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[Scott7m]

What happens if it does get a little water or moisture in it ?

It sucks heat away like cray if that happens....   U go from burning 6 cord to 8 or 10

[Scott7m]

This looks like it will be a thread for newbies to follow for sure. What's keeping mice and their larger friends out of the larger tile? Don't need to give them a nice warm home too!

Take a can of spray foam insulation and go around the end of the pipes, it will seal them off no problem

[XJCraver]

I like the extra tile thought.  I would have buried mine a little deeper, I went 24" because of tree roots got tired of digging and chopping.  I DID put ball valves at every HX, water heater, both sides of the pump.  I have since replaced all my "shark bite" style fittings with crimp pex.  WOW, what a difference that made.  In the spring when the water cooled down I got a leak at the fitting, not anymore.  I wish I had semi enclosed the OWB just to keep the snow and rain off me when I load it, or train the wife to load it would have been even better.  Save the beer until AFTER it is all hooked up, drafted help is not always as attentive with alchohol in 'em.  I wish I had done that different too.

I hear that!  One helper doesn't drink at all, but the other one and I make up for it...  He makes homemade wine, and I'm sure we'll have a bottle or two to celebrate afterwards!  :-)

[Trint]

This will vary by stove but wish I would have put mine on blocks or something to elevate it so I didn't have to bend so much when loading it and get so much smoke in my face.

[XJCraver]

Orient the unit so the north winds blow into it when you open the door to load.  Helps to keep a lot of smoke out of your face.

Ah, yeah, that's another "issue" I'm gonna' have...  The ONLY place on this entire farm I can put this thing is NW of my house.      I've already got a pad ~35' away that I'm going to set it on, and I'm gonna' build a wood shed next to and over the stove.  Figure I'll extend the stack as high as I can (since I can brace it to the woodshed roof) to get the smoke over the house.  I know it's not ideal, but it really is the only place I have to put it.

[Ohiowood]

Hey Scott7m.  Thanks for the info!

I had a mole put a mound right where my pex comes out of the ground. It was surrounded by dirt
I would think that would be enough to suck some heat out, it was mostly wet except next to the two water lines.

Cleaned it out and for now put insulation around it. 

[cranman]

Lots of good tips here. Hope you have better luck with Empyre than I did. Corrosion around the door at year 5. Scott has likely told you to drive a ground rod and attach copper wire. I also would put a flexible wire between the door and the boiler. Mine didn't always ground at the latch and hinges because of ash I guess. Electrician neighbour showed me slight readings there, and I don't know how this would be possible but  all my corrosion was around the door. No errant electricity is wanted near a boiler. I agree with the suggestion to raise it on the slab too. Another thing I always do when plumbing in the heat exch at the plenum is to Tee in a cross feed just before(and after) the valves. In the cross feed I install a full flow ball valve. When I have to leave during the heating season, I can leave my pump on so the lines don't freeze, without having to lose heat from my electric furnace. When yu do this ,however, you must crack the outlet valve on the exchanger just a bit to allow for expansion of the antefreeze in the coil. Good luck, sounds like you have all the right stuff.

[Scott7m]

I've heard of the whole electric deal before...  I know at different times different companies have recommended grounding the boiler, but it seemed to be something that came and gone. 

Was your stove 304 or mild steel?   I have a list of questions I'd like to ask in regards to that failure.

What temp was it ran at?  Was it a model where the ledge tilted inward towards the firebox? 

Every scenario is a chance to learn something.... 

[XJCraver]

I know CB still recommends grounding their boilers (at least their conventionals), because one of the guys I talked to when I was shopping specifically mentioned it.

I have the stuff to do mine laying around here already, and was planning on grounding it.  I can't see any downside, especially since I already have the parts to do it. 

[Scott7m]

I know CB still recommends grounding their boilers (at least their conventionals), because one of the guys I talked to when I was shopping specifically mentioned it.

I have the stuff to do mine laying around here already, and was planning on grounding it.  I can't see any downside, especially since I already have the parts to do it.

I see no downside to it either...  Better safe than sorry, you would think something sitting on concrete would already be grounded pretty good though

[hoardac]

I wish I had made the pad it sits on bigger and small walls built in so it sits a little higher. I also wish I had run an extra electrical line to the stove when I buried the piping for it. A big light behind the stove so I can see in it better when I am loading it. I hope to build a shed over it someday, it kinda sucks in the rain and snow but the 1200 dollar heating bill more than makes up for a little weather misery. I can drain and fill my tank from inside the cellar. I am also building a storage tank this summer to hold another 600 gallons of water. That way I can have a weekend away without refilling the stove in the winter. I put in all sorts of extra valves and shut offs for any expansions I might want in the future I could think of. Another regret is not running a digital temp from the stove to the inside of the house. Have to go outside to see the status of the stove. Could probably think of a bunch more stuff but the last one for this post is I would rather have a plate heat exchanger than a side arm for my hot water but was told they work great when I was installing it.

[ijon]

What happens if it does get a little water or moisture in it ? You will heat the ground, like I did. Two dig ups. Then I got smart and put in the good stuff. I think the tile brakes down or it has small holes in it.

[johnybcold]

I wish I used a pipe sleeve on the pex going through the foundation,  and made the slab I put it on bigger, and added heat to the garage and in floor radiant heat in the kichten, if I had done it then I would not be working on it now.

[cranman]

The one other thing I would do is to make sure I delivered a boiler water sample to the dealer at the start of each season so there is no question in the event of Warranty. This wasn't even mentined years ago although the dealer usually gave you a pint or so of crystalls to add at start up and would send you another pint in later years if you called and paid $15. Just checking my notes for Scott on my first Empyre CPW250 Serial#2500895, built 10/95 and installed by me and dealer 11/97. I added the corrosion inhibitoor 2 bottles at startup to a 50/50% enviro antefreese mix. Added one again at year 3 and another at startup of five. My pump ran year round and aquistat was 170 open/180 closed. 110 volt slenooid damper on the door, no creoste sticking and 15Amp circuit breaker never tripped. No moisture in firebox noted until leaks began around door early in year five. No luck with calls to the manufacturer but one employee said "must of been the shipment of "crap steel we got." Dealer gave me $200 out of his pocket to get a welder. I had stripped it to the leak at door, left front outside. He ground out the area and explained that it was a "cold start" during fabrication and welded it up well. Showed me another cold start at the right corner opposite and fixed that too and left to go 300 miles away to another job. Next morning I refill only to find the weld inside the top corner of the inside of the door split wide open for five inches. Likely caused by the heat generated by the repair weld. I climbed inside ,laying on my back doing the best vertical I ever done, laying a bead of 7018 and two fillets to sew it up.  Later in that season another pinhole in weld nearby and start of sixth season another pinhole inside just above door in the middle of nowhere but there seemed t be metal there to weld a repair so I did. Shortly after a pinhole on boiler roof,inside door right of centre. Steel brushing showed too much corrsion to weld without a patch so I  gave up.
       Since there are  lot of OWBs in my area of Northern Manitoba I acquired a 1991 Homesteader for free as long as I installed a 20KW boiler to replace it. I installed it originally and knew it had been totally abused  and run on straight water with only the original inhibotor. Well it finally sprung a leak in 2012 and I patched it up to make it until spring. I then bought probably the last Homesteader and if it makes 21 years I will be happy. By the way ,I sold that Empyre to a fellow who tore it down for a pattern, used the frame/boody and welded his own thick stainless boiler. It is still going today but he is cursing me for not telling him that that design is prone to giving you a mouthful of smoke at fueling time.

[cranman]

The other thing I missed when installing was to have some way to monitor the boiler temp from the house without walking to the attached garage. There must be some nice remote wireless thermometers now but I settled for an old mechanical heat guage from an old John Deere tractor and ran it from my laundry closet and taped the sensor to the line at my Heat Exch. Reads abut 5 degrees low but good enoough to let me (or the wife) know that there is time for one more cofee before the slippers come off and the bush packs get pulled on.