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Post by rhinokeegan on Feb 17, 2017 17:17:20 GMT -8
A quick rough way to convert is just double and add 30. For example: 20*C x 2 = 40 +30 = 70*F Love it!! Math even I can do.
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kpl
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Post by kpl on Feb 20, 2017 5:50:38 GMT -8
I also got a package from China. These are just simple temperature sensors I want to install to monitor how its running. The only problem is that I am an American and these sensors only display in Celsius. It might be easier to teach my dog to drive, but I'll try to adjust. The were really cheap, so I'm willing to give it a try. Sensor locations are going to be : 1. Top of the steel drum 2. Exhaust/flue 3. Far end of bench/bell If anyone has suggestions as to placement, I'm all ears! Open one, and check the board if there is an option to reconfigure it to Fahrenheit. Usually there is a way to do it, most probably a "solder jumper" where you have to add a tiny amount of solder across two very closely located pads, or remove one if it's already there. I've always had an directly opposite problem to solve. Yesterday I successfully measured the flue temperatures of a factory-built stove, DIEM Turbo No4. But I used a thermocouple, connected to my own programmed controller, which sent numbers directly to a server to graph it. Unfortunately, not rocket heater yet, may be another year.
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Post by rhinokeegan on Feb 20, 2017 7:01:31 GMT -8
I also got a package from China. These are just simple temperature sensors I want to install to monitor how its running. The only problem is that I am an American and these sensors only display in Celsius. It might be easier to teach my dog to drive, but I'll try to adjust. The were really cheap, so I'm willing to give it a try. Sensor locations are going to be : 1. Top of the steel drum 2. Exhaust/flue 3. Far end of bench/bell If anyone has suggestions as to placement, I'm all ears! Open one, and check the board if there is an option to reconfigure it to Fahrenheit. Usually there is a way to do it, most probably a "solder jumper" where you have to add a tiny amount of solder across two very closely located pads, or remove one if it's already there. I'll take a look, but I might have to upload a picture so you can look too Thanks for the suggestion!
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Post by rhinokeegan on Feb 20, 2017 13:34:23 GMT -8
I have no idea what I'm looking at Back of the temperature sensor. Leads on the left are 12v power and on the right is the thermocouple.
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kpl
New Member
Posts: 47
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Post by kpl on Feb 20, 2017 22:20:16 GMT -8
I have no idea what I'm looking at Back of the temperature sensor. Leads on the left are 12v power and on the right is the thermocouple. Looks like You are not lucky, this one does not seem to have any config options.
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Post by rhinokeegan on Feb 24, 2017 14:43:48 GMT -8
Looks like You are not lucky, this one does not seem to have any config options. Well, for under $10 each I guess I can't be too disapointed. I'm excited to give the heater it's first burn this weekend. I'll have to make a temporary door as that's only thing left to do. I'll report back on the results. Thanks everyone.
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Post by rhinokeegan on Feb 27, 2017 14:05:13 GMT -8
Well, it's just about finished. I started the first fire over the weekend and got some impressive temps off of the drum. Measured above 700f (371c) at the top of the drum at one point in the burn. The brick mass made it to 128f (53c) on the sides about 12 inches (30cm) off the floor. The exhaust vent got to a little over 200f (93c) measured at the exit of the bell. Question: When watching the exhaust exit the pipe outside, I noticed a good amount of white steam until the fire had died down quite a bit. It was then that it went completely smokeless (just heat waves visible). It was still burning, and flames were still heading through the port but the hottest part of the burn was over. Is this normal? When should I expect to see the no smoke/steam, and does it have something to do with the size of the primary air opening? The outside air temperature was 25f-30f ( -4c to -1c ) if that helps at all. I still have to build a proper door, so for now I'm using concrete blocks to cover the firebox, but I'm trying to maintain the proper primary measurements. Thanks! Keegan
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Post by Dan (Upstate NY, USA) on Feb 27, 2017 18:49:26 GMT -8
Yeah I think that is normal, in the hottest part of my burn I have a 2 foot steam plume that disappears into the dry winter air...
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Post by Dan (Upstate NY, USA) on Feb 27, 2017 18:51:28 GMT -8
I can tell when I have a dirty burn by smell alone, like when the wife over packs the stove and has a hard time getting it up to temperature quick. As soon as it takes off that wood smoke smell is gone..
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Post by peterberg on Feb 28, 2017 1:59:17 GMT -8
Steam will be formed due to a couple of reasons: the heater is still wet and the water is evaporating, the moist in the fuel is boiled to steam and escapes through the exhaust,
and the most important one of all is that a by-product of wood combustion is water, together with heat and CO2. There's no way to escape that, it's the same process as combustion of natural gas. When temperatures are above 10º C you won't see water vapour anymore. Nothing to do with primary opening or whatever.
Congratulations by the way, your heater is burning quite well already when there's only steam!
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Post by satamax on Feb 28, 2017 2:04:00 GMT -8
Looks good anyway.
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Ralf
New Member
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Post by Ralf on Feb 28, 2017 4:23:55 GMT -8
Hi all,
from the similar "steaming behaviour" of my stove I concluded that while the volatile compounds of the wood burn (and they contain hydrogen) water vapour is formed, and as soon as they are gone there´s only the carbon matrix (charcoal) left that combines with oxygen to CO and subsequently CO2. No hydrogen involved there, no water formation, invisible exhaust.
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Post by rhinokeegan on Feb 28, 2017 14:18:08 GMT -8
Thanks for the reassurance everyone. I'm definitely making some steam based on the water collecting at the bottom of the exhaust. I'm planning on drilling a small weep hole to let the water out. Chime in if that's a bad idea. I ran the stove last night and loaded it almost full with bone dry pine lumber. It was all 0.75" (19mm) thick and cut into strips. It started very quickly and burned hot and fast. During the hottest part of the burn the stove was pulsing, but there wasn't any smoke escaping the intake. I read on another post that cutting the intake size temporarily will stop this behavior. I took a short video of what I'm talking about. The stove did not do this when I used larger pieces of firewood (oak) so I'm assuming that it was just burning too hot/quick?? youtu.be/tctYUujXaDYThis will be a lot of fun playing and experimenting!
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Post by Dan (Upstate NY, USA) on Feb 28, 2017 15:20:25 GMT -8
I had condensation problems with my stove in the steel clean out caps, I insulated those caps and I no longer have those problems. Your inside steel chimney is shedding so much heat that it is dropping the exhaust gas temperature so the steam is condensing in the pipes and running down the pipes until it finds its way out.
If you do several back to back burns the room temp and the chimney temp will come up until no condensation occurs. Or you could go to insulated chimney pipe...
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Post by peterberg on Mar 1, 2017 1:13:37 GMT -8
I'm definitely making some steam based on the water collecting at the bottom of the exhaust. I'm planning on drilling a small weep hole to let the water out. Chime in if that's a bad idea. As far as I can see, this is condensation from the water in the heater itself. The whole brickwork can't be dry just yet, keep on firing and at some point it will cease to leak out. The weep hole is not bad, by the way. I ran the stove last night and loaded it almost full with bone dry pine lumber. It was all 0.75" (19mm) thick and cut into strips. It started very quickly and burned hot and fast. During the hottest part of the burn the stove was pulsing, but there wasn't any smoke escaping the intake. I read on another post that cutting the intake size temporarily will stop this behavior. I took a short video of what I'm talking about. The stove did not do this when I used larger pieces of firewood (oak) so I'm assuming that it was just burning too hot/quick?? A pulse with very thin fuel is to be expected. Pulsing is caused by a restriction somewhere, but when there's an overload of wood gas being produced, even the port itself is a restriction. You could alleviate that by packing the pieces tighter together, the more massive the pile, the slower the burn. So yes, larger pieces means smaller burning surface and slower burn. It helps a lot when there's a good airtight door, the thing will be easier to manage.
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