
The Wall Of Shame / Re: Stupid newbie tricks
« on: November 19, 2019, 06:57:24 AM »
Got the steppers on my 750, not the solenoid, they've been treating me well so far.
34
The Wall Of Shame / Stupid newbie tricks
« on: November 18, 2019, 11:46:02 AM »
I'd like to think I'm better at it now, on my first season with my second boiler, but we will see. I did a ton of stupid stuff with the first boiler after moving into this house where it came with the property.
- Didn't attempt to fire it up the first winter until well after freezing weather. So the boiler side pex lines were frozen. The guy who sold the house just MAY have done this a few times as he advised running a small house from the boiler drain spigot and draining water out to thaw the lines. It is better when it is just frozen in the pex and hasn't burst the copper yet, but it eventually does that too, several times.
- Didn't bother checking the hardware before firing it up the first time. Had myself in a state the aquastat that cuts off the oil boiler was engaged, but the aquastat that enables the pump to move heat from the house side of the heat exchanger wasn't running, so I had hot water in the boiler, cold water in the DHW tank.
- Didn't have spares around for the Love Controls controller that went out on me. Again and again and again. I went through about 10 of them before replacing those "mounted on the boiler shell and gets caked with creosote in minutes" Love TS2 controllers with a Love TSW mounted on the fence a few feet away.
- Didn't have spare solenoids for the one that operated the damper when the draft inducer fan turns on. I probably spent 75% of the time on this first boiler with the damper just locked open.
- Didn't properly maintain the opening from the firebox to the under-firebox gasser area. Why am I burning so much wood but not getting heat? Who knows, who cares, load some more in there. Four winters with the creosote-bomb boiler and it was usually down so often because of solenoids, fans, or controllers, that once those were working I didn't do any huge cleanouts so I had a few feet of caked ash inside the firebox.
- Didn't just stop and tear everything out immediately when the underground pipes started funneling water into my basement, and instead spent months wicking it into 5gal buckets and dumping them every 15-45min. Drain tile. The guy who put the thing in used drain tile. Lasted him just long enough to sell the place.
- Oh and then there was the time when the inline oil boiler that serves as backup sprung a leak, and the way it is plumbed required me to continue running hot water through the oil boiler as I collected leaking water out of it to toss. 4 years here, two Weil-Mclain WGO boilers cracked. Now running them on soft water.
Eventually as time passed... the shell around this old boiler started to melt away. Then the boiler itself caught on fire - I assume from caked up creosote all the way through the batted insulation that surrounded the firebox. Presidents Day weekend Monday, looked out at midnight, saw flames shooting out the top of it. Emptied one fire extinguisher into it with no luck, called the local fire department, who hacked at it with axes and finally put it down. Quite a fun thing watching a friend with a flatbed winching this burned out hulk into place to haul it away to scrap. 2 ton boiler so he got some decent cash out of it.
Now replaced with a clean new CB instead of a Sequoyah beast that was filthy already when I got it, thermopex instead of 5-wrap drain tile, and a slightly more competent operator.
- Didn't attempt to fire it up the first winter until well after freezing weather. So the boiler side pex lines were frozen. The guy who sold the house just MAY have done this a few times as he advised running a small house from the boiler drain spigot and draining water out to thaw the lines. It is better when it is just frozen in the pex and hasn't burst the copper yet, but it eventually does that too, several times.
- Didn't bother checking the hardware before firing it up the first time. Had myself in a state the aquastat that cuts off the oil boiler was engaged, but the aquastat that enables the pump to move heat from the house side of the heat exchanger wasn't running, so I had hot water in the boiler, cold water in the DHW tank.
- Didn't have spares around for the Love Controls controller that went out on me. Again and again and again. I went through about 10 of them before replacing those "mounted on the boiler shell and gets caked with creosote in minutes" Love TS2 controllers with a Love TSW mounted on the fence a few feet away.
- Didn't have spare solenoids for the one that operated the damper when the draft inducer fan turns on. I probably spent 75% of the time on this first boiler with the damper just locked open.
- Didn't properly maintain the opening from the firebox to the under-firebox gasser area. Why am I burning so much wood but not getting heat? Who knows, who cares, load some more in there. Four winters with the creosote-bomb boiler and it was usually down so often because of solenoids, fans, or controllers, that once those were working I didn't do any huge cleanouts so I had a few feet of caked ash inside the firebox.
- Didn't just stop and tear everything out immediately when the underground pipes started funneling water into my basement, and instead spent months wicking it into 5gal buckets and dumping them every 15-45min. Drain tile. The guy who put the thing in used drain tile. Lasted him just long enough to sell the place.
- Oh and then there was the time when the inline oil boiler that serves as backup sprung a leak, and the way it is plumbed required me to continue running hot water through the oil boiler as I collected leaking water out of it to toss. 4 years here, two Weil-Mclain WGO boilers cracked. Now running them on soft water.
Eventually as time passed... the shell around this old boiler started to melt away. Then the boiler itself caught on fire - I assume from caked up creosote all the way through the batted insulation that surrounded the firebox. Presidents Day weekend Monday, looked out at midnight, saw flames shooting out the top of it. Emptied one fire extinguisher into it with no luck, called the local fire department, who hacked at it with axes and finally put it down. Quite a fun thing watching a friend with a flatbed winching this burned out hulk into place to haul it away to scrap. 2 ton boiler so he got some decent cash out of it.
Now replaced with a clean new CB instead of a Sequoyah beast that was filthy already when I got it, thermopex instead of 5-wrap drain tile, and a slightly more competent operator.
35
Central Boiler / Re: Interior door paint peeling when scraped with scraper tool
« on: November 12, 2019, 12:11:38 PM »
Thanks Roger! That's about what I had hoped to hear back. I'll probably just give it the oil treatment after the season ends.
36
Central Boiler / Interior door paint peeling when scraped with scraper tool
« on: November 11, 2019, 08:23:15 AM »
Just wanted to check in with others to see if this is something you have noticed too or not. On my CB Classic Edge 750 HD, I've noticed that when I use the scraper tool on the interior of the door and the frame that the door sets into, some of the flat black paint has been peeling/scraping off along with burn residue. Is this something I should be worried about? I figure come summer I'll re-paint it with some high-temperature flat black to avoid corrosion, but since it started happening the first time I scraped the door I figure I should check in. Is this what the rest of you have typically seen?
Thanks!
Thanks!
37
Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD
« on: November 04, 2019, 08:18:49 AM »bjp - I'd tend to lean to the lack of a coal bed too. I suspect you're right regarding the pulse setting. On my Classic Edge 550 HD I have it set to run for 50 seconds every 10 minutes. I've never lost a fire with those settings. Also, be sure to use smaller size pieces to get the coal bed built up. It can take time to get it there. Whenever I fire mine up for the season I always start early in the morning on a weekend so I have the day to monitor it with the wifi or a visual inspection. Good luck. Roger
Thanks Roger! My second attempt has gone much better. After pulling out the charred wood left from the cold start, I threw in some kindling, got that going, and tossed the charred wood back in. That gave me 10 hours of clock time, 2 hours of burn time, before getting down to coals, with reaction chamber temps getting up as high as 1453F, though usually topping out around 1250F. I just checked it again 12 hours after my first "regular" load, and still quite a bit of charred wood in there but it has been working great. It's not really cold enough here yet (30-40F until later this week) for a big heat load but everything appears to be working perfectly. 2h21m of burn time over the last 12 hours, pulse every 15 minutes (which I now think I can probably bump back to 30min).
Takes about 15 minutes to heat up from 175F to 185F when the low limit triggers, then overshoots by zero to five degrees or so depending on how much load is being drawn. It seems to hold heat very well with no draw, I've been sitting at 189F for 45min since the last cycle ran. I don't fully trust my temperature gauges on the indoor side of the hot line, but based on how well the boiler holds temps I am pretty confident I don't have any meaningful heat loss in the underground pipes (80' ThermoPEX run about 7-8' deep).
I did manage to screw myself a bit when I patched up the concrete slab under the boiler by creating a channel that funneled water to the ThermoPEX line - that stuff will transmit water into your house if you allow enough to pour onto it, but a dam of silicone caulk around it held up to 3.5" of rain over Halloween and I didn't have any more water coming in until I fired up the boiler, the PEX expanded, and squeezed out the remaining few mL. A bit of a scare there as I spent all of last winter with gallons pouring into my basement from the old drain tile the prior owner installed with the original boiler, but it's all bone dry now and looking great.
Granted I only have 24 hours working with this thing but I am loving it.
38
Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD
« on: November 03, 2019, 09:01:29 AM »
So I fired up the 750HD yesterday. All went fine on the cold start, adding heat load, and the first few cycles, but the fire went out overnight after maybe 4 cycles. My home internet was also down so I unfortunately can't refer back to the firestar graphs and logged data to say exactly what happened, but my feeling is operator error and too little of a coal bed. Checked on it and I have a fair chunk of charred wood in there with hardly any ash remaining at the bottom of the firebox.
I'm going to file this one as operator error. I went too quickly from tiny kindling to mid-size logs and should have had a lot more coals in there before stepping up, and/or I need to decrease my idle pulse time from the 30 minutes where it is currently set. Now just waiting for the rain to stop so I can pull the charred wood out without soaking it and re-light this thing. While it was running, it was running great.
I'm going to file this one as operator error. I went too quickly from tiny kindling to mid-size logs and should have had a lot more coals in there before stepping up, and/or I need to decrease my idle pulse time from the 30 minutes where it is currently set. Now just waiting for the rain to stop so I can pull the charred wood out without soaking it and re-light this thing. While it was running, it was running great.
39
Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD
« on: October 22, 2019, 11:15:00 AM »Arrived today and confirmed Edge 750 Titanium with the stainless firebox, manufactured January 2019. My excavator guy didn't show so a bit delayed on getting it hooked up, but wow this thing looks good. Lots of reading to do, I'll get to know the pulse since that will be a new feature for me here.
I was answering another topic when I saw this one. I am wondering how your Edge 750 HD is running for you, if you've put fire to it yet?
Roger
No fire just yet, other than the one on initial fill when it was first installed, which all went fine and appeared to be super efficient on fuel. It's 60F outside right now so I don't think I'll be burning until the beginning of November.
40
Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD
« on: May 13, 2019, 02:37:56 PM »
Arrived today and confirmed Edge 750 Titanium with the stainless firebox, manufactured January 2019. My excavator guy didn't show so a bit delayed on getting it hooked up, but wow this thing looks good. Lots of reading to do, I'll get to know the pulse since that will be a new feature for me here.
41
Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD
« on: May 10, 2019, 12:22:21 PM »The one other thing I should have mentioned is, size does make a difference; the firewood pieces should not be too large. I toss in pieces that are around 4 to 8 inches in diameter, smaller than 4 inches is okay but you don't want to go larger than 8 inches. I meant to ask, does the Edge 750 have the titanium stainless steel firebox or is it the carbon steel firebox? Roger
I won't be 100% positive until Monday when it actually arrives, but all the paperwork says 'titanium HD' so this should be the titanium stainless firebox and the dealer will have a problem if it isn't. I'm probably more interested in the access doors than the stainless firebox since I don't have much experience with them yet.
That's much more thoroughly split wood than I used with the Sequoyah. It'll make loading go more easily vs hefting some of the monsters I burned in that thing.
42
Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD
« on: May 09, 2019, 12:32:59 PM »bjp - I do not have the Edge 750, I have the Edge 550 but I believe their operation is essentially the same. You made the smart move by removing the crappy wrap stuff and replacing it with Thermopex. I've had the same thermopex in the ground for the past 8 winters, I lose around 2 degrees over the 100 foot run. I run mine hot, around 190/195 due to having baseboard heat in my house. As for install, keep it level. Also, the manual will show examples of how to install your OWB for your application. Do yourself a huge favor and read the manual until you understand what 750 needs. The most important thing I can pass along is to be sure your wood is dry, probably no more than 25% moisture. Put enough wood in the firebox for a 12 hour period, it will operate more efficiently that way. The one thing you'll absolutely love is the wifi connection, it's great being able to monitor it from your cell phone or computer, wherever there is a wifi connection. boilerman has the titanium 750 HD also. I haven't seen him on here in awhile, be patient he will and he'll be happy to answer any questions you have. Roger
Thank you for the tips, Roger! It was an easy choice to remove the old wrapped pipe given that it has been leaking groundwater into the basement for about 6 months. I surprisingly had hardly any heat loss with the old pipe, at least until the pipe and wrap waterlogged. Then it was all over. I've been watching a ton of videos on the 750 and I'm loving the idea of loading the firebox for a 12hr burn - the Sequoyah manual said essentially to load it up packed full every single time, a huge difference from the 1/4 - 1/3rd full fireboxes I'm seeing in videos from CB. Access to clean all the gritty parts is going to be great, too, after what I had before.
I'm going to focus hard on keeping wood dry. My woodshed is slowly collapsing to the point snow blows in through the walls so I'm going to have to get that dealt with.
43
Central Boiler / Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD
« on: May 06, 2019, 09:54:30 AM »
Hi all, new poster here.
A week from today, I have a Central Boiler Classic Edge 750 Titanium HD arriving for install here in zone 4. I'm looking for any tips from experienced owners here about things to watch out for or be aware of during install that may not be obvious.
I'm replacing a Sequoyah Paradise E3400 that met an untimely end, already hauled away. The CB will be going on top of the slab the Sequoyah used and the cheap drain tile open-cell wrapped underground pex lines are coming out and getting replaced with thermopex. The pex lines will come in to the existing plate heat exchanger, unless it looks clogged up, to transfer heat to the rest of the hydronics (oil boiler, under floor and in-slab radiant, baseboards, and indirect hot water). Planning to fill it up with treatment immediately, then water, and fire it up and send in all water tests.
Any install-time gotchas out there? For example, once I bought this house with the Sequoyah I read that it would have dumped far less creosote into the damper and draft inducer if it had been initially tilted up a couple inches on the rear side.
A week from today, I have a Central Boiler Classic Edge 750 Titanium HD arriving for install here in zone 4. I'm looking for any tips from experienced owners here about things to watch out for or be aware of during install that may not be obvious.
I'm replacing a Sequoyah Paradise E3400 that met an untimely end, already hauled away. The CB will be going on top of the slab the Sequoyah used and the cheap drain tile open-cell wrapped underground pex lines are coming out and getting replaced with thermopex. The pex lines will come in to the existing plate heat exchanger, unless it looks clogged up, to transfer heat to the rest of the hydronics (oil boiler, under floor and in-slab radiant, baseboards, and indirect hot water). Planning to fill it up with treatment immediately, then water, and fire it up and send in all water tests.
Any install-time gotchas out there? For example, once I bought this house with the Sequoyah I read that it would have dumped far less creosote into the damper and draft inducer if it had been initially tilted up a couple inches on the rear side.