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Shaver Furnace / Adding water capacity with an external tank
« on: March 07, 2014, 12:44:35 PM »
I was thinking of the possibility of adding a well insulated storage tank on the inside of my home as part of the circulation loop of the furnace to increase the available hot water when the system calls for heat. So I would add an additional 55 gallons of capacity by using a plastic 55 gallon drum. The hot line from the furnace would feed into the drum and then the line would go to the heat exchanger and back to the furnace as normal. This could help with under sized systems or with maybe moderating the temperature of the loop.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
2
Shaver Furnace / EPA Alert!
« on: February 09, 2014, 07:50:00 AM »
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/hsn/old-wood-stoves-a-costly-way-to-keep-warm-experts-say
Please read the attached news story, it looks like the EPA wants to make some new rules!
Please read the attached news story, it looks like the EPA wants to make some new rules!
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Shaver Furnace / Shaver Mod
« on: November 01, 2013, 07:15:53 PM »
This is my 3rd year of using my Shaver 165 which I purchased from Greg Steinacher. I received the furnace within a week or two of the purchase. Prior to receiving the furnace Greg had giving me the manual so I had the pad ready when he delivered the furnace. My install consisted of two zones for a two story home. With doing the install myself, the
Shaver cost me a little less then $7000. I figure it to be paid for in propane savings this year. My neighbor has a Central Boiler which he had installed for around $12000 so he probably has a couple more years to go before he's is paid off. As far as I know he has Not had any problems and neither have I. I have done some mods to my furnace including buying the spark arrester from Greg, I posted some of my other mods last November. This year before I fired it up I added a flue blocker on the inside of the fire box as I never did like seeing the flames shooting straight up the flue. What I did was I bought three pieces of stove pipe (the kind with the open bead, ie the black stove pipe available where any kind of wood burning furnace parts are sold) and I fitted the pieces together one inside the other until I had one thick piece still opened down the length of the closing bead. Together the three pieces are about a quarter of an inch thick and cost about $23. I cut about 5 inches from the total length of the pipe so it would fit into the fire box over the flue pipe. The opened end faces the back of the fire box and the extension rest on the floor of the fire box, so the the only way the fire/heat can go up the flue is to go around the pipe extension on the back side of the fire box. Anyway I hope this will help the furnace retain heat in the firebox. On a side note I have not had any problems with my furnace, and maybe if I had spent more for a different brand I would not have to do mods...but where's the fun in that? Also Greg is a good person and he is trying to help like a lot of the people on this site offering suggestion and advice.
Shaver cost me a little less then $7000. I figure it to be paid for in propane savings this year. My neighbor has a Central Boiler which he had installed for around $12000 so he probably has a couple more years to go before he's is paid off. As far as I know he has Not had any problems and neither have I. I have done some mods to my furnace including buying the spark arrester from Greg, I posted some of my other mods last November. This year before I fired it up I added a flue blocker on the inside of the fire box as I never did like seeing the flames shooting straight up the flue. What I did was I bought three pieces of stove pipe (the kind with the open bead, ie the black stove pipe available where any kind of wood burning furnace parts are sold) and I fitted the pieces together one inside the other until I had one thick piece still opened down the length of the closing bead. Together the three pieces are about a quarter of an inch thick and cost about $23. I cut about 5 inches from the total length of the pipe so it would fit into the fire box over the flue pipe. The opened end faces the back of the fire box and the extension rest on the floor of the fire box, so the the only way the fire/heat can go up the flue is to go around the pipe extension on the back side of the fire box. Anyway I hope this will help the furnace retain heat in the firebox. On a side note I have not had any problems with my furnace, and maybe if I had spent more for a different brand I would not have to do mods...but where's the fun in that? Also Greg is a good person and he is trying to help like a lot of the people on this site offering suggestion and advice.
4
Shaver Furnace / Shaver mods I did to my 165
« on: October 27, 2012, 10:30:04 AM »
Listed below are the mods I did to my Shaver 165 before I started using it this year.
1. Drained the tank and placed 2 copper pipes 3/4 in diameter into the return ports of the furnace, the pipes extend to the front wall of the tank. I cut about half of the diameter of the pipe about 3 inches long off and inserted them so the notch was facing up. The reason I did this mod was to move the return lines further away from the pump ports, which I hope will cause more circulation of the hot water in the tank. Which should cause hotter water circulating through the heat exchangers and less wood being burned.
2. Took the fire box door off, removed the old insulation and installed new, wrapped the exposed edge of the insulation / plate with metal furnace tape. Also cleaned out the old silicon form the door seal area and placed a stripe of the house door seal insulating felt around the fire box door seal channel and covered it with new silicon. Seems to be a good seal and is hold up so far, I have been using it since the beginning of October.
3. I drilled and tapped a 3/8 inch hole into the fire box door catch and inserted a bolt with a nut on the end so I can increase pressure on the door of the fire box as needed if the door seal becomes gapped. I had posted about the idea of doing that mod last year and I saw a new Shaver at the county fair with it this summer so I suppose I was a good idea.
4. Added more insulation in the top of the unit and let some of it drape over the front to the top of the pumps.
5. Added a control circuit to the blower, so that when the tank thermostat calls for heat the blower and the blower flap both turn on for 15 minutes then the blower shuts off and the flap stays open for 5 minutes. If the thermostat is still calling for heat then the cycle continues until the call for heat ends. The reasoning behind this was to allow the hot water in the tank to absorb the heat from the fire box without having the water temp ramp up past the actual setting on the stat. I think this will help create longer burn times.
1. Drained the tank and placed 2 copper pipes 3/4 in diameter into the return ports of the furnace, the pipes extend to the front wall of the tank. I cut about half of the diameter of the pipe about 3 inches long off and inserted them so the notch was facing up. The reason I did this mod was to move the return lines further away from the pump ports, which I hope will cause more circulation of the hot water in the tank. Which should cause hotter water circulating through the heat exchangers and less wood being burned.
2. Took the fire box door off, removed the old insulation and installed new, wrapped the exposed edge of the insulation / plate with metal furnace tape. Also cleaned out the old silicon form the door seal area and placed a stripe of the house door seal insulating felt around the fire box door seal channel and covered it with new silicon. Seems to be a good seal and is hold up so far, I have been using it since the beginning of October.
3. I drilled and tapped a 3/8 inch hole into the fire box door catch and inserted a bolt with a nut on the end so I can increase pressure on the door of the fire box as needed if the door seal becomes gapped. I had posted about the idea of doing that mod last year and I saw a new Shaver at the county fair with it this summer so I suppose I was a good idea.
4. Added more insulation in the top of the unit and let some of it drape over the front to the top of the pumps.
5. Added a control circuit to the blower, so that when the tank thermostat calls for heat the blower and the blower flap both turn on for 15 minutes then the blower shuts off and the flap stays open for 5 minutes. If the thermostat is still calling for heat then the cycle continues until the call for heat ends. The reasoning behind this was to allow the hot water in the tank to absorb the heat from the fire box without having the water temp ramp up past the actual setting on the stat. I think this will help create longer burn times.
5
Plumbing / Heat exchanger in attic
« on: January 07, 2012, 06:09:22 PM »
I have two zones in my house each running on separate pumps from the owb. The heat exchanger in the attic seems to drain back to the owb after each time the zone calls for heat. When the thermostat calls for heat you can here the pipes filling with water until they are full then it is silent until the heat shuts off then you can here a siphoning sound for a few minutes. I have tried a check valve at the pump side of the line for that zone and it seemed to make the siphoning sound go to a higher pitch and it would last longer. The attic heat exchanger sits about 25 feet above the owb. Does anyone have an idea of what would be a solution for this?
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