Condensing stoves

[Ashful]

Came across this in the boiler room. Figured it was worth re-posting here. A wood stove 'wit-out', in cheesesteak parlance.

(broken link removed)

 

[Jags]

Hmmm... Part of me says "Cool", part of me says "snake oil". This will be one to watch.

 

[begreen]

Cool tech, thanks for posting. There's no mention about the practical side of things like noise generated, acidity of the wash water, maintenance cycle, etc., but the folks do have some experience in the field. It will be interesting to watch this develop.

 

[blwncrewchief]

Hmmm... Part of me says "Cool", part of me says "snake oil". This will be one to watch.

Your correct Jags. First the system shown is more of a particulate scrubber than anything. Not all bad, but using water is certainly not a method I would choose. Settling tank, skimmer, pump, drains, high velocity = small nozzles, etc. No thank you. The additional efficiency is only gained by the heat extracted by the water and then sent through a heat exchanger. It has some major flaws that are going to be nearly impossible to overcome for a wood stove. It is the main reason we have not seen wood stoves go past where they are now using a conventional natural draft chimney setup and to a power vented exhaust system allowing greater heat extraction and efficiency. That problem is with wood stoves being a batch fire design there is no good and safe way to shut down the stove in the event of a venting failure. Keeping the current chimney design is one of the only ways to design a failsafe wood stove.

Then they are ignorant enough to say that another method for reducing smoke is an electrostatic precipitator but that it adds to the energy input and reduces efficiency because it requires additional energy input. And just what does the pump for their high velocity sprayers get it's energy from? It must be one of those mythical free energy motors running the pump. That statement right there throws it right into the junk sales category.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And not all of his information is correct. When things are stated wrongly right away, one has to question the rest of what is stated. In this case we're talking about the 70% efficiency he is quoting. Still, an interesting experiment and I wish them well. It will be interesting to watch for sure.

 

[fossil]

What was the purpose of including the (probably only marginally correct at best) blurb about Franklin and his stoves? Just that BS turns me off from the rest of the (somewhat questionable in its own right) tract. Where's a shot of the puddle of scummy water that accumulates beneath the outside drain?

 

[Billybonfire]

Seems complicated to me which means likely to break (even if they get it to work).
I will stick with my simple woodstove, which cant break down, even though I may have to chop slightly more wood.

 

[pdf27]

Fröling do a condensing unit for the back end of their boilers - probably makes more sense for a large boiler than a relatively small stove. See (broken link removed)...