Hi doug what is your hi water temp set at . The rear of your pressure vessel looks like it has alot of build up that will cause hi exhaust temps I don’t know what the mc is in the wood i am burning.
Hello Sparky,
My hi water temp is set at 180 deg. The plan to dismantle the GW is so that I can clean the back of the pipes.
Doug
Doug, Is dismantling the GW the only way to access the back of the pipes?
Hello,
I have a GW100. They are a pain to get going but you will be happy if you can hang in there. I agree with deadbtu, greenwood will be little help. I think their r&d;is us early buyers. Loading east west is critical to burn time. Last night I burned 100# of 20% mc beech and got 11 hours. the water temp was 135 this morn. I heated 3600 poorly insulated sf. The outdoor temp @7am was 15º outdoor, indoor 66º. I also upped my water temp setting to 190º with much better performance. Good Luck, Pat
Doug, I think I am pretty close to my estimates on chord usage. I will use about 2 chord a month. Most of my wood is birch with about 20% mixed poplar and spruce. I think it goes away really fast. I am using a 300 gallon tank so I can capture some of that heat when all zones are closed. I think I have a pretty good rythem going for my loading schedules. I pack the stove as full as I can at 10:00 before bed, at 6:00 I pack it full again, my wife tops it off at 10:00 before leaving for work, then I just keep it at temp with a piece or 2 untill bedtime again. I have minimum ash build up on my exchange tubes, actually never have cleaned them in 2 years of running. Did have a bad melt down early this year after a full load was put in followed by a 4 hour power outage. Damaged the original damper motor, GW sent me a replacement motor and Aquastat. Thought that was a good deal. I am working out a battery/inverter system so circulators will still move water through the system.
Hi doug what is your hi water temp set at . The rear of your pressure vessel looks like it has alot of build up that will cause hi exhaust temps I don’t know what the mc is in the wood i am burning.
Hello Sparky,
My hi water temp is set at 180 deg. The plan to dismantle the GW is so that I can clean the back of the pipes.
Doug
Doug, Is dismantling the GW the only way to access the back of the pipes?
Sparky, I am afraid so. The tech guy at greenwood said it takes about an hour to dismantle, 4 - 5 hours of cleaning and then back together again.
Hello,
I have a GW100. They are a pain to get going but you will be happy if you can hang in there. I agree with deadbtu, greenwood will be little help. I think their r&d;is us early buyers. Loading east west is critical to burn time. Last night I burned 100# of 20% mc beech and got 11 hours. the water temp was 135 this morn. I heated 3600 poorly insulated sf. The outdoor temp @7am was 15º outdoor, indoor 66º. I also upped my water temp setting to 190º with much better performance. Good Luck, Pat
Thanks Pat,
So far I have had a pretty good response from Greenwood. It appears as if they are trying to improve their customer service. Had a great 30 min discussion with one of the tech guys on Tuesday - he was a big help in answering my questions. How do you figure that the higher water temps help you? Is it because better heat at your end of the heat distribution chain ie: radiators etc. or do you get a better burn with less cycling? How about your exhaust temps? Do you know what they are at various times during your burn cycle? Please let me know.
Doug, I think I am pretty close to my estimates on chord usage. I will use about 2 chord a month. Most of my wood is birch with about 20% mixed poplar and spruce. I think it goes away really fast. I am using a 300 gallon tank so I can capture some of that heat when all zones are closed. I think I have a pretty good rythem going for my loading schedules. I pack the stove as full as I can at 10:00 before bed, at 6:00 I pack it full again, my wife tops it off at 10:00 before leaving for work, then I just keep it at temp with a piece or 2 untill bedtime again. I have minimum ash build up on my exchange tubes, actually never have cleaned them in 2 years of running. Did have a bad melt down early this year after a full load was put in followed by a 4 hour power outage. Damaged the original damper motor, GW sent me a replacement motor and Aquastat. Thought that was a good deal. I am working out a battery/inverter system so circulators will still move water through the system.
Hello Stihlwoody,
Thanks for the reply. Would you have a picture handy of the condition of your exchange tubes? I am most curios to see what they are supposed to look like. The plumber that hooked up my system plumbed in a dump zone that opens automatically and requires no circulator pump in the event that we have a power failure. I also have an inverter and battery backup to keep the damper and circulation pump operable. Did adding the storage tank reduce the amount of wood that you burn? I was wondering if it helps. I would assume that you are running your GW 24/7 for the heating season.
Doug, after talking with people who"really know”, I have come to understand that with the style of baseboards I have the maximum water temp is 190. It is not possible for the fins to distribute any more heat no matter what the fluid temps are. One option would be slowing down the flow but is not practical for me at this time. I think that the burn effceincy rises also as the burn can be hotter and more complete. I do adjust temps down as the temp rises outside (at +15 I reduce boiler temp back down to 180). Maybe with all of the practical knowledge out there we will get this right?!
24/7 thats right! I think in the long run the tank will help but it is a work in progress. I am still searching info about proper sizes, style of insulation ,heat exchangers and the like. Right now I just have a poly tank inside a steele cage, wrapped in a foot of insulation. I dump water directly from the stove then pull off the bottom of the tank. I’m sure that I am siphoning the cooler water from the tank so I think I can improve efficeincy as I figure a better way to do it.
I will try and get a picture of those pipes for you if I can make my camera and computer commnicate.
I have been running my aquastat at 190 since two Sundays ago when we had a minor cold snap. In my un-scientific observation, that setting worked fine even when it was 39 out the other day. I guess my oil-fired Viessmann has spoiled me . . . I am determined to develop ‘outside control’ for my GW also.
Doug,
I turned the water temp up to compensate for heat loss in the transfer lines and plate exchanger. The system reacts quicker and burns very clean. If I’m using more wood, it is such a small amount. I can’t notice it. I’m sorry to hear you having to tear down your system, that looks like a b*tch. I have been wondering myself how to clean the pipe behind the refractory. After xmas I burned a lot of paper and cardboard and the tubes got pretty covered in fluffy ash but compressed air removed it (and put it on me). Let us know how it goes.
Pat
a small sand blaster is the way to get them clean. snow due here today 2-4 then ice rain and more snow a real f mess to deal with, o well isnt that why we live in the northeast.
I have a greenfire boiler for about 4 months now and there is a learning curve in run this stye of boiler . This boiler needs really good draft they say around .06 to .07 if u don"t have not enough draft u don’t have enough air for good combustion and causes problems such as build up on the pressure vessal that will reduce heat transfere to the pressure vessal. That increase the amount of wood u burn . Also u get a clog chimney . I started the season i was burning split wood maple and yellow birch that was small in size 4’’ to 7’’ an i found that it did not burn clean and had very short burn times. So i switch to wood that was cut in the fall and that had a large dia 8’’ to 13’’ this made a huge improvment in how clean it burns and the burn times went up to 10 to 12 hours . It gets very cold in fort kent . me. We have had temps of 34- below . I heating 3600 sq ft with 130 btu unit and we keep the house temps at a very coze 76 degrees. At these hi oil prices i will save around $4500 dollar i like that !!
What made you choose this unit and how did you make the draft better? Thanks MJ
