Shaver steaming and water level solution...

[John D]

I realize I'm not there in your shoes, but I still feel you have the draft door open too far, sending the heat right out the chimney.

I had a similar problem when I first fired mine up.

I'd open that draft door up and it really had a fire roaring inside the furnace. It really ate the wood too.


After establishing a good coal bed as others had recommended, I closed the door to just about 1/3. I rake all the coals to put them right over the grate before loading. There is a bluish flame coming off those coals if the draft blower is on. It really throws the heat. I then throw the wood on top of the blue flames.


Before I'd try to make sure there was nothing on the grate and stacked wood to the sides. I thought I needed to keep the grate open so the air could come up through. Not the case.This didn't work as well.

Even before that, I use to shove the wood as far back as I could get it. I really had trouble with the heat going up the chimney.

There is definitely a learning curve with these things.

Right now I just keep everything in front as centered as possible.

Thank you for your input,remember if i shut the air door any more, I might as well just drain the water,as it will not make enough temperature to heat my house,as it is now,its 3/4 open,and on the edge of keeping up at 15-20 degrees out.Temps will hover at 140 for hours,causing my inside boiler to end up with all 3 circs running due to the low temps of it taking so long to satisfy one zone,a second kicks on before the first is satisfied,then the HW zone kicks, on and temps plummet as load increases.My circulators are running up to an hour per zone when at 140 to cycle,when they ran 10-15 minutes at 180 when the indoor boiler was firing,and at that the indoor boiler would fire-hit 185,shut down to 170-fire repeat.The indoor only ran about 40% of the time the circ was on.
As for the coal bed, i cannot get one to form in the front center,everything is falling thru the grates,i got s small one forming on the sides,and the back has one now,still impossible to burn in front and center though.Id like to block off 1/2 the air grates in the front, IMO,its too open.the air grate surface area is 100x more than what the blower lets in,it just doesnt seem necessary to me.
I'm still eating wood, i got a 10 hr burn this am,and it wasnt below 160 when i went out,thats the best so far.I didnt fill it to the top last night,I filled the front 1/2 only,used spilt oak sections about 5" around by 30" long, 2 of them,one old pine round about 10" around a foot long,a huge 15" oak round 30" long and everything was gone this morning,but the huge oak round and some of the coals.I dont know if this seems like a lot of wood,it does to me,since im filling 3x a day about that amount,not full loads,but a good amount of wood.

 

[Cirrus Aviator]

OWB..$5000, Chainsaw...$250, Information on this site....Priceless

I just wanted to thank everyone for the posts on this site. I am new to OWB heat and am learning a lot. It makes me wish I would have paid more attention in physics class.

When we had the last cold spell I thought opening the fan door more would mean a hotter fire and thus battle the -20 temps. But it just blew the heat out the chimney as stated earlier on this site.

I am getting the best results from restricted air, causing a slow hot burn. I now have about a 4 to 6 inch bed of coals and is more than able to keep up with the current temps of -10.

Thanks again for all the information and ideas.

:greenchainsaw:

Shaver 165
South Shore Lake Superior
Northwestern Wisconsin

 

[fify59thatsit]

steaming

I took my coil cover off last summer to add more of an overlap to it to seal better.Was worried about a steam problem so I welded on a1/2" black iron coupling and piped it out the back of the furnace and straight up a couple ft. hoping to condense any steam back to water flowing back into boiler

 

[John D]

Mine's burning much better now also,a bed of coals,a few weeks to learn the traits of the stove,much better wood,and the mods that fletcher a dlav did all combined to make the OWB perform 100% better than before.The ranco stat and blower mods,along with insulating the bottom,and back made all the difference in thw world.My Shaver easily keeps up on nights well below zero,and im getting burn times of 12-16 hrs even on zero degree nights,and longer on warmer nights.I still go out at least 2x a day,and whenever im in the back yard,ill move the coals around to even things out.

 

[ngzcaz]

I took my coil cover off last summer to add more of an overlap to it to seal better.Was worried about a steam problem so I welded on a1/2" black iron coupling and piped it out the back of the furnace and straight up a couple ft. hoping to condense any steam back to water flowing back into boiler

I think a lot of guys that have water problems forget how much water gets steamed off if you don't take steps to recycle that water. Anyone who boiled an egg and forgot to shut the stove off knows the water that was in the pot is now gone ( not to mention the eggs cracked open and ruined ) that and the lousy way the water cover is made probably accounts for almost all of the water usage

:agree2:

 

[John D]

I think a lot of guys that have water problems forget how much water gets steamed off if you don't take steps to recycle that water. Anyone who boiled an egg and forgot to shut the stove off knows the water that was in the pot is now gone ( not to mention the eggs cracked open and ruined ) that and the lousy way the water cover is made probably accounts for almost all of the water usage

:agree2:

I haven't had any issues with steaming from the water cover.I do agree it's a poor design,BUT if you clean the surfaces,and apply a good bead of sealer,and set the lid on,and dont touch it until it fully sets up,there is no problem with leaks.being an ex auto mechanic Im very familiair with silicone sealer RTV,and fixing oil/coolant leaks.IMO,this is an easy job,sealing really shouldnt be a big deal,it isnt under pressure,and doesnt move. I didn't even use Hi temp,just the normal stuff,and mine is perfect first time.

 

[ngzcaz]

I basically was talking about the steam vent pipe that comes out the side of the OWB. The water cover, at least for me doesn't even have to be there at all. Might be useful for a temp gauge and the like but I piped mine direct in and out eliminating the need for the heat exchanger and consequently the water coil. The real pain would be for those who drain the system during the summer and have to go thru the whole thing again next year.. Thanks to the posts by others, most will elect to add chemicals thru the vent pipe.