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[mgw44]

Just a general question on gassification.  I am filling my boiler morning and night.  The furnace is an Empyre Pro Series boiler.  The burn time is 11-12 hours from when I fill in the morning to when I get home at night.  The issue is that even though there is blackened wood and coals in the boiler when I get home at night the fire almost looks like it is going out.  Do I have a bridging problem or is something else going on?  If I stir the coals I can get it to fire up again. 

Empyre shows nice round logs in their diagrams and on their videos.  I don't have access to those logs as most of the wood I cut is oak and over 12 inches in diameter.  Therefore, I've split most of my wood and I also wonder if I have too much surface area burning. 

My other thought is that maybe the wood is smoldering too much as there is little demand on the furnace in this mild weather. 

I am asking now so that when it gets really cold I don't have a problem with the fire going out before I get home.  Anyone have any ideas on how to sustain a more productive burn?

mgw44

[jackel440]

Ok you say your filling it morning and night,but how much are you actually putting in?I am only putting in 3 or 4 pieces of split wood myself  for my morning and night fills.
You will find that the coal bed(depending on how deep it is) is actually full of intensly hot coals.Which will still burn when the stoves comes on and still gasify.
I Loaded an 10" round and a couple of splits at 5:30 am and at 2:30 when I got home the splits were aout half gone and the round was maybe 1/4 burned up.I threw in a half dozen splits and will see her in the moring.Now my stove is a homemade gasifier ,but I would think they would burn at similar rates.
I do believe these gasifiers perform even better the colder it is out.I also think it is important keep your water temp set at a minimum of 180* for more efficient burn times.
Your wood will smolder more due to the mild temps.I know we are in the mid 40's right now and raining.

[martyinmi]

   What you are describing sounds just like how my old 100 used to operate. In weather like this I stuffed mine full only once/day. As long as it takes off right away and starts gasifying within a minute or so after it calls for heat(after you load it), it is functioning properly.
   I have a parts list of wear items that will wear out every year or every other year that you might want to get on hand a.s.a.p.,as your local dealer won't stock them and Pro-Fab takes their sweet time in sending out parts.
   Have you been able to walk by it yet while it's running without opening the secondary burn chamber door to watch it burning smoke? That's way too cool, isn't it?

   Have fun,

   Marty

[dirtryder]

I had a Wood Doctor HE5000 Gasser and in the beginning I was constantly thinking it was going out. I fiddled, raked, shoved wood and coals wondering why it "seemed" it wasn't staying lit. I would come home from work and swear it was out. Finally, my wonderful wife said to "leave that damn thing alone!"......."look at the water temp, it's within where it is suppose to be...right?" Darned if she wasn't right on. From then on, I never worried about the logs "looking" like they were burning when I got home....if the water was still hot, it was working properly......

[mgw44]

When I am home I check it all the time.  I probably check it more on the 2 weekend days than I do the 5 weekdays combined.  I'm still learning though.  I've had a couple of cold mornings and a couple of times where I've burned the wood almost too ash.  It takes a lot of effort to get the coals built back up properly.  The first thing I do in the morning is check the water temp.  The first thing I do when I get home from work is check the firebox.  I am putting in 3-5 split pieces of oak in every 12 hours.

My biggest problem is making sure I have the wood stacked in the right method.  It seems like if I fill it front to back full it is better than when I stack my short logs in the middle.  I also have a problem with gravity where I will get logs hungup.  So, the fire burns out but the logs are bridged up above the floor of the firebox. 

My focus right now is to stack as smart as possible to make sure gravity can make the logs fall into place.  I also am going to make sure to keep the coal bed maintained. 

When I do see it gassify Marty I really enjoy it.  When I am struggling with the log placement it can be quite frustrating.  When I get into the woods this fall I will be cutting to how the wood best fits into the firebox. 

Marty can you send me that list?

Thank you for the replies,

mgw44