I let the oil boiler take over today.

[Gasifier]

I shut the wood gun off this morning. I need to clean the cap on my chimney, getting some creosote built up way up there. I have to get the ladder out tonight when I get home from work (luckily we have plenty of light until after 7pm now) and take the cap off and clean it. So I am going to take the section of pipe inside the house off the cyclone and to the thimble and clean everything out. Then I will fire it back up after dark. Maybe I will try to get out of work an hour early today. After all that work I will need time to have a beer or two before bed!

 

[huffdawg]

Isn't that breaking the 11th. commandment. Thou shall not light the oil boiler or burn green wood!

 

[Gasifier]

Isn't that breaking the 11th. commandment. Thou shall not light the oil boiler or burn green wood!

Yes. I needed to light the oil boiler though. Wife and kids would not be happy with house getting cold and taking really cold showers! There is no burning of green wood here. My stack is 27 feet tall once it gets outside the house and the stack temps of the Wood Gun make it difficult to prevent creosote from forming at the cap. I have even switched over to insulated pipe as soon as I come out of the cyclone, which helped, but did not eliminate the creosote at the cap. So it is cap cleaning time. I will repent about the oil burner though. Wood God, please forgive me for .........

 

[infinitymike]

Are you sure it's creosote on the cap. I only have 10' of stack and my cap gets a build up of dark black powdery ash that just blows right off with the leaf blower.

 

[infinitymike]

Oh and by the way. I NEVER turn the oil burner on to clean the Gun.
I just wait for it to be in between demands and shut OFF, you know, when the Gremlins are on coffee break!

 

[infinitymike]

Now comeback "underground" so we can discuss this infraction!

 

[mikefrommaine]

"underground"

 

[infinitymike]

You know! The club you want to be a part of!

 

[mikefrommaine]

You know! The club you want to be a part of!

That's ok. Im going to start a non-lambda underground. And you're not invited.

 

[Gasifier]

You guys from Long Island. Quite a crew! Yes, it is creosote. It won't blow off with a leaf blower! I have cleaned the cap already this year. The temperatures are just not high enough way up there at the top of the chimney and it seems to create the perfect conditions for it. I just scrap it off. It hardens up with the cold and it falls right off when I scrap it with a putty knife. Twice I have just used an extended pole saw that you cut branches with to knock it off the slots around the cap so that the exhaust does not get restricted.

 

[infinitymike]

That's ok. Im going to start a non-lambda underground. And you're not invited.

The wood gun IS a non-lambda machine. So technically I should be allowed. But I'm good with my boys.

 

[woodsmaster]

You need some storage so you don't need to turn the oil on ! I haven't used a drop of oil or a watt of electric for heat or hot water since the biomass went online. Well I guess it does take a few watts to run the fans and circ. LOL

 

[hiker88]

Kidding aside; good call. My neighbor (what we call neighbors here in the boonies) runs an iwb without storage and his chimney cap is BLACK. I left for work around noon today and it was billowing smoke. They already had one chimney fire this year, but they were home and caught it in time.

 

[Gasifier]

I have 400 gallons. I really didn't need to let the oil boiler take over. I have cleaned it already by just turning the wood gun off for a half hour. But I am kind of enjoying it. The other day my wife had other plans. I haven't even cleaned it yet! LOL it is good exercise for the Peerless. It has only run about twice in the last year.

 

[muncybob]

I'm going out of town tomorrow until Thursday night...Mrs has informed me that she'll be burning oil until I return. She then told me to stop grinding my teeth!

 

[infinitymike]

I'm going out of town tomorrow until Thursday night...Mrs has informed me that she'll be burning oil until I return. She then told me to stop grinding my teeth!

I would need to see a dentist if my wife told me that.

 

[Gasifier]

Chimney cap and inside piping cleaned today. Sealed it back up. Started fire about 30 minutes ago. Boiler is now at 180! Not bad. Will take more time for the tank to get there. I opened the air intake wide open. Not much demand of heat, but at least one zone is calling. The Peerless will be going back to sleep for "a while".

 

[arngnick]

My wife operates our boiler with ease! And I have no issues with creosote...the guy I got my boiler from said he hasn't cleaned his chimney in 8 years! Now thats clean burning!

 

[Gasifier]

I am curious, what kind of wood does he burn arngnick? My chimney use to stay as clean as a whistle when I burned in my Wood Stove. The stack temps were hotter then. Now my stack temps are low and I have creosote build up every once and a while at the cap.

 

[arngnick]

I think the main thing is that the Varmebaronen boilers DO NOT idle at all. He burns vaiuous types of wood he gets by the triaxle.

 

[Gasifier]

I think the main thing is that the Varmebaronen boilers DO NOT idle at all. He burns vaiuous types of wood he gets by the triaxle.

Good point. I do wish I had 3 or 4 times the storage I have. Maybe in the future when I do my basement remodel I will move the Wood Gun outside in it's own building and install a few more tanks! Oh, that would be da cat's ass. Outside with lots of storage!

 

[infinitymike]

Your creosote issue has nothing to do with storage or the lack of storage, idling or the lack of idling, but only because you have low stack temps and a long run of vertical stack.
We see relatively low stack temps (300-350*) in the Wood Gun because if its ability to absorb all the heat from the burn.
It's nothing to worry about since its ONLY at the cap and the chance of that ever getting so hot to start a fire are nill.
Buts its always good to keep everything nice and clean.

 

[maple1]

Do you have a screen on your cap?

With my old unit I always had creosote build up on my cap, but it never came close to plugging it up. It doesn't have a screen on it. Thinking if you have a screen, maybe it could be taken off?

I guess there was that one time though we had a birds nest appear in the chimney...

 

[arngnick]

Your creosote issue has nothing to do with storage or the lack of storage, idling or the lack of idling, but only because you have low stack temps and a long run of vertical stack.
We see relatively low stack temps (300-350*) in the Wood Gun because if its ability to absorb all the heat from the burn.
It's nothing to worry about since its ONLY at the cap and the chance of that ever getting so hot to start a fire are nill.
Buts its always good to keep everything nice and clean.

I would like to disagree...idling has ALOT to do with how much creosote is formed.

Agree that keeping things clean is important and although you do not may need to worry about a fire at the top of the chimney you DO need to worry about getting clogged and leaking smoke into the house.

I had similar issues with my previous gasser thats why I had to upgrade to my current boiler...two different worlds

I agree with maple taking the screen off may resolve this issue all together.

 

[Gasifier]

I think what Mike meant was that if you have idle or no idle the stack temps will be the same if you have good gasification. Which will still give me low temps at the top of my 27' chimney. I have about 5 feet of pipe in the house and then a 90 outside and about 27' up. By the time it gets up there things are cooled down too much.

No screen. Long narrow slots all the way around. The creosote can build up to the point I am not comfortable with it. So I go up and clean it. No big deal. Seems like I remember seeing a unit you could buy and install on chimney that would keep the stack temperature up higher. Don't know how much electricity it would use. Doubt I would ever do that. I will have to look for it when I get a chance. Gotta go.