Cleaning Our Polar G2

[Willyt]

Winter is once again nearly upon us here in upstate NY. Each year I thoroughly clean our boilers and this year I thought I'd share the process here with you folks.

We operate 3 burners across the property and each one is unique. The G2 has been with us for 5 years and is our residential unit that provides heat and hot water to the main house as well as a barn in the backyard which we converted to an apartment several years ago. With roughly 3500 sqft of heating space and hot water for 5 people/laundry/dishes etc, the boiler keeps up just fine.

This years annual cleaning was a breeze. We've been ahead of our wood supply for 2 seasons now and it has made a very serious difference. Quality seasoned firewood in this thing ends up coming out as a VERY fine ash which I simply vacuum out or wipe off. The secondary draft that engages upon opening the door has kept the front of the unit from accumulating what is/was an inevitable layer of soot on our other burners, the result being a boiler that looks almost as wonderful as the day we bought/installed it. The large diameter exchanger tubes were virtually clear of any sort of build up and only needed to be raked with the lever a few times. Water pumps are flowing nicely and the filters are clean and water clear. I'm considering replacing my strongwall liners only because theyre starting to warp pretty good at the bottom (see pics). The only other issue I had was a compression fitting (god I hate them...) which had loosened up enough to partially drain the system over the course of the summer. Tightened it up, filled it with water and added some treatment to the appropriate level

All in all the process took about 2 hours, time well spent for some peace of mind this winter PLUS my Alpaca's have something shiny to look at in the cold! Now if only the other boilers were so simple...

 

[Willyt]

I almost forgot!

 

[2Bits]

Hi Willyt Your unit is an OWB but installed inside what looks like an uninsulated outbuilding from the pics you shared. Do you have storage tanks attached to the unit? Or does your unit cycle?

 

[Willyt]

Hi Willyt Your unit is an OWB but installed inside what looks like an uninsulated outbuilding from the pics you shared. Do you have storage tanks attached to the unit? Or does your unit cycle?

Our G2 holds 160 gallons and the G3 that we're hoping to purchase sometime next winter holds 250 gallons. The unit does sit inside of our alpaca barn about 150 ft away from the home and constantly cycles to 3 plate exchangers, 1 for the main house, 1 for our domestic hot water and the other is buried in the closet of an apartment out back (another 75ft line from the boiler) and heats in floor radiant + hot water for our tenant.

Thermal storage was certainly a concern when we made our purchase but the toss up came down to where I wanted it, what size and for what kind of cost. We considered external tanks with a pressurized unit but the footprint was enormous and it got far too complex for what we wanted to accomplish, not to mention the lack of insulation in the barn. The Polar wrapped it up in a nice neat package and saved us thousands on extra parts.

We max the unit out with a heating area of apprx 3500 sqft + hot water for 5 people. The first year we still managed to cut our fuel consumption in half (replaced an updraft with a gasser) and we have consistently burned less wood each year after that. After 5 years the boiler continues to operate flawlessly and looks as clean as it did the day I installed it (after I clean the alpaca spit off of the sides of course).

Thanks for stopping in 2bit, I hope I've answered your questions.

 

[2Bits]

Hi Willyt, thanks for replying,

So your G2 is not installed with external storage and relies only on the 160 gallons in the water jacket for waterjacket? While this is a lot more water than indoor gassers typically has your unit must be cycling all day? How many times would you estimate your unit cycles throughout the day?

Does this cycling cause any issues with the heat exchanger cleaning system? Do you get creosote buildup in the heat exchanger tubes? If so how do you clean this out? I'm hearing that cycling gassers have an issue with the heat exchanger cleaning system clogging up and jamming. You didn't mention anything about this in your post above? Do you find this to be an issue with your G2 or not and if it is what is the process you follow to unclog the exchanger?

I'm trying to grow my background knowledge of OWB gassers and what operating them is like... Thanks.

 

[Willyt]

Hi Willyt, thanks for replying,

So your G2 is not installed with external storage and relies only on the 160 gallons in the water jacket for waterjacket? While this is a lot more water than indoor gassers typically has your unit must be cycling all day? How many times would you estimate your unit cycles throughout the day?

Does this cycling cause any issues with the heat exchanger cleaning system?Do you get creosote buildup in the heat exchanger tubes? If so how do you clean this out? I'm hearing that cycling gassers have an issue with the heat exchanger cleaning system clogging up and jamming. You didn't mention anything about this in your post above? Do you find this to be an issue with your G2 or not and if it is what is the process you follow to unclog the exchanger?

I'm trying to grow my background knowledge of OWB gassers and what operating them is like... Thanks.

I will try and answer all of your questions as best I can:

1. Yes, the 160 gallons in the boiler and whatever is in the ground/utility closets is all I have.

2. The unit does cycle throughout the day depending on demand of course (cycle: fan draws air and actuators fully open to beef up the fire) and compared to my Econoburn with I think 40 gallons, yes the G2 holds a great deal more water. It's also very well insulated.

3. Honestly I've never monitored the cycle #'s so I couldn't say. I do know that based on our previous experience with an over sized Empyre, I chose to under size when we purchased the G2 so that it would be firing more often.

4. We burned an empire 400 at my sop for several years and it was a nightmare unfortunately. The exchanger tubes had a 1" diameter and there was something like 14 vertical AND 14 horizontal tubes that god forbid ever got clogged. To clean them meant you had to take the back of the stove apart and ram a brush that survived for about 4-5 sweeps at $3 a pop (probably a better method but...). The elaborate (and expensive) network of firebrick got very fragile in time and crumbled at the back of the stove which led to air restriction, which led to an over sized smoldering boiler... Creosote was a weekly task, yuck!

Our Polar G2 purchase was a direct result of the lessons learned with the burner above. The unit has been everything I was hoping it would be.

- The exchanger tubes have a substantially increased diameter (3 inches I think? Don't quote me but they're WAY bigger) and only run vertically with a heavy duty crank that sweeps them linked to an arm outside of the stove

- To clean the tubes requires a simple arm movement on said lever which is linked to a simple chimney sweep mechanism that is housed within the exchanger tubes. I'd like to note it's similar to my Econoburn's crank however I've never had to change the link system on the G2, 3 times on the econo

- The unit is under sized in that its constantly working and producing. It never has a chance to cool off and smolder causing any sort of condensation. That being said, on the coldest of winter days I fill the stove every 7-9 hours depending on who is in the shower...

- The manifold is pre-plumbed with a thermostatic control valve that redirects any return water that's dropped below 140 degrees which in hindsight would have been nice for my empyre

- I have never had to do anything more than crank the lever to keep my tubes clean. I check the housing 2-3 times a year to make sure my fan ports stay clear of any ash accumulation and the tubes have never shown signs of clogging. It's important say that I've also never burned an unseasoned piece of wood in my G2.

Anyway, I hope I got them all and thanks again for checking out my post.