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Post by Pat on Jan 9, 2017 0:13:53 GMT -5
Gosh Pat, does it ever get cold in SJ ? It does get hot remembering the Sarracenia's. Of course! Woke up several days this week to frost. Hard on plants. Pitcher plants hanging in there. They ate a lot of bugs earlier, so I hope they can make it to summer. Plan to remove from containers, dig a depression, and plant them in the ground. The depression should give them lots of water. I figure anything that eats bugs can survive tough times.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 3:34:18 GMT -5
I hardly ever use the fire pit. I knew it wouldn't get much use when I built it, I just wanted to build it. There is a swamp very close to the fire pit. Our whole yard is very buggy for most of the summer. It's ok in the sun, but the shady areas are miserable. It's worse at night. I do have a fogger that works really well if you spray the area before you use it. Probably the biggest reason it doesn't get used is because I have mostly jack pine to burn and you need a shower and a change of clothes after sitting by the fire. I do you it to burn branches and stuff from around the yard. It's a circle, not a spiral. I just didn't make the wall go all the way around the circle, os the picture above has just enough excavated for where the wall will go. Later I dug out another six feet or so outside the whole wall for gardens. That sucked because I also had to haul replacement topsoil back to fill in what I had previously dug out. I need a Bobcat. Taking that project on with shovel and wheel barrow commands a salute to Rob. To heck with Bobcat. File a claim you did it all by hand and be proud. As you hit the '50 mark' in age you may look back and say 'never again' lol. Heard about serious bugs in the great white north. Swamp near by probably does not help. I have a lot of shallow water on my place out in the direct sun. Dragonflies propagate by the thousands. Nary a mosquito here. What they don't eat the bats get. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 3:50:47 GMT -5
toiv0 Billy. You have a wealth of wood burning machines. Love the rail car camp in NM. Bed shelter warmth = heaven. Smart man. North NM gets darn cold, add extreme wind and high elevation. Are you in north or south NM ? That rocket stove. They say those are the way to go when burning wood. Found a cross section:  Does your rocket stove have the internal baffle in the 55 gallon drum ?
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 4:18:46 GMT -5
I no longer have a wood stove, but when I was a kid we had a neat down-drafting stove. The idea was to suck more heat out of the burning gas by making it go further via a baffle system(check out the patent date) .  When you first started the fire you used it regular way until you got a good draw, then you flip a gate and the gas went around the horn. It was strange to carefully crack the door in downdraft mode and see the flames going down instead of up.  That stove was super efficient and could heat the house well. A lot of iron though and it took a while to get it warm. Never ever seen this design. Makes you wonder is the construction is expensive. A good excuse for a company not to build it. High capital cost is a stupid reason not to build an efficient heater. Putting it blunt. May save 200-300 dollars/month in cold environment. Do math. The initial gate open till it warmed up to get a draw, then flip it for the down flow. Ingenious. Bet the surface of that stove got roaring hot-target satisfied. Looked up 'base burning' wood stove. Not many images of a factory made. Name of design must have changed. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 4:24:53 GMT -5
I have one in my shop not used much anymore. By the time it takes to fire it up and warm the area. I find it quicker just to use a old NG single burner stove. Quick to produce heat and I dont have to keep stoking the fire.  My wife build lights mostly sitting at a shop bench. I bought this el cheapo radiant heater and mounted it on ceiling above her. Instant heat. Love this thing. Perfect to put over a jeweler's or cabber's bench. Slams heat right down on you.  Gimme that Fisher stove |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 4:27:30 GMT -5
Gosh Pat, does it ever get cold in SJ ? It does get hot remembering the Sarracenia's. Of course! Woke up several days this week to frost. Hard on plants. Pitcher plants hanging in there. They ate a lot of bugs earlier, so I hope they can make it to summer. Plan to remove from containers, dig a depression, and plant them in the ground. The depression should give them lots of water. I figure anything that eats bugs can survive tough times. What's your coldest Pat ? |
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Post by toiv0 on Jan 9, 2017 5:27:21 GMT -5
toiv0 Billy. You have a wealth of wood burning machines. Love the rail car camp in NM. Bed shelter warmth = heaven. Smart man. North NM gets darn cold, add extreme wind and high elevation. Are you in north or south NM ? That rocket stove. They say those are the way to go when burning wood. Found a cross section: Does your rocket stove have the internal baffle in the 55 gallon drum ? Yep thats the beast, except don't have any storage mass yet. Tearing down an old chimney thats in an old school and will build a small mass where you see the exhaust pipe. I have to get motivated and skid them out on a sled by hand. They say the inside baffle will reach 3000 degrees plus, to make it last it is built out of some red clay and perlite. It will burn out any kind of steel they have tried in about a year of use. The wood has to be very dry and for what I use not to big, I am burning old hardwood flooring right now and its the perfect size and the maple burns hot. Had the spot where it leaves the baffle and hits the top turn cherry red one day. Even though on a 20 below day I can get the garage up to 32 it still feels pretty sweet from the radiant. Suppose to burn 1/4 the wood if you have the heat mass. |
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Post by toiv0 on Jan 9, 2017 5:42:03 GMT -5
toiv0 Billy. You have a wealth of wood burning machines. Love the rail car camp in NM. Bed shelter warmth = heaven. Smart man. North NM gets darn cold, add extreme wind and high elevation. Are you in north or south NM ? That rocket stove. They say those are the way to go when burning wood. Found a cross section: Does your rocket stove have the internal baffle in the 55 gallon drum ? Yep thats the beast, except don't have any storage mass yet. Tearing down an old chimney thats in an old school and will build a small mass where you see the exhaust pipe. I have to get motivated and skid them out on a sled by hand. They say the inside baffle will reach 3000 degrees plus, to make it last it is built out of some red clay and perlite. It will burn out any kind of steel they have tried in about a year of use. The wood has to be very dry and for what I use not to big, I am burning old hardwood flooring right now and its the perfect size and the maple burns hot. Had the spot where it leaves the baffle and hits the top turn cherry red one day. Even though on a 20 below day I can get the garage up to 32 it still feels pretty sweet from the radiant. Suppose to burn 1/4 the wood if you have the heat mass. I have seen the down draft stoves. Lots of Iron to keep hot to burn efficient. The difference in the rocket stoves and this design to get a good secondary burn is that the secondary burn area is insulated in the rocket stove to get and keep the secondary burn up to speed fast. Here is a good article on down draft. forgreenheat.blogspot.com/2016/09/downdraft-wood-stoves-consumers-beware.html |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 8:47:35 GMT -5
toiv0I have this Thermocontrol 500 out in the work area. A 60 gallon SS vertical pressure tank sits next to it. It delivers 50% heat to water and 50% to ambient. I built a shroud over it to do more heat to the water or force ventilate. Got it plumbed to send hot water or steam via Grundfos circulating pump or thermo-siphon. To steam room-under floor storage pipes. The under floor storage pipes are each 40 feet long and connected on end with 1" pipe for return. With slab over then. They hold 800 gallons. It eats so much wood I hardly ever use it any more. Better for a cabinet shop or wood working facility. www.thermocontrolstoves.com/products.php?type=1#3  Two 12 inch pipes before pouring slab 
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Erich
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2015
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Post by Erich on Jan 9, 2017 8:53:39 GMT -5
Very interesting and enjoyable thread. Also very much enjoyed your fire pit area and construction Jugglerguy. I could've used a heater yesterday as it got down to 49 degrees. |
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panamark
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by panamark on Jan 9, 2017 9:31:41 GMT -5
Our down-draft stove was a Vermont Castings model. My experience was totally of operate the stove as designed and it works great. It kicked out a very even heat and the wood lasted a long time. One benefit was the huge flat top. We didn't cook on it, but we sure made a lot of maple syrup on it by putting flat pans of sap on it. The water vapor from reducing the sap could make the house a bit damp though. It was a fun thing to get out of the house and do in the early spring - tapping the trees, watching the buckets, etc.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 9:35:13 GMT -5
Very interesting and enjoyable thread. Also very much enjoyed your fire pit area and construction Jugglerguy. I could've used a heater yesterday as it got down to 49 degrees. Many should be envious of a 49F low. 35F highs in Atlanta for 3 days, going crazy. Don't know how people live up there. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 9:41:06 GMT -5
Our down-draft stove was a Vermont Castings model. My experience was totally of operate the stove as designed and it works great. It kicked out a very even heat and the wood lasted a long time. One benefit was the huge flat top. We didn't cook on it, but we sure made a lot of maple syrup on it by putting flat pans of sap on it. The water vapor from reducing the sap could make the house a bit damp though. It was a fun thing to get out of the house and do in the early spring - tapping the trees, watching the buckets, etc. Where were you collecting sap at Mark ? It gets dry in winters here in the south. Not uncommon to steam off 3 gallons of water per day in a pot. |
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Post by toiv0 on Jan 9, 2017 11:35:14 GMT -5
Wood boilers are all the rage in northern Michigan. You can burn anything in them including sappy wood and damp wood. The largest ones you can throw complete pallets into which is great for folks that can get free old pallets. These sit outside of the house and provide heat and hot water.   Chuck I had a 500 gallon version of one of these when I owned the green house. On half of my starter green house I put down in a grid under sand 1" poly butylene. When I hit the valve that fed the green house it took the boiler water from 200 degrees to about 80 in less than an hour. Ended up putting semi truck radiators with a blower behind them to heat it. The fire box was 24" round and 5 ft deep. I should have bought a 1000 gal in hind sight. I love chopping wood when the temp gets 20 below, even the knarly wood explodes when you wack it with the big maul. I cut wood and split wood because I like to even if I have enough. In the spring there is always a family or two with hard times that can use a pickup load or two. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 18:03:28 GMT -5
Amazing how much heat it takes to heat water. Even at 1-2 gallons per minute flow.
You can not have enough heat exchanger surface area.
However, once you have a tank full of hot water it is there to stay for a long while.
5 foot logs !?! Possible with that fire box.
Chopping wood breathes life into a human. Never tried it at -20F !
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 9, 2017 19:41:57 GMT -5
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Post by Pat on Jan 9, 2017 22:10:01 GMT -5
I admire both wood burners noted. Our wood burner is a cast iron hibachi about one square foot. One leg is broken off, one handle has been replaced, but it was a wedding present in 1964. We use it every summer for s'mores. We also burn logs in our two indoor fireplaces. If you keep the glass doors open just a little, the heat escapes into the room. Friend taught us this trick and it works. The wood is from trees we have had to remove --- redwood leaning on neighbor's roof, dead fruit trees and the like. I'd go take a picture, but it is raining a lot! Finally! Gosh Pat, does it ever get cold in SJ ? It does get hot remembering the Sarracenia's. Hot in San Jose? June 2000 it was 109!!! Frequently 100+. Lowest was 19 in December 1958. Rarely even freezing. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Jan 9, 2017 22:13:52 GMT -5
109-19 = 90F difference Pat. That is a big spread.
However, Atlanta, 106F-2F = 104F.
Atlanta may have SJ beat on the spread.
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Post by Pat on Jan 9, 2017 22:34:25 GMT -5
109-19 = 90F difference Pat. That is a big spread. However, Atlanta, 106F-2F = 104F. Atlanta may have SJ beat on the spread. ...and on the extremes. |
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Post by wigglinrocks on Jan 9, 2017 22:53:28 GMT -5
I don't have pictures but I use a small freestanding glass door woodstove that sits in the living room . Heats my small one story real well with a couple fans to move the air around . Also have an outside wood boiler that is piped into the house , heats the domestic water also , then it goes out to my garage and from there , to my shop and back to the furnace . Had a 400 gal one til it crapped out , the one I have now is only 130 gal . Does the job as good as the big one did .
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