soot from indoor boilers?

[Fred61]

Been a long time since I've heard the word "soot" and even longer since I've seen it. At least my definition of "soot". My last vision of soot was the under side of the cook top of my mother's kerosene burning pot burner in the forties. It looked like a thick coating of black flocking.

With our wood boilers we get our share of dust which can be minimized by being more careful and the usual creosote build-up from improper burning techniques or improper installation.

 

[Tennman]

I must say that most of the dust/soot in our barn is from the years of operating without storage. When you don't have storage there are many times you either feed the boiler before a burn's complete or come home to a cold house. Not hard to determine the wife's priority. This happened often when you were going to be gone for 4-5 hours.

 

[Eric Johnson]

A certain amount of smoke is inevitable with any wood-burning device, but you can take steps to minimize it in most cases to where it's a non-issue.

With an OWB, the one thing you can't minimize is your wood consumption. They burn a lot more wood than a gasifier--indoor or out. That's one thing you don't want to forget.

 

[Coal Reaper]

As promised in post #24. I would guess i have burned about 14 cords since i put up the sheetrock. This is a pic during a burn, with the primary door open (and secondary but the window is still there), without using the bypass. Really i only use the bypass when starting a fire IF there is no cold coals left from the previous burn. If there is coals i toss in a handful of noodles with a match and load up.

 

[Coal Reaper]

Currenlty having issues with multiple pics in same post

 

[Coal Reaper]

one more

 

[huffdawg]

I've had an Eko 40 for about 5 yrs or so now. It has been doing the job but ultimately it has been a pain in the ass.

problems I've had with it are!

- Heavy smoke egress while loading during a burn.
- constant smoke leakage from primary and secondary door seals.
- plastic handles falling off
- defective fan capacitor
- defective boiler controller
- heavy erosion of primary and secondary refractory
- not easy to clean until removal of factory turbulators and mechanism to operate them.

I have a boiler room that is attached to the back of my shop so the smoke problem has not been totally irritating.

I usually like to buy the higher end stuff but this time it cost me as I will be buying a new gasser this summer . Was very interested in the Garn Jr. but the difference in the american currency will cost me $4200. Leaning toward the Froling 40/50 now.

Huff

 

[maple1]

Coal Reaper, do you ever get any creosote on your window? I get the odd dribble that runs down from the firebox, doesn't happen very often but kind of interferes with the view of the fire when it does.

 

[Coal Reaper]

Eko is positive pressure. Varms and some others dont even have door seals to worry about.

@maple1 , Yes some creosote dribble when i burn wood that is not dry all the way. if i have wood that i know is less than optimal (usually oak) i will put it in last on top of other <20%MC stuff.
one time i was burning a full load of chunks that werent quite dry. one chunk musta fallen and completely covered the nozzle. no air flow, temp dropped, fan shut off, wood continued to cook/boil. that made a huge dribble. a puddle even. lets not talk about that.

 

[Fred61]

I've had an Eko 40 for about 5 yrs or so now. It has been doing the job but ultimately it has been a pain in the ass.

problems I've had with it are!

- Heavy smoke egress while loading during a burn.
- constant smoke leakage from primary and secondary door seals.
- plastic handles falling off
- defective fan capacitor
- defective boiler controller
- heavy erosion of primary and secondary refractory
- not easy to clean until removal of factory turbulators and mechanism to operate them.

I have a boiler room that is attached to the back of my shop so the smoke problem has not been totally irritating.

I usually like to buy the higher end stuff but this time it cost me as I will be buying a new gasser this summer . Was very interested in the Garn Jr. but the difference in the american currency will cost me $4200. Leaning toward the Froling 40/50 now.

Huff

Many problems that I don't seem to have with my 25!

 

[huffdawg]

Mine must have been built on a Monday

 

[Fred61]

 

[huffdawg]

Do u use a draft inducer fan Fred?

 

[Coal Reaper]

come on now, everybody post pictures of you boiler operating with door open!

 

[Eric Johnson]

Fred, what kind of controller is that on your 25? I've never seen one like that before.

 

[maple1]

come on now, everybody post pictures of you boiler operating with door open!

Good Idea!

I lit a couple hours ago. Will try to remember to get a cell pic when I go back down.

 

[Fred61]

Do u use a draft inducer fan Fred?

I have a draft inducer fan but I only use it periodically when lighting up. Most of the time I forget. Remember my lighting technique is different than most here. If I do run the draft inducer it is only for the 45 seconds or so that I have the propane torch heating the charcoal. I pull the torch, close the lower door, close bypass and shut off inducer in a few seconds.

 

[Fred61]

Fred, what kind of controller is that on your 25? I've never seen one like that before.

It's called Eccoster2. I suspect it is mostly used in Europe since it registers in centigrade and the highest setpoint is 80C (180F) I don't use most of the features since I control my pump launch with a Tekmar 156. For me It's basically an on/off switch and high temp control.

 

[peakbagger]

My indoor wood boiler was salvaged by a friend and I from a house as it was improperly installed and no insurance company would go near it. There was a lot of evidence that the boiler had lots of problems. Most of the front of the boiler was black with smoke with some bubbled paint. There is a combined pressure/temperature gauge about 18" above the loading door that was partially melted. It had a coal grate and the parts of the grate I got had evidence of melting. It didn't have external storage. I expect if you talked to the prior owner who operated it, it was piece of crap. Since I have had it I rarely if ever have blowback and iif it does occur it would occur early in the season with a cold chimney, cold storage and relatively mild outdoor temps.

The difference between my install and the previous install is what made the difference. The boiler has a 8" outlet. The old install necked down to 6" and then installed in a wye on an oil burner flue that then tied into a outdoor chimney that ran about 3' above the soffit on the lower edge of a ranch roof. My install is an 8" flue on an 8 by 12 tile flue interior chimney that discharges at the peak of my roof about 28' feet above the breech in the chimney. Even though it isn't a gasifier and doesn't have a catalyst, this years clean out of the chimney was about 6 cups from the base of the chimney. I generaly inspect the chimeny every year but only sweep it on average every 7 or 8 years I ran it a couple of winters without storage in tandem with a wood stove for milder weather and didn't have any issues but planned my burns so that the damper rarely closed which meant quite a major temperature swing in the house. Once I put in storage and got the controls tuned up, my wood usage went down and I effectively stopped burning oil. I have not filled my tanks for 3 years and still have a few hundred gallons.

This reinforces the need to install a complete system rather than one component. A poor install and wet wood will make good gear look bad.

The new baby tarm is on my list when the current boiler dies and I expect I will further reduce my wood usage with one but cant justify the change out while the Burnham is still running.

 

[RedWingsfan]

I've had an Eko 40 for about 5 yrs or so now. It has been doing the job but ultimately it has been a pain in the ass.

problems I've had with it are!

- Heavy smoke egress while loading during a burn.
- constant smoke leakage from primary and secondary door seals.
- plastic handles falling off
- defective fan capacitor
- defective boiler controller
- heavy erosion of primary and secondary refractory
- not easy to clean until removal of factory turbulators and mechanism to operate them.

I have a boiler room that is attached to the back of my shop so the smoke problem has not been totally irritating.

I usually like to buy the higher end stuff but this time it cost me as I will be buying a new gasser this summer . Was very interested in the Garn Jr. but the difference in the american currency will cost me $4200. Leaning toward the Froling 40/50 now.

Huff

are the Froling's plentiful in Canada, maybe I should check Windsor or Sarnia? I can't seem to find a dealer near me in Michigan.

 

[huffdawg]

are the Froling's plentiful in Canada, maybe I should check Windsor or Sarnia? I can't seem to find a dealer near me in Michigan.

www.biothermic.ca

 

[goosegunner]

If you are planning on a in the house install I would only get a induced draft not a forced draft boiler. Froling would be at the top of my list.

gg

 

[maple1]

are the Froling's plentiful in Canada, maybe I should check Windsor or Sarnia? I can't seem to find a dealer near me in Michigan.

Gasifiers of any kind are very rare up here. I have only seen one other around here, a Wood Gun. I was completely on my own. Everybody I have said anything to about my system just puts a blank look on & says, 'I see...'

 

[hiker88]

Froling owner checking in rwfan. I haven't been as active on the forum since I got things set up, but let me know if I can answer any questions for you.

 

[GENECOP]

Going on three years now with my IWB...the back of my unit sits behind a door in my kitchen....I don't have any problems with soot...occasionally on a cold start if I load to heavy I will get some smoke in the kitchen, not much, just a light haze and smell...That's about it...the only thing that is unavoidable with an IWB is the mess from cleaning...when I clean the chimney and elbows most of the work happens from the backside in my kitchen..I have gotten pretty good at limiting the mess, but it is not as relaxing or as easy as it would be if you where in an outdoor shed or barn...