Anyone know anything about SS flue pipe?

[Alycidon]

I do feel for you on the install side, before I came into this industry I had a wood pellet boiler installed by a company who I thought were one of the UKs leading pellet boiler providors, yes they were Hetas regisitered. Before I opened this buisness I put myself through the installers training course, then I knew that the boiler had been installed illegally and dangerously. They were reluctant to put it right but responded when I threatened to call in Hetas.

 

We digress: the boiler control valve is fairly new, it is not mentioned in the Esse catalogue, website or even the current cooker price list. Pretty sure it was in the old price list. Give David ( or Linzi if he is tied up) a ring ( 01282 813235), they will give you details of it.

 

Just run the problem past them as well in case I am barking up the wrong tree, dont think so but you never know.

 

Thanks

 

A

[Stereo]

Thanks, I will.

[Jdtrees]

This is a great thread, really showing the power of the Arbtalk community

 

Am I the only one who on first sight thought that flue pipe was a really weird name for a ship?

[Albedo]

“While your wood is not perfect it is acceptable if below 20% which is what Esse advise as the maximum permitted moisture level”.

 

With due respect to the effort you are putting in here Alycidon and not wishing to be petty or cause any kind of derail I do have a question regarding your above statement.

 

My wood last winter split and seasoned for more than a year, some of it 2 or 3 years, all ended up around 18% MC, I believe due to ambient MC of the air. It is vented and covered only on the top.

 

I assume that you consider an MC lower than this to be ideal. The only way I can think of to achieve this is to dry your logs by the fire before burning which will get the MC down a bit but takes some organizing.

 

Is this what you recommend? I am assuming that you would accept that kiln dried logs if stored outside will eventually reach ambient MC.

 

I am using the moisture metre pictured which has 2 probes out the top and out of shot. It was £10 from Amazon and I have no idea how it was calibrated etc.

 

 

I am merely interested to know that if my wood is around the maximum permitted moisture level, how you would expect your customers to achieve the minimum.

 

In good faith Paul:001_smile:

[Stereo]

Albedo, Esse were saying 25% when I bought my stove which is a bit annoying as if you put this through it, you get a mess requiring a full clearout within a month. OK, I can cope with that. They now say 20% so they got it wrong.

 

If you have a W23 or similar you really need wood in the 15% region to get the best results. It's a very fussy machine. The flue ways are fiddly and difficult to clean. That said, I do still love the damn thing and it does a roast better than anything on earth.

 

I spend my days roaming the farm looking for dead standing elm which is gold dust to this stove. Long live DED.

[Alycidon]

Morso advise that 15% or below is fine, 16%-18% is acceptable, above 18% let it dry some more. Esse recommend a maximum moisture level of 20%.

 

Heat from wood depends on how much moisture is present, the drier the wood the more heat is produced. Wood at 15% will deliver 30% ( from memory !!) more heat than wood at 25%. There is more info on heat ouput/moisture content on the Hetas web site. It is quite eye opening.

 

A

[Stereo]

My next plan is to build some kind of solar kiln to get a final dry on all my wood. The problem with going for 15% is not getter there but keeping it that way.

[Albedo]

With respect Alycidon your response only repeats the recommendation without saying how to achieve it.

 

I looked at the HETAS site and could only find basic advice on burning dry wood.. nothing detailed even in their downloadable pdfs.

 

You can link the bit you're referring to by copying and pasting the URL from the address bar.

 

I notice they sell the same moisture meter as mine under different branding for £16.80.

 

As Stereo says, you've got to dry it artificially and then avoid ambient MC to get and keep 15% MC.

[Alycidon]

Seems I was wrong about it being on the Hetas site, sorry about that, the graph here will give you the idea:

 

Wood fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

or here,

 

http://www.forestbioenergy.net/training-materials/fact-sheets/module-5-fact-sheets/fact-sheet-5-8-energy-basics

 

Figures do seem to differ somewhat but it does indicate the importance of dry logs and the heat performance differential between 25% and 15%.

 

Kiln dried logs are now sold at 20-22% moisture, they used to be quite a bit lower. All my logs are in bags in a barn with three closed sides. Moisture content of some hard wood processed just over year ago is between 9% and 14% on some I tested early this morning. In fairness come November the air dampness will have lifted that to maybe 17% on the outside, that is in my book perfectly acceptable as the mositure level inside will be considerably lower. Most of my customers keep their logs in the bag in their garage, so it dries back out in there.

 

How do you get wood that dry, keep it in store untill it gets there, the next customer complaint about my logs will be the first.

 

Hope that helps.

 

A

[Alycidon]

“While your wood is not perfect it is acceptable if below 20% which is what Esse advise as the maximum permitted moisture level”.

 

With due respect to the effort you are putting in here Alycidon and not wishing to be petty or cause any kind of derail I do have a question regarding your above statement.

 

My wood last winter split and seasoned for more than a year, some of it 2 or 3 years, all ended up around 18% MC, I believe due to ambient MC of the air. It is vented and covered only on the top.

 

I assume that you consider an MC lower than this to be ideal. The only way I can think of to achieve this is to dry your logs by the fire before burning which will get the MC down a bit but takes some organizing.

 

Is this what you recommend? I am assuming that you would accept that kiln dried logs if stored outside will eventually reach ambient MC.

 

I am using the moisture metre pictured which has 2 probes out the top and out of shot. It was £10 from Amazon and I have no idea how it was calibrated etc.

 

 

I am merely interested to know that if my wood is around the maximum permitted moisture level, how you would expect your customers to achieve the minimum.

 

In good faith Paul:001_smile:

 

Drying logs by a fire is not a good idea, they might catch fire themselves if to close. Lower moisture levels can only be achieved by keeping product under cover for a longer period. Use of poly tunnel kilns will help but not to many have access to those.

 

If your wood is 18% personally I would not have an issue burning it, it should burn plenty hot enough.

 

The most accurate measurement is taken on the split face of a freshy split log, logs that have been processed a couple of summers may show 18% on the outside but will be significantly below that on the inside.

 

A