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Post by smokeout on Jan 2, 2018 8:17:32 GMT -8
I have a question , what's the best way to determine how clean my stove is burning ? The only tool I have is an IR gun. I built (modified) my stove to accommodate my wood source which is narrow strips just under four foot long. The average thickness is around 3/4x1-1/8", with extremes from paper thin( the bomb for fire starting) to strips that I must rip in half to fit the feed tube. For now my wood source is green with a lot of moisture, but the heater has no problem reaching over 1000 F on top of the heat exchanger. One thing that's come as a big surprise, secondary air doesn't give a temperature increase unless I have the feed tube completely full . So for now I'm not using it. I light a tunnel fire and once the heat exchanger reaches 500+ F, I close my tunnel door and open the feed tube to fill it with wood. Once I close the feed tube , the temps will steadily climb to 900+F . I get around two hours before the heat exchanger drops below 600 F, then I refuel. It's nice that I can leave and come back hours later and simply drop in some thin strips of wood and the stove will fire right off again from the coal bed under the feed tube. I haven't had any issues with back flash when opening feed tube to refuel. I do have creosote in the feed tube, but no issues with that. I have been amazed that I can reduce primary air and still maintain 900F heat exchanger and have 180F Exiting the heat exchanger . I built A really nice transition coming from the heat exchanger to the flue pipe . It's 8" in height and tapers out 18" to receive a 7" pipe. I have 18' of pipe inside the shop to extract as much heat as possible. The stack going through the roof is a 5" double wall pipe. So my pipe starts out 8", then seven, then 6", then 5". Thanks to everyone for all the shared information because that made my stove build so much more successful.
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Post by matthewwalker on Jan 2, 2018 8:20:17 GMT -8
900°F on the radiator is a pretty good indication you are burning clean, in my experience.
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Post by smokeout on Jan 2, 2018 9:35:38 GMT -8
Thank you Matthew, I appreciate the reply back . I have watched your YouTube stove videos many times and got a lot of good info there. My riser is still metal, but I lined it with duraboard. I think I'm ready to try and build a new stove with a refractory riser and burn chamber. It's so cold here in Kentucky, I'm having to run the stove full bore because of condensate in the exhaust stack.
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Post by matthewwalker on Jan 2, 2018 12:00:59 GMT -8
Metal lined with duraboard (1" min) should be a great riser, probably better than a refractory one in my opinion(depending on the refractory). Glad to hear I've been helpful, thanks for that.
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Post by drooster on Jan 2, 2018 12:18:58 GMT -8
Smokeout link some photos, it sounds like a great stove. Do you have a tall feed tube to hold your long scraps? Did you take pictures of your barrel-to-flue transition?
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Post by smokeout on Jan 2, 2018 13:37:34 GMT -8
Did you take pictures of your barrel-to-flue transition? I built the feed tube long enough to hold the wood (as is from the pallet mill) without having to cut it. I get around three thousand pound bundle for seven dollars.The feed tube is roughly the same height as my riser tube. 48" riser and 50" feed tube. I have noticed when I get the feed pipe loaded with a good hardwood like hickory and red oak the temperature on the exchanger will reach over 1000f. But at this point the expanding air slows the draft down to where the feed tube wants to overcome the the riser if I open the lid to the feed tube. It's no problem because I don't refuel until I hear the stove start cooling down as it's running out of fuel. I will try and post some photos, bare with me because I'm a total novice at this. docs.google.com/document/d/1-0rapCeHbhpxl0oGboAGvS63s3GGV9uldPx-bRWMf_Ydocs.google.com/document/d/10Rs5FKaVuf2xXLJek9MnH0sUQrgGEYYsiFrs2FfrnTs
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Post by smokeout on Jan 2, 2018 18:33:41 GMT -8
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Post by drooster on Jan 3, 2018 8:50:07 GMT -8
Thanks for the link to the photo of the welded steel transition, google won't let me link them as pictures into the thread.
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Post by coastalrocketeer on Jan 3, 2018 10:20:45 GMT -8
The other two pics show up ok, but this one says I "need permission"
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Post by Vortex on Jan 3, 2018 13:58:23 GMT -8
I can't see any of them. In Firefox I get: This Connection is Untrusted. In Opera it asks me to sign into an account I don't have.
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Post by smokeout on Jan 4, 2018 9:53:12 GMT -8
I can't see any of them. In Firefox I get: This Connection is Untrusted. In Opera it asks me to sign into an account I don't have. Ok Vortex, sorry. This time I'm trying a link to a YouTube video. If it works, it's a video of when I fire my stove from cold. It has a few hiccups until it warms up the riser a bit. link
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Post by Orange on Jan 4, 2018 11:42:33 GMT -8
hmm pulsating and no secondary air, probable not what is considered clean burn.
how bout measuring CO in the chimney with cheam CO sensor?
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Post by matthewwalker on Jan 4, 2018 13:59:50 GMT -8
hmm pulsating and no secondary air, probable not what is considered clean burn. how bout measuring CO in the chimney with cheam CO sensor? Orange, how hot is your radiator when burning? When you have experienced pulsing what did you find upon measuring CO or efficiency?
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Post by smokeout on Jan 4, 2018 15:28:35 GMT -8
As soon as the riser gets enough heat to start drawing fire, the pulsating stops. It happens only on start up.
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Post by travis on Jan 4, 2018 19:28:22 GMT -8
Smokeout do you use a p-channel? I wonder if this would help the burn at all. You may need to cover it at start up but I believe it would help greatly once you have good draw established. Might take some creative adapting for such a tall feed tube, which is interesting to have.
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