Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: MaverickM23 on November 04, 2013, 05:43:12 AM

Title: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: MaverickM23 on November 04, 2013, 05:43:12 AM
Got my Empyre Pro 200 up and running last Saturday. Been burning what seems to to pretty dry wood, moisture meter is on the way. The weather has been mild here in central PA and at times I have been getting a little bit of moisture at the ash clean out door. But this morning it was 22 and I went out to check it at 6.00 am and opened the ash door and still got some moisture, any one else get this at all? I have some creosote build up in the firebox but its not as bad now that its a little colder. I scrape off what I can when I load wood into it and it seems to be going away a little bit not sure how else to get it off.
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: slimjim on November 04, 2013, 05:54:44 AM
I'm not the guy to answer this one but I would start with checking door adjustment and gasket, all gassers need to be airtight in the dormant mode if the gaskets don't seal then fresh air gets pulled into the boiler in the dormant mode and will create moisture and creosote
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: Scott7m on November 04, 2013, 07:05:27 AM
I'm fairly certain it's just a combination of no load on the boiler and the mild temps we've been having.  How much moisture are you seeing in there?! 
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: MaverickM23 on November 04, 2013, 07:47:59 AM
Enough that when I open the lower door some runs on the ground. It pools up on the lip of the chamber it seems. But sometimes I open it and its dry as a bone, other times it has some moisture.
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: CountryBoyJohn on November 04, 2013, 08:45:50 AM
I get the same thing in my Heatmaster.  The ash door and ash pan are the coolest parts of the stove and the lowest.  "Water" runs downhill and condenses in the coolest parts in the stove.  I have a "puddle" of goo in my ash pan right up against the door.  When I open the ash pan, sometimes an actual small splash of water comes out that has been pooled against the door just like you said happens to yours.  It got better when I bumped up the water temp.  I imagine it will get better when we get good loads as well. 
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: Scott7m on November 04, 2013, 11:19:49 AM
Yep, that's pretty common when a unit is oversized due to weather, perhaps your wood isn't evenly dried tho

The stove I'm running now drips consistently out the left lower corner of ash drawer and my wood is 18% moisture content

My stove however is 3x the square footage capacity that I need
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: MaverickM23 on November 04, 2013, 01:26:44 PM
Well Im getting ready to head home from work now so Ill check on it and report back tomorrow morning. Today was colder 30 - 40 but still not real cold.
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: d-man on November 04, 2013, 01:32:22 PM
I have had the same unit as you for over a year now. When it is warmer out and my wood is a little too wet I get the same thing happening.
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: MaverickM23 on November 05, 2013, 08:42:50 AM
When I got home last night I opened the door and there wasn't any moisture. Now it was colder yesterday, stayed in the 30's and Im burning some real hard dry elm. Checked the tubes and the upper ones had some dust but no creosote but the vertical ones did have some creosote. The creosote in the firebox seems to be going away a little, any tips to help reduce it other than it needs to get cold and stay cold, supposed to be in the 50's here today.
Title: Re: Moisture at lower ash door Empyre Pro 200
Post by: slimjim on November 05, 2013, 11:11:35 AM
Load less wood, more often?