Total newbie, completely fubar system.
- Thread starter ColdInMichigan
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I donot have a boiler but I recommend going to Home Depot and picking up 30 or 40 2x4's. Take and cut them to firewood length and add 4'or 5 lengths every time you load the boiler. You would be amazed at the difference it will make in your firebox temps even with marginal wood
I used to live in the area and am marginally familiar with H2Oasis.
As was already said, they would probably love to sell an outdoor boiler.
I'll second getting your stuff from Menards. Hope you get it figured out.
As was already said, they would probably love to sell an outdoor boiler.
I'll second getting your stuff from Menards. Hope you get it figured out.
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I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish tomorrow. It's just pure luck that I have time to make this happen on a week day!
This board is a great place as has already been stated. I've received more help than I would ever be able to give. As long as ColdInMichigan doesn't turn out to be as crazy as his avatar this should be a good chance to pay it forward.
2x4's do make great starters for what it's worth. If you have some laying around it might help. I regularly use dimensional lumber scrap as kindling when I have it.
This board is a great place as has already been stated. I've received more help than I would ever be able to give. As long as ColdInMichigan doesn't turn out to be as crazy as his avatar this should be a good chance to pay it forward.
2x4's do make great starters for what it's worth. If you have some laying around it might help. I regularly use dimensional lumber scrap as kindling when I have it.
Time to go read some in the Wood Shed here on the site.
Pine is all some folks have to burn, and they stay warm enough.
Yes, compared to the BTU content of hardwoods pine is lower (typically), so you will burn more of it. But it burns hot and fast, and throws good heat. If its seasoned properly, it burns great, and makes excellent fuel.
But when you have access to nice hardwoods, its usually not worth the effort to cut it up. Then again, I got a lot of it for free last year, and its great kindling, and builds a nice coal bed to get gasification going.
I will look into the Wood Shed.
Someone once told me not to use pine because it creates alot of creosote....which I have anyway due to the crappy wood I do have!
Someone once told me not to use pine because it creates alot of creosote....which I have anyway due to the crappy wood I do have!
cityboy172
Feeling the Heat
I would grab ECO bricks or similar instead of pellets. Haven't tried pellets, but just see a bunch going down the nozzle.
cityboy172
Feeling the Heat
My bad. Getting late. Pallet wood should burn great. The eco bricks have been a life saver for me, If you go the paid route.
Im going to have to buy something for next season. I have an awful time with bridging due to my crap wood. Im going to look into the bricks and there is a place one town over that sells coal so I may run that next winter as well.
cityboy172
Feeling the Heat
Just getting ahead on wood and splitting real small will help. Even the wet stuff I'm burning right now does ok after a coal bed is built. I'm shooting for playing card sized splits. You can tell it takes a lot of BTU's to get it dry enough. Smaller the split the faster the dry time.
I'd also be willing to make a trip up there, but it's going to have to be about spring at the rate things are going (assuming Stee6043 doesn't end up on a milk carton) . Don't know as much as a lot of the guys on here, but a Pipefitter / HVAC guy by trade. Might be able to help. Unfortunately, I'm buried right now, personal and work.. My wife would probably shoot me when I got home if I went to go work on someone else's wood boiler given how far behind I am on mine.
stee will be able to help. Having some real dry wood whether it be 2x4 scraps, small pieces, stuff that was dead standing, etc. will allow you to burn the wetter stuff. The controller wired correctly will help too with keeping the boiler hot and gasification going. This will help overcome the wet wood and unnecessary fire tending too. The Eko 40 is plenty big to heat your home.
Anyone know how to keep the coals inside the top? Mine always fall down into the bottom. I tried a steel grate inside once but it wasnt heavy enough and melted.
maple1
Minister of Fire
maple1
Minister of Fire
Might not need cutting, per se, to get out. But maybe some trimming of a new one - or maybe that was Biomass. No direct knowledge here, but should be lots of threads about it.
The nozzle can be removed by busting it out. There are a few threads on here about it. I am on my 7th heating season with my EKO 25 and I need to replace my nozle now, so I am ordering the replacement from New Horizon today.
For now you can create an overlay for the nozzle from firebrick to narrow the opening - again, threads on here detail how to do this. I have used this for the past two seasons with lots of success - I just had to replace the bricks seasonally as the heat breaks them down.
Your controller sounds like it is broken as well. You can order a new one from New Horizon, or wait for the end of the heating season and take a go at fixing it yourself. I can definitely help with that when the time comes; electronics repair is my expertise and I have repaired my own controller a couple of times (bad capacitor, faulty switch on board).
For now you can create an overlay for the nozzle from firebrick to narrow the opening - again, threads on here detail how to do this. I have used this for the past two seasons with lots of success - I just had to replace the bricks seasonally as the heat breaks them down.
Your controller sounds like it is broken as well. You can order a new one from New Horizon, or wait for the end of the heating season and take a go at fixing it yourself. I can definitely help with that when the time comes; electronics repair is my expertise and I have repaired my own controller a couple of times (bad capacitor, faulty switch on board).
You can jack the nozzle out of there with a hydraulic jack and a little tapping with a hammer from above.
I repaired both my controller by replacing the capacitor with a higher capacity one, and it works great. Actually, I have two--both needed repair; both work fine now.
I'm still shivering. I left ColdInMichigan's place an hour ago. When I left my truck said it was a solid 1 degree F outside. Fortunately his boiler is covered but it's still basically outside. Not far from a large opening on the front end of his pole barn. Dang cold out there today, fellas!
I think we made some great progress but too early to call this a complete win. His system has some pretty wild "enhancements" from the prior owner. I wish I could have stopped shaking long enough to take some photos for the forum.
So...the progress we made today was primarily due to pulling the front panel off and adjusting air settings while also cleaning out the secondary air tubes. His primary air sliders were too far open and the secondary was both too far closed as well as the tubes filled with ash. We set primary at about 1/2" and ran the secondary's out about 6 turns. With wet wood I wanted to push a little more air in there than normal. We had a decent flame when I left and it was holding decent temp, showing signs of improvement.
We also slowed his circ pump a bit by throttling down one of his valves. Initially we were getting less than 10 degrees delta T in his furnace HX coil. I was trying to get it closer to 20. I think we ended up with 15ish.
I think his buried pipe is less than ideal but far from his biggest challenge right now. It looks like 5 degrees temp loss per side on maybe 100 foot run. Very livable for this winter.
His controller setup is pure awesome. It displays temp but does not control the fan nor the pump. Both the fan and pump have been modified to plug into the wall. Functional, but kinda scary. He will be checking the outputs on the controller to see if it works. The controller wants to run the pump based on the lights on the front but it's not currently being given the chance. If it shows no signs of life on the fan and pump outputs a new controller will be the first thing that needs to be purchased (along with a mixing valve and lower refractory).
Had a good time out there today. Was glad I didn't end up mugged and buried in the woods. ColdInMichigan has a solid boiler that just needs some TLC and some minor plumbing corrections. That and some good dry wood next year will lead to full on winning.
I think we made some great progress but too early to call this a complete win. His system has some pretty wild "enhancements" from the prior owner. I wish I could have stopped shaking long enough to take some photos for the forum.
So...the progress we made today was primarily due to pulling the front panel off and adjusting air settings while also cleaning out the secondary air tubes. His primary air sliders were too far open and the secondary was both too far closed as well as the tubes filled with ash. We set primary at about 1/2" and ran the secondary's out about 6 turns. With wet wood I wanted to push a little more air in there than normal. We had a decent flame when I left and it was holding decent temp, showing signs of improvement.
We also slowed his circ pump a bit by throttling down one of his valves. Initially we were getting less than 10 degrees delta T in his furnace HX coil. I was trying to get it closer to 20. I think we ended up with 15ish.
I think his buried pipe is less than ideal but far from his biggest challenge right now. It looks like 5 degrees temp loss per side on maybe 100 foot run. Very livable for this winter.
His controller setup is pure awesome. It displays temp but does not control the fan nor the pump. Both the fan and pump have been modified to plug into the wall. Functional, but kinda scary. He will be checking the outputs on the controller to see if it works. The controller wants to run the pump based on the lights on the front but it's not currently being given the chance. If it shows no signs of life on the fan and pump outputs a new controller will be the first thing that needs to be purchased (along with a mixing valve and lower refractory).
Had a good time out there today. Was glad I didn't end up mugged and buried in the woods. ColdInMichigan has a solid boiler that just needs some TLC and some minor plumbing corrections. That and some good dry wood next year will lead to full on winning.
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maple1
Minister of Fire
Of course the dang thing nearly overheats while I was typing the above! Good news but still concerning. The boiler needs to survive long enough to get a functioning controller onboard.
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