Is it wrong for me to be excited about next year already. You guys make me wish I plumbed the house first then the garage. I hope the storage is what I'm lacking.
I'm building a homemade boiler
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Warno, I have been following along a little, I don't really think it matters which was plumbed first, when the system is dialed in anyway...I am 3 years in and still tweaking, adding storage etc...be patient, you built a nice unit, but I think you thought that would be enough, building a solid unit is just part one, the real fun is getting it to Purrr.
I'm liking it more now then when I first started it up. I honestly never thought that the weather conditions, wood condition, or so many other factors come into play.
I was always basing my fire conditions off of what I've seen my dad do with his wood furnace. But I learned real quick a boiler is not a wood furnace. My dad always made it look so easy to build and sustain a fire. Of course he's been with the same stove for over 30 years now. So I guess it will get better with time.
I was always basing my fire conditions off of what I've seen my dad do with his wood furnace. But I learned real quick a boiler is not a wood furnace. My dad always made it look so easy to build and sustain a fire. Of course he's been with the same stove for over 30 years now. So I guess it will get better with time.
hondaracer2oo4
Feeling the Heat
Any reason your running your garage so warm when no one is out there? I would run it at 40 or 45 when no one out there and bump it up when you are out there. Your hx size will not change your btus that your space needs. Smaller hx=less btus per min of run time, bigger hx=more btus per min of run time. Your space needs the same btus to reach a certain temp regardless of hx size.
The boiler and furnace are different animals.
The boiler and furnace are different animals.
I was running the garage so warm because that's my only heat load on the boiler. it was the only way I could make the boiler do work in this warmer weather. I'll be turning it down when the weather stays cold. Other wise the boiler would idle for hours on end. I know I'm burning more wood this way but it's better then just make creosote like crazy.
Another successful night last night. Only down fall is I burnt up my flash light. I had a little LED magnetic light I would stick on the inside edge of the door while loading at night. I shut the door last night and went in the house. I came out this morning to a very sad looking melted clump. But other then toasting my light I had a good pile of coals to get the new load of wood going again.
I did my weekly HX clean out this morning and I got this much black crumbly stuff. Is this alot for a weeks burning? Tape measure for size reference.
![[Hearth.com] I'm building a homemade boiler](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/168/168712-52d6b85acce783af3dec94711d3a8d8e.jpg?hash=tT_TclSlVC "[Hearth.com] I'm building a homemade boiler")
And just because I didn't post a pic of my tools during building. I have a ash rake I built from stainless steel pipe and a piece of scrap. And my HX brush I got from a local pizza place, they used it to clean their ovens. It's got an aluminum scrapper on one side and a brass brush on the other side.
![[Hearth.com] I'm building a homemade boiler](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/168/168713-2a43e8f0e49cf03b0abbc564a57f1939.jpg?hash=y5ppJwcIpm "[Hearth.com] I'm building a homemade boiler")
Another successful night last night. Only down fall is I burnt up my flash light. I had a little LED magnetic light I would stick on the inside edge of the door while loading at night. I shut the door last night and went in the house. I came out this morning to a very sad looking melted clump. But other then toasting my light I had a good pile of coals to get the new load of wood going again.
I did my weekly HX clean out this morning and I got this much black crumbly stuff. Is this alot for a weeks burning? Tape measure for size reference.
And just because I didn't post a pic of my tools during building. I have a ash rake I built from stainless steel pipe and a piece of scrap. And my HX brush I got from a local pizza place, they used it to clean their ovens. It's got an aluminum scrapper on one side and a brass brush on the other side.
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Hard to tell, have you cleaned or inspected the chimney yet? Is the black stuff shinny..also, my entire system runs pretty clean, three times per season I brush the chimney...Twice a week a I throw in a couple of scoops of the Rutland Creosote, Chimney cleaner...It's cheap enough on Amazon , after three full winters burning, the HX and chimney sweep clean, and look great...
There is the same crumbly stuff in the chimney but I haven't cleaned that out yet. It's not too terrible in the chimney though. All of that in the picture is from the heat exchanger.
Tonight I went out to load the night run in and I went in the garage to adjust my thermostat and noticed my pump is started to make some noise. It started out as a kind of whine but then went into what sounds almost like it's pulling air through but I can't see any air in the line when I shine a light through the pex lines. The coils don't sound like there's any cavitation going on. I turned the speed up to speed 2 and it quit making the noise. Any thoughts what it could be? Should I be worried?
I came home from work today to see that some water had ran out of my boiler vent at some point today. I'm not sure why all the sudden I would have water coming out. It hasn't had any water come out the vent since I started burning. Is there any reason that I'm getting water from the vent line all the sudden?
I can't remember, do you have an open system?
Is the water out the boiler vent like a OWB that has open to atmosphere fill tube?
Might be your boiler boiled over. Got too hot for an open system.
Is the water out the boiler vent like a OWB that has open to atmosphere fill tube?
Might be your boiler boiled over. Got too hot for an open system.
Mine is an open system yes. I have a stand pipe for my vent line very similar to a garn vent line. Here you can see the pics of my vent system.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/im-building-a-homemade-boiler.145689/page-2#post-1964868
The stand pipe goes up inside the top access to the boiler then it's open to drop down and run out.
The only 2 things I can think that may be causing this, 1) is there was a creosote fire inside the fire box that got super hot and the aquastat shutting down the fan wasn't enough to kill the blaze causing a slight boil over. Or 2) there is finally enough condinsation building on my top cover that it's dripping down into the pipe and running out.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/im-building-a-homemade-boiler.145689/page-2#post-1964868
The stand pipe goes up inside the top access to the boiler then it's open to drop down and run out.
The only 2 things I can think that may be causing this, 1) is there was a creosote fire inside the fire box that got super hot and the aquastat shutting down the fan wasn't enough to kill the blaze causing a slight boil over. Or 2) there is finally enough condinsation building on my top cover that it's dripping down into the pipe and running out.
what was your aquastat set at high limit cutoff? 100 gallons isn't a lot. remember when the air shuts off its not instant heat off like gas or fuel oil burner. the wood fire is roaring when air shuts off. mine had about 100 gal 12 cubic foot firebox and setting aquastat at 170 in warmish weather could easily push it to boiling. more storage means a bigger buffer against temp climb when air is snuffed out.
I have a totally different system but Notshubby said something that might be relevant. I had a couple of boilovers early on. When my heat demands where met my damper would close and the Circulator pump from the unit would shut off, even though at this stage the fire was damped down, the heat in the firebox was building up..I rewired the circulator pump the continue running even after the damper closed....problem solved.. Similar to any heating element that has a delay, even after the source of heat is cut off, the remaining heat in the system must be dumped...
My circulater pump runs constant and my aquastat is set to shut off at 170. I have watched when the aquastat shuts down and the temp still runs up but it stops at 172, every time I have observed it anyway. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on it when I get a chance to.
wow you must have a seriously small fire in there if your only going 2 degrees above the setpoint with only 100 gal h2o.
put your drain into a 5 gal bucket so you have an idea if your dumping out a few drops or a lot of hot water and its evaporating.
I have a 120 gallon tank for my firebox then it's lined with fire brick and refractory so I probably have about 12-13 cu/ft of useable burn area.
The amount of water on my concrete outside the boiler shed wasn't a lot when I looked at it but it's hard to tell how much may have evaporated before I got off work. My vent line is hard plumbed into the boiler shed wall. I could try to disconnect it and run it into a bucket to check that theory.
I'll try to turn my aquastat up alittle. To help with the creosote. I'm going to let the temp run down alittle and build a hot fire in there to try to burn it this weekend.
The amount of water on my concrete outside the boiler shed wasn't a lot when I looked at it but it's hard to tell how much may have evaporated before I got off work. My vent line is hard plumbed into the boiler shed wall. I could try to disconnect it and run it into a bucket to check that theory.
I'll try to turn my aquastat up alittle. To help with the creosote. I'm going to let the temp run down alittle and build a hot fire in there to try to burn it this weekend.
Well, as of this afternoon after work I have decided I'm only going to burn this thing at night until temps get and stay cold outside. I'll just shut the whole system down before I leave for work and then refire at night.
It's 50 outside right now and with my garage forced air running constantly, because I have the drive in door open, it took almost 10 minutes for the boiler to drop 1 degree. With that math it takes almost 45 minutes inbetween boiler fan running at 4 degree differintial. I'm not going to idle all day, that's just rediculous. With temps in the high 40s and the door shut all day the garage will hold some heat until that night. Hopefully it gets cold soon.
It's 50 outside right now and with my garage forced air running constantly, because I have the drive in door open, it took almost 10 minutes for the boiler to drop 1 degree. With that math it takes almost 45 minutes inbetween boiler fan running at 4 degree differintial. I'm not going to idle all day, that's just rediculous. With temps in the high 40s and the door shut all day the garage will hold some heat until that night. Hopefully it gets cold soon.
hoverwheel
Burning Hunk
This morning before work I ran the temp up in the boiler to 180 degrees and shut everything down. I do think I found out where my water running out the vent was from. When I ran it up to 180 a big air bubble found its way to the access opening and bubbled up into the opening and splashed a bunch of water out the vent. The water level is almost level with the top of the vent stand pipe. With the top being flat on my boiler it traps air in the corners. When the water expands it pushes the air bubbles to the access opening. So that was good to find out.
But I'm alittle concerned when I shut my pump down one of my heat exchangers in the garage made a horrible bang noise. I'm not sure what that could have been but I plugged my pump back in and then unplugged it to make sure that's where the noise came from, and it did it again.
I left for work at 530 this morning and got home at about 3 this afternoon. From 180 degrees this morning it dropped to 172 while I was away. No pump running, no fans running, I thought that was ok.
But I'm alittle concerned when I shut my pump down one of my heat exchangers in the garage made a horrible bang noise. I'm not sure what that could have been but I plugged my pump back in and then unplugged it to make sure that's where the noise came from, and it did it again.
I left for work at 530 this morning and got home at about 3 this afternoon. From 180 degrees this morning it dropped to 172 while I was away. No pump running, no fans running, I thought that was ok.
I have thought of adding in an air separator. Mainly because I don't want to keep driving air through my pump.
This warmer weather is going to get me a chance to build my new fire grate. I will be forcing air through the grate to warm it up then it will exit out the top inside the firebox just before my flue exit, pushing the flue gases back down into the fire box for hopefully a reburn.
This warmer weather is going to get me a chance to build my new fire grate. I will be forcing air through the grate to warm it up then it will exit out the top inside the firebox just before my flue exit, pushing the flue gases back down into the fire box for hopefully a reburn.
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