Hi there. Happy Holidays everyone.
I recently installed a Greenwood 100 and have been running it for a few weeks. I’ve been reading this forum a bit, and it seems like every discussion about GW’s inevitably requires a description of the system. So here it is, upfront:
Location:
- Detached garage, ~ 35’ from the house (1924 Four-Square, ~ 2300 sq.ft.)
GW loop:
- 1” PEX, total round-trip distance ~ 220’
- (2x20’ in garage + 2x35’ Flexsul underground + 2x25’ in crawl space + 2x30’ in basement)
System Configuration:
- No heat exchanger – GW loop is tied directly into central heating system plumbing
- Input from GW loop in parallel with return piping from zones in house
- Return to GW loop in parallel with supply piping to zones in house
- Indirect DHW tank (Weil McClain Gold Plus 60, 46 gal capacity) fed from central heating system
- Cast iron radiators in house.
Temperature gauges:
- on GW100
- on supply pipe from GW loop right before combining with central heating system plumbing
- in oil burner (Weil McClain P-WG0-4, 145k BTU/hr)
- on return pipe to GW loop right as it leaves central heating system plumbing
I’m still on the learning curve with this thing. I have a few issues and observations that I’m hoping to get some feedback on here.
1.) Burn time seems way too short. My wife and I find ourselves reloading about every 3 hrs when steadily heating. I think this may because we have been burning primarily Butternut, which is not very dense and therefore has low heat content. In general the logs are large – many sized to be able to just fit through the door. But I’m not sure if the Butternut is the only reason, or if something else isn’t right.
2.) I’m typically losing about 15 degrees in the loop from the GW to the input of the central heating system. The temperature drops about another 25 degrees (give or take 15 degrees, depending on how much the zones are calling for heat) in the system before the water exits to return to the GW. So, during typical burn periods we’ll be at 180 coming out of the GW, 165 coming in to the system, and 140 returning to the GW. This means that the zones are also seeing typically 140 which seems a little low for ideal heating to me. I'm working (a little bit at a time) on insulting the sections of exposed PEX with in the loop with standard foam pipe insulation to try to improve this.
3.) Smoke out of the stack seems minimal. Usually we only see smoke for a few minutes (if at all) after adding new wood. I’ve had a few “over-load” situations. The stack isn’t shy about letting you know when you load too much wood, as it will smoke like crazy. The rest of the time all you see is wavy hot vapors.
4.) It seems like there is a little bit of creosote build-up on the heat exchanger pipes inside the GW. But nothing too crazy. I usually just scrape at it with a tool. I think I need to get a good boiler brush to get at it better. I’m not sure how much might be building up down around the back and on the top side of the pipes. Is there any good information on how necessary it is to clean that, and the best way to do it?
I look forward to any information the more experienced members of this forum might be able to share. Thanks very much, in advance.
I recently installed a Greenwood 100 and have been running it for a few weeks. I’ve been reading this forum a bit, and it seems like every discussion about GW’s inevitably requires a description of the system. So here it is, upfront:
Location:
- Detached garage, ~ 35’ from the house (1924 Four-Square, ~ 2300 sq.ft.)
GW loop:
- 1” PEX, total round-trip distance ~ 220’
- (2x20’ in garage + 2x35’ Flexsul underground + 2x25’ in crawl space + 2x30’ in basement)
System Configuration:
- No heat exchanger – GW loop is tied directly into central heating system plumbing
- Input from GW loop in parallel with return piping from zones in house
- Return to GW loop in parallel with supply piping to zones in house
- Indirect DHW tank (Weil McClain Gold Plus 60, 46 gal capacity) fed from central heating system
- Cast iron radiators in house.
Temperature gauges:
- on GW100
- on supply pipe from GW loop right before combining with central heating system plumbing
- in oil burner (Weil McClain P-WG0-4, 145k BTU/hr)
- on return pipe to GW loop right as it leaves central heating system plumbing
I’m still on the learning curve with this thing. I have a few issues and observations that I’m hoping to get some feedback on here.
1.) Burn time seems way too short. My wife and I find ourselves reloading about every 3 hrs when steadily heating. I think this may because we have been burning primarily Butternut, which is not very dense and therefore has low heat content. In general the logs are large – many sized to be able to just fit through the door. But I’m not sure if the Butternut is the only reason, or if something else isn’t right.
2.) I’m typically losing about 15 degrees in the loop from the GW to the input of the central heating system. The temperature drops about another 25 degrees (give or take 15 degrees, depending on how much the zones are calling for heat) in the system before the water exits to return to the GW. So, during typical burn periods we’ll be at 180 coming out of the GW, 165 coming in to the system, and 140 returning to the GW. This means that the zones are also seeing typically 140 which seems a little low for ideal heating to me. I'm working (a little bit at a time) on insulting the sections of exposed PEX with in the loop with standard foam pipe insulation to try to improve this.
3.) Smoke out of the stack seems minimal. Usually we only see smoke for a few minutes (if at all) after adding new wood. I’ve had a few “over-load” situations. The stack isn’t shy about letting you know when you load too much wood, as it will smoke like crazy. The rest of the time all you see is wavy hot vapors.
4.) It seems like there is a little bit of creosote build-up on the heat exchanger pipes inside the GW. But nothing too crazy. I usually just scrape at it with a tool. I think I need to get a good boiler brush to get at it better. I’m not sure how much might be building up down around the back and on the top side of the pipes. Is there any good information on how necessary it is to clean that, and the best way to do it?
I look forward to any information the more experienced members of this forum might be able to share. Thanks very much, in advance.
