Damned warm spells
- Thread starter Rick Stanley
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Thought all you Garn boys agreed to let Heatermans dairy farm crew take care of issues like that :bug:
Rick Stanley said:
Rick,
What is that smoke/steam in the lower right hand portion of your picture coming from? Is it from an ash bucket, or is that coming from the overflow tube?
BTW, no warm spell here! Calling for 12" - 18" by the end of the day.
That plastic bucket is catching the water drizzling from the overflow pipe, which is where the steam is coming from. Yep, I over-fired it. But not bad. The fire was down to coals when the temp peaked. I had been pushing it anyway and had found that with overnight lows around zero, if I didn't get the temp up good and high at bedtime, it struggled to meet the heavy demand of morning. So, I got into the habit of doing a burn in the evening, also a heavy demand time here (two family situation).
I had found that I could do a moderate burn, before evening showers, even with a boiler temp of 180. So I was in that habit. But, last night it was a lot warmer than it had been. Like I said, "darn warm weather" and that pesky learning curve is a REAL pain. Oh, you mean the outside temp matters? duh......... :-/
I had found that I could do a moderate burn, before evening showers, even with a boiler temp of 180. So I was in that habit. But, last night it was a lot warmer than it had been. Like I said, "darn warm weather" and that pesky learning curve is a REAL pain. Oh, you mean the outside temp matters? duh......... :-/
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That is interesting that you can overfire it. The only time that can happen on my system at the moment is during a power outage. Is it windy there? Maybe it is causing more airflow than you need.
The garn doesn't modulate combustion air to control the burn. It never idles. When you start a fire, it burns flat-out until the fuel is gone.
Sooo, if you're dumb enough to start a fire when it's already hot.......................
Sooo, if you're dumb enough to start a fire when it's already hot.......................
I am glad you posted this Rick as I will want to top off the Garn at night to keep the coil satisfied for a longer time during the night. I will have a bucket under the drain also. I have however noticed when we are heating the lower level to 70 degrees for company with the in-floor, that the coil is never energized above zero degrees.
:lol: Yep - learing curves are a b_tch.
If you want to fire close to the limit, you can burn a partial load with less burn time. How much less? You'll have to figure that one out yerself . . . ;-)
If you want to fire close to the limit, you can burn a partial load with less burn time. How much less? You'll have to figure that one out yerself . . . ;-)
Yup you are right. I actually had pulled a few splits from the top of the load before they caught on fire. So I was second guessing. Should have taken more off :cheese:
Anyways, lesson learned..................
Anyways, lesson learned..................
Not 25 over, only 2 over boiling point according to gauge and it wasn't there for long. The fire was about done anyway. About three inches of water in the bucket plus whatever steamed off. Didn't lower the water level enough to even see when I checked through the manway. So, I guess I found the limit 
But it really does look like a mad snorting bull, doesn't it.
But it really does look like a mad snorting bull, doesn't it.
Rick, did you notice that, once the inducer shuts off the steam flow decreases almost instantly, you are not in unchartered waters.
Tom,
So you've steamed-up things too. Not surprised. I figured someone must have. It's not that big of a deal, I guess. I just thought it was a cool looking photo. Plus, like Jim said, it doesn't do any harm. A little water and steam pukes out the front, the manway lid can lift to prevent any pressure from building up and the "low water" float switch/warning light will tell you to add water if needed.
So, it's pretty much fool-proof as near as I can tell. Good thing :lol:
So you've steamed-up things too. Not surprised. I figured someone must have. It's not that big of a deal, I guess. I just thought it was a cool looking photo. Plus, like Jim said, it doesn't do any harm. A little water and steam pukes out the front, the manway lid can lift to prevent any pressure from building up and the "low water" float switch/warning light will tell you to add water if needed.
So, it's pretty much fool-proof as near as I can tell. Good thing :lol:
HA
That's a familiar sight. My farmers boiler crew seems to do that about once a month. They have a penchant for over firing right after they top off the water level from what I have seen. Of course............their method of maintaining the water level is apparently to fill until it runs out the over flow. After that they will build a raging fire in the beasties to get the water temp up to 200* or higher. When it gets up that high I have seen water/steam literally jetting from the overflow and the whole building looking like a steam sauna. Kinda wreaks havoc on the moisture content of the wood stored in the room. 
One item of note here; if you are consistently running high temps you will want to keep a close eye on water quality in the Garn. When you run past the 190 mark it starts to degrade the chemical treatment in a shorter than normal length of time.
That's a familiar sight. My farmers boiler crew seems to do that about once a month. They have a penchant for over firing right after they top off the water level from what I have seen. Of course............their method of maintaining the water level is apparently to fill until it runs out the over flow. After that they will build a raging fire in the beasties to get the water temp up to 200* or higher. When it gets up that high I have seen water/steam literally jetting from the overflow and the whole building looking like a steam sauna. Kinda wreaks havoc on the moisture content of the wood stored in the room. One item of note here; if you are consistently running high temps you will want to keep a close eye on water quality in the Garn. When you run past the 190 mark it starts to degrade the chemical treatment in a shorter than normal length of time.
heaterman said:
Interesting. First I have heard of this. Neither GARN nor Precision Chem mention this. I am usually below 190 unless we are having a real serious cold spell.
I didn't know about this either. I did just look back in the operator's manual and it does say that 185* is the magic number as far as firing at that temp or higher runs a risk of hitting the boiling point which is a nuisance. No mention of the high temps lessening effect of chemicals. Thanks to Heaterman once again.
Rick Stanley said:
That bit of info is not from Garn or Mike at Precision Chem. It's just something I picked up along the way ............I think it was at a water treatment class where a guy from Noble Chemical Co. was talking about open systems. Even though a Garn is technically a semi closed, non-pressurized system I would still rather be safe than sorry. Keeping a good eye on your water treatment is just like buying insurance for your home or car.
heaterman said:HA
One item of note here; if you are consistently running high temps you will want to keep a close eye on water quality in the Garn. When you run past the 190 mark it starts to degrade the chemical treatment in a shorter than normal length of time.
This is interesting............
Rick Stanley said:heaterman said:HA
One item of note here; if you are consistently running high temps you will want to keep a close eye on water quality in the Garn. When you run past the 190 mark it starts to degrade the chemical treatment in a shorter than normal length of time.
This is interesting............
??
heaterman said:Rick Stanley said:heaterman said:HA
One item of note here; if you are consistently running high temps you will want to keep a close eye on water quality in the Garn. When you run past the 190 mark it starts to degrade the chemical treatment in a shorter than normal length of time.
This is interesting............
??
Just thought it interesting that we'd talked about, well I guess you had talked about, the dangers of running over 190, back when I overfired mine and posted pics of it
Rick Stanley said:heaterman said:Rick Stanley said:heaterman said:HA
One item of note here; if you are consistently running high temps you will want to keep a close eye on water quality in the Garn. When you run past the 190 mark it starts to degrade the chemical treatment in a shorter than normal length of time.
This is interesting............
??
Just thought it interesting that we'd talked about, well I guess you had talked about, the dangers of running over 190, back when I overfired mine and posted pics of it
I think I just answered this post on the other thread Rick.... I might be losing it today. Got 3 service calls to go yet and it looks like we might be moving a Garn tomorrow on a job about 100 miles from home. .....It's another farm......and you can bet your bottom dollar I will take a gooooood look inside that one when we move it. It's been running for two winters now and I know the guy has never sent in a water sample.
gotta run.
Once again, Heaterman is "the man". Your tidbits are invaluable. Now, any more to share before we keep doing harm? LMAO Is it OK to keep burning all that treated wood and tires in my Garn? 
Don't know what the record is here, for dumping water. Mine is a 1,000 gallons turned to steam on a double load of wood. PS heaterman - going to move it with the water in it, bet that isn't in the manual!!
Beings as Garn states that only 9% of boilers are affected it might be ok. It would be nice to know why though. Like whats not in the water versus what is on affected units.
Will
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