Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers WITH EPA-Certified Models => Portage & Main => Topic started by: karlk on December 12, 2013, 07:49:31 AM
-
This is my 4th season heating with a P&M optimizer 250. So far I have burned continuous except for 1 month this summer.
The boiler has worked great with no issues . So far I have changed the door gasket and 2 nozzles both are inexpensive and easy to replace.
There were some upgrades to the air box provided to me from P&M because I have an early model. I clean the boiler every 2 weeks and get very little ash.The boiler gassifies with in minutes of start up. Brian From P&M still calls yearly to see how things are going and to answer any questions. Im not connected with P&M Im just a happy owner with a very warm house!
-
Congratulations. I never really see or hear anybody that has any issues with the P&M's. I think if I was going to buy a new stove that I would likely end up with one.
-
karl are you using p/m replacement nozzle or I thought I read you fab'd your own? my stove is new and running 2.5 months and nozzle is destroyed already and it has never been scraped,picked or proded. very disappointed. I bought replacement with boiler but am leary of putting new one in. will hope they would send me one but not feeling warm and fuzzy. I've only run about 2.5 cords thru this nozzle w/ wood under 20% mc
-
Wow 2.5 months and your nozzle is worn!
I cast my own and they seem to hold up good. Sounds like p&m might have gotten a bad batch of refractory.
P&M seems to stand behind their products so I dont think they will argue the point.
-
I am not the most knowledgeable when it comes to all the parts of my opt 250 but what exactly does a broken nozzle mean to the running of the unit? I've noticed mine has chunks missing from around it but it burns flawlessly part way into its third year.
-
I too am on my 4th or 5th year and am enjoying this one the most, the boiler is running smooth, just finished my second cord ( fired Oct 1). Havent replaced nozzle yet, just buy some new firebrick, I have a lot of high temp silicone for door gaskets, seems to be holding up good. it should get a good workout tonight, temp is down to 5 above, house is 73.
-
guys when i mentioned nozzle is broken i meant the edges are all broken off and the opening is no longer the 3/4"-1" wide it is more like 2+". it still gasses fine but i'm getting excessive coal/ember chunks down in reaction chamber where i have to scrape them out daily or so. i am going to try just using some firebricks to close up gap for now. although the ones i could get were only rated for 1200 so i think they wont last long. i'm debating about installing a replacement, how big of a deal is it? thnx
-
If you have a newer model boiler its easy to replace the nozzle. I use a long crow bar and a brick as a lever and push up from under the nozzle.
Sometimes a good whack with a hammer from the top works also.
If you have an older boiler like mine you need to cut the floor to accept the new nozzle.
-
jrider you dont want the nozzle to wear to the point of your main floor eroding , its much easier to replace the nozzle than the floor surrounding it.
My boiler had the opening cast into the floor, so the floor was the nozzle. The top was wearing so I cut the floor to the shape of the nozzle. This was not a fun job but now its easy to change.
-
This is my second year with the P&M 250 and I'm happy with it as well. Kinda looks like I might be replacing nozzles every year with the amount of wood I push through. I'll have to tap into karlk as a source for nozzles! I'm experimenting with a steel plate as a nozzle cover and it seems to be holding up ok. I'll keep you all posted with status updates.
I heat 3000 square feet plus 2 garages.
-
jreimer I would be glad to set you up with a nozzle. How much wood do you burn a year?
-
I burn 18-20 full cords a year. A completely full firebox every 12 hours for 6 months of the year is average. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the weather.
After my first full year of burning the original nozzle was literally falling apart. I replaced the nozzle this summer with a new one from P&M but noticed that after only a few weeks the new one started to have small chips and rounded corners already. Seeing that led me to believe the new nozzle would not last any better than the original. That is what spurred me on to try a steel plate with slot over the top of the nozzle.
-
Thats a lot of wood! You must have a big heat load.
I burn between 8-9 full cord and I thought that was a lot.
-
Update on my metal nozzle cover...
I have attached two pictures of some of the 1/4" steel that I made a make-shift nozzle cover from. As you can see the carbon is cooking out of the metal pretty badly but it has held up for over a month and I have pushed several cords through it already.
Not such great news for the refractory nozzle under the metal plate though. Attached is a picture of the big chunk that just fell off when I lifted the metal nozzle cover. It has deteriorated on its own under the metal cover. I'm hoping that this just broke off because of a manufacturing defect.
[attachment deleted by admin for space issues]
-
jreimer, is that a replaceable nozzle in your boiler?
-
Yes it is a replacement already. My first one wore out the first year. I'll be picking up some firebrick tomorrow and try your nozzle over nozzle trick. That way I can replace the worn firebrick easily. I'm also checking with karlk to see what he can do for me.
-
Karlk might make a more durable nozzle, just wondering if your nozzle protector might work well with a new one.
-
Ok, so here are pics of my steel nozzle cover that I had in place for about 2 months. They are 1/4" steel pieces that have worn quite a bit. I scraped off all of the flaking steel that had the carbon baked right out of it.
I have replaced them with firebrick to see if that will last longer. However, the non-reinforced firebrick that I am using are breaking into several pieces every few days. I guess they can't take the heat of the nozzle area!!
-
Wow 2.5 months and your nozzle is worn! I cast my own and they seem to hold up good. Sounds like p&m might have gotten a bad batch of refractory.
May I ask what your refractory brick material recipe is Karl? (if it is "secret," no problem. ;) )
I may be requesting a couple karlK nozzles for backups in my near future. 8)
-
Jreimer, could you E- Mail me the photo, it was deleted by admin and I would like to see it.
-
sloppy its off the shelf material. Its more in the design than the material
-
sloppy its off the shelf material. Its more in the design than the material
Thank you Karl.
By adjusting the design and area of the opening, is it correct to say that you are using the nozzle for purposes of adjusting the "capacity" of your Optimizer 250's 240-gallon water capacity to be more "equal" to your hourly consumption rate?
In other words, are you intentionally reducing your capacity in order to keep a good BTU load on the unit when it isn't so cold and your home isn't calling for as much heat?
Thank you for any education you may be able to provide. -Scott
-
The opening is 1.5 x1.5 as compared to 2x2 from the factory but the air flow is smoother. Like porting and polishing heads on a car.
-
The opening is 1.5 x1.5 as compared to 2x2 from the factory but the air flow is smoother. Like porting and polishing heads on a car.
Gaining a bit of measurable efficiency too!(Imagine a cold Sunday afternoon in December with all windows open, trying to calculate heat-loads and recovery times while wife and kid are visiting grandpa and grandma. Cat was laying in front of heat duct all afternoon to keep warm!)
I hope you are selling a bunch of these Karl.
Slim, you ought to be buying them to replace ones you change out too!
Mine shows almost no wear, and I am really, really rough with it! I think it's been in since the third week in September.
-
The one thatI have here Karl and I spoke about and the nozzle restricted flow to much, I think Karl has opened them up a bit if I'm not mistaken, I want to try a couple.
-
The one thatI have here Karl and I spoke about and the nozzle restricted flow to much, I think Karl has opened them up a bit if I'm not mistaken, I want to try a couple.
I agree with slim - it was definitely too restrictive for my application - but the material that karlk's nozzle is made out of is MUCH more durable than the ones provided by P&M.
Slim - did you ever make any progress opening that one up from karlk??
-
No not really Jim, you know me,Mr procrastination, I did have a brief conversation with Carl about opening them up a bit and with Robert @ the factory about the mix and I know they are trying to improve it, how is your stove doing, haven't heard from you since I was on the Radio
-
Slim you were on the radio??? What did I miss? I am sure it would have been an interesting show lol...
-
Yes internet radio, the guy met me at Fryeburg fair and invited me on a couple of months ago to talk about self reliance and anti Govt. stuff, he's an old Nam Vet that lives in the hills of Denmark, Me. He is an interesting fellow that is totally off grid, heats with wood and builds Pine caskets for spending money.
-
Thats a lot of wood! You must have a big heat load.
I burn between 8-9 full cord and I thought that was a lot.
Do you mind me asking what your square footage is and where you are?
Trying to get an idea of wood consumption
-
Im in north east Pa. heating about 3400sqft.
I did open up the nozzle a bit and I have one thats in a boiler heating a 6000 sqft home with out trouble.