I bought a used Optimizer 250 at the end of September. The guy selling it was a P&M dealer who was retiring from it. I was told this unit was a prototype that P&M sent to the U.S. to have it emissions tested. After that he used it as a demo and heated his shop for 1/2 season. He told me it was two years old which I now don't believe is true. I have read through all ten pages of posts in the Portage and Main section and have learned a lot.
I have been running it for a month now and overall I am happy with it and don't have any big complaints. I am heating about 1600 sq ft upstairs to 72 degrees and about 1000 sq ft of basement that says fairly warm since I didn't insulate any of the lines in the basement. Also heating DHW with a sidearm with no problems. I understand there is a bigger learning curve that comes with running a gasification boiler. So here are some of my questions/concerns. Hopefully this helps others out there that might have some of the same. I will put a link to some pictures I took of my boiler.
http://s40.photobucket.com/user/graff5711/library/
1.After watching videos such as the one Coolidge has posted, I don't believe my boiler is gasifying as well as it should. It is very rare that I open the door and see what his video shows. I plan on taking a video of mine and uploading it later. I think I may just need to adjust the airflow.
2. I haven't seen any other nozzles similar to mine. I have a removable metal piece sort of a grate which covers a square nozzle. It looks like the new ones have a replaceable cast refractory nozzle that has a long narrow slit instead of a square. I plan on upgrading to this in the future but my nozzle doesn't seem to be in bad shape yet. I can get 1/4 all the way up to 1/2" thick plate steel pieces for free which will fit in place of my current one. Would it be a good idea to get some and try milling a long narrow slit in the steel similar to the current refractory nozzle on the new Optimizers?
3. I get a good amount of very fine ash in the first set of horizontal heat exchanger tubes and on that shelf. The picture shows it 5 days after I cleaned them. Is this normal or do I need to cut back the air flow?
I am burning red oak that was cut 1.5 years ago. It was dead standing with the bark off when it was cut so it was dry then already. Like I said this boiler is heating everything great and I am happy with it. I just like tinkering with things and if I can make changes to make it more efficient that would be great. I am brand new to the OWB and Gasification Boilers so if there is anything I can change/upgrade let me know. Thanks in advance and hopefully this helps others.
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Topic: Optimizer 250 Upgrades (Read 4984 times)