Empire 100 by Profab

[Dino57]

Good to hear the unit is up and working as you wanted. Can you post some pics of your plumbing hookup. I am hooking up one as well.
Did the unit come with a plastic bottle to send away a sample for testing the chemical treatment of the water ?
What kind of wood are you using out there ?

 

[mikefrommaine]

OK... The boiler made it in to its new room. This room is actually an old indoor pool that we recently filled in. I too will build it its own sealed off room, and will be able to utilize the old pool exhaust fan i suppose if this thing smokes while loading. The empire 100 does have a smoke curtain...hope it works, i am gona find out soon enough i guess. Anyway the chimney goes in tomorrow... will take closer pictures of the unit and final resting spot for all to see tomorrow....

I'm thinking the pool would have made a great storage tank -- just start heating it around August and you should be good for the winter by the holidays.

 

[rglazier65]

ya the pool would make a good sink ..... problem is it was a energy pig...
i use bettle killed pine and birch. i seem to throw a couple large round pine in first ... then i some nice seasoned birch split that i plug it full with. What is great about this thing it takes quite a chunk of wood, it says 24 but a 28 will fit and a 12 inch diameter (one of) ... and it like it. loves the large rounds. I will post my piping but i have a uniquie situation. The house has two furnace rooms, one for the pool (which is now filled in and covered with cement), it has a geothermal heater that heats the slab, then a large house with another furnace room with yet another geothermal heater. So I had to connect the two furnace rooms and do the nessesary plumbing to make all this work. My plumber/pipe fitter was a friend who does theboiler work for our llocal school board... did a great job. I do have one hicupand that was the sizing of my heat exchanger. I had for the pool a 125,000btu heatexchanger.... and thats what the boiler is rated for so i thought great ..... but it just wont exchange the heat fast enough to bring the house water above 140 dgrees. The boiler is set at 170 degrees and it idles quite a bit... so i think i may need a bigger heat exchanger. what is someone elses experence ? do you need a larger than rated heat exchanger to do the job ?
Also no i did not get the complimentry water testing bottle.... damm .. down to the dealer

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Part of your problem is . . .ya haven't posted enough pics yet

Sorry, I'd be no help on the HX size questions.

But I do have some more questions for you . . .

You say you load it right up and get a 12 hour burn . . . Is that recommended by the manufacturer considering you have no storage?

WTH is the temps there in real numbers aka °F

Jimbo

 

[rglazier65]

ok > more pictures i get it..... ill work on that.
-30c thismorning equals -22F .
not sure if 12 hour burn is ok or not with the manufacturer.... but thats what its doin. The manufacturer actually does not discuss storage as it is made to cycle. Would storage be better ? absolutely, I have 200 gallons now, but need to get another 800 i figure. But thatl be next summers worry.

let me figure out more pictures for you guys

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Still successfully makin hot water?

 

[rglazier65]

Yep....still making hot water.

a couple things to report ....

the manual states target wood moisture content is 19%. i was burning some seasoned bettle kiled pine and some dry kilned trim ends and it started to chirp and pop a little. Not so happy about this i phoned the factory, they asked me to load the stove with a more balanced aproach, some dry some not so dry. This solves the popping but goes against the common theory of dryer is better. Not sure if I like it or not, but knowing how i need to load it ....it now seems fine.

it gets a great long burn, i am quite impressed so far. i need a better water hx. What is a good quality hx i will be happy with ?

another question ? what do most use to clean the boiler tubes ... it came with a wirebrush dealy thingy.... but is there some thing better ... like on a drill or something ?

thats it

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I'm gettin a neckache lookin at yer pics . . . Make sure the ones of your wife loading the Empyre are right side up . . .ya don't want gravity doing anything strange ;-)

I can't recall what you have for a HX. Why don't you like the one you have?

Also can't help you on cleaning since your unit is NOTHING like my GW. Hence my interest.

 

[rglazier65]

opps crap sorry about the photo's
get the lap top out and is that the thing ... get the wife loading it ? wish me luck
i have a hx that says its rated for 125000 btu's ...but clearly it isnt as the unit cycles alot and i cant get my water storage (200 gallons only) above 135 degrees.
so i beleive i need a better or more efficient exchanger.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Sorry, Man! I know nothing about storage. But I'd assume if I had storage I'd want it a lot hotter than 135.

I use a 20-plate W2W HX.

 

[flyboy01g]

Hi rglazier65,
I've just purchased the same unit and the company suggested a 40 plate heat exchanger.
I don't see why it couldn't heat 200gal more than 135deg.
I'll let you know how I make out. I'm hoping to make a fire before Christmas. I'll try to
send pictures.

 

[rglazier65]

hi firestarter .... makin hot water yet ?

 

[flyboy01g]

Hi rglazier,

Sorry I haven't gotten around to the pictures yet. I'll be forced to sooner or later. Things are still being finalized
in my mech room. I've added an inverter with 12volt battery last night.

I've been fired up since December 28th. Making lot's of hot water. 14f outside last night and I've maintained
165deg. I have no water storage other than 40gal domestic indirect tank. I loaded the unit last night and a family
member forgot the front door of the house opened for a period of time and the house never got cold. The output ratings seem
quite conservative from my experience. If your boiler is cycling it must be meeting it own demand. If there's no feedback
to the 200gal it doesn't know it's there. I would guess the pump/heat exchanger is not supplying enough to the storage tank. I don't know
the Btu rating of my heat exchanger but it's 40 plates. (think it's in the 200,000 range)
I've learned a trick from my plumber to make instant DHW. I turn the on the pump that controls the loop on the
DHW and presto super fast 40gal tank of hot water. I also notice how fast it draws down my "delta t" . I can remove
about 20 degrees of heat in about 30 seconds. Heating large storage tanks of water may be harder to do for the output this boiler has.
My rep/dealer knows of one client who heats a 500gal tank. I'll ask if he's has any feedback from him.
I plan to do some type of water storage in the future for DHW in the summer but have to do more research on the subject.
How many plates does your h/xchanger have?
I'm still learning how to burn but it's fun.

Pyrol-assist

 

[rglazier65]

my heat exchanger is a pool type. no plates... a simple tank with a coil inside it circulating the boiler water. the 500 gallons storage tank guy would be interesting. i agree with you as this boiler is desighned to cycle so ... i spose what u would gain is a clean burn but this thing with my seasoned pine burns clean anyway. what is cool is i put a 28 inch long .... 14 inch diameter log in it when i got home, and the boiler loves it.
some problems i have had to date: handle to open the fire box door got so stiff from creosot that i could barely open the door...... solution wd40... makes it work like new. Door seal was leaking the first few weeks but has seemed to self heal ??? i like a boiler that self heals...

thats about it.... good to here from another dtove owner

rich

 

[kuribo]

If it is burning clean, where is the creosote coming from?

 

[rglazier65]

ya that does sound confusing...
the burn chamber smolderes away and does its thing. there is a water jacket around that so it has some creoset. the smoke is forced into the gasification chamber underneath.... i have yet to clean the tubes as they look great.

 

[flyboy01g]

Here's a couple of pictures:

 

[rglazier65]

very nice setup... looks great..
what type of wood do you burn it ? do you have the right length ?

rich

 

[djblech]

How many SqFT are you heating? How often do you need to stoke fire? I just talked to a dealer in MN, he said Empyre is coming out with a 200 soon. He advised me to wait for that as I burn mostly birch, popple, and maple.
Doug

 

[rglazier65]

im heating 5000 sq ft in northern bc canada. the house is 35 years old but very well insulated. im loading it every 8 hours on average. a 200 would be great though. i wonder if the fire box would be even larger ? if it was me id wait to look at the 200.

rich

 

[101x81]

im heating 5000 sq ft in northern bc canada. the house is 35 years old but very well insulated. im loading it every 8 hours on average. a 200 would be great though. i wonder if the fire box would be even larger ? if it was me id wait to look at the 200.

rich

5000 sq ft, wow! do you have a full time maid

 

[djblech]

Yes, the dealer said the firebox would be larger on the 200. Because I burn mostly birch, he was concerned that I would be stoking fire all the time with the 100. I have a GW 100 that is to small to heat my 2400 sqft with lots of windows. I was interested in the Empire because the dealer is close.
Doug

 

[rglazier65]

after thinking about it for a day .... the extra btu's when needed would be great, exspecialy on a day like today. -30 degrees celcius. for me its amount of wood u can put in a firebox and efficency. i want the longest burn time possible and this boiler is givin it to me..... but the 200 will be better. i spose time will tell how tough this boiler will be.

rich

 

[RickH]

Can you give us an update on how well the 100 is working? Hows your burn time? Any major issues?
Went and looked at a 100 versus a Pro 200 this weekend. What was your sqft again?
Thanks.