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16
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / You might be a redneck if.......
« on: November 28, 2011, 08:30:45 PM »
I had been thinking of a CHEAP way to be able to monitor when my P&M 250 gasser was cycling, as you can rarely see anything exiting the exhaust. I went to Wal-Mart about a week and a half ago and saw that they have Christmas things on sale already, and all at once it dawned on me: Why not buy a string of LED lights and take one of them from the string and hook it up to my blower or solenoid? I bought a string, but on the way home, I figured with Christmas coming and all, why not just use the whole string of 25? So I did. I ran them up one corner and under one eve(with Gorilla duct tape of course). I think they are incredibly cool. My wife just noticed them tonight. She came in the living room where I was watching tv and said, while rolling her eyes, "You've got to be kidding- do we live in Michigan or Mich-tucky?" She thinks I'm a bit impaired upstairs for having lights on a boiler. Me and my kid think it's awesome!
Marty
Marty
17
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Setteling a bet-how much in cords AND face cords
« on: November 26, 2011, 07:42:50 PM »
I brought home some more firewood today. My friend stopped over and we had a beer and looked at my stacks that I've cut,split and stacked so far this year. I have 4 rows that measure 9 feet wide, 6 feet tall, and 26 feet long. I come up with just shy of 11 full cords, or not quite 33 face cords. He agrees on the full cord figure, but disagrees on the face cord amount. He says that each row has 4 7/8 cords. 4 7/8 x 4 = 19 1/2 face cords. The Wicopedia definition says I'm right. He says he's right. We bet a gallon of chainsaw oil on it (you know I'll be getting TSC oil if I win). Will you guys help us decide a winner? The majority rules and determines the winner. He will be back tomorrow to read results.
Thanks
Marty
Thanks
Marty
18
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / How much wood?
« on: November 19, 2011, 05:08:03 PM »
Hauled a load of wood home yesterday that weighed 7240 lbs(we have a scales for semi's that bring feedstocks in to us). It is all standing dead ash- in that all trees made leaves this year, but bark was beginning to peel from some trees, and some looked like they had been shot with buckshot. The moisture content when checked with my new Harbor Freight meter was anywhere between 12% and 34%. How much wood will I have in cords when it's split and stacked. I'm teaching my kid to stack tight, if that helps.
Marty
Marty
19
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Is Pacific Western's relative Global Hydronics?
« on: November 09, 2011, 07:59:22 AM »
Had a vender at work tell me about having to weld on his PW 4 times in 10 years. He said GH made the PW's. Anyone know? His is 409 ss(magnet sticks to it). Now my neighbor is worried about his 6 year old PW. Don't know what his is made from.
20
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / to dry...or...too dry???
« on: October 23, 2011, 04:47:59 PM »
Before I sold me Empyre 100, I had a few warranty parts that I needed replaced that I wasn't able to describe over the phone to my Pro Series, so she gave me the number of a Pro Fab engineer who was able to help me out. In our conversation, he listed a few things that should not be done with a gasifier. Most I had already heard of, but one that really caught me off guard the moisture content of the wood- namely that we shouldn't be burning wood too dry. I did an experiment with my Optimizer 250 this weekend to see if what he was true. Where I work we have to dispose of cutoffs from kiln dried hardwoods that are usually about 1 inch square and around 9 feet long in exchange for free sawdust. They are dried down to single digits, and the ones I tested with our moisture meter at work ranged from 5%-10% m.c. I have been burning for a while now, so I had a good bed of coals to start my experiment with. Usually, when the OWB calls for heat, it may smoke for a minute or so before it cleans up. With the kiln dried wood in it it started gasifing right away, but because it was so dry it wasn't able to burn all the smoke- in fact- not even close. There was a huge flame in the reaction chamber, but it just couldn't ignite all of the smoke. I was around 12 hours into the burn cycle before it started burning efficiently.
He explained that the moisture was necessary to help control the burn. Not enough moisture=too much gas released=inefficient burn. I even tried to add more air to lean the fuel/air mixture out and that didn't help at all. Today I mixed some dry wood with some fresh cut Ash and it worked great.
My friend has tried some of the kiln dried wood in his conventional OWB and he ended up with the same results- boatloads of smoke until it got hot enough to burn some of the smoke. He had to leave his door open a bit to achieve those results(hot fire), and watching him do that made me a little nervous.
He's out in the boonies, so the extra smoke from the 6048 doesn't bother him a bit.
I'm wondering if anyone else hes ever ran into a situation where their gasser smoked more than they thought it should. Maybe your wood was a little too dry?
I'm thinking that maybe that engineer really does know his stuff when it comes to blowing too much smoke
Marty
He explained that the moisture was necessary to help control the burn. Not enough moisture=too much gas released=inefficient burn. I even tried to add more air to lean the fuel/air mixture out and that didn't help at all. Today I mixed some dry wood with some fresh cut Ash and it worked great.
My friend has tried some of the kiln dried wood in his conventional OWB and he ended up with the same results- boatloads of smoke until it got hot enough to burn some of the smoke. He had to leave his door open a bit to achieve those results(hot fire), and watching him do that made me a little nervous.
He's out in the boonies, so the extra smoke from the 6048 doesn't bother him a bit.
I'm wondering if anyone else hes ever ran into a situation where their gasser smoked more than they thought it should. Maybe your wood was a little too dry?
I'm thinking that maybe that engineer really does know his stuff when it comes to blowing too much smoke
Marty
21
Wood Doctor / Humble Apology
« on: October 14, 2011, 11:39:58 AM »
Just wanted to post a few lines and let you all know about a valuable lesson I've recently learned. For a few years now I've been going to farm shows, fairs, stopping by the side of the road, doing internet research, etc., trying to determine for myself what the best OWB brand is. I've looked at more than 10 brands personally,including Wood Doctor, as well as research on about 15 or so others. I've talked to dealers, company owners, boiler owners, factory reps, as well as a few of you folks. I came to the conclusion that the Wood Doctor brand was one of the best built boilers out there. I stand by that conclusion where build quality is concerned. It has been brought to my attention recently, however, that I have allowed myself to be misled where warranty issues are concerned. I am the type of person who ALWAYS tries to see the best in people. There have been a few times in my life where this has really came back to bite me in the butt. This is one of those times. My perception of Wood Doctor management was entirely wrong. I'll relate to you folks what is going on with a dear older lady and WD management right now.
An older couple from Stockbridge Mi bought a Wood Doctor 8000 gasifier in the fall of 2008. It worked flawlessly through the '08-'09 season. It developed a leak towards the end of the '09-'10 season. They notified their dealer. He was to get it replaced in the summer of '10. He went out of business in the interim and never got it done. They were able to use it for the '10-'11 season, but had to add water very often. It is now leaking so badly it is unusable. They had been working with Wood Doctor and their agents for well over a year now to get their OWB either replaced or repaired. In the last few months they've not been able to get a hold of anyone who represents Wood Doctor. Corol (she told me to use her first name) called me about six weeks ago. She remembered me from last spring when I came to visit and look at her 8000. She told me how much she liked it, but in our brief conversation neglected to tell me about the leak, as she knew in her mind that Arthur would keep his word and get it fixed before the '11-'12 heating season. She knew that I've had many lengthy conversations with Rick and asked if I might be able to help. I've recently made 3 calls to his phone and left messages and I've not received any reply. Winter will set in on our state very soon, and this older couple's means of heating their home is not functional. Neither Arthur or Rick will return her calls.
I'm not here to try to"bash" any manufacturer, or demean anyone's character. I'm here to state some facts that are currently happening, as well as humbly apologize to anyone who may have recently bought an OWB from Wood Doctor based on my some of my older posts. I firmly believed that I had a friend in Rick based upon our numerous lengthy conversations. I firmly believe now that I was being deliberately misled just to make a sale.
I didn't play a role in Carol and her husband's decision to purchase a Wood Doctor boiler, but it sure puts a heavy burden on my heart when a senior calls with tears in her voice and asks for my help in getting her OWB functional before the snow flies.
Carol has promised to keep in touch with me concerning her progress with getting her boiler either repaired or replaced. I will keep you all updated. I'm hoping some of you good folks might know someone associated with Wood Doctor who might be able to help her out.
Once again folks, if what I said in my older posts pertaining to the content of the character of Wood Doctor management persuaded you in your decision to purchase one of their OWB's. I am sorry. I stand by my quality of construction statements.
Marty
An older couple from Stockbridge Mi bought a Wood Doctor 8000 gasifier in the fall of 2008. It worked flawlessly through the '08-'09 season. It developed a leak towards the end of the '09-'10 season. They notified their dealer. He was to get it replaced in the summer of '10. He went out of business in the interim and never got it done. They were able to use it for the '10-'11 season, but had to add water very often. It is now leaking so badly it is unusable. They had been working with Wood Doctor and their agents for well over a year now to get their OWB either replaced or repaired. In the last few months they've not been able to get a hold of anyone who represents Wood Doctor. Corol (she told me to use her first name) called me about six weeks ago. She remembered me from last spring when I came to visit and look at her 8000. She told me how much she liked it, but in our brief conversation neglected to tell me about the leak, as she knew in her mind that Arthur would keep his word and get it fixed before the '11-'12 heating season. She knew that I've had many lengthy conversations with Rick and asked if I might be able to help. I've recently made 3 calls to his phone and left messages and I've not received any reply. Winter will set in on our state very soon, and this older couple's means of heating their home is not functional. Neither Arthur or Rick will return her calls.
I'm not here to try to"bash" any manufacturer, or demean anyone's character. I'm here to state some facts that are currently happening, as well as humbly apologize to anyone who may have recently bought an OWB from Wood Doctor based on my some of my older posts. I firmly believed that I had a friend in Rick based upon our numerous lengthy conversations. I firmly believe now that I was being deliberately misled just to make a sale.
I didn't play a role in Carol and her husband's decision to purchase a Wood Doctor boiler, but it sure puts a heavy burden on my heart when a senior calls with tears in her voice and asks for my help in getting her OWB functional before the snow flies.
Carol has promised to keep in touch with me concerning her progress with getting her boiler either repaired or replaced. I will keep you all updated. I'm hoping some of you good folks might know someone associated with Wood Doctor who might be able to help her out.
Once again folks, if what I said in my older posts pertaining to the content of the character of Wood Doctor management persuaded you in your decision to purchase one of their OWB's. I am sorry. I stand by my quality of construction statements.
Marty
22
Portage & Main / Optimizer 250 First Firing!
« on: September 08, 2011, 06:41:08 PM »
Took a trip to my friends place to watch the first firing of his 250. What an awesome machine! Took about 45-50 minutes to start gasifing. It took 2.5 hours to go from 59* up to 175. That flame is way more impressive in person than it is on u-tube. His house should be plenty hot enough by now for he and his wife to be running in their underwear. Hope to have my Empyre 100 off the slab and the 250 in it's place sometime this weekend. My 9 year old thinks he can help me post some pictures of it gasifying when we get it up and running, as I am completely helpless when it comes to computers.
23
General Discussion / Consumers Energy BILL!!! (BULL!!!)
« on: August 03, 2011, 06:37:10 PM »Electric Power Supply Charges
__________________________________________________________
Energy-First 600 kwh 600@.072567 43.54
Energy-Over 600 kwh 1210@.145872 176.51
PSCR (
) 1810@.002050 3.71Renewable Energy 2.50
Electric Delivery Charges
__________________________________________________________
System Access 6.00
Distribution 1810@.034482 62.41
Energy Optimization 1810@.002054 3.72
Securitization 1810@.00125 2.26
Securitization Tax 1810@.000597 1.08
__________________________________________________________
Total Electric 301.73
Sales Tax 12.07
Total Energy Charges 313.80
Anyone ever find out if we can adapt a large scale chiller into our OWB systems to cool our houses?
My bill would have been about $75 more had I not been heating my DHW with my OWB! Look how rate more than doubles after 600 kwh usage.
Marty
24
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Steel Prices Soaring?????
« on: March 27, 2011, 07:46:57 PM »
Had a conversation with one of the guys from this site about stove manufacturers raising their prices in reaction to steel prices possibly going up. I picked up some metal from my local iron man that same afternoon and asked him if he could tell me what he paid for steel verses what he charges me. He said that he paid .549/lb, and makes .18/lb off from me. If he gets steel that cheap, then what do these larger wood boiler manufacturers pay for it?.If we assume they pay the same as him, which I'm sure they don't, then a 2000/lb stove would have $1100 worth of steel in it, right? If prices go up 10%, that would be $110, 20%- $220, 30%- 330, etc. What are the percentages you all have heard from your local dealers that boilers could go up? Sorta sounds like some kind of sales tactic to me. Can you guys tell I'm bored and not in the mood for animation domination tonight?(FOX 66). My new build is coming along well. Sent out some phone pictures and videos to friends and family, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to put them on here. Trying to figure out what font face and font size mean, as well as how to incorporate some of those little yellow faces in without erasing everything I've typed so far. Maybe next time.
Marty
Marty
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