Shaver Improvement Forum Part 3

[ngzcaz]

Well.. year 3 with the modified 165. The discussions in the past should have been worth their weight in gold not only to the owners of these units but the company as well. I'd like to hear whether the mods a lot of you did have proved worthwhile and your plans for the future. Most of us have messed with the door, draft, insulation and overflow pipe. Some amazingly simple ideas were born here. We talked a bit about water.. seems I should have NOT drained my expensive chemical/rust treatment out of my system, rather let in in, fill the tank as high as possible and let it sit. I'm thinking about putting a pipe within a pipe in my overfill allowing more water in the tank. The secondary pipe would still allow steam/pressure to be released so the system would not become pressurized. heck if it wasn't for that stupid hatch in the back whick seals with caulk you could fill it almost to the top.

Ideas/pics ?

umpkin2:

 

[PURPLEBOWYER]

This is my 1st yr with the 165.Did the install back in Mar. as far as modifications Ive done none as of yet.Ive been burning for about 3wks now and other than alot of dripping cresote thru the door and an issue with my t-stat in the house so far so good,lots of hot water and even heat in the house.I figure Id get a handle on how this thing works before I do anything as far as mods,this is my 1st owb.

 

[fletcher0780]

I silicone a rope in for my new door seal, will see if it lasts longer than the silicone alone.

 

[ngzcaz]

Yeah the door continues to be a pain in the butt. For a seemingly simple seal, I'm having puffs of smoke occasionally late in the season last year. A woodburning stove in the basement lasted 20 years w/out a leak with the rope gasket. So.........
One thing I'd like to share is the last 2 years I firmly believe I've been adding too much wood too quickly. What I thought was a weaking draft motor was simply way too much ash not allowing the kind of combustion that was possible. Drier soft wood ( pine, hemlock etc ) in the beginning of the year burned up to the point where there was literally no ash bed at all and remained that way for about a month and a half. Then I started adding hard wood and I figured the higher the bed of red coals the better. Didn't work out that way for me. So when I light up I'm going to be a bit more inclined to let it burn down and rake the ash more often. Since the monster poker they give you doesn't fit between the grates I welded a 4 or 5 inch bolt I had laying around 180 degrees on the back side of the ash poker. Gets the clinkers if any and also makes sure you get all the way to the bottom of the ash pile.

 

[Windwalker7]

So far, so good!

My dryer vent/blower mod still working great! :biggrinbounce2:

About the only thing I did this year was pack the firebox door with fresh insulation.

Oh, one other thing, I got a carport butted up against the Shaver and have my wood stacked under it.

 

[headleyj]

my thoughts on the door seal - I think the hinges are the real problem, it's just a piece of flat steel and when you swing that door out that's alot of weight hanging out there. Over time those hinges are gonna wanna sag just a touch. That's gonna impact the seal. thoughts? agree/ disagree?


Mods I did this year was;
1. go from pump running 24/7 to only kicking on when house stat calls for heat. Very anxious to see what the result is.
2. Packed door full of rockwool insulation

My next mod want is a damper for the flue that kicks open when the blower is on and closes when the blower is off. I really think that'd help.

 

[ngzcaz]

Windwalker.. I still chuckle when I think of American igenuity & a dryer vent. Seems most of us insist on a harder solution. And that carport would seem to be way too comfortable when its snowing/raining etc. Next thing you'll be putting a TV & chair under the carport.

As far as the door.. A flat piece of steel will never hold the weight as one turned on its side so its certainly not helping any. Granted, the flat stock is thick but still lots of room for improvement. I would have liked to see a twin locking arrangement to insure a better seal. Kinda embarrasing when I see the smoke puffing out the door. I have left over sealer but I may opt for the gasket rope. If anyone has done this on the 165 ( don't know if all the doors are the same ) what was the diameter you used ?

:monkey:

 

[PURPLEBOWYER]

Windwalker Id love to hear about the dry vent mod.Does anyone have trouble with ceasote this time of year?I figured when I start having qa hotter fire this will stop but it still makes a mess.I think Im definatley going to make some sort of chimney sweep,I had alot of hard chunks of creasote in there from 3wks of just a smoldering fire,seems like its drawing alot better now.

 

[Windwalker7]

Once the colder weather hits you'll have less creosote.


Dryer vent mod. http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=110817

 

[scag52]

I just replaced the door siliconeafter one year . I removed all the old and cleaned it good . Filled it up thick with new silicone and put wax paper on it . Shut the door just a little and let it sit. I still have some wisk of smoke if a log is close to the door . Did i do this right ? Maybe i needed more silicone ?

 

[ngzcaz]

It would be interesting to note how many of us have smoke coming out of the door. I noticed mine the end of the first year, it wasn't enough ( I thought ) to make a big deal about it since I was rasing a ruckus of some of what I thought were more important issues. I always conceded it did do a great job burning & heating. Anyway, in retrospect, a leaking door should not be expected the start of the second season.
Now we need to find a lasting fix. Some members have/are going to try a rope gasket like many woodburning stoves.

umpkin2:

 

[scag52]

it would be nice to be able to have some adjustment to the door. Then after a while you could just crank it a little tighter. I think some stoves i've had in the house have had a wedge type door closure .The more you push down the tighter the seal.

 

[ngzcaz]

In a pinch you can wedge a piece of wood ( broken off branch or the like ) where the cam pivots against the latch. it works..sort of.

umpkin2:

 

[Windwalker7]

I used Hi-temp silicone and redid my door seal this past summer.


I had a little puffing of the smoke (that doesn't sound right, LOL!) last season.

What I did was use Hi-temp silicone as glue and glue an 1/8" thick strip of metal on the inside of the door latch. That way it pulls the door tighter and can be made thicker or removed easily.

Hard to explain.

 

[Windwalker7]

In a pinch you can wedge a piece of wood ( broken off branch or the like ) where the cam pivots against the latch. it works..sort of.

umpkin2:

Yes, right where you jammed that piece of wood is where I siliconed that strip of metal.

 

[scag52]

Ok , I'll try that . Want to get it squared away before it gets too cold.

 

[ngzcaz]

Thought it doesn't drop below 60 degrees in Maryland ? LOL.

umpkin2:

 

[scag52]

This area can fool ya. We get some pretty wild swings in temps at times. Overall it is mild though. I look at where some of these people live on here and just start to shake and shiver. LOL !

 

[wctech]

New to the site

I have a Acme (Shaver Clone) 235 gallon owb. I have mine installed in an old corn crib, 2 years now. I have went through the chimney issues with plugging up with creosote, finally gave up and just let it smoke inside the corn crib. I am thinking about just running some type of duct, and an exaust fan, not sure yet. I am going to install dryer vent mod this week, great idea! Question: I heat an out building about 150 feet away from the boiler. I have 1 inch insulated pex running to cast iron radiators, in series, then back to the boiler. I have a 007 taco pushing the water. Thermostat set just above freezing 40 degrees or so. Problem is, I see a 35 degree temp loss in the water whenever the stat kicks on for the building. There is only 3 radiators there, maybe 10 gallons total cold water returning, at 40 degrees. It takes a very long time to get the temp back up to 180. Would 2 pumps help? Funny thing, when I fill the boiler with water once a week from the tap, going in the return line, I get very little or no drop in temp, and I think I am adding about the same amount of cold water. Any ideas? One of the best modifications I added to my boiler is a cast iron sewer cover instead of the factory grate, 20 bucks at the junk yard. Also id the fact that a little smoke leaking out of the door gasket make a huge difference? The creosote someties pulls the gasket off when opening the door.

 

[headleyj]

I have a Acme (Shaver Clone) 235 gallon owb. I have mine installed in an old corn crib, 2 years now. I have went through the chimney issues with plugging up with creosote, finally gave up and just let it smoke inside the corn crib. I am thinking about just running some type of duct, and an exaust fan, not sure yet. I am going to install dryer vent mod this week, great idea! Question: I heat an out building about 150 feet away from the boiler. I have 1 inch insulated pex running to cast iron radiators, in series, then back to the boiler. I have a 007 taco pushing the water. Thermostat set just above freezing 40 degrees or so. Problem is, I see a 35 degree temp loss in the water whenever the stat kicks on for the building. There is only 3 radiators there, maybe 10 gallons total cold water returning, at 40 degrees. It takes a very long time to get the temp back up to 180. Would 2 pumps help? Funny thing, when I fill the boiler with water once a week from the tap, going in the return line, I get very little or no drop in temp, and I think I am adding about the same amount of cold water. Any ideas? One of the best modifications I added to my boiler is a cast iron sewer cover instead of the factory grate, 20 bucks at the junk yard. Also id the fact that a little smoke leaking out of the door gasket make a huge difference? The creosote someties pulls the gasket off when opening the door.

first thing that caught my eye was a Taco007 pushing 300 ft (150' there + 150' back) and 1" pex to boot. My gut says that's not enough. I didn't look up a 007 pump curve or anything, but based on some previous calculations of my own system using 1" pex and pushing water through a restriction (1/2"-50' copper coil) I'd say you're runnign into more loss through those radiators than you think.

Second thing - the 35°F loss you mention ...is that over the 150' or is that the delta b/t the Radiator temp in and Radiator temp out?