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1
Site Suggestions / Re: What part of the country?
« on: December 29, 2013, 08:10:21 PM »
The city of North Pole, Alaska.
2
Fire Wood / Re: TYPE of CHAIN SAWS USED
« on: December 27, 2013, 08:47:34 PM »
I paid $810 for my 562xp in Fairbanks, Alaska August 2012. I would never spend that much, but about 1/2 was paid for as a birthday gift from my in-laws! I shopped and shopped. I felt the Husky's were more ergonomic for me, and this 562 though on the large side for continual use in a day however it is quite nimble and light not to mention powerful. When I'm out of shape it gets to be too much but when I'm in the middle of cutting season and my strength returns it's very productive! It's done my firewood flawlessly from 75F down to -45F!
3
Fire Wood / Re: Thirty Below
« on: December 27, 2013, 08:41:44 PM »
It's -42F right now. Google North Pole, AK temp. It's supposed to break tonight and be up near 0F in 24 hours. We're just at the mercy of the jet stream.
"Ohiowood", the first burn season I managed to bring home a mix of about 6 cords of white birch and black spruce. That was a lot of work with such little time to do it. I buy truck loads of logs. I paid $170/cord for 6 cords, and $190/cord for about 18 cords.
Many ppl I know who burn heating oil exclusively report that with less sq. footage than we have, they've been shelling out upwards of $10,000 a year just in fuel costs. I feel good in spending about $5,000 a year to heat our property. Yeah, the prices are high up here but so are wages.... so costs are relative.
"Roger2561", you are exactly right! My wife and I pray regularly that nothing fails. We have 2 circuits running from the e-Classic 3200, one to each building. The circ-pump for the house is in the garage. The one for the shop/apartment is in the back side of the OWB!! Imagine having to change that! I plan to relocate into the shop this coming summer. We pray thanks for everyday things go off without a hitch too!
A week and a half ago my mom landed in the hospital in Anchorage. I drove 6 hours down to be with her and while I was gone there was a wind event which took out a major transmission line, cutting power to our area. My wife called me at 5am saying the power was out and noted that the water temperature was dropping about 20 degrees and hour. It would normally be 195 but was at 100 when I was able to get a hold of a friend who made it way to my home with a portable generator and wired into the breaker panel to supply the OWB and the circ-pumps. It was ironic because the day before I had been generator shopping in Anchorage. I ended up bringing home a Generac 10kw portable gas powered generator...hopefully we'll never feel hopeless again.
"Ohiowood", the first burn season I managed to bring home a mix of about 6 cords of white birch and black spruce. That was a lot of work with such little time to do it. I buy truck loads of logs. I paid $170/cord for 6 cords, and $190/cord for about 18 cords.
Many ppl I know who burn heating oil exclusively report that with less sq. footage than we have, they've been shelling out upwards of $10,000 a year just in fuel costs. I feel good in spending about $5,000 a year to heat our property. Yeah, the prices are high up here but so are wages.... so costs are relative.
"Roger2561", you are exactly right! My wife and I pray regularly that nothing fails. We have 2 circuits running from the e-Classic 3200, one to each building. The circ-pump for the house is in the garage. The one for the shop/apartment is in the back side of the OWB!! Imagine having to change that! I plan to relocate into the shop this coming summer. We pray thanks for everyday things go off without a hitch too!
A week and a half ago my mom landed in the hospital in Anchorage. I drove 6 hours down to be with her and while I was gone there was a wind event which took out a major transmission line, cutting power to our area. My wife called me at 5am saying the power was out and noted that the water temperature was dropping about 20 degrees and hour. It would normally be 195 but was at 100 when I was able to get a hold of a friend who made it way to my home with a portable generator and wired into the breaker panel to supply the OWB and the circ-pumps. It was ironic because the day before I had been generator shopping in Anchorage. I ended up bringing home a Generac 10kw portable gas powered generator...hopefully we'll never feel hopeless again.
4
Fire Wood / Re: TYPE of CHAIN SAWS USED
« on: December 24, 2013, 07:08:25 PM »
Husky 562xp, 24". I love it!
5
Fire Wood / Re: Thirty Below
« on: December 24, 2013, 07:06:12 PM »
I know, late to the game on this thread. I live in North Pole, Alaska which is located in Alaska's interior region of the state, in the outskirts of our 2nd largest city in Alaska. We regularly get the cold temps "Swede" referred to. In fact, it's Christmas eve and the current temp is -29F. Last year on this day it was -45F.
I have a 2011 Central Boiler e-Classic 3500, heat two structures totaling 4,000sq. My 3500 provides 100% heat and 100% domestic hot water. We have an oil fired furnace as back-up.
We burn white birch exclusively. When we are conservative with our heat usage we'll burn about 110 sq/ft per week and we've burned as much as 140sq/ft week. I just tell ppl we burn a cord a week when it's -30F and colder (which is about 8-10 weeks of the 28 week burn season) Usage drops way off with temps around 0F. We burn 20cord/season.
Merry Christmas and keep warm everyone!
I have a 2011 Central Boiler e-Classic 3500, heat two structures totaling 4,000sq. My 3500 provides 100% heat and 100% domestic hot water. We have an oil fired furnace as back-up.
We burn white birch exclusively. When we are conservative with our heat usage we'll burn about 110 sq/ft per week and we've burned as much as 140sq/ft week. I just tell ppl we burn a cord a week when it's -30F and colder (which is about 8-10 weeks of the 28 week burn season) Usage drops way off with temps around 0F. We burn 20cord/season.
Merry Christmas and keep warm everyone!
6
Central Boiler / Re: Tales of my eClassic 3200 --- Don't trust them arrows!
« on: October 29, 2012, 09:27:28 PM »One mans arrow is another mans wtf
Dealer installed.... go figure.
7
Central Boiler / Re: Tales of my eClassic 3200 --- Don't trust them arrows!
« on: October 24, 2012, 10:32:25 PM »Way to go!! Good troubleshooting. So your pump was just in backwards? pushing water in through the outlet? Interesting that under a light load the system was able to keep up for you ok.
First, I want to thank you and another gentlemen (forgot username) for providing info that helped me out today.
Not only was the pump installed backwards, all the pipes had arrows pointing the wrong direction as well. Additionally, the copper pipe was labeled "In" on one pipe and "Out" on another. Everything was ass backwards! When I went to the eClassic, opened the rear access door and pulled away insulation, then put the Ryobi Infrared Temp Gun on the Pex lines... the bottom (return port) was warmer than the top (supply port). That was wrong. There was also no check valve installed so I knew it was possible to be pumping in the wrong direction.
In my set up the pump was installed in the garage, next to the oil boiler.
I went to the manufactures website (AIC) for my water/water heat exchanger and discovered the flow is supposed to be opposite to each other. It was in parallel in the original set up.
Once I reversed the flow (to the correct way) the heat exchanger also loses 20F now where before it lost 10F. This tells me there is a more efficient heat transfer taking place, because the supply is giving up more heat thru the exchanger.
I'd share some pics but this has been a long day!
8
Central Boiler / Tales of my eClassic 3200 --- Don't trust them arrows!
« on: October 24, 2012, 06:43:02 PM »
Hi guys, new to forum. My wife and I bought a 2100 sq/ft home with a detached shop/apartment adding another 1500 sq/ft. Original heat for the home was oil fired furnace with slab in concrete, radiant floor and baseboard throughout. The detached shop was built in 2010 and heat was supplied by an OWB. The previous owner upgraded to an eClassic 3200 in December 2011. The heat source for the shop is the OWB on it's own circuit. As I recall the previous owner had difficulty "keeping the fire lit" last heating season.
We bought the home largely on account of wood heat as fuel costs here in North Pole, Alaska is $4.07 and above. Many with comparable home stats and sizes are spending thousands and thousands on fuel each year. I am brand new to wood boilers and have just general knowledge of mechanical things. I trusted all was well since the home seller was a man of great integrity.
I fired up the boiler for the first time in mid-september with temps in the high 30's. It seemed to work great! The oil furnace never kicked on, nice, hot water for showers, dishwasher, laundry, heat.... and never seemed to run out! The wood consumption was fairly light too, I thought!
Suddenly about 5 days ago the temps went from about +20F down to -5F and as cold at -15F. The day before the colder temps were forecast I went and did a thorough cleaning per the operator's manual. Heat exchangers, firebox, reaction chamber, even the flue I checked. Re-lit the fire and experienced non-stop issues!
It smoked horrendously where it hadn't before!
The water temp on the controller would read 197 and higher or show overheat of the water!
The supply water temp inside the house would read about 130-135 at the warmest. Oil furnace kept kicking on!
This is not why we bought a home with a wood boiler!
I left work almost as soon as I got there this morning just frustrated that my multiple cleanings did nothing to make it run better. That's to this site the last couple of days I've got an education far greater than what the manual teaches.
I bought a Ryobi infrared temp gun for $32 this morning and went to work checking different temps at different places. I learned from other forums to use tape (used electrical tape) to wrap around metal pipe (like copper pipe) to get accurate readings. The temps didn't jive with how a correct install should.
The installation occured in December 2011. The plumber or installers had arrows and writing ("in" and "out") marked everywhere so it was hard for my mind to work logically when indications were the opposite. I tried everything... and noted the install wasn't done thoroughly.
For example, not one-way check valves anywhere in the system. Only one ball valve on the pump for the out-building.
I went against everything that was written (arrows/writing) on the piping/plumbing. I figured I could be wrong but needed to eliminate the possibility that the flow was the wrong direction.
I flipped the pump and VOILA'!~!
Within 30 seconds the inline gauge showed 180F coming from the OWB! The temps on the pex lines in back of the boiler jumped from 105 to 180! The controller water temp dropped from 197 to 160 and the boiler kicked on and started burning without smoke!
Unless you do something yourself and know for sure.... always check other people's work!
We bought the home largely on account of wood heat as fuel costs here in North Pole, Alaska is $4.07 and above. Many with comparable home stats and sizes are spending thousands and thousands on fuel each year. I am brand new to wood boilers and have just general knowledge of mechanical things. I trusted all was well since the home seller was a man of great integrity.
I fired up the boiler for the first time in mid-september with temps in the high 30's. It seemed to work great! The oil furnace never kicked on, nice, hot water for showers, dishwasher, laundry, heat.... and never seemed to run out! The wood consumption was fairly light too, I thought!
Suddenly about 5 days ago the temps went from about +20F down to -5F and as cold at -15F. The day before the colder temps were forecast I went and did a thorough cleaning per the operator's manual. Heat exchangers, firebox, reaction chamber, even the flue I checked. Re-lit the fire and experienced non-stop issues!
It smoked horrendously where it hadn't before!
The water temp on the controller would read 197 and higher or show overheat of the water!
The supply water temp inside the house would read about 130-135 at the warmest. Oil furnace kept kicking on!
This is not why we bought a home with a wood boiler!
I left work almost as soon as I got there this morning just frustrated that my multiple cleanings did nothing to make it run better. That's to this site the last couple of days I've got an education far greater than what the manual teaches.
I bought a Ryobi infrared temp gun for $32 this morning and went to work checking different temps at different places. I learned from other forums to use tape (used electrical tape) to wrap around metal pipe (like copper pipe) to get accurate readings. The temps didn't jive with how a correct install should.
The installation occured in December 2011. The plumber or installers had arrows and writing ("in" and "out") marked everywhere so it was hard for my mind to work logically when indications were the opposite. I tried everything... and noted the install wasn't done thoroughly.
For example, not one-way check valves anywhere in the system. Only one ball valve on the pump for the out-building.
I went against everything that was written (arrows/writing) on the piping/plumbing. I figured I could be wrong but needed to eliminate the possibility that the flow was the wrong direction.
I flipped the pump and VOILA'!~!
Within 30 seconds the inline gauge showed 180F coming from the OWB! The temps on the pex lines in back of the boiler jumped from 105 to 180! The controller water temp dropped from 197 to 160 and the boiler kicked on and started burning without smoke!
Unless you do something yourself and know for sure.... always check other people's work!
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