Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Plumbing => Topic started by: CRJR on April 05, 2013, 03:35:52 PM

Title: circulator pump
Post by: CRJR on April 05, 2013, 03:35:52 PM
My homemade owb has had a problem boiling the water in the stove or at least steaming alot since i first started it. Does this sound like a poor circulation problem in the stove? Its designed like a p&m ml30-ml36. Their are two loops setup this way=  supply water out of the top of the water jacket to load  and returning in to the bottom of the stove around the tubes for the grates. the pump is on the supply outlet pushing the water out to the load and then back. My question is can i flip the pump over and make it pull water into the stove instead of pushing it out to see if this helps the steaming/boiling issue without hurting the pumps. Or am over looking the obvious
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: hoardac on April 05, 2013, 06:05:18 PM
what type of pump, how long a rise and run, did this just start? is there a filter inline. All sorts of variables.
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: johnybcold on April 05, 2013, 06:33:28 PM
Is it possible there is a air leak so the fire is burning too hot? If it is steaming I would think your indoor temp would be up there
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: Scott7m on April 05, 2013, 06:59:09 PM
That won't work, switch the pumps around, pumps should be on bottom not top, that encourages water circulation but it still may not correct all of the issues but it is a very common problem,
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: CRJR on April 05, 2013, 07:39:06 PM
The temperature of the water in the lines is lower than what the aquastat reads to. No air leaks when the fan dosent run their is nothing coming out the stack. It only steams about 1/2-3/4 of the way through the burn cycle. We built another stove with 1.5" water jacket on the ends of the stove mine has 3.5" on either end and his dosent steam at all. Other than everything else is exactly the same between the two.
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: yoderheating on April 05, 2013, 07:39:29 PM
Does your pump run 24/7? If not doing so will help a lot.
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: CRJR on April 05, 2013, 07:44:32 PM
Two pumps both on 24/7.
One pump I can change the speed on I changed from low to high for a couple weeks and seemed to help a little
It only does this during a burn cycle about 1/2-3/4 through
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: yoderheating on April 05, 2013, 07:47:47 PM
 Wow, 2 pumps running? That thing shouldn't be overheating at all. Hot water rises/cold water sinks so to get a good mixture through the furnace the return should be in the top. That way the water naturally mixes itself.
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: johnybcold on April 06, 2013, 06:34:29 AM
Maybe you need bigger dia. lines, could there be something rest rocking flow in the house?
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: CRJR on April 06, 2013, 09:12:15 AM
Maybe you need bigger dia. lines, could there be something rest rocking flow in the house?

system is entirely new dec 2012
one loop is 1"pex, 140', with 1 plate heat exchanger
second loop is 1"pex, 380' with 1 sidearm, 1 water to air hx

all fittings are 1"dia on everything in entire system and measurements are entire loop legenth (supply and return combined)
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: CRJR on April 06, 2013, 09:27:54 AM
Wow, 2 pumps running? That thing shouldn't be overheating at all. Hot water rises/cold water sinks so to get a good mixture through the furnace the return should be in the top. That way the water naturally mixes itself.

but to see if the water moving the other way through the boiler  like you are sugesting will fix or help do you think that if i flip the pumps over to make it do that, lets say for a couple days instead of           re- plumbing the back of the entire stove. do the pumps care if they pull or push. if i have to re-plumb to fix the problem i will no questions, but if i can try this without burning up my pumps flip them to see if it helps or solves  my problem. without spending 1/2 a day moving things and instead just take 8 bolts off and on
Title: Re: circulator pump
Post by: RSI on April 06, 2013, 10:18:36 AM
If it were a pressurized system it might work but on an open system the pumps won't last long.