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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: I started my OWB last night..

« on: September 21, 2012, 01:07:52 PM »

Started mine this past Wednesday. We are about out of propane for our water heater and I don't want that big ugly truck showing up until next spring!

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Running under pressure

« on: January 26, 2012, 09:14:53 AM »

I've got basically the same boiler as MattyNH except mine is hooked to a forced air furnace instead of an oil boiler. Pressurized wood boilers have been used for years. People have been using HS-Tarm indoor pressurized wood boiler's since the 70's. I had people telling me to stay away from pressurized systems because they are finicky, but I've been running mine for a few months now without any problems. You are supposed to use oxygen barrier pex instead of regular pex, but it doesn't cost much more anyway. I've found there are two things you need with a pressurized system that might not be as big a deal with a non pressurized system. They are good temperature control, and high point relief valves. There is no "boiling over" with a pressurized system so getting the firebox air tight is important. Basically if your water gets too hot the pressure rises and the pressure relief valve pops, and causes a big mess on the floor, then your temp relief valve pops and causes more of a mess. I didn't have this problem but a friend did. His boiler is in his garage and he had a nice ice skating rink in there for a few days. To put it simply, auto dampers are a must have. High point relief valves are simple little things that work like magic. When you first fill your system there will be a little air trapped in the lines. I have a manual valve on both of my pex lines at their highest point. The air collects there, I can literally hear the air in the lines. I crack the valve open, it hisses a little then I close it and repeat until I can't hear the air anymore. Did that once when I filled it and it has worked ever since.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: silly questions

« on: December 18, 2011, 08:08:36 PM »

1)Everyone always talks about measuring return heat why is it important for the temp returning not to be to low?

2) why use a heat exchanger in domestic hot water........why not just use the water out of the OWB tank and plumb the local well up to refill the OWB when water is used out of the OWB tank? My domestic hot water tank is only 80 gallons ........the OWB is 750 gallons

Thank for entertaining the silly questions of a newbie

Higgins,

Don't worry about the "silly questions" everyone has to learn about this stuff when they first get started.

1) I see two reasons why you want to be concerned with return water temperature. 1st and most important to me is wood usage. The way I see it is that my goal is to keep my water at 180 degrees. If I do that then my house is warm and my domestic hot water is hot. So the way I keep my water hot is by burning wood, when the water temperature drops, my draft fans kick on and burn my wood hotter (faster) to get my water back to 180. The less that happens the less wood I burn. The 2nd reason would be the condensation issue that everyone else is talking about, but really that is secondary because if you set your aquastat temp high enough and you keep wood in your stove you won't drop that far in temperature too often.

2) As far as I know no one does this. The main reason is just about everybody treats their boiler water with chemicals to remove corrosive elements from the water. Some people put anti-freeze chemicals in their water to reduce the chance of their pipes freezing due to a malfunction. Bottom line is that the water that is cycling through your boiler would not be considered safe for human consumption. Also it would cause you to burn more wood due to what I talked about in my answer to your first question.

Hope that helps,
Andy

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: How much more wood consumption in Dec.

« on: December 15, 2011, 08:03:15 AM »

Of course combined underground pipe used and how well a house is insulated are the keys to determine wood use.
Thermopex and well insulated house here= 1/4 cord so far in Dec.

Thermopex, Logstor, or any underground pipe like them is the best you can buy. Still doesn't mean F7JC's problem is that he didn't use that pipe. Could that be the problem? Absolutely. It's more likely an inefficient house problem though.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: How much more wood consumption in Dec.

« on: December 15, 2011, 07:16:02 AM »

Because you mentioned your fan inside your house is coming on about every 15 minutes since the outside temp dropped, I would have to say it is your house.  Like mentioned above, we need more info on your house.

  Everyone seems to always jump to underground lines first. While it could be the issue, it is pretty easy to test. Get a barbecue thermometer and strap it to some copper on your incoming line in the house. Chances are it will only be a couple of degrees cooler than at your boiler. If the fan wasn't coming on every 15 minutes before and it is now, then that is why you are burning more wood. That fan is drawing BTU's out of that water and sending cooler water back to the boiler, which causes your draft fans to run more, which causes you to burn more wood. What's your differential set at on your aquastat? Try lengthening it to see if makes any difference. So if it's at 5, move it to 10, or if it's at 10 move it to 15. That way you will idle a little longer between burn cycles which should save some wood theoretically.

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Plumbing / Re: 20 pleate or 30 plate heat exchanger ?

« on: December 13, 2011, 01:56:21 PM »

just to let you know I put in a 30 plate , works great , really sucks the heat out of 275 gal tank when the wife tryes it out!!!!  now I just need a mixing valve.  you really have to watch the sinks and shower , they get HOT!!!

I just put a 10 plate in mine on the hot side of the hot water heater, so I have the water heater turned off completely and the water comes out of the tank cold then goes through the 10 plate exchanger. It's amazing that cold water can enter that little 10 plate cold and be close to 170 degrees when it comes out the other side. I love it. Probably should have got a 20 plate at least because I've read that the 10's can restrict flow, but dealer sold me this and I didn't know any better. I love on demand hot water!

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Electronics / Re: Another Thermostat wiring question

« on: December 13, 2011, 12:38:17 PM »

Thanks guys, I will try that tonight RSI. If I understand you correctly by removing the wires from the G terminal I won't be able to use the Fan Only feature on the thermostat, correct? That's not a big deal as long as the fan turns on when it calls for heat or ac. Thanks again.

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Electronics / Re: Another Thermostat wiring question

« on: December 12, 2011, 11:48:37 AM »

Sconnieman, you can either hook it up the way you have and pull the breaker or use a relay to keep power from back feeding to the old thermostat.

I've never installed a relay before, then again I've never done a lot of this stuff before and it hasn't stopped me yet, but I'm fine doing it the way I'm doing it now, because it works. The only thing I'm concerned about is causing damage to the AC unit without power going to it. I thought I read somewhere that these central ac units need power in the winter for some reason.

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Electronics / Re: Another Thermostat wiring question

« on: December 12, 2011, 10:57:01 AM »

Take both wires off the G terminal and splice them together.

Ok I don't think I'm following that completely. I should just wire nut the wire coming from W of the new thermostat to the wire that is connected to the G in the existing thermostat, and then leave them disconnected from the G terminal? Can I turn my AC breaker back on then, or should I still leave that off?

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Electronics / Re: Another Thermostat wiring question

« on: December 12, 2011, 09:44:52 AM »

Yes there was/is a wire on the G terminal. I just put the W from the new thermostat into G with the existing wire and the AC turned on. Then I just put the W from the new thermostat into G by itself and took the other wire out and then it didn't work at all. So I just put both wires into G and shut the AC breaker off, and it works. Do you think that is ok, or is there a better way?

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Electronics / Re: Another Thermostat wiring question

« on: December 12, 2011, 09:01:18 AM »

Thanks RSI. This worked. The only problem was that when I wired it this way the central air turned on. I turned off the breaker for the central air and now it is working perfectly. Thanks again.

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Electronics / Another Thermostat wiring question

« on: December 09, 2011, 01:09:16 PM »

Just about done getting the boiler all connected, just need to figure out the thermostat. I have a honeywell aquastat on the boiler that will control the fans and auto damper's on the boiler to keep the water temp where I want it. In my house I have two basic digital thermostats that are installed right next to each other. A previous owner had a pellet stove that was controlled by the second thermostat. The thermostat that is currently connected controls both my propane furnace and my central air. Is there a way to wire the currently connected thermostat to the one right next to it that is currently not connected to anything? My thought is that this disconnected thermostat (which is a heat only 2 wire model) can be our primary heat control, which will turn on just the furnace fan to maintain temp while the boiler is running, and the thermostat that is connected to our propane furnace and AC will then function as backup with the temp being set lower so it kicks on the propane if the fire goes out or something.

I think this is a fairly common setup. So where do I connect the two wires from the currently disconnected thermostat?

Second part of this is that I have a pressurized system, so I understand I should put a strap on aquastat in the house so it can monitor the incoming water temp. It would then turn on the furnace blower if the water is over a set temp such as 200 degrees or so to dump the excess heat. Anybody have any idea how that would be wired?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

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Fire Wood / Re: The fastest log splitter

« on: December 05, 2011, 07:46:59 AM »

Hey, if you split wood by hand, you need to get a Fiskars X27 axe.

Agree 100%! I have a Fiskars X27 and I love it. I bought the sharpener with it, and I keep it nice and sharp. I only split the stuff my wife can't pick up, but it makes splitting easy.

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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Mechanical wood splitters

« on: December 01, 2011, 10:43:30 AM »

I bet I could still out split him with my fiskars splitting axe, and it only cost me $45.00.

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Shaver Furnace / Re: Shaver auto dampers

« on: November 22, 2011, 01:47:45 PM »

Beeman mine has a rubber gasket on bottom to help make a good seal. Will try to post pic

mikenc can you post a picture of how you have your solenoid mounted? I just ordered the rubber flap and solenoid that I linked to above and I'm looking for ideas on how to mount it. Thanks!

Andy