I wanted to go over some problems I’ve had in the last nineteen years of heating with my old memo and see if the new boilers out there have any ways to avoid the same problems.
The number one biggest problem, bar non, by far, top of the list, without a doubt is when the power goes out and the boiler is full of wood.
This has happened a number of times and if I’m awake when it happens I just wire my little 600 watt Honda generator to the circulator and away we go - But - several times it has happened when everyone is asleep, then things get interesting. First if it just blows off then my little Honda is not big enough to run the water pump to recharge the boiler and bleed the lines so in the word of Confucius, I was screwed, so I got a large generator.
Then there was that time that the power went out an hour after we it the sack. Of course it was a cold night, It always happens on a cold night, trust me on this one. I had just fill the boiler before I went to bed, it takes about an hour for it to really get up to cruising speed and by that time the whole crew was comatose.
Next morning I got up to go out to fill the boiler and low and behold the boiler room is cold and the inside of the boiler is as white as snow. And there is still some coals in the thing. Apparently the boiler blew off but there was still plenty of wood left in the thing so she just kept right on cooking then the plug located over the fire melted and what water there was left in the boiler hit the fire. Did I mention that I had filled the boiler full of seasoned hard wood? Well the small amount of water that hit the fire was akin to a ten year old peeing on a camp fire, make for a little fun but won’t hardly slow the thing down. So my boiler turned into a wood stove that night and kept the boiler room nice a toasty I’m sure but that don’t mama warm in the bedroom if you know what I mean. So here I am with a cold boiler and no way to get it started. Time to call the Heating contractor and offer him you first born if he will plug that hole ASAP.
The way to fix this problem and I have been meaning to do it one of these days is to get an inverter, one big enough to run the circulator and a small battery bank. No fuss no muss the thing would work great and come hell or high water the boiler would just hum along.
Anyway enough of my rambling. Do you still need to worry about the power going out of a Tarm or Eko or these other new boilers and if so what happens when the water hits the ceramic in these boilers? I’ll bet it ain’t pretty.
The number one biggest problem, bar non, by far, top of the list, without a doubt is when the power goes out and the boiler is full of wood.
This has happened a number of times and if I’m awake when it happens I just wire my little 600 watt Honda generator to the circulator and away we go - But - several times it has happened when everyone is asleep, then things get interesting. First if it just blows off then my little Honda is not big enough to run the water pump to recharge the boiler and bleed the lines so in the word of Confucius, I was screwed, so I got a large generator.
Then there was that time that the power went out an hour after we it the sack. Of course it was a cold night, It always happens on a cold night, trust me on this one. I had just fill the boiler before I went to bed, it takes about an hour for it to really get up to cruising speed and by that time the whole crew was comatose.
Next morning I got up to go out to fill the boiler and low and behold the boiler room is cold and the inside of the boiler is as white as snow. And there is still some coals in the thing. Apparently the boiler blew off but there was still plenty of wood left in the thing so she just kept right on cooking then the plug located over the fire melted and what water there was left in the boiler hit the fire. Did I mention that I had filled the boiler full of seasoned hard wood? Well the small amount of water that hit the fire was akin to a ten year old peeing on a camp fire, make for a little fun but won’t hardly slow the thing down. So my boiler turned into a wood stove that night and kept the boiler room nice a toasty I’m sure but that don’t mama warm in the bedroom if you know what I mean. So here I am with a cold boiler and no way to get it started. Time to call the Heating contractor and offer him you first born if he will plug that hole ASAP.
The way to fix this problem and I have been meaning to do it one of these days is to get an inverter, one big enough to run the circulator and a small battery bank. No fuss no muss the thing would work great and come hell or high water the boiler would just hum along.
Anyway enough of my rambling. Do you still need to worry about the power going out of a Tarm or Eko or these other new boilers and if so what happens when the water hits the ceramic in these boilers? I’ll bet it ain’t pretty.
