Like the title says. Is their? im content with mine but that just may be because i bought the house with the burner already "installed." The reason i had to put that in quotations is when i moved in it would have been the second winter with the unit that was installed my the home owner. Big mistake. i ran for two weeks before problems occured. It would vapor lock and start puking water out the blow offs. After attempting to solve the problem myself and several sleepless nights trying to figure it out i went to the local shop and let the experts figure it out. Two days later running like a champ. All the original plumbing was undersized, no storage, pump in the wrong location. when all was said and done the only parts reused were the Greenwood, the underground pex and the furnace radiator. Intalled all correct 1" pex, 50 gal water storage, hooked into hot water heater, and used a new grunfos pump. $2600 well spent to have the headache taken away. Well this is now my third winter in the home and technically my first full year burning. The first winter i ran the unit only when it wanted to which wasnt often until the last month of winter when i had the expert fix it and last winter i spent travelling for work so i wasnt home to cut wood and wasnt going to have my wife worry about taking care of the woodburner. Now ive been burning since october and am content with my unit. I do wish it had a bigger firebox for longer burns. it takes up a good side of my shop with wood stacked along the wall in front of unit. i seem to always have a creosote problem but i think that is on my part for not being bettter prepared with my wood. Anyone else want to tell me how they feel about their Greenwood or units like it. Thanks all
Are their any happy Greenwood owners out their????
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huffdawg
Minister of Fire
Glad to here your up and running with wood. 50 gals of storage isnt much, more storage might help with the creosote problem. Can you post some pics. we all like pics. here.
Huff
Huff
huffdawg
Minister of Fire
stihlwoody said:I have been very happy with mine until yesterday...
Steve
Looks like yours throws a fair amount of btu's
91220da
Member
Holy Smokes!! Steve are you serious......what exactly happened?!?
I am on season 4 with my Greenwood with never a burp or blow off......changed to a larger circ on the house side this year and it seems to be delivering even better performance. I start mine in Nov. and dont let it go out until April. No creosote or dripping cause it is always hot. Burn about 8 cords at 0 to 200 bucks a cord = $1600 vs. 1500 gallons of oil @3.29 = $4935 Unit paid for itself last season.
I am on season 4 with my Greenwood with never a burp or blow off......changed to a larger circ on the house side this year and it seems to be delivering even better performance. I start mine in Nov. and dont let it go out until April. No creosote or dripping cause it is always hot. Burn about 8 cords at 0 to 200 bucks a cord = $1600 vs. 1500 gallons of oil @3.29 = $4935 Unit paid for itself last season.
mole
Member
Steve, Holy cow! Please tell us more about what happened, the boiler type, conditions leading to it, etc We need to learn from what happened.stihlwoody said:
Jesse-M
Member
griff...
I'm happy with my clone.
Steve...
Makes me glad I have mine in its own building away from the house.......tells us about it.
I'm happy with my clone.
Steve...
Makes me glad I have mine in its own building away from the house.......tells us about it.
maple1
Minister of Fire
woodsmaster
Minister of Fire
Thanks for the concern, it is a ugly picture. We'll see about insurance as we move on. Fire investigator doesn't have a definite answer but after our conversation and a few other pictures my daughter he feels it may have been some sort of chimney issue. He said he has seen 5 fires in Alaska since burning started this fall. He had mentioned glycol in a pressurized system that had a tiny pinhole leak that ignited from the chimney. I did have a glycol line that ran between house and boiler. I had 8" black pipe attached to boiler into a 90, into a barometric damper then it necked down to a 6" pipe up for 6 feet. It then tied into a air gap floor penetration into double wall ss then though the roof.Total height, 16 feet. I had just had 90 off within a week and the stack was clean. Always ran into storage so system only idled at very top end of cycle.
I first noticed flames out the roll up door, then it seemed to burst out the side window. I was trying to get a car out of the heat zone and didn't pay much attention to the rest of the fire. I had been in the garage as usual about 9:00 in the morning stoked the fire, put a small load in(it was almost 30 out) was eating lunch about 12:00 and heard what sounded like gun shots. I stuck my head out and it was to late at that time. I had osb siding inside which was great for attaching shelves but...Should have had all flammables, wood stain, acetone, kerosene, propane bottles, oil, grease, outside in a separate shed, but when you use that stuff so often where do you keep it? I will try to post some more pics soon.
Again thanks for the concern,
Steve
I first noticed flames out the roll up door, then it seemed to burst out the side window. I was trying to get a car out of the heat zone and didn't pay much attention to the rest of the fire. I had been in the garage as usual about 9:00 in the morning stoked the fire, put a small load in(it was almost 30 out) was eating lunch about 12:00 and heard what sounded like gun shots. I stuck my head out and it was to late at that time. I had osb siding inside which was great for attaching shelves but...Should have had all flammables, wood stain, acetone, kerosene, propane bottles, oil, grease, outside in a separate shed, but when you use that stuff so often where do you keep it? I will try to post some more pics soon.
Again thanks for the concern,
Steve
maple1
Minister of Fire
Man, I was hoping you'd come back & say that was an old pic you pulled off google or something. That has to be everyone's worst fear.
Good luck & well wishes.
Good luck & well wishes.
whole now meaning to the term Gasser. Sorry to hear and see that and glad to hear noone get hurt.stihlwoody said:I have been very happy with mine until yesterday...
Steve
huffdawg
Minister of Fire
I thought you were just kidding when you first posted .Very Sorry ! Hope you have a backup heat source in your home 30 °F is cold. At least nobody was hurt. did your home make it unscathed. I hope so. Poop that sucks man.
Huff
Huff
Well, it's down to about -15 today, triangle tube boiler I put in this summer is working fine. Sure don't like the upcoming gas bills but...at least there is still a home to heat!
huffdawg
Minister of Fire
2.beans
Minister of Fire
Horrible thing to behold, so sorry for you.
The sprinkler system design/layout for my boiler area is somewhere behind me under the old drafting table.
Time to to take another look and think about redesigning per new NFPA 13D .
Shook me up.
Good luck to you and please keep us posted on the situation and insurance resolution.
Scott
The sprinkler system design/layout for my boiler area is somewhere behind me under the old drafting table.
Time to to take another look and think about redesigning per new NFPA 13D .
Shook me up.
Good luck to you and please keep us posted on the situation and insurance resolution.
Scott
Things are moving along, seems insurance is going to work with me on most things. Looking at steel buildings at the moment and now trying to decide on replacement boiler. Whatever it is will be in a shipping container removed further from the livable space and there will be no explosives allowed in the building, except for maybe a propane torch to get the gasification going 
I will follow up as the process moves ahead.
Steve
I will follow up as the process moves ahead.
Steve
huffdawg
Minister of Fire
Thats good news Woody I hope everything works out for you and you get back up and running asap.
Cheers
Cheers
thecontrolguy
Member
skfire said:
Scott. Would you be able to copy/scan/ ?? relevant sections of the NFPA you refer to and drop it here for all to see. I would be interested to see where the 'States is heading with regard to residential sprinkler requirements and odd occupancies like combined motor vehicle garages and wood heat boilers. Thanks!
2.beans
Minister of Fire
I don't think it was the boiler, in the aftermath I found the draft door closed, there was still 2 or 3 intact logs still in the fire box. I don't know how a spark or other problem could have escaped. Boiler was set as per recommended clearances from walls. I would probably use cement backer board next time, but I think next time will be in a conex container all by itself...Still deciding on EKO or Vigas or Portage and Main. That is a tough one...
Steve
Steve
thecontrolguy said:
I can outline the following basic code parameters that will steer you in the right path and you could always PM me with specific aid you may require.
a) Water supply: 1. Well water fed homes over 2,000 sq ft and 2 stories in height.
2. Stored water is required to provide a 10 minute duration of system demand and if there is common supply piping serving both
domestic & fire sprks, an additional 5gpm must be added to the system demand calcs for supply.
ie: system needs 60gallons @ 19psi to operate, thus a water supply of 600 gallons in storage and properly sized booster pump,
or pressure tank is needed.
3. There are packaged units of storage/pump specifically made for residential systems.
4. If house is 1 story and under 2,000 sq ft, the required duration is reduced to 7minutes,
ie: same demand as above requires 315gpm @ 19psi.
From NFPA 13D(2002) CHAPTER 6, 6.1 and pump/storage per 6.2(4). * 6.3
b) System Design: 5. Residential heads type heads shall be used(Such as Reliable FI Res), if Std heads are used the ref standard NFPA13 and
sizes and coverages become more cost prohibitive and the spray patterns are not as desirable.
6. A design density of .05 gpm/ft2 must be used for hydraulic design calculations(Res hds only)
7. Proper coverage based on AS BUILT plans, where sprk heads are providing coverage as per their approved listings,
is required and obviously this is where one needs to be very careful with coverage and study installation requirements very closely
( I will try to scan this section and have it available if needed by anyone in this forum.). A competent designer should be involved in
these layouts and final calculations needed(especially required by the insurance companies and local AHJ).
c) Piping/materials: 7. Blaze master PVC piping or Black steel, copper if you prefer a certain exposed look(ka-chiing,$$)
d) Garages are not required to have coverage(Sec. 8.6.4), but if supplied with sprks per AJH requirement, refer to A.8.6.4(NFPA 13d) and based on a 2 head design of Res heads or Quick Response hds., utilizing the same piping as remainder of home.
The garage should never be combined with any type of combustion devices, unless there is sufficient fire rated demising.
e)Regarding boiler rooms, a preferred coverage would be 130 sq ft or less per sprk head(ord haz rating) and not exceeding 7'-0" from any wall, as a basic rule, but also be aware of obstructions.
That is all for now, from the top of my head, got to get back to work.
Scott
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