Seton / Greenwood - wood cutting advice needed

[cguida]

Question about wood and Seton-type boilers --

Has anyone tried to get through a winter burning soft wood in these Seton-type boilers?

Aside from having to make more trips to the woodpile, is there any reason you couldn't use soft wood -- especially in an outside shed with water storage?

Of course, hard wood would be better, but mostly what I have around here is junk softwood -- spruce and fir. And the attractive feature of the Seton boilers is their ability to burn minimaly-processed chunk wood. Is there any reason you couldn't run a Seton boiler on soft wood?

Thanks,
Smee

 

[jpowell1979]

I burn plenty of spruce in my Greenwood 100. It does burn faster, but that is the only drawback. I try and use the spruce for starting fires and getting the temp up quicker and then throw some large birch rounds on if I need it to burn a long time.

Does anyone have any tips for cleaning the heat exchanger tubes in the firebox? I know that I'm loosing efficiency when these get covered in creosote.

 

[NNYorker]

I used a small brass hammer and a 1 1/2 x 1 1/8 x 36 Weil-McClain boiler brush. Hit the tubes with the hammer after a good hot fire and a dose of Rutland Creosote Remover. Use the boiler brush between the tubes running it lengthwise-- be careful, you will hit the top panel insulation--maybe a slightly larger brush would help. I did this once weekly-- seemed to come off pretty easily during the short life of my Adobe 100.