Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Portage & Main => Topic started by: jreimer on January 08, 2013, 01:27:55 PM
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Ok, so I've run my Optimizer 250 for 3 months now and am still unsure what the optimum primary, secondary and fan disc settings are. I have the newest version of the 250 as I understand that older versions have a slightly different airbox setup. I've done a lot of experimenting with different settings and would like to know what you have yours set at.
Primary Air is 4-5 full turns out.
Secondary Air is 3-4 full turns out.
Fan Disc setting is different every week. :-\
The fan disc setting seems to make more of a difference than the primary or secondary air settings, but it seems to gassify at a wide variety of settings.
So to all the Optimizer 250 owners out there, what settings do you use for peak efficiency?
Thanks!
James.
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Hopefully matyinmi will chime in, he's the portage and main guru and is always testing stuff
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Primary and secondary at 5 turns out and fan disc out 1/4" to 3/8".
Mine's a little different as I've hinged my disc and incorporated a solenoid and a Love controller with a "J" thermocouple to restrict the amount of incoming air once my EGT reaches 300 degrees
Once you get it so that it doesn't smoke much at all 95% of the time, stop tweaking and just load it twice daily and do your weekly cleaning.
So many people fret about a little smoke once in a while. We need to remember that ALL GASSERS SMOKE ONCE IN A WHILE!!!(Ain't that right Jack!)
These 250's are a lot of fun once we learn to just leave them alone to do their job! (I need to be reminded of that almost daily! :-[)
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Primary and secondary at 5 turns out and fan disc out 1/4" to 3/8".
Mine's a little different as I've hinged my disc and incorporated a solenoid and a Love controller with a "J" thermocouple to restrict the amount of incoming air once my EGT reaches 300 degrees
Once you get it so that it doesn't smoke much at all 95% of the time, stop tweaking and just load it twice daily and do your weekly cleaning.
So many people fret about a little smoke once in a while. We need to remember that ALL GASSERS SMOKE ONCE IN A WHILE!!!(Ain't that right Jack!)
These 250's are a lot of fun once we learn to just leave them alone to do their job! (I need to be reminded of that almost daily! :-[)
Marty
I don't know how you knew I would be reading this. But yes that is true they do smoke once in awhile.
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good answers on the settings the most important one however i will elaborate on just a bit, the motor inlet damper should be adjusted so that you have a nice flame in the reaction chamber but not open enough that (when burning nice dry hardwood) you should not be getting dime size or larger charcoals on the ledge at the top of your vertical tubes if you are cut the air back a bit more all of us are burning different qualities of wood with different heat loads, if you are having trouble with the settings ask your local dealer to help or contact PM directly