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1771

Central Boiler / E-Classic 1400 Operating Like a Champ

« on: November 11, 2011, 11:44:05 AM »

Hi all,

Just a followup on the problems I was having when I first started using the OWB.  It's running like a champ.  I ran into a glitch on Tuesday morning (the fire was out, but that was my fault).  I rekindled it and it has been running ever since.  I set the temp differential to 5 degrees so the the blower turns on at 180 and off at 185.  I also am using the pulse feature.  I have it pulse for 30 seconds every 15 minutes.  This seems to be doing the trick during this "heat" wave for I have not lost the fire since I started operating it this way.  I know that when the weather turns to a more seasonal range I'll have to revisit the settings.  So, thanks to those who chimed in with friendly advice and encouragement. 

I am amazed of how efficient (I can't spell, okay?) this thing operates and how little ash is left.  I looked inside the reaction chamber last evening around 5:00pm when I was adding some firewood to the firebox and there was very little ash in it and the stuff that was there was glowing red hot.  Now I see first hand how great this thing is and uses so little firewood.

Roger   

1772

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Are people afraid of work?

« on: November 11, 2011, 06:03:43 AM »

One of the most amusing things I heard this summer came from my neighbors kid.  He's 15 years old, mom asked him to mow the lawn.  He didn't mow it because it was too hot outside.  They use a riding mower!  Sitting on his butt riding around, was too hard for him.  Mom taught him a lesson, she mowed the lawn herself.  Much to my dismay she mowed wearing her bikini, so not all was lost .  I feel sorry for this kid.  When he gets older he'll expect someone else to do the work he doesn't want to do.  He's going to have a rough awaking when he hits the working world. 

Have a great weekend everyone.  I gotts to split wood tomorrow.  My mental therapy at work.

Roger

1773

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Water temperature settings for Outdoor Wood Furnaces???

« on: November 10, 2011, 11:13:38 AM »

The high setpoint on mine is 185, low setpoint is 180.  Plus, I have it set up to pulse for 30 seconds every 15 minutes, just to keep the coals from going out during this warmer weather when the call for heat can be longer than it takes for the water temp to lower for the blower to turn on.  As some may know, I've had issues trying to keep the fire going during this warm spell and someone recommended that I set the low setpoint 5 degrees lower than the high setpoint.  Plus, someone mentioned that they pulse their OWB.  With these changes, I have not experienced anymore issues with fire going out, yet. 

Roger   

1774

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Are people afraid of work?

« on: November 10, 2011, 11:04:13 AM »

Hi all,

I work at an Ivy League college, a technician in an engineering department.  When I mentioned to some of my colleagues that I purchased and installed an OWB, the responses I received was amusing/amazing.  I firmly believe that many people are getting lazy.  I'm in my 50's and I have more energy than a lot of my colleagues some of who are more than half my age.  They can not understand how I enjoy cutting, splitting and stacking wood.  Well, for me it mental therapy.  After dealing with a bunch of spoiled brats all day, it's quite nice to take out your frustrations on a wood pile.  Any thoughts, anyone?

Roger       

1775

Central Boiler / Re: Giving it another try

« on: November 07, 2011, 06:22:12 PM »

Well, when I arrived home from work this evening the fire was going strong, the water temp was at it's set point.  After raking the ash from the bottom of what was left for embers, I added more wood for the night.  It's 68 degrees in the house and comfortable.  I'm still wondering if I should use the pulse in place of the temp differential.  I'll see what the week brings and decide from there.

Roger

1776

Central Boiler / Re: Giving it another try

« on: November 07, 2011, 05:39:05 AM »

Hi Roger,

Sorry to hear you're still having problems.  I have my temperature swing set to 13 degrees difference (180 - 193).  I don't think the gassification units operate as efficiently cycling so often.  I base that on watching mine.  It has to run for a little while before I get reaction chamber temperatures up around 1,000 degrees.  If it short cycled, I am not sure it would get there.  My two cents.

If you still have no luck and want to talk, shoot me a PM and I will send you my phone number.

Dean

Dean186;

Overnight, this E classic 1400 ran beautifully.  It kept the temps where I wanted them and had a nice fire going at 5:00AM this morning.  Looking at the weather forecast for the next 2 or 3 days, the temps are supposed to be in the lower 60's with sunshine.  I'm wondering if I should pulse it instead of the short temp differential.  Before I make any changes I'll see what it looks like when I get home from work this evening.  I'll report back this evening.

Thank you very much for your help with this project.

Roger 

1777

Central Boiler / Giving it another try

« on: November 06, 2011, 03:14:15 PM »

Hi all,

Well, I made some changes to the water temperature differential to see if it'll make a difference for me.  As some know, in the past the fire would go out during the warm weather days causing me to wonder what I was doing wrong.  A couple of folks recommended that I change the temp differential so I did.  I should know if it made a difference.  It was set at 10 degrees so I lowered it to 5 degrees.  I hope it works.   Tomorrow the outdoor temps are to be in the upper 40's to lower 50's so that should be good test for it.  I'll report my finding when I get a few minutes tomorrow night.

Roger

1778

Central Boiler / Re: Computer Interface to OWB

« on: November 02, 2011, 05:50:57 PM »

Roger-

I've been searching for awhile but I think I found something that might fit your request. I think it will even work for me for my temp monitoring:

http://www.controlbyweb.com/products.html

Scroll down to the temp modules.

Note on the probes: Only 1' cables. I called and they recommend CAT5 cables to extend routing to module. May have to add a 5V power supply if going long distance.

RidgeKid,

Thanks for the info.  That should do what I'm looking for.  The Cat5 cable is no big deal, I deal with it for a living.  I'll have to call them to see what they can do for me.

Man, this forum is great!

Roger

1779

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Anyone Have Tall Chimney Pics?

« on: November 02, 2011, 11:45:30 AM »

heck with the chimney! I thought I had alot of wood but man you have it licked. matty is there a sawmill or something behind those trees?

  LOL red devil... Log length wood you see in the background..Bought it Labor Day weekend.. 16 cord of hardwood  $1200.. pole size wood...I wish there was a saw mill lol...That wood there is for next winter..and no I don't burn all that wood in a season lol.. I burn 8-9 cord  during a 7 month season...

MattyNH;

If your name indicates the state in which you reside, I too live in NH.  It's a small town not too far from the Connecticut River about 15miles south east of Hanover, NH (Dartmouth College area) the town is called Enfield. 

I see you say you burn between 8&9 cord of wood a year.  How many square feet are heating?  I'll be heating approx. 1000 square feet of a house built in 1840 with the Central Boiler E1400 Classic.

Roger

1780

Central Boiler / Re: Newbie - Need assistance

« on: November 02, 2011, 11:29:07 AM »

My question is, what should the temp be in the reaction chamber if everything is operating properly? 

Am I putting in too much wood for the outdoor temp swings, perhaps not enough? 

The wood is not being completely burnt. 

Also, I have been reading that there should be "ash" in the clean out area, but mine looks more like coals approximately the size of a dime. 
         

Hi Rodger,

The reaction chamber temperatures will vary for each of my loads.  It will also vary based on the wood you are burning.  If I am getting a good burn, the temperature of the reaction chamber will be between 900 and 1300 degrees.  The highest temperature I have ever observed was 1,530 degrees.   A poor load of junk wood may not get the reaction chamber temperature up to 550 degrees, which is when the low burn solenoid opens.

It does not matter how much wood you put into the firebox.  It will function the same.  I like to put the amount of wood that gets mostly burned in the time I feel I can feed it next.  In warm weather, I put in 24 hours worth.  In cold weather it is hard to make it 24 hours, so I fill accordingly.  Maybe 2/3 full and then fill every 12 hours.

When inspecting the wood in the firebox,  it never looks burnt on the top of the pile.  So it doesn't look completely burnt.  It will all burn from the bottom if loaded properly.

Some small coals will fall through the grate and into the reaction chamber.  Don't worry about them, they will get burnt up.

Dean

Dean,

Thanks so much for the help.

I now feel I have a better understanding of the OWB.  As stated before this concept of heating a home with this type of unit is new and completely foreign to me.  Frankly, I feel a bit nervous but that will disappear when I get the hang of it.

Thanks again.

Roger 

1781

Central Boiler / Re: HELP!!!!

« on: November 02, 2011, 10:51:59 AM »

Okay, this thing is screwy.  When I got home from work this evening the CB E1400 Classic OWB was indicating Fire Out again.  Yup, when I open the door sure enough the fire had gone out.  The air holes are clear, the wood is dry (2 years old)...the usual culprits seem to be okay.  So, again, I removed everything from the fire box and rekindled the fire.  As like last night, I had a nice roaring fire within 20 minutes.  The water temp was slightly over 150, the reaction temp was approaching 700.  Now this is the part the part I don't understand.  Why would the water boil over from the fill location when it is only 150 degrees.  When I checked the water level at the site tube, it filled to the point of coming out the top of the tube.  When the furnace was first installed the water level was about an inch from the top of the tube.  Where is all this extra water coming from?  There is absolutely no way for extra war to get in it without a water hose and that's in the basement of my house.  As I stated previously the furnace was installed by a professional contracted through the dealer.  Any ideas?  Thanks in advance for your help.   

Hi Rodger,

MTJAG contacted me over at the Forestry Forum.  I have about 300 post over there talking mostly about the E-Classic 1400.  He told me about this forum, so I thought I would join.

Hi everyone!

This is my third year of operating a E-Classic 1400. 

First, the manual and dealer are your friend.  Most of your questions should be answered there.  It also looks like your questions have already been answered here.  However, I wouldn't mind talking to you about the specifics.

1)  When the water is at operating temperature, the water fill indicator will show an increase of inch above from the cold temperature.  As explained above - water expands when warm.  The manual refers to this and suggest filling to about inch below the fill line.  However, I successfully operate mine with the water about inch above the fill line without boil over.

2)  When filling the unit with wood, you have to think of it as a hopper that wood falls down into when burnt from the bottom.  If you load the wood like in a fireplace or campfire.  It will bridge.

3)  I found the factory default settings inadequate to keep the fire from going out during the warm weather.  I set mine to cycle 1 minute every 20 minutes.

Hope this helps.  Dean

Hello Dean,

Gosh!, what a great forum.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my concerns.

Now I am getting a better picture of what  need to do to keep it going. 

On the subject of clearing the holes of ash; a few of them have ash in them due to inexperience and inattentiveness.  How should I go about clearing these holes?  I was thinking of using compressed air by manually opening the dampers and push somewhere around 100psi of air through it.  Do you see any reason why this wouldn't work? Or, do see damage to the unit of which I do not know about?

Thanks for the help.

Roger

1782

Central Boiler / Computer Interface to OWB

« on: November 02, 2011, 06:55:24 AM »

Hi all,

Does anyone know if Central Boiler have available an interface from their OWB to a computer say like my home?  This way I can monitor the settings from inside the house or if I'm work and make changes to the setting no matter where I am as long I have a computer handy. 

Thanks,

Roger

1783

Central Boiler / Re: Newbie - Need assistance

« on: November 02, 2011, 03:33:25 AM »

Roger,

     I don't have a CB, so can't say what's best for air holes.  Judicial use of my old shop vac was most logical choice for my P&M.  Emptied immediately after use and don't put in house or any building until a few days have passed!  I should say that my OWB was "out" for at least 24 hrs before I used said appliance.  Worked good, but fear of finding ol' shop vac ablaze, was forefront of my mind for quite some time!

     One of the CB owners will surely offer up a bit of advice shortly, I'm sure



Bill

Hello ill,

Thanks for the response.  I appreciate it.

I'll be servicing the OWB this Saturday.  That should be ample time for the coals and ash cool to the point where a shop vac can be safely used, I hope.  I plan to dump the ash and coal from the shop vac into a metal barrel I have selected for this chore.  Once I am satisfied that the coals and ash are cold, the barrel will then be dumped into my garden. 

I wonder how compressed air would work?  In the rear there are air damps that open and close using solenoids when the furnace "calls" for air to keep the fire going.  If I carefully open them, one at a time, and push let's say 100psi of air through them, that should push anything that's in the holes into the fire box where I can remove it.  Please, everyone, chime in with your thoughts and concerns of this idea.  Thanks again.

Roger

1784

Central Boiler / Re: Newbie - Need assistance

« on: November 01, 2011, 07:25:11 PM »

      When you say "boil over", that would be due to water temp above 212deg.  Could it be just expansion from heating the water??

       Also, what I found, and re-inforced from much more experienced forum members than I, is the fire will go out over a period of time when the house is not calling for any heat and the outside temps are up.  As suggested by other members, is to narrow the differential.  Say 180 deg off/ 175 deg on.  The OWB will turn on the blower much more often and ensure the fire stays lit.  Also goes a long way in helping with eliminating creosote build-up.  When temps dip and winter really sets in, you can widen the differential.

       I'm relatively new member here also, and these guys are a wealth of knowledge. 

      Ask away, a great source for OWB owners...keep us informed.

Bill

Bill,

Thanks for the response.  I appreciate it.

What you say makes sense to me.  I'll have a look at the settings, they are factory, I'll adjust if need be.  I will have to wait until the weekend, I need to be at work for 6:00am tomorrow morning and leave approx. 8:00pm.  Gonna be a long day. 

One more question - Some ash got into the air holes and I'd love to remove it.  Any ideas how that's done?  Thanks again for your help.   

1785

Central Boiler / Re: HELP!!!!

« on: November 01, 2011, 07:08:56 PM »

Yes, water is an interesting element.  By the way, it takes less pressure to push hot water than it does to push cool water.  When my dealer filled my unit up, it left room for expansion and indicated such.

I assume your 1400 "bridged" which is why the fire went out?  Does your wood supply consist of split and small rounds and you are loading it flat stacked in the chamber?

Thanks for the response.  I appreciate it. 

Okay, I understand what you're saying regarding water pressure; warm vs cool.  What do you mean  by "bridged"?