New gasification system looking for information

[Tennman]

Wow. Try to avoid cheap Chinese black iron fittings. About half of the cheap fittings I bought I ultimately had to replace because they were so porous I couldn't get them to seal. You're really blazing along.

 

[arngnick]

Wow. Try to avoid cheap Chinese black iron fittings. About half of the cheap fittings I bought I ultimately had to replace because they were so porous I couldn't get them to seal. You're really blazing along.

Thanks for the advice! I will have to watch what I am buying. I am sure the fittings I got at lowes are made in china. I am going to to plumbing store tomorrow.

 

[maple1]

I was stuck with chinese - it's all my supplier had. I picked one 1-1/4 street up at another place (not a plumbing place), that was also chinese - but it definitely looked of poorer quality than the other stuff I was getting, so I didn't even use it. So I think there are varying qualities of chinese fittings.

Use teflon tape AND pipe dope together, and use big wrenches & come right onto them. My ace in the hole turned out to be a bottle of boiler stop leak - if you get a big mess of fittings together & find a couple of small drips, it might be worthwhile to try the stop leak rather than take a whole bunch of stuff back apart to try to get re-sealed.

 

[Clarkbug]

We like pictures if you have time while you are wrenching away on things..... And watch that you dont put your boiler stand on backwards...

 

[maple1]

Uh yeah - what he said....

 

[Clarkbug]

Sorry man, just had to throw that in there......

 

[arngnick]

The stand comes already installed on the Vedolux 50 so I am safe. The past 3 days have been long but as of tonight I have the tank and boiler plumbed and filled (I still have to connect my heating zones). I ran into a couple things that required a little extra work during my install...welding bigger ports in my existing tank and several trips to Lowes to get me black iron cut. So since I was at a point where I could safely fire the boiler I did not waste any time before I had to go to work tonight to get a fire started. I adapted the flue box that comes with the boiler to include a draft fan which was a big help in lighting the fire and establishing a strong draft. After a short time with the fan I had a good flame then I let the natural draft take over it did pretty good. I see I have a couple leaks to tend to and need to seal my flue joints but all in all first impression is favorable. I have not wired the loading valve and controls up so I was relying on convection which worked really well. I do not have my heat zones hooked up yet so I am just heating my tanks. By the weekend I should have the heat zones hooked up and everything wired. I am in the process of locating some fin tube for an emergency heat loop but all I can find so far is baseboard heaters so far so I may have to use them. Since I am not fully installed and I do not have all the safeguards in place I will only burn a fire when I am able to babysit it.

 

[Clarkbug]

You may have to go to a plumbing supply house to get the naked fin tube. You can buy baseboard and then just try to sell the covers on craigslist to someone who has damaged theirs.....

 

[arngnick]

I was stuck with chinese - it's all my supplier had. I picked one 1-1/4 street up at another place (not a plumbing place), that was also chinese - but it definitely looked of poorer quality than the other stuff I was getting, so I didn't even use it. So I think there are varying qualities of chinese fittings.

Use teflon tape AND pipe dope together, and use big wrenches & come right onto them. My ace in the hole turned out to be a bottle of boiler stop leak - if you get a big mess of fittings together & find a couple of small drips, it might be worthwhile to try the stop leak rather than take a whole bunch of stuff back apart to try to get re-sealed.

So out of all the fittlings I got most of which were chinese the one that had a leak was the an American made fitting (made less that 15 miles from my house) there was no way I was tearing it apart to fix it and it was a consiterable leak so I got the pressure off and hit it wil my flux core welder...problem solved LOL.

 

[arngnick]

You may have to go to a plumbing supply house to get the naked fin tube. You can buy baseboard and then just try to sell the covers on craigslist to someone who has damaged theirs.....

That is probly the route I am going to have to go because no local plubing placed has any...I have not asked if they can order it yet. Time will tell...I am sure there is alod baseboards somewhere that I should be able to find. Time will tell. Thanks

 

[Fred61]

Interesting! Back in the mid sixties I installed a heating system in an A-frame I had at Okemo mountain and I couldn't get baseboard all assembled. I had to purchase the fin tube and the housings separately. I have several feet of fin tube laying around. Where you at?

 

[arngnick]

Interesting! Back in the mid sixties I installed a heating system in an A-frame I had at Okemo mountain and I couldn't get baseboard all assembled. I had to purchase the fin tube and the housings separately. I have several feet of fin tube laying around. Where you at?

I am in Northern PA

 

[maple1]

It will take a few small fires to dry your ceramics out anyway - so maybe by the time you get those dried out, you'll have the rest of the system ready for a full burn. Don't forget the pics! (Especially of the draft fan setup...). Dean likely also mentioned, you can tune the draft by changing up your turbs. I cut all 3 of mine in half with a chop saw. I've got 3 halves in the 3 longer tubes, and usually one half in the centre upper tube. With the (somewhat) milder weather the past couple of days, I pulled the top one out so right now I'm just running the three half turbs in the long tubes.

Last time I bought Slant Fin, I think I had a choice between buying it already assembled, or in separate pieces. That was a few years ago now.

 

[Fred61]

I am in Northern PA

Too far away!

 

[arngnick]

It will take a few small fires to dry your ceramics out anyway - so maybe by the time you get those dried out, you'll have the rest of the system ready for a full burn. Don't forget the pics! (Especially of the draft fan setup...). Dean likely also mentioned, you can tune the draft by changing up your turbs. I cut all 3 of mine in half with a chop saw. I've got 3 halves in the 3 longer tubes, and usually one half in the centre upper tube. With the (somewhat) milder weather the past couple of days, I pulled the top one out so right now I'm just running the three half turbs in the long tubes.

Last time I bought Slant Fin, I think I had a choice between buying it already assembled, or in separate pieces. That was a few years ago now.

Things have been crazy I will get pics as soon as I have a semi clean area then get them posted. Still alot of work to go.

The only piece of stovepipe I have on the stove is an elbow so I am actually thinking about getting some large steel pipe and extending the box so it is one solid piece then I will never have to replace stovepipe again.

 

[arngnick]

I installed my manometer today to see how much draft I was getting compared to the minimum required value in the manual. It looks like I am still a little low. During the cycle of a burn my draft currently ranges between .05 and .1 inWC compared to the reccomeded minimum of .09. I need to make sure the chimney is clean with no obstructions and my first effort will be to fill the bottom of the chimney with sand. Unless this greatly improves my draft I think I will extend my chimney by 2 ft during the summer.

Plans for today are to plumb the heat zones and wire in the control for the loading valve. then get things cleaned up so I can get you guys some pictures.

 

[Clarkbug]

You might need to pull out some of your turbs like maple mentioned in order to help tune your draft a bit.

Have your burns been OK so far? What were the outdoor temps when you took your readings?

 

[arngnick]

Dean told me to start burning without any turbs so thats what I have been doing. The outside temps have been been between 20-35 degrees mostly about 30. I have had consistant draft readings up to .11 inwc. but mostly around .07 inwc. When I get some time I am going to fille the bittom of my chimney to see if that helps.

 

[arngnick]

 

[arngnick]

 

[arngnick]

This is the blower box that I welded to the flue. I need to get some things sealed up...tape was the only thing I could grab when I lit it for the first time.

 

[arngnick]

1

 

[arngnick]

So I finally got you guys a few pictures. I still have alot of work to do but the system is mostly functional. I have some stuff on order to add my emaergency heat dump and a plate exchanger for domestic water. I also have foam on order to get the tank insulated this should help alot! Everything should be here next week.

 

[Floydian]

Looks great, arngnick!

That's one speedy Varm install. My install, not so much... but I am really happy with my Varm after two months of consistently easy operation.

Best of luck with that sweet new natural draft gasser,
Noah

 

[Clarkbug]

Very fast install Nick!

Why the pipe connecting the top and bottom ports in your second pic? And I would really find some tape other than the blue painters tape, that could get too hot pretty easily and smoke/burst into flames.