I have an AHS E140 system and bought used 3 years ago. Last year I finally got around to installing the unit into my new garage addition. The first couple of months I did not have any issues with water collecting in the ash pan. Around Feb of last year it has been an issue which I can not resolve. During the summer I cleaned the system completely putting in new gaskets, rtv flanges. I fired the unit up about a week ago and today when I went to clean out the ash pan there must have been a gallon of water in there (at least that much). I come off the furnace into the cyclone ash collector and from there it is a 5' vertical pipe which leads to a 3' horizontal pipe which exists the garage to my main chimney. which is probably 20' high. The outside chimney is insulated while the garage pipe is sst uninsulated. At the bottom of the outside chimney I have a clean out port (This had water in also). I am very frustrated with this furnace and this problem. I can not shutoff my make up water because I have this plumbed into my existing furnace which supplies hot water for showers and washing dishes.
Water in my cyclone ash collector
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hiker88
Burning Hunk
There are quite a few users on here with systems similar to yours. I am sure they will check in soon to help.
I think there will be questions about
The moisture content of your wood
What flu gas temps did you have during the last burn
What was the outside ambient temp during the last burn
Any chance this water is getting there other than as a byproduct of burning wood?
I think there will be questions about
The moisture content of your wood
What flu gas temps did you have during the last burn
What was the outside ambient temp during the last burn
Any chance this water is getting there other than as a byproduct of burning wood?
Exactly...you need to determine if your flue gasses are condensing or if your wood is wet.
If your wood is wet...let it season more.
If your flue gasses are condensing, make sure your secondary refractory is clean and that your spiral heat exchanger is clean. Also make sure you aren't covering the nozzles completely with your wood. You need air flow to keep gassification going.
ac
If your wood is wet...let it season more.
If your flue gasses are condensing, make sure your secondary refractory is clean and that your spiral heat exchanger is clean. Also make sure you aren't covering the nozzles completely with your wood. You need air flow to keep gassification going.
ac
muncybob
Minister of Fire
I never had that much of a problem there but what worked for me was to fully insulate the cyclone to boiler area. This and dry wood fixed my problem. Also, be sure you have a good seal on all doors.
Fred61
Minister of Fire
If you don't have a way to shut off your make up water you should get busy and make that happen by installing a ball valve in the line. Do you have a backflow preventer upstream from the pressure regulator? Hope you do! If you don't, install one at the same time. You shouldn't need to shut down your whole potable water system to isolate the boiler. If the experiments suggested by the experienced operators above fail, you will need to check to see if your boiler is holding pressure by shutting down the feed water and monitoring the pressure.
I assume this is a carbon steel vessel. Wood Gun had trouble with carbon steel vessels leaking and for that reason switched to stainless. My firebox was "weeping" in several spots resulting in the symptoms that you are experiencing. I hope for your sake this is not the source of the water but your description on the amount of water in your exhaust doesn't sound promising. Do you have return water temperature protection installed? Any Idea why the guy you bought it from was selling it?
I assume this is a carbon steel vessel. Wood Gun had trouble with carbon steel vessels leaking and for that reason switched to stainless. My firebox was "weeping" in several spots resulting in the symptoms that you are experiencing. I hope for your sake this is not the source of the water but your description on the amount of water in your exhaust doesn't sound promising. Do you have return water temperature protection installed? Any Idea why the guy you bought it from was selling it?
maple1
Minister of Fire
Was there any signs of water there or anywhere it shouldn't have been after you had it shut down for the summer? Did the water just appear only after you burned?
Wondering why you mentioned shutting off the makeup water - what would be your reason for wanting to do so?
Mine used to be turned on all the time on my old boiler from the time it was first installed 18 years ago. After I had a pressure guage go bad a few years ago, I shut it off. Never turned it back on again - and I keep it shut off on the new boiler too. So I don't see why you couldn't, if you wanted to. Just make sure you have good pressure guages so you will know when you have to add some if necessary.
Wondering why you mentioned shutting off the makeup water - what would be your reason for wanting to do so?
Mine used to be turned on all the time on my old boiler from the time it was first installed 18 years ago. After I had a pressure guage go bad a few years ago, I shut it off. Never turned it back on again - and I keep it shut off on the new boiler too. So I don't see why you couldn't, if you wanted to. Just make sure you have good pressure guages so you will know when you have to add some if necessary.
OK, don't try to kill me or come down hard on me. Just as an experiment I did something crazy yesterday:
I cut a tree down and threw it straight in the Wood Gun. I had to know if "unseasoned" wood would REALLY cause wet ashes. So, no joke, I walked outside and cut down one of those super fast growing weed trees (hedge?). I cut it into ~20" lengths and filled the boiler to the middle of the loading door with the fresh cuts.
What happened? Well...nothing too crazy. It was definitely a smokier burn. It definitely was not efficient. When the boiler call for fire ended, so did the fire and it didn't re-light. It definitely took longer to raise the water temp than normal seasoned wood.
No water in the ash pan.
ac
I cut a tree down and threw it straight in the Wood Gun. I had to know if "unseasoned" wood would REALLY cause wet ashes. So, no joke, I walked outside and cut down one of those super fast growing weed trees (hedge?). I cut it into ~20" lengths and filled the boiler to the middle of the loading door with the fresh cuts.
What happened? Well...nothing too crazy. It was definitely a smokier burn. It definitely was not efficient. When the boiler call for fire ended, so did the fire and it didn't re-light. It definitely took longer to raise the water temp than normal seasoned wood.
No water in the ash pan.
ac
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