Print

[muffin]

OK, I installed my fan. First I left the switch I installed off so when the damper opened the fan did not run. Worked Ok but I felt that it took too long to come up to temp due to much less natural air flow. So, I modified the fan housing to let more air in. I also made a cover so when I turn the fan on, it works as designed. With the fan operating, I agree that my boiler recovers much faster. Haven't noticed needing more wood, but haven't run it long enough to know. I purposely put in a load of "wet" wood with some very large pieces that I had to roll in from my skid steer as a test for the fan. Stuff burned great with no problem. The smoke seems to be the same while burning but shorter burn cycles makes for less smoke in the end. I did notice that my water temp goes a few degrees higher after it shuts off than it does with no fan. Not really a problem unless you are set at a high shut down temp. I think it will help out a lot when I get back to heating my pool.
I think having this fan and the option to use it when I want will just make a good boiler better.

Here's some pics, the holes you see in the fan housing I put there for more natural draft. They are NOT there originally.

Agree.  Mine too seems to overshoot a little now, but no big deal.  With the pool, I always need the fan, but the switch idea is cool.

[clydem]

I'm curious, what was the cost of the blower unit?  I don't have a CB dealer near by and I would like to get the best deal when I buy one.

thanks
Clyde

[fireboss]

I paid 140 for mine this past summer

[dirtryder]

I'm curious, what was the cost of the blower unit?  I don't have a CB dealer near by and I would like to get the best deal when I buy one.

thanks
Clyde

I paid just under $150 delivered to my door.

[clydem]

Where did you buy it?

thanks
Clyde

I'm curious, what was the cost of the blower unit?  I don't have a CB dealer near by and I would like to get the best deal when I buy one.

thanks
Clyde

I paid just under $150 delivered to my door.

[dirtryder]

Where did you buy it?

thanks
Clyde

I'm curious, what was the cost of the blower unit?  I don't have a CB dealer near by and I would like to get the best deal when I buy one.

thanks
Clyde

I paid just under $150 delivered to my door.

From my dealer. I can't say what it may cost for anyone else. I would like to "think" I got a good deal because I purchased my boiler from them. Contact any CB dealer and get a price with shipping. I'm sure any will sell to you.

[dirtryder]

Agree.  Mine too seems to overshoot a little now, but no big deal.  With the pool, I always need the fan, but the switch idea is cool.

Muffin, I noticed that when my fan turns on to do a heat cycle, especially at night when air is colder, that my temp actually "drops" almost 5 degrees  before it starts to heat back up. With natural draft I don't notice this.
Did you notice that?

[muffin]

Agree.  Mine too seems to overshoot a little now, but no big deal.  With the pool, I always need the fan, but the switch idea is cool.

Muffin, I noticed that when my fan turns on to do a heat cycle, especially at night when air is colder, that my temp actually "drops" almost 5 degrees  before it starts to heat back up. With natural draft I don't notice this.
Did you notice that?

I have not noticed that, but I have not really stared at it either.  Mine is not in a good spot to look at so it may.  That seems odd though, I cannot imagine the water temp changing very fast.  Is your heat load really light right now?  Maybe the coals have gotten really cool and it is taking awhile to get any heat flowing.  I also keep the ash pretty high; cause i'm lazy.  It is always an inch or two above the door level so when the air blows in it hits the coals in front immeadiately and they light up instantly.  Mostly, I never clean the ash out to be honest.  I have cleaned it out twice since november and I am thinking that was a waste of time.  I swear it returns to the same level in a day and just stays there forever.  The blower is actually helping with that now as I can run it on coals alone on the weekends and keep raking it to get it to burn down almost level with the door.

[clydem]

I have been thinking about adding a blower (draft inducer) wired in tandem to my 5036 draft solenoid. This would speed  the recovery time and I believe the damper would stay open less and use less electricity overall.  My concern is with the x-300 which I use to tell me when to load the boiler "I let it burn down to coals as much as possible depending on outdoor temp". If I add a blower I would like to switch it from a relay triggered on/off by the x-300 on a low temp alarm so if I don't catch the time to load it it don't  burn out all the coals. The solenoid would not be isolated and would open as usual for a natural draft when the x-300 cuts off the blower.

I am just looking for others opinions on this setup.

thanks
Clyde

[hddmax66]

How about an update

[dirtryder]

How about an update

Well, I like the fan for fast recovery if needed and when I put in some "not so perfectly seasoned" wood that is just lying around when I'm cleaning up my wood area. For the most part, I have been using my boiler without the fan.

Oh yeh, I found out that I do not need to cover the holes I drilled in the fan housing when using the fan. My thought was that the forced air would "leak out" the holes and not go into the firebox. This turned out not to happen, which is good because now I don't have to take the cover on and off.

[muffin]

I love the blower.  I do not have a switch on it so it runs anytime the boiler turns on.  I do not notice any incerase in wood consuption, but it really burns down much better while still holding heat.  Only downside is that it is a bit loud, but not terrible.

[woodywoodchucker]

I got a fan from my dealer that was returned and installed today. The connection are cheese and I replaced them. The connections to the seleniod were loose so I replaced those. I'm thinking that needs a separate thread to have all CB owners to check there connections.
I'll report how the boiler works with the fan but I feel it's an awesome tool to have if your burning poor quality wood.