It's fixable, it's a piece of ceramic that goes over the nozzle that keeps the nozzle from corroding. Some guys are saying that they are going through a new one every year. Eventually Crown is going to stop picking up the tab and you'll have to spend your hard earned money on replacing it. Heatmaster uses a SS nozzle which is much better design IMHO.
I typically do 2 fires per day in the winter months. Lighting a fire involves turning the blower on, putting a few pieces of kindling on the glowing coals, and filling the fire box once the kindling catches. Less than 5 min. I try to keep my tank temp between 140 and 160 ish. If i went higher and let it drop lower i could probably do once a day, but my hydronic heating system does best without the wide swings in temp. The beauty of a gasifier such as I have is that you gain efficiency with the hot burns by also burning the smoke. I believe my system is rated at 88% efficiency. You don’t get that with a slow smoldering fire.
Different animal.... that pressurized system.
I have an Econoburn which i fire once a day . If it's -40 i try to charge the storage to the max.
Typically hydronic heating systems are sized to avoid water flashing into steam. Steam can cause all sorts of noise in systems not designed to handle it. 180 F seems to be the high point where inadvertent steaming is not an issue.
For a OWB your delta T across a water - HX is generally 15 degrees , could be more, could be less too. That keeps the water temperature going back into the boiler above 140F. Below 140F, the inside of the boiler will sweat, which mixed with wood ash causes lye.
I have plans and made many notes on building a gasifier. I want the efficiency and will add storage after the gasser is established. I like how @cumminstinkerer added a Polar to his system. I know he heats a lot of footage.
Yes, I agree. It's been tough enough doing all the research. I read every thread I could find in this forum last winter. Scoured the net everywhere else. I will start a thread here for all the pointers along the way, when time. Including the first stage with the temporary cheap boiler for startup.
Yes, I love my system. Couldn’t really ask for anything better. I would get a bigger unit if I was in a colder climate. Mine has 600ga of water storage. It does fine here, though, heating my 3,000sq ft house, 24’x30’ garage, and domestic hot water.
hit me up man, I have done a lot of playing with different boilers including my own homemade one, each has some good points and some bad, I will be glad to share them. The polar rocks for sure, are there things I would change yes, discussed some with the owner but recertification is stupid expensive and be required for something so simple as moving the light bulb.
Will do... have to get through these next 2 months financially. Then I can work on improving this heating system and, the amount of work required to keep it going. Way to labor intensive.
