Does it make sense to block nozzle partially?

[Tarmsolo60]

I know when eric installed his boiler he blocked off one of the two nozzles in his eko 60 because of low heat demand and no storage. my tarm 60 has about 120k load in the tank heat coils and without the house load (2800 sq feet). I've also just installed a soapstone wood stove for atmosphere in my house and find I like running it and it greatly reduces the heating load on the tarm. I need to keep my tank hot for dhw and also zones that need heat. to me it would make sense to do like eric and block off my nozzle partially, I could then turn down my primary air(if needed) and basically make it more like a solo 40 but having the advantage of having the more hx area and a larger fire box that the 60 has. doing this would prevent idling that it does when just heating the tank load. I have a electronic combustion analyzer that does wood so I could check my efficiency. If I do this would I be better off blocking off the front part or the back part of my one nozzle? Doing this would also make a matched heating and storage system for heating my tank for dhw this summer.

I'm open to all constructive comments positive or negative.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I think it's worth a shot. I don't see what it could hurt. Probably the worst thing that could happen would be incomplete combustion. The guy who started the whole nozzle-blocking thing had an EKO 40, I believe, which I think only has one nozzle. He blocked off part of it and reported good results.

I'd be inclined to obscure the back part of the nozzle to direct the flame towards the front of the gasification chamber for longer dwell-time.

Having never seen a Tarm gasifier up close, I really can't make any other observations or suggestions.

Considering the weather forecast for this part of the country, I'd say you may want to postpone it.

 

[hkobus]

When I started to experiment with blocking my nozzle to reduce the output, I had many of the current improvements ahead of me yet. I found that I needed to block evenly from the front and the back to keep the flame stable, I blocked it to the point where the secondary air was entering the slot. Also air adjustment is very important, if the primary chamber produces more gas than needed, the blockage will increase the speed of the the flame, my feeling was that this may not have reduced my output at the time as much as I wanted. At the time I had not made the adjustments to the chimeny and added the home made turbulators.
Today I have the boiler running full, but tempered but air adjustment.

Henk.