So far, the wife hasn't killed me (obviously) for having a 16kw standby generator sitting there, with the propane not hooked up! But the real story . . .
When the electric went out, the air flap on the GW closed and of course the circulator quit. 4 hours later when the electric came back on, I noticed that the air vent canister (at the fill T) was blowing off steam. I eventually ended up taking every bit of remaining fuel out of the beast. When it cooled down to where I thought it safe, I removed the air vent canister. The groan blew steam for probably 10 minutes!! The inside of the unit was awesome. I have never seen the heat exchange tubes so clean!! Anyway, I left the load door open and the air vent canister off all night. By 10 am the next day (about 26 hours after the electric went out) the temp gauge read about 80*. I began refilling the beast and once she was full of fluid the temp went up around 160*. When I plugged the beast in, the pump started circulating, whichh allowed the air damper to open.
The GW has a flow switch which will not allow the damper to open if it does not sense flow. Up to this point, there must have been a "steam lock" in the iron pipe at the top of the loop, whic was not allowing fluid past the flow sensor, thus not allowing the flap to open.
So anyway, I fire the GW up about 10:30 yesterday and observe it through a few cycles. Everything seems to be fine. Saturday night comes and I load the beast and go to bed. Works wonderful over night. In fact, I get an 11 hour burn - gotta love big ass red oak rounds. So I put a partial load in about 9am Sunday. When I get back home at about 12:30, the house is beginning to cool down. I check the GW, which is at 160*, but the flap is closed and we are blowing off steam again.
So I'm in the middle of the drill all over again. When the power went out, I assume the lack of circulation made the temp spike, which made the steam. But what happened this time? Did the damper get stuck open? And isn't there a quicker way to cool the beast down? If the fluid was actually flowing, I'd have it cooled down in a few minutes by taking heat off at the house. But when the flow is blocked by steam . . .
The sound of hearing my oil burner is going to make me crazy
Anyway, any ideas? And I hope everyone made out better in the ice than I did.
Jimbo
When the electric went out, the air flap on the GW closed and of course the circulator quit. 4 hours later when the electric came back on, I noticed that the air vent canister (at the fill T) was blowing off steam. I eventually ended up taking every bit of remaining fuel out of the beast. When it cooled down to where I thought it safe, I removed the air vent canister. The groan blew steam for probably 10 minutes!! The inside of the unit was awesome. I have never seen the heat exchange tubes so clean!! Anyway, I left the load door open and the air vent canister off all night. By 10 am the next day (about 26 hours after the electric went out) the temp gauge read about 80*. I began refilling the beast and once she was full of fluid the temp went up around 160*. When I plugged the beast in, the pump started circulating, whichh allowed the air damper to open.
The GW has a flow switch which will not allow the damper to open if it does not sense flow. Up to this point, there must have been a "steam lock" in the iron pipe at the top of the loop, whic was not allowing fluid past the flow sensor, thus not allowing the flap to open.
So anyway, I fire the GW up about 10:30 yesterday and observe it through a few cycles. Everything seems to be fine. Saturday night comes and I load the beast and go to bed. Works wonderful over night. In fact, I get an 11 hour burn - gotta love big ass red oak rounds. So I put a partial load in about 9am Sunday. When I get back home at about 12:30, the house is beginning to cool down. I check the GW, which is at 160*, but the flap is closed and we are blowing off steam again.
So I'm in the middle of the drill all over again. When the power went out, I assume the lack of circulation made the temp spike, which made the steam. But what happened this time? Did the damper get stuck open? And isn't there a quicker way to cool the beast down? If the fluid was actually flowing, I'd have it cooled down in a few minutes by taking heat off at the house. But when the flow is blocked by steam . . .
The sound of hearing my oil burner is going to make me crazy
Anyway, any ideas? And I hope everyone made out better in the ice than I did.
Jimbo
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