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Glen Farrow boiler smokey


Celtictimber
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Yea it's French beams felled probably two year ago however it's all been kiln dried

 

Are you kiln drying your already kiln dried beams or have I read it wrong.

I run mine on a mix of larch sitka and beech ,boiler set to 80degrees and fan about number 4 realy only smokes for a few mins on re loading.

Any one with one want to say how much they burn in a 24 hour period.

I reckon 2 to 2.5 cube.

cheers Chris

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Are you kiln drying your already kiln dried beams or have I read it wrong.

I run mine on a mix of larch sitka and beech ,boiler set to 80degrees and fan about number 4 realy only smokes for a few mins on re loading.

Any one with one want to say how much they burn in a 24 hour period.

I reckon 2 to 2.5 cube.

cheers Chris

 

Interesting.

How many kilo watts us your boiler?

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Hi Bob

 

When you say tar do you mean like a black layer which tends to flake off on the inside for instance on the door. I'll take some pictures

Thanks Grant

 

It sounds to me that you have a problem with your set up somewhere.

Different woods require different setups and its normally just a question of getting it right for what you are burning.

Another avenue to investigate is your boiler return temperature. If it is too low then that may be giving you problems.

How do you control your boiler return and what temperature does it normally run at?

I don't have the luxury of kiln dried timber so I like to keep my boiler returns above

65 or even 70 deg C to avoid condensation. If your system flow rate can take the heat away then those sort of temperatures might be an advantage for you.

Does your boiler manufacturer specify a temperature?

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It sounds to me that you have a problem with your set up somewhere.

Different woods require different setups and its normally just a question of getting it right for what you are burning.

Another avenue to investigate is your boiler return temperature. If it is too low then that may be giving you problems.

How do you control your boiler return and what temperature does it normally run at?

I don't have the luxury of kiln dried timber so I like to keep my boiler returns above

65 or even 70 deg C to avoid condensation. If your system flow rate can take the heat away then those sort of temperatures might be an advantage for you.

Does your boiler manufacturer specify a temperature?

 

 

The tar being referred to is a layer that goes all over the furnace, it will often be tacky and drip when you open the door and the boiler is still hot. Its generally caused by the boiler being at too low a temperature. As others have said the right fuel and a good hot burn (80 degrees for a couple of hours) should clear it.

 

The controls on the GF are very limited but its important to make sure that the flow is at least 80 degrees and the return no lower than 60 degrees. The only way to control this is the fan setting on the boiler for the flow and controlling the amount of heat you draw from the boiler (eg by reducing fan speed on heat exchangers or equivalent) for the return.

 

When the boiler is empty and cold turn the fan on and check that the air tubes in the fire chamber are not blocked (remove and clean them) and that the fan on the rear of the boiler (remove access plate) is not blocked or obstructed. I have spent 100's of hours with GF boilers trying to solve this issue and promise you that if you follow the advice on my previous posts and here your problem will be solved.

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Are you kiln drying your already kiln dried beams or have I read it wrong.

I run mine on a mix of larch sitka and beech ,boiler set to 80degrees and fan about number 4 realy only smokes for a few mins on re loading.

Any one with one want to say how much they burn in a 24 hour period.

I reckon 2 to 2.5 cube.

cheers Chris

 

The volume of fuel used is directly related to the output of the boiler so one can not really be stated without quoting the other. Measure the output of the boiler via the RHI meter in a 24 hour period and the fuel used. A tonne of 20% m/c wood delivers on average 4,100 kwh. You will be surprised at the results !!

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The tar being referred to is a layer that goes all over the furnace, it will often be tacky and drip when you open the door and the boiler is still hot. Its generally caused by the boiler being at too low a temperature. As others have said the right fuel and a good hot burn (80 degrees for a couple of hours) should clear it.

 

The controls on the GF are very limited but its important to make sure that the flow is at least 80 degrees and the return no lower than 60 degrees. The only way to control this is the fan setting on the boiler for the flow and controlling the amount of heat you draw from the boiler (eg by reducing fan speed on heat exchangers or equivalent) for the return.

 

When the boiler is empty and cold turn the fan on and check that the air tubes in the fire chamber are not blocked (remove and clean them) and that the fan on the rear of the boiler (remove access plate) is not blocked or obstructed. I have spent 100's of hours with GF boilers trying to solve this issue and promise you that if you follow the advice on my previous posts and here your problem will be solved.

Controlling return temp by demand must be a bit hit or miss I would have thought. Could you not have a shunt system with a thermostat on the boiler return controlling a three port valve to keep the return higher. As you say if the boiler temperature is low then it will give

problems.

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Controlling return temp by demand must be a bit hit or miss I would have thought. Could you not have a shunt system with a thermostat on the boiler return controlling a three port valve to keep the return higher. As you say if the boiler temperature is low then it will give

problems.

 

Yes, but then this would affect temperatures in the kiln so just moves the problem on. We were able to manage the GF boilers temperature by setting the demand placed on it on it and by using the fan speed controller on the boiler itself. We also had controls on our demand so that it did not kick in until the boiler reached 70 degrees to reduce the time the boiler was below temperature after a cold start or luke warm refuel. This was more fine tuning than anything else and wouldn't really help the OP with his problems.

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Yes, but then this would affect temperatures in the kiln so just moves the problem on. We were able to manage the GF boilers temperature by setting the demand placed on it on it and by using the fan speed controller on the boiler itself. We also had controls on our demand so that it did not kick in until the boiler reached 70 degrees to reduce the time the boiler was below temperature after a cold start or luke warm refuel. This was more fine tuning than anything else and wouldn't really help the OP with his problems.

 

You would still get the same heat output just the water would be at a higher temperature going back into the boiler. Some water from the flow side would just go around again and the boiler would only need to heat it from 70 to 80 rather than 60 to 80. You would need slightly more flow or a separate pump on the shunt line if you needed to keep the output at 80. Thats the standard BEPV back end protection valve system on our larger biomass boilers. On your system if the boiler output varies as the charge burns then doesn't the water temperature change with it?

A BEPV would do a similar thing to your 70 deg start but continue to work all through the burn. We did have a problem with a low return temperature once and found the tubes full of

rust and soot. Not quite tar but going that way.

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