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31

Fire Wood / Re: Free pine is fine

« on: February 04, 2012, 05:09:23 PM »

    

I've burned a few big white pines and they burn well, don't last as long as our hardwoods but still its fuel

Scott...I'm with you on this.  We have about 8 really tall garbage Cotton Wood trees that MUST come down this year.  The fellow that is gong to fell them says they're junk trees.  I told him I don't care, to me it's FREE WOOD!  And it will still produce heat...just have to fill the box more.   

Jerry

32

Shaver Furnace / Re: My not so messy shaver

« on: February 03, 2012, 09:03:29 PM »

Shep,

Regarding that durn plate in the rear.  First off, how old is your unit?  Here's what I had to do with my plate.  It originally came with what appeared to be two handles; one on either side and this would provide ease in pulling up on the plate to remove it.  I also noticed that there were two steel angles welded on the plate, one on either side of the plate, well these angle guys were NOT allowing the plate to rest flush against the inner frame; so I literally cut off the angle brackets (To this day I have no clue as to what their purpose was).  I then took the plate and lowered it down onto the inner frame, only to find out that the second grader that fabricated the frame did NOT square the frame in which this plate would lie.  BUT....upon further investigation I discovered that if I took the plate and flipped it upside down, it would fit perfectly within the confines of the frame.  So that's what I did and then I applied lots of silicone and it hasn't leaked yet...

Hope this makes sense.  but KNOW this...you HAVE to get that bad boy SEALED all the way around...or you will leak water and this is NOT a good thing.

Lugnut

33

Electronics / Re: Solenoid Humming

« on: February 03, 2012, 08:47:51 PM »

Well, if you can sing AirForcePOL...you can entertain the neighbors....yeah, I know everyone likes a little, but no one needs a smart one.  LOL!

Do you have a plastic tube over the chain that opens to solenoid?  Prolly not a setup like what is on the Shaver units.

Solenoids are about $23.00 and well worth the price.  In fact I have to go to Grainger next week to pick up a spare although I do believe they are less expensive if you go to www.altheating.com

Lugnut

34

General Discussion / Re: Important Message

« on: February 03, 2012, 08:31:23 PM »

now that the cat is out of the bag i guess for all of us here it will be ..wait and see.

Thanks Phin for all you did to bring us folks together to share in our experiences, good and bad and help one another through some of our learning curves. I hope this site remains and i also hope it can be for everyone. i know there are many dealers here now and we can still all get along. it is my wish that that if one dealer bought this site that they can see clear to not stop others from posting. the forum has grown to include may different makes and i would like to see it continue. fo all the friends i have made here you can always get hold of me. my email is in my profile

thanks everyone and i hope to see your posts on the board again

phin we can all only hope the new owner is as open minded and generous as you have been good luck in your next and all projects

WillieG

Phin...ditto on EVERYTHING Willie typed.  And thank you for the refund, wasn't expecting that.  Good luck in the future with whatever you do and don't be a stranger.  Sure hope this board stays together as MANY of us have made new sight unseen friends all through one common bond...to screw the utility companies.  LOL!

Lugnut
aka: Jerry

35

Shaver Furnace / Re: My Shaver is a mess

« on: January 30, 2012, 12:09:40 PM »

Ok Shep is fine lug. I live in PA pretty cold. Not like the midwest. I am going to wait till spring to do the lines. I have a backhoe so digging them up is not hard. I have a Ranco thermostat hooked up although it shorted because the leak from the back of the tank got water on the unit. I am ordering another ranco. Is it a bad idea to drill a hole through the dhw plate and insert the ranco sensor directly into the water?  I will work on other corrections first and will do lines this spring or summer.

Still would like recommendation on a fan.

Regarding the Ranco.....okay, since you haven't siliconed the top plate in yet...don't.  Here's what you have to do regarding the Ranco, actually you can do this one of two ways.  You have to either "make" or "buy" a dry well.  "The probe on the end of the sensor wire on the Ranco can NOT go directly into the water. "   I cheated and went to Menard's and bought a 12" copper tube that was soldered and coned on the bottom; then I bought a male adapter to solder on to the opposite end so that the dry well would not slide into the tank.  Most fellas on here have done it the easier was because they may have had tubing lying around...I didn't.  Take a piece of copper tubing 12" long by 1/4 or 1/2" and solder a cap on the bottom; get a male adapter and solder that on the other end, again so it will NOT fall into the tank.

NOW since you haven't siliconed that plate in, I would remove the plate altogether and take it where ever and drill a hole into that plate, preferably 2" from the rear most edge ....make the hole the SAME size as the copper tube.  put the plate back into it's frame and THEN silicone the snot out of it.....take the dry well tube and slide it into the hole and then (THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT) silicone "carefully" around the male adapter really good.  You might want to hold onto the center of it with one finger and then silicone with the other hand.....drop that probe into the well and voila!  You're done with that part.   Now, I will NOT even begin to tell you how to wire that bad boy up....I cheated, I called in the professionals.

Next......


Jerry

36

Shaver Furnace / Re: Direction and Location of Circulator

« on: January 30, 2012, 11:55:11 AM »

Lug, you dont want my honest answer lol

Why do they send those lil dinky stats?  Why do they send you parts that looks like monkeys welded it up and won't even fit?  Why do they do a lot of the things they do I'll never know.  I wouldn't put much faith in the manual because I have about zero faith in there knowledge of anything.  But that's my opinion, I'd much rather talk to folks on here whom are experienced in the field the same way you did.

You had a fair share of problems and most were fixed by folks on here helpin and talking about issues as u know, those things sure ain't covered in the manual.

Scott,

I'm not disputing the facts and yes, everyone on here has helped me with my issues regarding this wonderful unit.  And every day I go out to feed the pig, I say thank you to everyone. 

I'm only reading what the manual says, but as I mentioned it is funny that the manual says one thing and their units are shipped just the opposite, Sooooooo apparently I'm MISSING something here.

But as in anything, the manual is but a mere guide to go by, NOT to follow verbatim. 

Jerry

37

Shaver Furnace / Re: Direction and Location of Circulator

« on: January 30, 2012, 08:04:19 AM »

Scott,

Oddly enough, in the Shaver Owners Instruction Manual it reads " Recent research has shown that it can be better to have the pump at the bottom and the return line where the pump is shown here."    And "HERE" in the owner's manual, the pump is located at the top...and when I typed ""oddly" in the beginning...IF this in fact were true, why is it that Shaver ships all their furnaces with the pump located at the top?

Don't mean to confuse anyone...just reading what is in the manual.

Lugnut

38

Shaver Furnace / Re: Blower and Insulated Pipe

« on: January 30, 2012, 07:55:42 AM »

Ok so i am going to dig my lines up and replace them with something better insulated, any suggestions or websites where to buy? Also I need a bigger blower? Any ideas or good sites for that?

Shep.....may I call you this?   

BEFORE we move on...was this a NEW furnace that you got?  Did you receive an OWNER'S INSTRUCTION MANUAL with the unit?

Before you go digging up your lines, you should take a look at everything else first.  Is the unit on a solid surface?  Concrete slab or gravel?  Is that surface level?  Is your furnace level?  I ask this because with my first and last Shaver 165 the frame was all contorted and not square no matter what one would do to it. 

You do NOT want to clean the flue while the stack/firebox is hot.  Let it cool down to almost nothing and you will be fine.  Unless you have a 5" chimney brush, that's what size you will need to do the flue..I had to special order mine.  Clean that bad boy out several times. 

How about the creosote build up in the unit?  Do you have the black slime oozing out when ever you open the doors?

The plate in the rear is easy to seal, it's just a pain to get to.  More time consuming, but it WILL be worth your time.  Use a GOOD quality silicone.  I found that it's accessible best by removing the rear roof ridge and then the rear face panels and then stand on a ladder and lift or remove the insulation and wipe down the surface really well....next you will want to remove some of the water as you will want the silicone to stick...other wise if there is warm/hot water in the tank, the silicone will NOT adhere as well.  YOu can drain the water and just look for yourself by lifting the plate as to how far the water had gone down....I let it drain to where the level was about 1 foot below the plate.     While you have the plate off,  you will find that the plate rests atop of an edge that is inside the frame...make certain that plate rests flush on that edge...then silicone all along where the gap is and do it really well.

It IS imperative that you get that plate ENTIRELY sealed!!!  Many issues stem from not having this plate sealed.

Now I've given you some ideas what to do, but like I mentioned, before you go pulling up your water lines, take the fore mentioned steps first.

Regarding your wanting to get a larger blower motor...there are a few fellows on here who have the plain jane stock 165 with the same 50 cfm blower motor and slide damper along with the t-stat that originally came with the unit and EVERTHING works fine for them.  I'm hoping some of them will chime in here.  "You need first deal with the basics".   I don't know where you live, but if you are located where it gets cold and snows a lot, you might want to wait until Spring before you go ripping things up...you will ONLY get more frustrated.

Lugnut

39

Site Suggestions / Re: Wondering during posting....

« on: January 30, 2012, 07:28:53 AM »

Ummm...okay then I will just live with it....as I have no clue what a smf to a phpbb is, so phhft.        

40

Shaver Furnace / Re: My Shaver is a mess

« on: January 29, 2012, 10:45:42 PM »

Tree climber. I don't see water leaking from dhw plate it comes right from that exposed heat plate area??  I have slider in blower open the whole way ??

tshepler.....you need to silicone the snot out of that upper plate in the rear top of the furnace.  Do you have the DHW coils in your Shaver?  The plate that is in the upper most rear of the furnace NEEDS to be siliconed shut.  The ONLY time you will ever have to remove that plate again is is you have to replace/clean-out the coil.

The slider/damper on the motor should only be open 1/2 - 1/3 of the way....do NOT close it or all you will get is smoldering of the wood.

First as everyone suggests is to check the flue for creosote build up.....and this build up will be caused by NOT getting a rip roaring fire in there.  Bet you have "black slime" oozing  from the doors when you open them as well?   Also, you might want to check that cheapo t-stat that is in the rear of the furnace.  Mine was "supposedly" new from the factory, but after a while it died...within two months of my having the furnace.  While the furnace is running, you can "carefully" take a small screwdriver and turn the temp screw down and see if it shuts off the blower motor.  At what temp do you have the t-stat set?

Lugnut

41

Site Suggestions / Re: Wondering during posting....

« on: January 29, 2012, 10:33:37 PM »

I suppose I'm the only one having this issue.  Hmmmmmm

42

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: What comes with boilers?

« on: January 29, 2012, 10:32:10 PM »

The thermopex is good, but please don't buy not that its so much better than everything else.  I've installed triple wrap on the surface due to frozen ground and it didnt melt the snow.  There is also some great 5 wrap that I'd choose over thermopex.  A quality 3 or 5 wrap will lose less than 1 degree in 75'

chadley,

I back up Scott here.  I was going to buy the Thermopex at first, but then I got to reading and figuring out also what it would cost me and I was not prepared to pay close to $2k for piping.  I went with a nice three wrap and the ONLY time I have snow melt is when it is warm outside.  We've had below freezing temps here as of late...well two weeks ago and I had NO snow melt and my lines are at the max...2' down....and from my OWF to my house is a 115' run.

Now this is not to say others have paid too much...that was their choice and their situation s may be different than mine or Scott, but I know that if you read up on the more expensive pex line versus a nice three or five wrap, you will see a HUGE savings in just the line alone.

Jerry

43

Shaver Furnace / Just to let EVERYONE know.....

« on: January 28, 2012, 02:51:10 PM »

I got the Ranco wired up last Tuesday.  I gave in and called my electrician.  I thank those who offered advice on my doing the wiring.  Believe me, I tried several times and just could not get the darn thing to operate, so I called in the big guns.   

What a world of difference!  So nice to be able to some what control when the damper opens and closes.  So I need everyone's input here...I have it set at off at 175 with a differential of 10*  What say you?

Lugnut   

44

Site Suggestions / Wondering during posting....

« on: January 27, 2012, 08:23:30 AM »

How come, after I've made a reply or posted a new thread, that I cannot return to the same page, but instead the format returns me to the forum site?  In other words, when I finish typing this and hit "post" instead of it coming back to this same thread, I get returned to the page for " site suggestions."

Lugnut

45

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Painting the water jacket

« on: January 27, 2012, 08:20:36 AM »

So Mr. Boiler maker.....     Would you be suggesting that those of us that have newer OWF might want to consider doing the same?  I have the Rust Blocker in the tank, but now you have brought up a good point.  I was going to tear the sides off mine this Spring anyway to put more/better insulation around it.

Just wondering.

Lugnut