This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

31

Central Boiler / Re: Edge

« on: December 31, 2019, 02:32:03 AM »

Pointblank - How's your Classic Edge 550 Titanium running for you?  The day after Christmas was such a beautiful day I decided to take a bit of time to check the primary air channels and primary air elbow.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how little creosote had built up in them.  I think it was less than an 1/8 of an inch thick.  Just for giggles I took one of those paint scrapers and removed what there.  With the elbow, I removed it and put it back on, nothing gathering in there.  Comparing this to the E-Classic 1400 I had before this one, there is no comparison, the Edge 550 is by far a much simpler unit to clean and operate.   Roger

32

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 30, 2019, 12:55:05 PM »

I get away with long idle time but I also split wood to small pieces. Like you Roger  I find that it reignites on a bead of coals allot quicker. I am sure I have some creosote built up in my primary tube so my next clean will be the 1st full shutdown cleaning this year .  For the creosote in the corners I use an ice chipper and the" Wonder Bar" that came with it.

I was getting bored the other day so I decided to do some reading of the operator's manual.  I learned that the floor pan is removable.  It will be much easier to clean it when it isn't in the firebox.  In the Spring I'm going to remove it and remove whatever there is in the space.  I'll then coat everything with new motor oil before putting it back.  Due to neck and lower back problems I'm unable to crane my neck around to look at the area inside the firebox to the left and right of the door opening.  My manual says to scrape these areas, but I can't due to my neck and back problems.  I'm thinking of asking one of my nephews if I pay him a few bucks to scrape it for me.  When you say you split the wood to small pieces, what is "small pieces" by your definition?  Roger   

33

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 27, 2019, 04:33:28 PM »

I have the 1450 so I am not sure how the 750 fire box is. I used to wait until I had a lower reaction chamber temp and let the fire go out overnight and clean it then. Now I go in the reaction chamber 3-4 weeks and shovel it out with the fire going. I kill the power for a few min but thats it. My heat exchanger tubes are  clean with just some fly ash  Like Roger I do a full clean  mid season. So far this year I have a 30 min pulse cycle that lasts 50 seconds. My heat exchanger tubes are  clean with just some fly ash

duramax - Yesterday I decided to do a cleaning on the Edge 550, I was pleasantly surprised to find no creosote build up whatsoever.  I removed the primary air elbow and put it back, no creosote in there either.  I know of others who pulse for 50 sec every 30 minutes.  I wonder if that would work for me?  I pulse for 50 secs every 10 minutes, perhaps its a waste of firewood doing it so often.  I think I'll give it a try.  Another thing I tried yesterday is I used a paint scraper, the pull type to remove the creosote build up that I found in the corners and the mating surface on the door and that worked great!  It's much easier scraping the stuff than trying to push into it with a putty knife.  Roger

34

General Discussion / Merry Christmas

« on: December 24, 2019, 08:45:15 AM »

I want to take a moment to wish everyone who happens to stick their heads in this forum a very Merry Christmas before all of the festivities take us away.  I will not be online much tomorrow due to attending church tomorrow morning and then spending the day with one of my older brothers and his wife.  May God shine his light upon you all.  Roger

35

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 21, 2019, 09:08:43 AM »

I’ve been up that way many times Roger, it would be an awesome road trip on the bike in August but not so much right now.

   I don't mind ice skating but I rather not do it on my motorcycle...   

36

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 21, 2019, 02:18:48 AM »

I've been to St. Albans before, beautiful area.  My younger brother's in-laws used to own a camp on Lake Champlain, we used to go to get away from everything and do a bit of fishing.  It's been approx 20 years since I last visited St. Albans. 

37

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 20, 2019, 04:34:58 PM »

Where are you located in VT?  I purchased a Honda Goldwing last summer (pre-owned but new to me) and I'm planning some rides.  Perhaps I can make a day trip up your way.  But, it's a bit on nippy side to that right now.     Roger

38

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 20, 2019, 01:25:27 PM »

Wow!  I can honestly say I've never reached 1700 reaction chamber temps.  I think the highest reading I've had is 1600.  As for the cap - Mine has been askew a few times with a little what looks like steam escaping from the vent.  I usually see it after it's cycled.  The way I see it is if all looks good, no seals compromised or showing signs of failure, the water is at the full mark in the site tube and everything appears to be operating as it should, I wouldn't be too worried.  My best guess is a possible back draft through the reaction chamber perhaps due to a downdraft situation may be the cause.  As long as she's working well, I wouldn't worry too much about it only keep an eye on things, just in case.  Roger

39

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 19, 2019, 04:40:22 PM »

Thank you Roger, this is a great guide!  I started out removing too much ash, I think, and had multiple cases of the fire going out overnight until I allowed more to accumulate.  I think I just went too far that direction and let it get too full.  I have definitely been running the hooked poker tool through the ash bed twice a day.  You are exactly right about the air holes in the panel just below the door, mine must have the same configuration as your 550 as they are indeed much lower than the ones on the side channels. I'm so impressed at how clean the heat exchangers in the rear have been staying.

No problems hitting 1300+F now after cleaning out the firebox.  I had misread the instructions and was thinking removing ash from there was the "complete firebox cleaning" procedure more reserved for the end of the season than as a during-use maintenance.  I won't make that mistake again.

The one thing with mine, I've never had to remove any ash from the firebox, I simply put in a bit less wood the next time around and let it burn down a bit too.  It's something that takes quite a bit of trial and error.  If not enough wood is put in the firebox you run the risk of the fire going out; but if you put in too much wood, the ash gets too deep and plugs the holes.  This is my second year with the 550 and I'm still trying different things to see what works best for me.  The one thing I like right now is that it's been cold for the past couple of nights and today was quite cold with temps in the lower teens with a steady breeze out of the north.  It really makes the 550 work so I've now got a pretty good handle on how much wood to put in the firebox for a 12 hour period.  When the temps get down around zero like tonight with a 10 to 15Mph breeze, I put in 12 pieces of firewood ranging from 4 to 6 to 8 inches in diameter.  I should have a nice coal bed left at 6:00am when I put more in it for the next 12 hours.  Continued good luck with the 750.  And, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!  Roger 

40

Central Boiler / Re: Replacing Sequoyah E3400 with CB Classic Edge 750 HD

« on: December 18, 2019, 04:59:30 PM »

This is my cleaning schedule for my Titanium Classic Edge 550 HD;

Every 2 weeks I remove the ash build up from the reaction chamber.  I get maybe around 5 to 6 shovels full.  It's probably overkill to be cleaning it that often but I want to be sure the unit is not choking it.  I also take a few minutes to run the brush through the heat exchanger to get rid of any ash build up.  Takes a minute or 2 to brush it.  Be sure the coal isn't too deep either.  It needs a good bed around 3 to 4 inches deep but I wouldn't go much higher than that.  Make sure the primary air holes in the removable channels stay clear of creosote build up and ash too.  When my 550 was delivered a poker came with it that has a curved end to it, every 12 hours when I'm adding wood I use it to scrape the surface of the channels of anything that may have built up.  If your 750 is like my 550, there are air holes in the removable panel that's below the door opening inside the firebox.  The holes on my 550 are lower in this panel than those in the primary air channels along each side.  They can easily get blocked by too much coal.  Be sure they stay clear of coals, ash and creosote.  Don't be afraid to run the poker through the coal bed to even it out and loosen it up a bit.  Sometime maybe in mid February I'll do a complete cleaning.  Essentially I'll just remove the primary air channel to clear it of any creosote and then I'll remove the primary elbow, if any creosote is present I'll remove it.  I have never unplugged the harness from the stepper motors.  I hope these tips help a bit.  Roger       

41

Central Boiler / Re: Edge 750 users

« on: December 11, 2019, 04:54:30 PM »

Hi Scratch - I don't have the Edge 750, I have the Edge 550 but both units are gassers and operate under the same principal(sp?) so I'll give you my $0.02 worth.  This is my second season heating my home with the Classic Titanium Edge 550 HD.  This past fall I used some less than desirable wood, the moisture content was way over the 20% I usually burn.  The results are it's much harder to keep a good coal bed, which is a must in the gassers.  I had a dickens of a time keeping the coal bed deep enough.  Due to the higher MC (moisture content) you'll have a lot more creosote build up which may gum up the works.  You'll burn more wood due to the need of burning the water in the wood.  The Hx (heat exchanger) may need more, constant cleaning due to the creosote buildup.  Roger   

42

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Crickets

« on: December 06, 2019, 12:42:11 PM »

I'm as guilty as anyone here. I used this site when I needed advice and now come here once in a great while. This summer I came here and tried to sign in with the user name and password but got a message that I was timed out. Only when I signed in up top did I get in. I originally thought this site was gone. Allot of sites are having the same problem with lack of active users. Sign of the times? I am a dinosaur, I never have used snap chat or any of the other stuff out there. I was told that Facebook is for old farts and not used by most young people. Good thing I don't have a facebook  account.

duramax - Be careful with that old fart remark, I resemble that.    I use facebook a lot.  Roger

43

Central Boiler / Received an Alarm

« on: December 05, 2019, 04:41:14 PM »

This morning around 1:00am I received an alarm on my cell phone saying that the Edge 550 HD had lost communication and that I haven't received any updates for a bit.  So I got dressed and went outside to make sure the OWB was still heating the house, it was, so I disabled the alarm on my cell phone and went back to bed.  When it was time to put wood in it at 6:00am I turned off the controller and waited for a few seconds and turned it back on, it made no difference, I wasn't receiving any updates.  When I got to work I emailed Tyler, the IT guy at CB and stated my problem.  He checked everything on their end and he said everything was operating as it should.  He recommended that I reboot the cable modem and report back to him my findings.  So when I got home I rebooted the cable modem and I am now receiving updates as I should.  Something so simple that I should have been able to figure it out on my own but didn't.  Oh well...  Roger 

44

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Crickets

« on: December 05, 2019, 04:30:57 PM »

I try to check in every day.  If someone needs help I hope I'm in the position to help but mostly it's me looking for the help.  I have received a lot of help from a lot from people in here; thanks for that.  I hope we can resurrect this site to what it once was.  Roger

45

Central Boiler / Re: Installing a New CB Edge 750 HD this weekend!

« on: December 04, 2019, 04:43:40 PM »

boilerman - Other than a couple (I think of them) hiccups she's been running very good me too.  The three hiccups I had are a faulty controller; CB came through for me, they sent me a new one at no cost and I sent the old one back at their cost.  The water level sensor broke which was made out of plastic, I replaced it with a new one from CB made of stainless steel.  A month or so ago I experienced 3 power surges in row before losing power for 5 hours.  The emergency generator took over running everything for me.  But the surges blew a hole through the power supply circuit board.  My dealer had a new one.  The downside was he charged me $70.00 for it.  I found the exact same thing online for $45.00.  I have purchased it as a backup in case we experience power surges again.  I'm saving my pennies to get a UPS to install to save the 550 from blowing up the power supply again.  Other than the 3 things its been running very good for me.  Roger