A continuation of what I learned about my econoburn this season:
8. A mix of short and long pieces of wood really helps. I place the shorter ones sideways in the fuel box, then the longer ones on top in the opposite direction. In the top third of the fuel box I just pack it solid without any spaces or criss-crossing. I also fill in gaps in the load with little stubs when it's a very cold night. Dry wood and smaller splits are essential, but I do burn some wood that's not fully seasoned (only a few pieces each load and only when load demand is high)and I also use larger splits for overnight burns or long day burns, and these work fine in combination with the "playing card size" splits.
10. When I was initially getting shorter burns I was panicking when I would come home from work, the water temp in the wood boiler would be down to 140, and the fan was running on high and my oil boiler was running in the house. I mentally pictured my oil boiler running, heating water in the loop and circulating it out to the wood boiler in the barn to be cooled by the running fan. That's not what happens--admittedly the water does gradually cool in the wood boiler, but at 150 the wood boiler circ pump to the house kicks off and the near-boiler loop comes on so I'm only cooling the wood boiler and not the entire heating system. Obviously this is not ideal and i plan to put a 12 hour time on the fan. My electrician friend says he can do it for me but because the fan is multiple speed it is not just a direct wire project. He has to figure out the wiring, diodes, etc.
The biggest reason I want a timer is not so much to automatically shut the fan off at the end of a burn ( because now i get long burns and seldom come home to the running fan and no fire), but more as insurance during a power blackout...which leads to the next topic...
10. Instead of an overheat dump zone, I stupidly opted to install a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). I ended up spending $500 between deep-cycle batteries and the UPS/charger/inverter, but the noise it makes when it come on scares the crap out of me. It sounds like the circ pump and the fan are frying. I'm told this has to do with my UPS unit not producing pure sine waves or some such thing, but all I know is I don't like the UPS solution. Also, it does seem to me that the main thing is just to keep the circ pump and computer going and not have the fan come on. So I can put a timer on the fan that can be shut off if the power goes out, that way just the circ pump runs. I know though that the real solution is to install the overheat zone which I plan to do this year or next.
11. The first month of use I was upset about the creosote in the upper burn chamber and on the loading door, but then I read some of your posts and find this is fairly common during warmer months. Occassionally my damper door sticks, but not too badly, but the "shelf" at the loading door does load up and make the loading door stick and it can be very hard to open. Now I just use a small pry bar and gently pry the door open and it hasn't been a big deal. About once per day I use a 3" putty knife and scrape the creosote off the shelf if it needs it.
12. Thinking I was being smart, I figured I should open the damper, then the lower door before loading wood into the upper chamber. That was REALLY not a good idea and resulted in some roaring fires before i could load the wood chamber. At least on the Econoburns, leave the lower (gasification chamber) door closed. The only time I open it is for the rare occassion when i have to start a fire from scratch and i only leave it open long enough to get the kindling going.
Related to this, don't clean out the ash in the lower chamber when you have much of a fire remaining in the upper chamber. If you open the lower door when the damper is closed, smoke will backflow through the fan and into yur face as you try to clean out the ash. I suspect flame could do the same if you didn't catch it in time and I'm not sure what that might do to the fan. I only clean ash out of the lower chamber when the fire is down to a few coals.
13. If your turbs get sticky use the potato trick (three potatoes beneath the nozzle in the lower chamber) to free them up, but make sure to just burn dry wood. In regard to this, spend $30 and get a moisture meter and cut some of your bigger wood to check the moisture content before trying to burn it. Most of my wood has been fine after drying for one year, but not the oak. That will have to wait 'til next year.
14 At first I was disappointed and worried that I couldn't afford to add thermal storage. At this point i still want to do it some time in the future, but hey, right now things are working quite well without it. Im' getting about 11-12 hour burns and the demand is being met. I stay a year ahead on my wood and that seems to keep problems to a minimum. As everyone on here can tell you, 20% moisture content or less is the rule. I have found, however, that some of my dryest 2-3 year old wood seems too dry to gasify, which I hadn't expected
15. When you re-fuel your wood boiler, establish a check routine so that when you're heading to work or to bed you don't have to worry about whether everything is shut properly or re-set to the right temp or the louver fan is still running, etc. For the first month I didn't have a physical routine and i would go to the barn, load the boiler, go back to the house, get half way upstairs to go to bed and stop and think, "did i shut everything up properly?" only to have to trudge back out and check it. Now i have a strange little ritual where i touch everything--the damper closure, the wood chamber door latch, the louver fan switch, and the lower chamber latch. Then when i leave the boiler room i look in through the window and check again to see if everything is in its proper position. I find that when I do something a million times it's hard to remember whether I JUST did that of if I'm remembering one of the other times I did it.
16. It's a lot of work to feed a boiler all winter. I burn about 2/3 of a wheelbarrow load each day. That's a lot of wood to handle, load, move, stack, sweep up after, etc. But it's about the only exercise i get it winter so i'm OK with it. Just be prepared to put aside the time you need to keep that boiler fed.
17. While I don't like going out into the cold twice daily I so enjoy the starts at night.
8. A mix of short and long pieces of wood really helps. I place the shorter ones sideways in the fuel box, then the longer ones on top in the opposite direction. In the top third of the fuel box I just pack it solid without any spaces or criss-crossing. I also fill in gaps in the load with little stubs when it's a very cold night. Dry wood and smaller splits are essential, but I do burn some wood that's not fully seasoned (only a few pieces each load and only when load demand is high)and I also use larger splits for overnight burns or long day burns, and these work fine in combination with the "playing card size" splits.
10. When I was initially getting shorter burns I was panicking when I would come home from work, the water temp in the wood boiler would be down to 140, and the fan was running on high and my oil boiler was running in the house. I mentally pictured my oil boiler running, heating water in the loop and circulating it out to the wood boiler in the barn to be cooled by the running fan. That's not what happens--admittedly the water does gradually cool in the wood boiler, but at 150 the wood boiler circ pump to the house kicks off and the near-boiler loop comes on so I'm only cooling the wood boiler and not the entire heating system. Obviously this is not ideal and i plan to put a 12 hour time on the fan. My electrician friend says he can do it for me but because the fan is multiple speed it is not just a direct wire project. He has to figure out the wiring, diodes, etc.
The biggest reason I want a timer is not so much to automatically shut the fan off at the end of a burn ( because now i get long burns and seldom come home to the running fan and no fire), but more as insurance during a power blackout...which leads to the next topic...
10. Instead of an overheat dump zone, I stupidly opted to install a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). I ended up spending $500 between deep-cycle batteries and the UPS/charger/inverter, but the noise it makes when it come on scares the crap out of me. It sounds like the circ pump and the fan are frying. I'm told this has to do with my UPS unit not producing pure sine waves or some such thing, but all I know is I don't like the UPS solution. Also, it does seem to me that the main thing is just to keep the circ pump and computer going and not have the fan come on. So I can put a timer on the fan that can be shut off if the power goes out, that way just the circ pump runs. I know though that the real solution is to install the overheat zone which I plan to do this year or next.
11. The first month of use I was upset about the creosote in the upper burn chamber and on the loading door, but then I read some of your posts and find this is fairly common during warmer months. Occassionally my damper door sticks, but not too badly, but the "shelf" at the loading door does load up and make the loading door stick and it can be very hard to open. Now I just use a small pry bar and gently pry the door open and it hasn't been a big deal. About once per day I use a 3" putty knife and scrape the creosote off the shelf if it needs it.
12. Thinking I was being smart, I figured I should open the damper, then the lower door before loading wood into the upper chamber. That was REALLY not a good idea and resulted in some roaring fires before i could load the wood chamber. At least on the Econoburns, leave the lower (gasification chamber) door closed. The only time I open it is for the rare occassion when i have to start a fire from scratch and i only leave it open long enough to get the kindling going.
Related to this, don't clean out the ash in the lower chamber when you have much of a fire remaining in the upper chamber. If you open the lower door when the damper is closed, smoke will backflow through the fan and into yur face as you try to clean out the ash. I suspect flame could do the same if you didn't catch it in time and I'm not sure what that might do to the fan. I only clean ash out of the lower chamber when the fire is down to a few coals.
13. If your turbs get sticky use the potato trick (three potatoes beneath the nozzle in the lower chamber) to free them up, but make sure to just burn dry wood. In regard to this, spend $30 and get a moisture meter and cut some of your bigger wood to check the moisture content before trying to burn it. Most of my wood has been fine after drying for one year, but not the oak. That will have to wait 'til next year.
14 At first I was disappointed and worried that I couldn't afford to add thermal storage. At this point i still want to do it some time in the future, but hey, right now things are working quite well without it. Im' getting about 11-12 hour burns and the demand is being met. I stay a year ahead on my wood and that seems to keep problems to a minimum. As everyone on here can tell you, 20% moisture content or less is the rule. I have found, however, that some of my dryest 2-3 year old wood seems too dry to gasify, which I hadn't expected
15. When you re-fuel your wood boiler, establish a check routine so that when you're heading to work or to bed you don't have to worry about whether everything is shut properly or re-set to the right temp or the louver fan is still running, etc. For the first month I didn't have a physical routine and i would go to the barn, load the boiler, go back to the house, get half way upstairs to go to bed and stop and think, "did i shut everything up properly?" only to have to trudge back out and check it. Now i have a strange little ritual where i touch everything--the damper closure, the wood chamber door latch, the louver fan switch, and the lower chamber latch. Then when i leave the boiler room i look in through the window and check again to see if everything is in its proper position. I find that when I do something a million times it's hard to remember whether I JUST did that of if I'm remembering one of the other times I did it.
16. It's a lot of work to feed a boiler all winter. I burn about 2/3 of a wheelbarrow load each day. That's a lot of wood to handle, load, move, stack, sweep up after, etc. But it's about the only exercise i get it winter so i'm OK with it. Just be prepared to put aside the time you need to keep that boiler fed.
17. While I don't like going out into the cold twice daily I so enjoy the starts at night.