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[MattyNH]

I guess my question is then..If it's not the gallon thing and there's no such thing as a boiler being too big.. Why do manufactures of the owb offer models with different water capacities.. Why not just build one model and call it good?

[mlappin]

I guess my question is then..If it's not the gallon thing and there's no such thing as a boiler being too big.. Why do manufactures of the owb offer models with different water capacities.. Why not just build one model and call it good?

Price, folks that could get by with a much smaller one wouldn't want to pay for one that has a much higher capacity.

Gasifiers are a totally different beast and from my understanding being too large is almost worse than being slightly undersized.

[Scott7m]

I guess my question is then..If it's not the gallon thing and there's no such thing as a boiler being too big.. Why do manufactures of the owb offer models with different water capacities.. Why not just build one model and call it good?

Price, marketing, competition, but like I said let's not get caught up on gallons

Let's take a random well respected company that's been on business a long time. 

Woodmaster 3300 - holds 105 gallons and is rated to heat 2000 sq ft
Woodmaster 4400 - holds 117 gallons of water and is rated to heat 5000 sq ft

Did those extra 12 gallons of water make that stove capable of heating over 3000 more square feet, I think not


But there can be down sides to over sizing,  but to keep from further confusing the topic let's just be clear it's not his problem

over sizing a gasser is a whole other story

[flying53gmc]

From the suggestions I'm noting a couple of possible problems. The blower is on the back just like a hoss but the builder of it also but a second blower piggy backed on to the first blower because he said he had trouble getting up to temp. It seems this could be blowing all the heat up the flu, which also may be too large. I am estimating it is around 7x10 but can measure if needed.

[Sprinter]

All you can do is make some changes and test. Recording as much data as you can will help the pro's help you better quicker.
Pipe temps, good idea to label pipes clearly too. Test draft changes, how's that insulation under sheet metal? Firebox ceiling design? Fire box dimensions?  Pics always help

[fryedaddy]

blower piggy backing?

He built the boiler with (2) blowers attached at the same point or seperate locations?

Have you been able to get your stove up to temp 170-180?

Check the temps on your lines per previous requests.

[flying53gmc]

I will check line temps this evening. Yes on the one location for 2 blowers. One is blowing into the intake of the other. I have gotten it up to 180 a couple times but it is hard. I work during the day so I load it at 6 am and when I get home at 4 it has burnt everything up

[victor6deep]

I'm not a fan of the elevated grate design. To me it would be hard to build a good coal bed which is probably affecting your burn times.

[fryedaddy]

Ummm??? First I would remove the (2) blower setup and make it (1).

Does either of the blowers have a plate to restrict the air coming in?
I'm not sure of a conventional that includes (2) blowers but someone may be familiar with this setup.

If you force to much air into the firebox it will push all of your heat straight out of the flue.

When you get home @ 4pm is the blower still running?

[Scott7m]

Hopefully if your willing to take pics and work with us and do some fabrication we can make this work for you.. 

It's not going to be one specific thing that fixes it tho,  likely a whole slough of 5-10% efficiency increases that take u from disaster to happiness

It's just a matter if the design itself is truly fixable

[chaikwa]

Don't listen to these guys! That thing is JUNK! You'll end up having a stroke or a heart attack worrying about it.

Give me your address and I'll come take it off your hands before it gives you any more trouble. AND, I won't even charge you anything!

You're welcome.

[hondaracer2oo4]

HAHA^^^

It is interesting that he was having a hard time getting it up to temperature and you are as well. That means that the heat from the fire is not making it into the water for some reason. Like stated before there are a couple of likely culprits. The fans are likely pushing a lot of the btus right out. The other issue I think is the flue size, what did he use for a diameter? Is it lowered down into the firebox at all? Any restriction to force the heat to stay in longer before it exits? You should also get the stove up to temperature before you start feeding the heat to the house. So fire the stove to 180 and then start heating the home. It is difficult for the stove even though the water jacket is so large to heat returning water and bring the water jacket up to temp at the same time. Once the water jacket is up to temp it is much easier to maintain that temperature as the cool water returns. He did a very nice job on the outer shell. I didn't see anywhere that you talked about how much or what kind of insulation he used. After heating 600 gallons up to 180 you should be able to hold a high temp for a long long time.