Turbo tarm

[oilbegone]

After burning for a little over a month I installed the turbulators today and they seem to make a noticible difference. It was about 26 outside 69 inside all day and we have been doing a lot of laundry. In addition to the heat and hot water load the tarm was able to raise the storage tank from 120 to 170.
The inside of the firebox was all red coals and the stack temp was 380 to 400 degreees. To quote an old post I have seen the "invisible flame".

 

[jebatty]

Great to have a success like that. I'm the originator of the "chain turbulators," and maybe you saw some of those old posts. I think they add a lot to efficiency and heat transfer to water.

 

[WoodNotOil]

Great to have a success like that. I'm the originator of the "chain turbulators," and maybe you saw some of those old posts. I think they add a lot to efficiency and heat transfer to water.

How are the chains working? You used 1/2" chain right? I think I might do this soon and boost efficiency. Thanks for reposting this info, I hadn't come across your original post yet.

 

[jebatty]

Take a look - chain turbulator:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/17662/P15/#192106

The chain I used was some old barn cleaner chain I had around. It is 1/2" steel, but the links are extra big. Whatever "turbulates" well and slows down the hot gas exhaust stream to maximize contact and time of contact of the hottest gases with the surface of the hx tube will work as a turbulator. I think the primary caution would be to not fill the hx tubes so much that draft is unduly impeded. The turbulators do slow down draft, so a draft adjustment might be needed in some circumstances. With these turbulators I achieve a pretty consistent 400-500F stack temp over the bulk of the burn, and my primary wood is very dry pine which burns quite hot.

 

[oilbegone]

The ones I installed were from Tarm, they were ordered with the boiler last spring. Wish I had known about the chain idea then, there is lots of old chain laying around at the construction company I work at. Happy burning.
With the big ice storm that just happened a little North of here the next problem to tackle is what to do when the power goes out. But that's a story for another thread.

 

[free75degrees]

I'm the originator of the "chain turbulators," and maybe you saw some of those old posts.

Thanks for the great idea, I made some chain turbs about a month ago for my tarm. I used some old chain I had for the last 15 years of my life and never got rid of because I knew they would come in handy some day. They were even the exact right length and I had more the the needed 8 segments. I never got a feel for how much of a difference they made though because I don't have a chimney thermometer. What is a good chimney thermometer for cheap?

 

[oilbegone]

Here is a link to one like BioHeat supplied with the Tarm, on Ebay for about $24 works quite well

Flue Thermometer

 

[oilbegone]

Looks like I need link practice, not pretty but it should work now.