OWB operation advice, CB e-2400

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Hi guys - I have finally got my Central Boiler e-classic 2400 up and running. I am currently just heating my house with it but I have lines run to my shop which I hope to get on line for next year.
My question is this: I have been loading it 3/4 to 7/8 full (works out to be about 2 non-heaping wheelbarrow loads) and I get 24 hours of burn easily out of it. I fill it around the same time every night (between 6 and 7pm) and I usually have a layer of charred but in now way burned through logs left. Should I continuie this way or fill it less to a point where I just have coals left after 24 hours?

I will also admit that I am currently burning unsplit rounds for the most part, 6 to 8 inches in diameter that were aged for 2 years in 6' lengths and cut to length this past fall.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

 

[daveswoodhauler]

I'm thinking that if there is a lot of "charred" wood left over, the moisture content in the wood must be pretty high.
Can you run a test with some wood with a lower MC %? (I wouldn't think that the wood would season at all in the round)
Good luck

 

[Perfect Heat]

I would second the above poster thought of checkng the MC. I had red oak logs piled for 2 1/2 years, the bark was falling off and looked pretty dry. When I split and tested it the MC was in the 30 to 40% range.

 

[DeerMeadowFarm]

I guess I never thought about the moisture content. When I say there is wood left over after 24 hours, I'm talking one layer of wood; the rest has all burned up...didn't think that this was actually a terrible thing....are you guys thinking that I'm getting too long of a burn out of it? It heats my water fine so....?

I do have some split semi-seasoned ash that may be lower moisture content; I could try that.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

What does your stack look like during the burn cycle? (No visible smoke, light white smoke, heavy white smoke, greyish smoke, etc...?)
If you are burning clean, there probably be no visible smoke....and, like the prior poster, I had oak that was split and stacked since 2010, and its still reading 25% mc or so.
If you have some ash, or other type of wood, maybe perform some test burns and see if you get any different results. (Neighbor down the road has an OWB, and there is always a steady stream of dark white smoke.....but then again, he works for the State and gets all his wood for free)
I'd give it a go with the ash you have, and see if you still get leftover wood vs just coals.

 

[DeerMeadowFarm]

It only smokes when I load it (quite a bit and some of that comes out the door as well) or if it calls for heat (similar to what my oil burner would throw for smoke or a normal wood stove) but a lot of the time it's smoke-less. When I first fired it up, I kept going down to the basement to check the water temp because it looked to me like the boiler was out.

My firend has an older central boiler and his smokes a lot compared to mine; the only time his is smokeless is when it's out.

 

[Hydronics]

I would load it twice a day and put in only what's needed. If you have alot of coaled wood left, you are probably overloading it which wastes wood.

 

[Vinced]

Now you are in the learning curve of your boiler. Feed it only enough wood for the burn time you want. This way you save on wood. Mine uses the least amount of wood when I'm home all day and can check it every couple hours. I just feed it a couple pieces at a time. When I leave for 10-12 hours I judge how much wood to put in by the outside temp. It takes some time to learn your boiler, but I've never come home to a cold house. The first year I had my OWB I used the most amount of wood that season. I was so worried about how much wood was left that I would put in too much wood in. Then I learned it wasn't about how much wood was left, it is about water temp.

 

[bpirger]

How much are you heating? Do you know your load? Two wheelbarrow loads of wood...that sounds like a lot of wood for a day....especially this winter. Do you know how many cords you are using per month?

With my Garn, I burn about 10 pieces of wood a day, in one fire. I'd call that one wheelbarrow full...and not heaping full. These aren't the small splits....they are "normal" sized. So it is hard to tell.

But it does sound to me, 2 wheel barrows a day, is too much. I'm guess you can get by with less and be just as warm....all part of the learning curve indeed.