I purchased an Adobe boiler last March, it came when I was busy in the field and didn’t do anything with it until Nov. At that time I found it was short pieces, contacted company and recieved little help. Never did talk to a live person or receive a return call (haven’t to this day). Finially Got it together (thanks to help from Mark at Valley Trailer), only to have the damper stick open and melt off waterline, melt down the pump and gauges. No reply or response from company. Put it back together, tightened spring on damper (poor unsafe design) Got it working again. Anyone who put one of these in there home would have a potential disaster on their hands. You put these outside for a reason. Mine is in a machine shed away from my house, I had an AquaTherm first. Long story short, burns too much wood, doesnot recover well, have to feed it every 5-7 hours. leaks smoke all over, and is probably not gasifing. To top this off after further examination, trying to figure out why it won’t keep up. I started to measure and the boiler they sent does not have the dimensions of the one I ordered, however did does have an ALTERED SERIAL number to match the model that I paid for.Guess what no response. I even put up a whole new insulated chimney. Thanks for listening. If you want more details get in touch. Maybe other owners should band together. Ihave contacted both Minnesota and Maine Attorney General offices.
I had posted this in another topic yesterday, so I’ll repost it here. Maybe with some help in here muleman51 and others will get some satisfaction.
I spoke to muleman51 earlier today. He is having the same issues with the folks at Adobe as I had. No phone calls back from the factory, they wouldn’t ship parts, the instruction manual was not complete, the DVD failed to show many of the parts in their proper placement. Then they had the nerve to say the boiler was not properly assembled. It was assembled just as the directions and DVD had shown. Parts were missing, the boiler can’t keep up with the heat demand. He actully received the wrong size boiler and they won’t take it back. The folks at Adobe actully altered the tag according to muleman51, according to him they hand wrote over the tag to change the BTU rating. (and all this time I thought you had to burn more wood in a bigger boiler to get more BU’s) The owner of the Adobe here in NY will most likely purchase an Econoburn to replace his Adobe. Muleman51 stated that his boiler is actully blistering and the blistering is being caused by the metal rusting through. Call the company and tell them you want to buy a boiler and they are all over you ask about a problem you are having and they don’t know you. The guy here in NY had to tell them he wanted to purchase a boiler in order to get through to finally discuss his disaster and to finally order parts. I agree with muleman51, go look at a boiler that has been in operation for awhile ask the owner about the factory service that was received. It unfornitute that there are companies out there that are operating in such a fashion. Saving a few hundred dollars up front may actully cost you several thousand in the long run. Just ask muleman51. Go with one of the top manufacturers who have good ratings in this fourm.
Spring of 2007 I contacted Adobe boiler and was ready to by one because of the price and lower flue pipe bypass . I only wanted a diagram of the of the boiler construction , at that time it was not on theree web page . There brochure arrived in the mail one month later , figured there very busy . A couple days later I called to order a boiler and had couple questions , believe it or not they did not call back until October . By that time the big Seton found a new home in my boiler room . I would like to see some pics of the Adobe boiler . Anthony
hi everyone thanks for all the info i guess i will keep looking the price was great i thoutht but i sure dont need all the problems . the price was in the budget will keep saving
I purchased an Adobe Boiler March2007. I didn,t do the install until Oct 07.
Some of the problems encountered I chaulked up to my inexperience with those refactory units.
The biggest manufacturing problem , the outer skins rusted through in6 wks.Contacted Dirigo manufacturing
& got the same run a round I have been reading on this forum. When I bought my unit
my payment went to RC Trailor, so they were at least assembling & selling the Adobe at least up to
March 07 & as I understand it they are selling The Greenfire.The RC Trailer guy has promised to send me new
skins which are galavized & thicker than the originals. I will let this forum know if I actually
receive what was promised.
My research tells me the Adobe is based on the Seton technology
One difference is the forced air using an air box.
I have not seen this on any of the other clones of the Seton
Any Adobe owners have opinion on this
I have a chronic problem with the water vessel collecting creceote
Any suggestions to improve this.
I have good draft & burn hot fire with seasoned wood
I looked at an adobe boiler in operation at a friend’s home and it was a creasote making monster. Another friend has one and had issues of overheating to the point he almost sold it. To me they are oversized, no storage, and some installation/control issues. It sat smoldering under no load. One did burn the damper motor after an overheat condition. I understand they are offered with forced or natural draft. My feeling is the damper drive could be improved to protect it from the heat. Also, a thermal safety link on a spring loaded flap may help in severe overfire condition. I understand the damper is either open or closed. Perhaps the aquastat needs some tinkering to prevent the extreme lag in getting it back up to temperature. Less differential? I am also thinking that if the air could be modulate through a “flap” with some kind of throttling characteristics, the swings in temperature could be averted. I would also have a thermostatic valve on the boiler return to maintain the highest temperature possible in the boiler. Both setups I am aware of are remote located and drag a lot of relatively cool water back before any effective heat gets to the load which has to cause some creasote. I don’t know why the cold start bypass flap couldn’t be thermostatically controlled to maintain stack temperature by passing part of the heat exchanger. The design does appeal to me since the quality of the wood is not so much an issue as a “pure” gassifier though it will burn more wood. I would like to get my hands on one just to tinker with it.
Welcome to the Boiler Room, roaring fire. I like your edited post better than “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.” Hopefully we can help you get better performance out of your boiler. We do have quite a few Seton and Greenwood owners on this site, and, as you suggest, the basic designs look similar to me.
Last week I removed the back of my Adobe and cleaned it out, had to cut the back out and put in a whole new thicker back. Hopefully it will come off easier the next time, although probably not as much silicone as I used to seal it up. I took out a couple of gallons of ash and creosote. it was completely plugged around the lower manifold, it doesn’t seem to be enough clearance in this area to me. I have installed a new chimney also. The only way I get areal hot fire is to use the fan , but then it wants to smoke as it seems to not be able to remove the exhaust. I have added to my chimney and that has not helped. I am wondering if a draft inducer fan might help. but I am getting sick of trying to put band-aids on it. Already after one week it seems to not be drawing as well. I am beginning to think it may have to do with internal clearance. I also have not had any help from Adobe only from Mark. I know I will probably have to spend more money and add storage to make this work. I’m liking this boiler less everyday, it needs too much babysitting.
I went through the same ritual, took side panel of and found entire lower section of the vertical vessel completely clogged . The water vessel is critical to performance & I would really like to know if there is an Adobe owner out there who has found a way to lick this problem. I installed a draft inducer & it stopped the smoke from belching out of every crevice of the unit. I have also tinkered with aquastat ie. shortened cycle to keep lower temp above 160f. The probe on my aquastat is staapped to an iron fitting but it reads about 10 degrees lower than my temp guage which is installed in the boiler water itself. Is there a way to more accurately install my aquastat probe?
Thanks for your imput sofar. This is a great site & my compliments to the moderator for the clarifications & keeping everyone on track.
I went through the same ritual, took side panel of and found entire lower section of the vertical vessel completely clogged . The water vessel is critical to performance & I would really like to know if there is an Adobe owner out there who has found a way to lick this problem. I installed a draft inducer & it stopped the smoke from belching out of every crevice of the unit. I have also tinkered with aquastat ie. shortened cycle to keep lower temp above 160f. The probe on my aquastat is staapped to an iron fitting but it reads about 10 degrees lower than my temp guage which is installed in the boiler water itself. Is there a way to more accurately install my aquastat probe?
Thanks for your imput sofar. This is a great site & my compliments to the moderator for the clarifications & keeping everyone on track.
I would venture a guess that a “strap on” aquastat may have some temperature lag in response to an immersion type. At least the pipe around the aquastat should be insulated. I would consider changing to an immersion type with a well installed in a tee fitting. One with an adjustable differential would be nice for tweaking things. I still like the idea of a thermostatic valve for the boiler return.
The important thing to remember about aquastats is that they require flow in order to work. If you have one on a section of pipe that stops flowing, then it’s only going to read the temp at that point in the system. So if you have a stat that makes the connection on temp rise piped into a dead spot, it won’t work.
Don’t give up ! when I get back from vacation , I will try to explain my theory on utilizing the untapped heat producing potential of a boiler with your style heat exchanger . Learning everyday . Anthony
Roaring fire, I knew other people had to be having trouble with these Adobe boilers. Do you run your draft inducer and draft fan at the same time. It seems that if you push and pull it should work, maybe put the push fan on a timer so it shuts down once the fire gets hot and let the inducer pull the heat around. I know there is a fine line between pulling enough draft and pulling the heat out. My aquastat is also on the pipe just outside the top , it lags by about 10* but that doesn’t matter, you just set it at 10* under what you want. That’s the least of the problems this boiler has.
Lag is not the same as just reading 10 deg low. It is more of how fast the aquastat responds to the change in temperature. That’s kind of a minor issue. I am wondering what return temperature to the boiler is and for how long. If the boiler is getting plugged where the cold water enters the boiler I would want to get the temperature up fast and keep it flowing rather than on-off cycling. My plan would be to get a thermostatic valve to maintain boiler return temp and start thinking about a thermal storage plan. Not getting a “hot” fire is a problem. I would think that if the air intakes are clear, you have a proper draft, and the wood is decent then the boiler should be able to go into melt down if you let it. Both of the ones I looked at have done that numerous times. Anthony D is pretty good with these and he should be able to help you out. Come to think of it I did have a problem with a ceramic lined stove years ago that would not burn well until I modified the air intake to allow more air into the firebox. Having to resort to both forced and induced draft would almost seem obscene.
