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Messages - BoilerHouse

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1
General Discussion / Re: An Ealy start to heating season
« on: September 22, 2022, 11:04:46 AM »
Fired up my boiler a couple days ago when the forecast said we were due for some cooler weather.  Glad I did, temp today is a high of 10C, and frost tonight.  The next week will be cool, and looks like it will be wet too.  So it is nice to have the boiler going again.

2
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Titanium steel
« on: January 26, 2022, 09:46:12 AM »
No worries - I am not expecting President Xi to call me up and order me to back off. 

It is an individual choice. The only other person who I wish would follow suit is my wife.  As far as being unable to reduce China from my consumption list - I personable have found that it is fairly easy.  It just takes a tiny bit of effort. A very quick example - Recently my table saw motor fried.  A new one (from china of course) was $300.  To rebuild the old motor was $300.  For me it was a no brainer - The rebuild produced, essentially, a new motor and employed a local shop with a local employee.

   

3
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Titanium steel
« on: January 24, 2022, 08:10:51 AM »
There are legal definitions as to what "Made in USA" means.  I doubt if every raw material needs to be domestically sourced.  For stainless steels, many of the elements are in trace amounts, often less than 1/2 of one percent.

But I think the Made in USA sticker does generally suggest more attention to quality but that is not guaranteed.  I personally have a pecking order of countries which I will support, and China is pretty much at the bottom of the list.  Not just because of its generally inferior produced products, but also because it is a communist, police state, dictatorship that with a billion people to support will likely have global ambitions as it becomes more powerful.   

I really wish people would look at the label and see where the product is made before heading to the cash register.  And yes my wife, I am looking at you.

4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Heat loss, underground piping
« on: January 19, 2022, 09:09:56 AM »
I have the cheap 3 wrap pipes, and burn about 7 cords annually and I figure I am losing between 1 1/2 to 2 cords to the ground, but that is with 250 ft total underground distance.  So this compares with Logstar's numbers.  But the biggest difference is the outer layer - Logstar has a tough thick skin and I have the flimsy corrugate.   Mine will develop a leak some day, the underground heat loss and wood consumption will skyrocket, and then it will be time to dig it up and do it again.  So better to buy once and cry once.

If your wood is basically free, the labor to feed the stove is not great, and it gets the job done by heating your house, then that is the best system to own. 

5
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Heat loss, underground piping
« on: January 18, 2022, 07:25:01 PM »
A member once did a calculation using Logstar's heat loss figures and assuming a 100 ft run from boiler to house.  If I remember, Logstar had a published heat loss of one degree per hundred feet. He figured that this theoretical system would lose one cord of wood to the ground.    So, it is a big source of heat loss at the best of times. 
In your case, when I do the calc's, I am getting 3 cords heat loss and that is assuming a boiler that is 100% efficient.  Factor in boiler efficiency of 50%, and the heat loss in firewood is scary.
 
Assuming 1 btu/lb/F
Then 10 gal/min x 8.33 lb/gal x 1Btu/lb/F x 6F x 60min/hr x 24hr/day x 150 day/heating season= A really big number!!

So either all the snow has melted over your lines and the grass is green OR your temp difference is less than you think.  I have used those infrared thermometers and they can be notoriously inaccurate.  I have Ashcroft industrial thermometers on my system, and even they have an accuracy of plus or minus 3% so a difference of several degrees can be attributed to incorrect measuring devices.
Are you suspecting an issue with your lines?

6
Fire Wood / Re: Firewood full dates
« on: October 28, 2021, 07:17:37 PM »
I usually have my winters wood cut and split by mid winter, so it goes into the shed as soon as the snow is gone.  My issue is that I don't normally completely empty the shed each winter, so I like to note each spring where in the shed is the oldest, most seasoned wood.  Then I try to burn it first in the fall.  I could rely on memory, it is very good, unfortunately it is also very short.

7
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Water Treatment Revisited
« on: October 28, 2021, 07:06:31 PM »
It is very common to see boiler water treatment with caustic soda as one of the components.  It raises the water pH, ideally to around 8.5 or 9.  At this pH, oxygen is the least reactive, therefore less likelihood of iron combining with oxygen - i.e. rust. 

8
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Boiler & Garage Up in Flames
« on: February 26, 2020, 05:42:26 PM »

As a general PSA, please review your insurance, keep an inventory of the tools and equipment you have, and keep safe.


Yes....  Digital photos and video are virtually free.  Take hundreds of photos of everything, house, garage, out buildings and property.  Make a couple independent copies and store in safe locations. Update every 5 years (or less)   It costs nothing but time.

9
Fire Wood / Re: HOLY FIREWOOD BATMAN!
« on: February 26, 2020, 05:23:59 PM »
Very fitting, the 11th commandment says thou shall only burn clean dry wood.

10
Fire Wood / Re: First load of pine two cords.
« on: January 31, 2020, 03:23:32 PM »
I got some free pine logs a couple years ago from a neighbour, who paid a company to take the trees down.  They do burn hot and fast, but don't throw off a lot of heat.  I like when they snap, crackle, and pop in a wood stove or a camp fire, but for the boiler I will still prefer hard maple.

11
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Wood usage for the season?
« on: February 13, 2019, 07:17:21 AM »
For this season I have started logging wood use and daily high and low temps, and I will compare this to 2011/12, when I last ran a daily log just to see if anything has changed.  It might give me some sense of the boilers performance- or maybe not. 

I don't see how you can predict wood consumption as this would require an accurate weather forecast.  I find the weatherman has become very good at forecasting one to three days out, and generally not bad a week out, much beyond that its a bit of a crap shoot.  Last year, our March temperatures were "January like", and winter carried on well into April.  No one foresaw that.  For me, this easily added a half cord or more to my annual wood use. 

Grease - How long has your wood aged to get the moisture to 5 - 10%. 


12
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: creosote
« on: February 03, 2019, 07:07:14 AM »


Question - Do you drink the beer first or do you throw it on the fire?  I don't know about you but I know I'd feel better if I drank it first! :-\
[/quote]


I think you are on to something Roger.  If you drink enough beer, the creosote just looks flakey.   :)

13
Central Boiler / Re: Pleased I made the move
« on: February 02, 2019, 11:05:50 AM »

Here in NH we did not get the extreme cold you folks experienced.  Granted, anytime the temps get below zero is never a good thing but I think last night was the first time all week we saw them in double digits below.
[/quote]

I was lucky in that we seemed to miss the extreme temps which were both north and south of me.  I am no meteorologist, but have to wonder if the Great Lakes, being 50% ice free, may have absorbed some of the cold for those of us close to the lee side.  We did get two or three 8 inch snow dumps though.  So instead of fuel for the stove, it was fuel for the tractor to get everything blown away.

14
Central Boiler / Re: Pleased I made the move
« on: February 02, 2019, 06:56:12 AM »
Great story to hear Roger.  The cold spell should be winding down soon and leaving us alone for a week or two.

15
General Discussion / Re: Damn cold
« on: February 01, 2019, 10:38:26 AM »
Bad luck in the worst of weather.  Smart move in my opinion refilling with hot water to reduce thermal shock.  Sounds like it could be an airlock.  Is the inlet to the HX hot and the outlet cool?  Do you have any lines to crack open to try and get the air out and flow re-established.  Another thing I might try since it is easy is stopping and restarting the pump 2 or 3 times to try and get flow going.

I would recommend starting a new thread in the general discussion.  It may get more views and responses especially from the pros. 

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