Too Much Idling

[Birdman]

As the warmer weather hits.. I find I am idling too much at times. This seems to be creating some issues with trying to keep things clean in my boiler. When it idles alot ( which is now .. because the temp swings form 25 at night to 50 in day), I seem to be geting more fly ash in the flue pipe and I seem to be getting some smoke out of the flue. I suppose this means I have some air leaking into the Tarm?..which is keeping the fire going a little? It also creates a tiny bit of creosote seeping through the plate thing that closes the draft.. and it ends up in on the top plate of the boiler tubes. The tubes are also getting some sort of sticky residue like stuff on them. I think my seals are not great on the top door too.

Any one have same issue's ? Ideas's

 

[webie]

not enough information ? Do you have storage or not ?

 

[Birdman]

NO storage. storage is on my short list of things to do this summer.

 

[webie]

OK I looked at your previous posts and from what I see you do not have storage . Second I am guessing at this but its time to kinda quit a bit . Use your back up during the day and then fire the tarm after dusk so you can get a decent call for heat . If you are able too let the house cool during your away hours when you are at work and let the tarm kick some boiler BTU's when you get home . yes your door seal is probably leaking a little so does mine , its not a perfect world they will leak a little over time it just shouldn't be that much as to have smoke coming from your boiler , then its time to replace it . ( Others may chime in here )
I have had times when my boiler kicks out on a burn that it continues a gas burn down below for some time even though the blower is not running . The smoke is coming from an excess amount of idle time , if its sitting for long periods and you have a bit of an air leak the coolnist of your water jacket will condense any smoke on it ( creosote ) after your secondary burn chamber , down below and in your boiler tubes , and when it lights off it will burn this up and cause smoke . Now the fly ash I would say with the excessive idling when your gas from your gasifier lights off there may be a kinda mini explosion in there , remember while you are at idle your wood is getting super dry in your fire box, so your burn when you are burning is even more intense . The plate thing on your draft I am thinking is your barometric draft . Yes excessive idle will cause condensation in your exhaust and your barometric draft which also lets cool air into your chimney . remember your water temp is below boiling and your exhaust going through your boiler tubes is being cooled to the point any moisture left in the wood is condensing on any cool parts available . I am sure at idle you can probably put your hand on your exhaust pipe it is that cool well your wood moisture is condensing to that and your barometric draft letting cool air in is the coldest ,,,,so at this rate its a mater of time and it will get stuck .
There is only one way to fix all these problem you need to back off on heating or add thermal storage.
Just my .02 cents
Webie

 

[Birdman]

I do not have a barometric damper. The plate thing is the piece that closes so I can have gasification.

I would love to hear from someone who has gone from having no storage and heating for a year ( or two or whatever) to having storage... and how blissful it was. Does having storage mean I will not have to deal with these issues of idling? cause they suck. I can usually try to match the load with the amount of wood.. but.. it really is close to impossible to get it right all the time.

Someone remind me of how awesome it was to get storage!

And i don't want to hear the stories about " ooooo .. I installed my system with storage.. so i never had that problem"

 

[Chris Hoskin]

50+ degrees is too warm to be running your boiler. Shut 'er down during the day. Burn a load through the night, then let the fire go out in the morning and do NOT relight until after supper. Season is almost over, you can stretch it out a bit, but look to shut down completely soon.

Check your draft, it sounds like it might be a bit excessive. Easily addressed with a barometric damper if necessary.

good luck,

Chris

 

[Medman]

I agree - too warm now to fire during the day. With the nice weather, I have been depending on passive solar to heat the house in the daytime - temp rises by an average of 3-4* just from southern exposure. The forced air furnace running on low distributes this heat through the house. At about 6pm I light the fire and refill once about 11pm. House stays at 69-70* all night, dropping to 67* by 9 am. Repeat. If the day is cloudy or windy, the house stays at 66-67 through the day, and I light the fire earlier, usually at 4pm when I get home.

In the summer, the 50 or so large oaks on the south side shade the house from this solar heating, and the house stays relatively cool. Unfortunately, dealing with the leaves from an acre of oaks is a real PITA!

My storage is not installed yet - probably not until the fall, but I have all the pieces on site now.

 

[webie]

I do not have a barometric damper. The plate thing is the piece that closes so I can have gasification.

I would love to hear from someone who has gone from having no storage and heating for a year ( or two or whatever) to having storage... and how blissful it was. Does having storage mean I will not have to deal with these issues of idling? cause they suck. I can usually try to match the load with the amount of wood.. but.. it really is close to impossible to get it right all the time.

Someone remind me of how awesome it was to get storage!

And i don't want to hear the stories about " ooooo .. I installed my system with storage.. so i never had that problem"

I am not sure if I am qualified or not but I burned 18 years with an inside boiler and no storage till I got the tarm and storage . True it wasnt a gasifier but equally it had its own problems when you tried to burn in warmer weather .

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

50+ degrees is too warm to be running your boiler. Shut 'er down during the day. Burn a load through the night, then let the fire go out in the morning and do NOT relight until after supper. Season is almost over, you can stretch it out a bit, but look to shut down completely soon.

Check your draft, it sounds like it might be a bit excessive. Easily addressed with a barometric damper if necessary.

good luck,

Chris

Kudos to an honest salesman

If you insist on burning clean without storage, these current daytime highs are going to mean some smoke, ash and creosote.

 

[EricV]

I do not have a barometric damper. The plate thing is the piece that closes so I can have gasification.

I would love to hear from someone who has gone from having no storage and heating for a year ( or two or whatever) to having storage... and how blissful it was. Does having storage mean I will not have to deal with these issues of idling? cause they suck. I can usually try to match the load with the amount of wood.. but.. it really is close to impossible to get it right all the time.

Someone remind me of how awesome it was to get storage!

And i don't want to hear the stories about " ooooo .. I installed my system with storage.. so i never had that problem"

I can attest to that. I installed my Tarm 40 in January of 2007, then the storage that summer. Yes, adding storage made a world of difference and I now run year round. The past few weeks I've been burning every other day with plenty of heat and hot water. Summer time I go 3 to 4 days.


Do the storage soon, but at these temps you can't run the Tarm during the day at least.