New owner: 11 Days of tarm.. few questions

[Birdman]

11 days of Tarm.

I am still tweaking the heat output for my tarm 40. It was cold last night... 16 degrees here. I was able to heat up my heat loss pig of a house(drafty log cabin) pretty well last night. I am convinced that the tarm can put out the heat... again my issue is getting this heat out there. It is getting better and I think when I get home today i can improve it more. Last night was good. the tarm burns great. I loaded it up at 10:00. I have been keeping it hot for the last 7 days. Great gasification instantly. My daughter had just taken a long hot( free!) hot shower. I turned up all zones in house to 68. I went to bed and woke up at 6:00 am. The Tarm still had hot coals and was still up to temp... well like 150ish. But the oil burner was not kicking on and 2 zones were calling for heat. Zone 1 ...66 in high heat loss cathedral ceiling area( tons of windows. bad insulation in roof, drafty ).. Zone 2... 66 in kids bedrooms. Zone 3 upstairs bedroom 66. So over all better than before. Not quite there yet though... I want 70 in all areas when it is 10 degrees outside. That's the update. Questions I still have

1. The spy glass?.. Is it supposed to be permantly attached?... or should ai be able to unscrew it off at will with my hands?

2. I am having alot of condensation from the 24 gauge pipe.. roughly 3 ft and 2 elbows. Is that normal?.. does it stop? explanation anyone?

 

[lawandorder]

Well I am on day two with Solo 40 and dont really have too much information to help but have similiar situation with cathedral ceilings, glass etc..... I am still trying to get my boiler temps up to over 160 and havent gotten there yet. I get heat from the Solo. Oil burner not coming on at all but I had a lot of air in the system last night and had to bleed every zone again. I am figuring out that the learning curve is going to be more than I expected.I believe that the spy glass stays on. Mine is dirty already so I cleaned it out and its a little better but not much. Good luck. Its awfully cold for November already....

 

[Birdman]

My spy glass was dirty too... black. So i unscrewed it and cleaned it.... then I thought... hey... i am supposed to be able to unscrew this things off?.... or should i use a pipe wrench to put in on real tight and permanamt like. Good to hear from a new tarm owner... I have already been tweaking mine... looks like there is a learning curve.... and for me .. the curve keeps getting longer... or more curvy? glad we can share our thoughts on it. There are some real good people on this forum. Some very bright people and some professional plumber, engineer types too. Nice of them to be patient with us lay type people. Nothing wrong with making mistakes and learning and just doing it to get better.... as long as we don't break it! I have already overheated mine... and had to hit the reset button. People at Bioheat USA are great. Wish more businesses used there philosophy... " be real good to your customers"

 

[WoodNotOil]

The spy glass is supposed to be able to come off. In fact, if you read your operating manual in power outage section you take it off and allow air in that way with the bypass open to keep a fire going in power outage. (That is only if gravity will allow zones go work as well, if not you are more worried about keeping the fire from overheating!) I never clean mine anymore as it blackens so easily. To check gasification I open the ash door a crack, (but wait about 20 seconds so it doesn't explode in your face!)

Don't be discouraged guys, we all had kinks to work out right after the fresh install. There is learning curve, but every firing goes more smoothly than the last (with a few surprises along the way!) Keep plugging along and you'll be nice and warm all winter.

 

[Birdman]

when i open this bottom door... do i want to have the bypass open or closed? does it matter what temp the boiler is at? does it matter if the fan is on or off? Also another question i have is.... when i left this am.. i had a great gasification going.. when i was leaving the house.. i thought to myself.....self... lets go check out the look of the chimney to see what the exhaust looks like. I looked at it.. and it was very white... also very cold out. It seemed to disappear kind of rapidly.. does that mean that it was vapor and not smoke? I could not smell it as it was headed up and away( also cold wind blowing this am too). there seemed to be alot of it.

 

[jebatty]

The spyglass unscrews and screws back on hand tight. No pipe wrench IMO without risk of breaking the glass.

Condensation is water coming from somewhere. Wet wood? Too cool stack temp? IMO your stack temp (internal probe) should be in the 400-500 range during burn, falling to 100 or less during idle periods, and quite rapidly rising back into this range after idle. You need enough heat to prevent condensation.

There is nothing wrong with increasing burn rate and stack temp into the 600-700 range. I would seek to avoid anything much higher than this, except maybe for a brief temp spike. This will output a lot more heat to the boiler at some efficiency cost. You should be able to do this my changing the draft fan damper to allow more air for higher burn rate and temp, and vice versa.

Getting boiler temp over 160: this will depend upon burn rate, stack temp, heat demand, and Termovar balance valve setting. Check your boiler return temp after the Termovar. It should be 140 or higher, preferably close to 160. If it's low, more boiler output should be diverted to the boiler through the Termovar. Open balance valve some and recheck after some time to adjust. Check return temp before Termovar. This will tell you what's left after feeding your zones. Did you calculate flow rate needed to serve zones and size plumbing and pump sufficient to meet demand? Try heating only 1 or 2 zones and see if temp comes up to 180-190.

 

[WoodNotOil]

To check gasification the bypass should be closed with the fan on. Wait at least 20 seconds after turning the fan on to open the bottom door as trapped gases could explode out the door at you. After waiting it is safe to take a look in there. I have seen people open the door right up and shoot video of it. (Not sure how safe that is though!)

 

[jebatty]

You can open bottom door to see what's happening if you want. I don't do it much except to show others the wonders of gasification.

Bypass closed for normal operation, boiler temp makes no difference, draft fan on.

You can get a spray of fine embers or a wood coal or two to pop out. Open slowly and observe. Don't leave it open.

 

[Birdman]

My draft fan is wide open. My secondary lever is closed all the way. If i open the secondary knob up.. even some... i do not get good ( if at all) gasification. I know it is wrong..... but i do not have a probe therm yet in stack. I know, I know.. but it is only day 11! And the penny jar is low.... very low. will have to wait a week or two for probe. speaking of which.. where do i get one? And without knowing the stack temp... should i try to adjust the fan?

 

[jebatty]

After 11 days of burning, your Tarm itself should be "seasoned" and ready to roar.

If you are burning dry wood, especially if you have some dry softwood (pine, 2 x 4's, etc.), put the secondary air control in the middle and leave it there. If it is all the way to the right, your secondary air is minimal. You need some secondary air or gasification could be problematical.

Be sure to get a good fire going before closing the bypass damper. Leave the firebox door cracked open until the fire is going well. Then shut the door, shut the damper and with dry wood the gasification process starts almost instantly when the damper is closed.

Don't overfill the firebox at the start. After a good kindling start, about half full of smaller splits, and let that burn for awhile. Then load up the firebox. You need a good coal bed to get good gasification. I never stuff my firebox, though.

With your condensation and low temp, it's looking to me like your wood may not be very dry. The Tarm needs pretty dry wood. If you have to keep the secondary air adjustment all the way to the right, most air is primary to firebox, which again leads to belief that your wood is not very dry.

The stack probe thermometer is really useful and needed. It's one of the easiest and best ways to monitor relative performance. One look at the stack temp tells a lot. My dealer included the probe thermometer in my package deal, but they should be available at most fireplace and stove stores.