Attack 45 trying again

[HD08Rocker]

Ok guys thanks for all the great input. I decided to try another fire. With my moisture meter I tested some of the wood I have. I Found that some of my wood is between 13 and 17%. I started my fire with some of my construction ends and left my bypass open until I got my flue temp up to 350% then I closed my door. My flue temp immediately started to drop so I reopened my door and got the temp up again. I ended up doing this a few times. Now about 30 minutes into it my flue temp is running about 225%. The condesate that I was having is dry for now. My boiler temp is climbing and I am at about 160 now. I am shooting for a boiler temp of 175-180. So now I am wondering. Is my furnace gasifying. I thought I would hear it. But I guess I am not sure. Next how long should it be before I put wood in it and should set an alarm to get up to put wood in it thru the night. Or can I fill it up and sleep all night?

 

[maple1]

What you describe about getting the flue temps to get up & opening/closing the bypass doesn't sound out of line for a new unit. Mine burned really slow until I had a few small fires burned through it - the water all around the boiler jacket is starting cold for one thing, and the refractory holds a ton of moisture for another that it has been soaking up from the air ever since it was built. It won't really burn good until the moisture gets driven out of the refractory, then the secondary chamber can really get up to good operating temp. It's also recommended to burn small until you get a few fires through it so it won't damage the refractory.

As far as the gassing question, check out Taylors thread on what he went through to get his Attack burning right, if you haven't read it yet. I think he linked it in your other thread. There's a lot of good info in it for a new Attack owner. He ended up changing his air settings, I think reducing them. If I had a new Attack, I'd have that thread read over several times. He should also be able to help on your burn & load times.

 

[HD08Rocker]

What you describe about getting the flue temps to get up & opening/closing the bypass doesn't sound out of line for a new unit. Mine burned really slow until I had a few small fires burned through it - the water all around the boiler jacket is starting cold for one thing, and the refractory holds a ton of moisture for another that it has been soaking up from the air ever since it was built. It won't really burn good until the moisture gets driven out of the refractory, then the secondary chamber can really get up to good operating temp. It's also recommended to burn small until you get a few fires through it so it won't damage the refractory.

As far as the gassing question, check out Taylors thread on what he went through to get his Attack burning right, if you haven't read it yet. I think he linked it in your other thread. There's a lot of good info in it for a new Attack owner. He ended up changing his air settings, I think reducing them. If I had a new Attack, I'd have that thread read over several times. He should also be able to help on your burn & load times.

Thanks Maple1. I just went out to check it and my flue temp is down to 186 and my moisture is starting again. It was going good at first it seems like my fan will not come back on unless I manually turn it on. I have the thermostat in my house turned all the way up to move the heat and it is the warmest the house has ever been. But I am guessing that I still have something wrong.

 

[BoilerMan]

This sounds EXACTLY like one of my first posts with the Gasser. Just keep burning wood in it. If you open the top door (the bypass will stick closed sometimes) and rake the coals over the nozzle. When you get a good pile of coals over the nozzle and add some more wood on top, you'll hear the secondary, it's not loud, but it rumbles like an oil burner. It took me about 10 fires going like you describe to get the things really working well. Hang in there, things are sounding better! Remember coals raked over nozzle. Oh and the copous amounts of smoke that come out of the door when opened............ not impressed with mine.

TS

 

[BoilerMan]

Thanks Maple1. I just went out to check it and my flue temp is down to 186 and my moisture is starting again. It was going good at first it seems like my fan will not come back on unless I manually turn it on. I have the thermostat in my house turned all the way up to move the heat and it is the warmest the house has ever been. But I am guessing that I still have something wrong.

Ok, when the fan turns off what is the boiler temp? it's the xxx F number? The flue temp?

TS

 

[HD08Rocker]

Ok, when the fan turns off what is the boiler temp? it's the xxx F number? The flue temp?

TS

The boiler temp is 177 and my flue temp is 186

 

[HD08Rocker]

This sounds EXACTLY like one of my first posts with the Gasser. Just keep burning wood in it. If you open the top door (the bypass will stick closed sometimes) and rake the coals over the nozzle. When you get a good pile of coals over the nozzle and add some more wood on top, you'll hear the secondary, it's not loud, but it rumbles like an oil burner. It took me about 10 fires going like you describe to get the things really working well. Hang in there, things are sounding better! Remember coals raked over nozzle. Oh and the copous amounts of smoke that come out of the door when opened............ not impressed with mine.

TS

Ok first yup there is ALOT of smoke that comes out. So glad the furnace is outside in a room of its own. Should I have something to poke the bypass open when I open the door? I thought the nozzle had to be clear. So I am going now to rake coals over the nozzle. Just cant seem to keep the flue temp high enuff for no leaking water.

 

[BoilerMan]

I thought the nozzle had to be clear. So I am going now to rake coals over the nozzle.

There is your trouble, cover the nozzle and you'll see something happen.

TS

 

[HD08Rocker]

There is your trouble, cover the nozzle and you'll see something happen.

TS

When you say it took 10 fires to get ur furnace running correctly? You dont have a fire running all the time?

 

[BoilerMan]

No, I have storage only one fire a day for me. I start a new fire from scratch every day, these things are not designed to burn 24/7, if run 24/7 they will idle most of the time and make lots of smoke and condensate. You need to avoid prolonged (more than 20min) of idle with a gassifier, others will chime in here.

TS

 

[BoilerMan]

45Kw is alot of heat (around 150,000 btu/hr) there are few houses that have this kind of heatload for any given lenght of time. 24/7 burning is then going to make for lots of idle time.

TS

 

[maple1]

This is where storage really shines. You could get by without it, but you'd have to build many small fires to avoid extended idling. It would be quite a balancing act to get the right amount of wood in to match the heat load of the moment. Gassers work the best when they can run wide open - and sometimes it takes a while for them to get up to speed (takes a little while for them to get the refractory & chimney fully up to temp). On the other side of that, if you do make a small fire, the refractory will still give off heat for a while after the fire goes out - so try making smaller fires & letting them burn right out, and see how long it takes for things to cool down to where your house needs heat again. With mine right now, and the storage I have, I'm only burning every couple of days (it's been warm out) with a 'starter' load of about 3/4 of a firebox full, then I load it up that much again when its down to coals (3-4 hours later) - it really takes right off & pumps the heat out on the second load since everything is hot, then also pumps quite a bit out as it coasts to a stop as the fire goes out. You really have to operate differently with a gasser than a non-gasser - mainly in frequent firestarting, with my old one the fire never died all winter. But it sure as heck ate wood & pumped creoste out.

 

[HD08Rocker]

This is where storage really shines. You could get by without it, but you'd have to build many small fires to avoid extended idling. It would be quite a balancing act to get the right amount of wood in to match the heat load of the moment. Gassers work the best when they can run wide open - and sometimes it takes a while for them to get up to speed (takes a little while for them to get the refractory & chimney fully up to temp). On the other side of that, if you do make a small fire, the refractory will still give off heat for a while after the fire goes out - so try making smaller fires & letting them burn right out, and see how long it takes for things to cool down to where your house needs heat again. With mine right now, and the storage I have, I'm only burning every couple of days (it's been warm out) with a 'starter' load of about 3/4 of a firebox full, then I load it up that much again when its down to coals (3-4 hours later) - it really takes right off & pumps the heat out on the second load since everything is hot, then also pumps quite a bit out as it coasts to a stop as the fire goes out. You really have to operate differently with a gasser than a non-gasser - mainly in frequent firestarting, with my old one the fire never died all winter. But it sure as heck ate wood & pumped creoste out.

I was just going on my father in laws wood furnace. So I was under the impression that this furnace would need to have fire in it all the time. Again my inexperience is glaring thru. What I am wondering is how my indirect hot water heater heats the water for showers and such? If there is no fire in my furnace? from the residual heat? Correct me if I am wrong. The ideal situation for a gasser is to fire it, let it heat up and burn out. Coast on stored heat until it is time for another fire? The burn time is going to depend on how much storage a person has?
Something else that came to my mind last night is.... My furnace is in an addition that I have just built on this summer. It is unheated. Could this be a problem? The first gasser furnace I looked at in operation was an EKO in a small area. The guy said that it heated his little area and I was counting on that for my new room. But Again i was wrong. The attack is all insulated and there is no heat coming off it.

 

[maple1]

I don't know how good the Attack handles or deals with idling. Some brands do it better than others. It might do it good once you have it all dried out via a few small fires. You'll have to do some experimenting with size of fires & how long you can go between them before needing another one. Be sure to do a few small fires first - don't try loading bigger & idling until you're sure it's all dried out.

Not sure how big your unheated space is - guess I might be looking out for some used radiation for there too? Couple of old cast iron rads would likely work. I get quite a bit of heat off my smoke pipe. Wonder if you could take a panel off somewhere to let some heat out?

 

[BoilerMan]

Nothing to compair it to, but the Attack does smoke a bit at idle, I've only hit idle when I was over zealous with how much wood I loaded in for the re-loading. There is virtually no heat off the smoke pipe. With the old unit (conventional wood boiler) the heat off the smoke pipe alone heated the boiler room and garage (1,000 square feet total) Now, those rooms have to be heated with radiation (in floor) the boiler room only gets into the mid 70s instead of the mid to upper 80s.

TS