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16
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Cord gone
« on: November 07, 2014, 05:43:03 AM »
I have been heating my DHW, 140 year old 2200' Home and 48,000 cubic foot insulated shop now since the second week of September. I have been dumping heat at times just to make sure I have a maximum time of 10-12 hours. I have three 200' floor joist loops, exchanger in oil furnace plegnum and cast iron radiator in great room. I have had rad shut off and the radiant floor heat is heating the entire house. I think the fan in the furnace has only come on when it is 2'C or less. We have had to keep windows upstairs open a crack to let the heat out. Much of this heat is coming from the basement up the vents and returns. The basement is a sauna as I have 3" sprayed insulation on the walls.
My shop is kept at 21'C with a 100,000 BTU Dragons breath exchanger unit. It was -2 at 6AM when I went outside and the shop was steady at 21 and the fan wasn't calling for heat.
The boiler is set at 170/180 and was 183 when I woke up this morning and just starting an idle cycle. I have a wireless meat thermometer with 2 zones and the temp differential to return was 183/176 and have just shy of 200' of Logstor to the boiler.
As far as wood consumption goes it is tough to gauge right now as I am burning wood from different stacks. My best guess would be about 1.5 cords of mixed crap. On milder days dry pine and very poor quality woods. On the colder days I throw in a chunk of walnut or maple at night for longer burns.
Very happy with the results. I have pulled blower off the back of my unit and there is no creosote buildup or flap issues at this point that I have read about.
Very happy!
My shop is kept at 21'C with a 100,000 BTU Dragons breath exchanger unit. It was -2 at 6AM when I went outside and the shop was steady at 21 and the fan wasn't calling for heat.
The boiler is set at 170/180 and was 183 when I woke up this morning and just starting an idle cycle. I have a wireless meat thermometer with 2 zones and the temp differential to return was 183/176 and have just shy of 200' of Logstor to the boiler.
As far as wood consumption goes it is tough to gauge right now as I am burning wood from different stacks. My best guess would be about 1.5 cords of mixed crap. On milder days dry pine and very poor quality woods. On the colder days I throw in a chunk of walnut or maple at night for longer burns.
Very happy with the results. I have pulled blower off the back of my unit and there is no creosote buildup or flap issues at this point that I have read about.
Very happy!
17
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: home built insulated pex
« on: September 26, 2014, 04:25:43 AM »OK stove to the house is under 20 ft , just cant make my self buy $1000 in hose for a 20 ft run.
thinking about using 4" pvc with my 3 runs of pex inside . drill a 1/16 hole every 2 ft in the 4" pipe .
Take great stuff foam in the can insert hose into the 1/16 hole and squirt it full then move to next hole ect.
after it drys use silicone oner the holes to make sure the foam does not collect water. What do ya thank ? comments welcome.
There is stuff out there at 6-7 bucks a foot that will do a better job than PVC with holes drilled in it and stuff-it. Besides, cost of materials and time with your plan will exceed cost of a 20 foot run. I did 200 feet for 2100 in Logstor and it loses only 1 degree.
18
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: looking for new stove
« on: September 20, 2014, 05:39:16 AM »looking to get new stove sence this crappy shaver died on me. been looking at wood master 4400.my budget is $7000 . any input would what to b ywould be great
I would think all you had to do was edit this message and remove "crappy Shaver died on me" and you would be showered in a windfall of suggestions on maximizing your purchased based on your budget. This forum happens to hold the most genuinely helpful, generous and most certainly educated people when it comes to hydronic heating systems. I try to do as much self study as possible before I ask any questions as I actually feel guilty when someone PM's me a hand drawn diagram to help me understand a theory.
You can find complaints on pretty much every boiler out there. But there is a solution to every problem and all you have to do is ask for help and realize you chose to heat your home with an outdoor wood boiler. There is a certain amount of risk to this and the variables involved in pattern failure are almost infinite. If I went to my business today and put 5 hours in I could buy about 1000 litres of oil. I choose to cut and stack some wood. How crazy is that crap?
19
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: looking for new stove
« on: September 20, 2014, 05:16:56 AM », some folks can get along with cheap in lots of things we buy, heck some of us build our own, most of us are man enough to admit when we make a mistake and don't resort to name calling rather on the phone or online, my point is that when a conversation starts out with name calling, it tends to put up a wall and nothing gets solved!
Amen
20
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Fire it up...
« on: September 14, 2014, 05:59:31 PM »
I fired up yesterday for a test run. It is currently 55F outside right now and my house is 78F with the windows and doors all open. I don't want my Empyre 200 smoldering/rotting away so I am keeping it lean and hot right now until heating season starts as if she is running the last few furlongs at the kentucky derby. It is going through a ridiculously small amount of wood even though I am picking through the driest crap I can find. I do not have thermostatic regulation as I am just setting my wall stat on 'fan' right now to get my sh)(t together. My forced air and my DHW at the moment seems infinite. I am sure that will change when the temp drops.
21
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Test fire...
« on: September 14, 2014, 06:31:28 AM »
In southwestern Ontario we hit a balmy 4 degrees Celsius last night. There is high teens forecasted for the next few weeks so I thought I would take advantage of the back end of this cold front to test fire my stove. This way I would have a month to straighten out the bugs.
I only had to make a few connections to finished the deal up and after a leak check with 15 psi air pressure and some soapy water at all my compression fittings I was satisfied there would be no puddles in my house.
I have to admit the juxtaposition of anxiety and excitement while over-viewing my somewhat completed project was a very strange feeling. After spending the summer splitting wood, gathering plumbing pieces and most importantly learning new skills I was apprehensive that my hard work would not come to fruition.
Filling the boiler from my basement at one of the bleed ports became my first challenge. I feel a bit embarrassed to say I did not account for the weight of the water in the boiler once it reached a level to overcome water pressure in my domestic water system. I was a bit perplexed when it stopped filling after 15 min but came up with a remedy pretty quickly to close off supply and return valves at the boiler and tap in to the fill port below the pump. Luckily for me physics has not changed since highschool.
With the blower on I was surprised how quickly I was able to get the fire started. In essence some newspaper, discarded stakes from my concrete pad experience and a few pieces of straggler wood chunks and kaboom. Raging fire.
It took about 30 min to heat the water jacket from 50dF to 170dF. Once the water jacket was hot I plugged in the pump and went to my manifold to check flow and temps. DHW is a bit too hot and the house was so warm last night we had to open the windows. I do not have my thermostat figured out yet so I just switched it over to fan for now. I installed a mixing valve between the plate exchanger and cold water in line so after a quick adjustment all is good.
To make sure no one was going to get scalded I jumped in the shower to get a feel for how hot my DHW is. I am happy to report I literally stood under the hot water for 30 min grinning my face off that the hot water coming out of the shower head was born from my own two hands. Not the propane guy, not the electricity guy and not the oil guy. I told my kids to take as long as a shower as they want (I was the hot water nazi) in the shower whenever the boiler is running.
So here is a formal thank-you to everyone on the board. Scouring old posts and reading new posts has given me enough knowledge to complete this entire project without any help. I would not have been able to do this if it wasn't for this message board.
Now for another hot shower!
I only had to make a few connections to finished the deal up and after a leak check with 15 psi air pressure and some soapy water at all my compression fittings I was satisfied there would be no puddles in my house.
I have to admit the juxtaposition of anxiety and excitement while over-viewing my somewhat completed project was a very strange feeling. After spending the summer splitting wood, gathering plumbing pieces and most importantly learning new skills I was apprehensive that my hard work would not come to fruition.
Filling the boiler from my basement at one of the bleed ports became my first challenge. I feel a bit embarrassed to say I did not account for the weight of the water in the boiler once it reached a level to overcome water pressure in my domestic water system. I was a bit perplexed when it stopped filling after 15 min but came up with a remedy pretty quickly to close off supply and return valves at the boiler and tap in to the fill port below the pump. Luckily for me physics has not changed since highschool.
With the blower on I was surprised how quickly I was able to get the fire started. In essence some newspaper, discarded stakes from my concrete pad experience and a few pieces of straggler wood chunks and kaboom. Raging fire.
It took about 30 min to heat the water jacket from 50dF to 170dF. Once the water jacket was hot I plugged in the pump and went to my manifold to check flow and temps. DHW is a bit too hot and the house was so warm last night we had to open the windows. I do not have my thermostat figured out yet so I just switched it over to fan for now. I installed a mixing valve between the plate exchanger and cold water in line so after a quick adjustment all is good.
To make sure no one was going to get scalded I jumped in the shower to get a feel for how hot my DHW is. I am happy to report I literally stood under the hot water for 30 min grinning my face off that the hot water coming out of the shower head was born from my own two hands. Not the propane guy, not the electricity guy and not the oil guy. I told my kids to take as long as a shower as they want (I was the hot water nazi) in the shower whenever the boiler is running.
So here is a formal thank-you to everyone on the board. Scouring old posts and reading new posts has given me enough knowledge to complete this entire project without any help. I would not have been able to do this if it wasn't for this message board.
Now for another hot shower!
22
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: potential problem..
« on: September 10, 2014, 05:14:35 AM »
Thank you very much to those who responded with the same issue I have. I ended up making a tight install with a new filter bracket above coil. I am very happy with the results and it was easier than lifting the house 5" to allow enough room to raise A coil.
A- Coil. Not a great pic, but inlet side is restricted and there is no room to raise it as I have a 1880 farmhouse with low basement.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15011026098/
Pic of coil installed, pre soldering.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15174542986/
Another, before filter install. (don't mind the dirty filters, they are gone now!)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15010783399/
Now installed. Tight fit with new filters.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15010996027/
Buttoned up!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15010782569/
A- Coil. Not a great pic, but inlet side is restricted and there is no room to raise it as I have a 1880 farmhouse with low basement.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15011026098/
Pic of coil installed, pre soldering.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15174542986/
Another, before filter install. (don't mind the dirty filters, they are gone now!)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15010783399/
Now installed. Tight fit with new filters.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15010996027/
Buttoned up!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/15010782569/
23
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / potential problem..
« on: September 02, 2014, 02:52:57 PM »
I cracked open my plenum today to install my heating coil and much to my chagrin there is no room for it under the A coil.
I have a Brunswick forced air Oil furnace and the A Coil only has about 2" above the peak of the 'A' so I can't raise it to install the water coil.
Is it a viable solution to install the water exchanger on the cold air return side?
I have a Brunswick forced air Oil furnace and the A Coil only has about 2" above the peak of the 'A' so I can't raise it to install the water coil.
Is it a viable solution to install the water exchanger on the cold air return side?
24
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Heating season is approaching!
« on: September 01, 2014, 01:35:40 PM »
All of my outside install is completed.
Concrete pad poured with pex running through it
Boiler sitting pretty on pad
175' logstor run from primary side of boiler to home 4' down
20' logstor run from secondary side of boiler to shop 3'down
both pumps installed and wired up
Manifold for water distribution made
manifold for floor distribution made
Wood Situation:
I have just shy of 20 cords of various wood cut. Quite a bit of ash and some elm, maple and oak. Some willow, spruce and pine in a separate pile split as much as possible to dry it out. I have to keep my wood dry so its all covered in black plastic right now. I am not happy with the arrangement but I was pretty busy at work and with the install this summer to build a wood enclosure to boot. I still have not decided which way to go with wood storage so I think I will just feel it out this season. I have quite a bit of ash that is 10-12 percent moisture and it is piled closest to the boiler. Probably 10 cords of it.
I am running my floor loops, installing my coil and mounting my manifolds tomorrow. I should be wrapped up in the next week or so.
Concrete pad poured with pex running through it
Boiler sitting pretty on pad
175' logstor run from primary side of boiler to home 4' down
20' logstor run from secondary side of boiler to shop 3'down
both pumps installed and wired up
Manifold for water distribution made
manifold for floor distribution made
Wood Situation:
I have just shy of 20 cords of various wood cut. Quite a bit of ash and some elm, maple and oak. Some willow, spruce and pine in a separate pile split as much as possible to dry it out. I have to keep my wood dry so its all covered in black plastic right now. I am not happy with the arrangement but I was pretty busy at work and with the install this summer to build a wood enclosure to boot. I still have not decided which way to go with wood storage so I think I will just feel it out this season. I have quite a bit of ash that is 10-12 percent moisture and it is piled closest to the boiler. Probably 10 cords of it.
I am running my floor loops, installing my coil and mounting my manifolds tomorrow. I should be wrapped up in the next week or so.
25
Plumbing / Re: Plumbing Schematics
« on: August 23, 2014, 06:10:19 AM »
So would this be an acceptable design for my application?
26
Plumbing / Re: Plumbing Schematics
« on: August 19, 2014, 07:00:36 PM »
Plate exchanger. I am not familiar with bypass loop theory but create a schematic and I will make it happen.
Wayne
Wayne
27
Plumbing / Re: Plumbing Schematics
« on: August 19, 2014, 06:24:11 AM »
So here is a simplified version of what I am doing. I have the boiler installed now and logstor 1" run to shop and house.
28
Plumbing / Plumbing Schematics
« on: August 18, 2014, 05:42:21 PM »
Hey Guys,
Is there a good resource for plumbing and design schematics out there somewhere?
Is there a good resource for plumbing and design schematics out there somewhere?
29
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: telephone poles
« on: August 05, 2014, 04:30:29 AM »
The reason they pay to get rid of them is because there is no safe economical way to dispose of them. They, along with railway ties are soaked in creosote, pesticides and dioxins. I would strongly discourage burning them near your home. Or anywhere for that matter. You would be better off burning used free furniture and books off craigslist if you are looking for cheap BTU's.
30
Plumbing / Re: Logstor Install
« on: July 02, 2014, 06:06:32 PM »
Slim,
Above ground level and below boiler won't be a problem. What is the best type of connection to make in this situation?
Above ground level and below boiler won't be a problem. What is the best type of connection to make in this situation?