Nature's Comfort NCB-175 Install

[projectsho89]

Nature's Comfort NCB-175 Install (56K Warning - Lot of pics)

Installed last week. Woodpile was ready! Total of about 90 lineal feet, 5' high, and average length 28-30". Unfortunately, not too much of it is prime hardwood. A lot of it is junk I wanted to clean up first and get rid of. There's dried out birch, some old read cedar that's been down for 4-5 years, old sycamore, a couple of dead elms, and some oak that was starting to get punky.

Front view of door and ash (real!) drawer
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Inside view of firebox
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Starting point inside the back door.
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PEX and Electrical all hooked up, ready to test fire. I added a SPDT switch to provide additional control of the blower and damper. It now can be enabled either by the inside blower demand or set to auto-maintain the aquastat-set temperature.
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Heat exchanger. Yeah, that drain pipe had to be removed to install the HX. Still need to seal the plenum and to relocate my extra thermostat for the propane fall-back into the plenum above the inlet. Inlet is on the upper right. The probes for the ET-73 are mounted to the underside of each manifold with insulation wedged in there to prevent airflow from reaching the probe. The ET-73 transmitter is hanging above out of view. An additional thermocouple for my meter is attached to the inlet port.

Rear view - finished. I added a 1/4 turn valve in the port to the left of the thermometer to use for taking water samples. The pipes are all insulated inside the back door and I covered the unused ports with insulation.
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View from my recliner. ET-73 is on the right with the HX inlet temp on the top and the outlet on the lower display (I've since swapped them so I can use the HIGH and LOW alarms based on inlet temps). An indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer is on the left.

Steve

 

[MNfarmer]

Looks like a nice set up!! congrats!

 

[zeliespecwriter]

Switch Label

NICE!! and Direct TV too. What does it say on the switch?

 

[fletcher0780]

very clean install, I'm glad you are up and running, but by the looks of your outside thermometer the heat isn't needed yet. It was 15* here last night, but 73* in my house, with the little Shaver chugging away.

 

[projectsho89]

very clean install, I'm glad you are up and running, but by the looks of your outside thermometer the heat isn't needed yet. It was 15* here last night, but 73* in my house, with the little Shaver chugging away.

It was warm yesterday afternoon (almost 60F!) but down to low 30's overnight. Only up to 35-38F today, then 15F tonight...

Zeile: I'll get a closeup tomorrow....

Steve

 

[Dan-o]

Ashpan

Ahhhh an ash pan so that is what they look like! LOL

Shaver owner here!

Where did you pick up the Et-73 at? Where is the probe located that is taking the temps?

Very nice setup looks very good.

 

[projectsho89]

Ahhhh an ash pan so that is what they look like! LOL

Shaver owner here!

Where did you pick up the Et-73 at? Where is the probe located that is taking the temps?

Very nice setup looks very good.

Yeah, I couldn't help but describe it as a REAL ashpan! :greenchainsaw:

Bought off ebay. About $42 shipped a week and a half ago. There's another very recent thread about wireless thermometers that has the details.

See the photo and the description above for the other details.

Steve

 

[ngzcaz]

Since Shaver also has the pipe low ( although yours looks REALLY low ) please let us know how it works. I guess to get a similar roll to the barrel I'm going to have sacrifice a little space on the sides and bend a sheet of steel so the ashes roll into the ash PAN, not bin.. ( thats for us shaver owners ) anyway, nice setup and I'm assuming you are going to shoot some foam in your plastic pipe to help the pex insulation. Not sure how the price compares but it sure is a nice, well thought out unit for what I can see..

 

[Dan-o]

Yeah, I couldn't help but describe it as a REAL ashpan! :greenchainsaw:

Bought off ebay. About $42 shipped a week and a half ago. There's another very recent thread about wireless thermometers that has the details.

See the photo and the description above for the other details.

Steve

If I would have read a little further the first time! Thanks sorry about that.

So you inlet pipe was showing 154* and the return pipe is showing 150*, what is your actual water temp in the OWB?

Thanks

 

[projectsho89]

If I would have read a little further the first time! Thanks sorry about that.

So you inlet pipe was showing 154* and the return pipe is showing 150*, what is your actual water temp in the OWB?

Thanks

About the same. The ET-73's two sides are within 2 or 3 degrees of each other and are within the margin of error. There is also some convection through the HX coil when the furnace blower isn't running, so some heat is going into the duct anyway and is dropping the outlet temp a bit.

Heat loss through the 170' (each way) Pex is negligible. I need to get a single meter and thermocouple out there and take consistent measurements.

Steve

 

[Dan-o]

About the same. The ET-73's two sides are within 2 or 3 degrees of each other and are within the margin of error. There is also some convection through the HX coil when the furnace blower isn't running, so some heat is going into the duct anyway and is dropping the outlet temp a bit.

Heat loss through the 170' (each way) Pex is negligible. I need to get a single meter and thermocouple out there and take consistent measurements.

Steve

Do you know what kind of temps you are getting out of your duct (registers) work when the furnace blower is on?

Dan

 

[projectsho89]

Do you know what kind of temps you are getting out of your duct (registers) work when the furnace blower is on?

Dan

I'll do some experimenting tomorrow (if I get a chance). I do know that at around 150F water temp and given the size of my house, it's not enough. As soon as I get my 180F thermostat, I'll play with the controls some more. The existing 150F thermostat has too wide of a range between on and off cycling - trips off at 155-160 and doesn't cycle back on until around 140F. By that time, the boiler is too cool to get the house up to temp in any kind of reasonable time (I'm seeing 135F on the inlet and 115 on the outlet).

When the furnace blower is on, the HX drops around 25F.

Steve

 

[fourustircom]

Nature's Comfort

Hi!

Nice install! My B-I-L is looking at the same brand. Would you buy the same thing again? Do you have to be careful when loading since the chimney is extending down so far into the fire box? Do you think it helps reduce the smoke? Creosote? How are the fire bricks holding up? How is it for ash removeal?

This is my first season with a Woodmaster, so it's the only thing I can compare it to. I didn't get the ash auger for an extra $500. A shovel, some hardware cloth and about a half hour a week is what ash removeal takes me.

Thanks!

 

[projectsho89]

Hi!

Nice install! My B-I-L is looking at the same brand. Would you buy the same thing again? Do you have to be careful when loading since the chimney is extending down so far into the fire box? Do you think it helps reduce the smoke? Creosote? How are the fire bricks holding up? How is it for ash removeal?

This is my first season with a Woodmaster, so it's the only thing I can compare it to. I didn't get the ash auger for an extra $500. A shovel, some hardware cloth and about a half hour a week is what ash removeal takes me.

Thanks!

I'd buy one with a larger door and firebox if I had to do it again. House is too big, can't get enough wood in there to get a long enough burn time on the coldest nights.

Yes, I've flattened the forward side of the chimney somewhat from hitting it with chunks of wood.

Given how this thing can smoke, I doubt it makes a difference.

Creosote hasn't been a problem.

Fire bricks are fine.

Ash removal is easy. I do have to use a garden hoe to clean the gaps between the firebricks once a week or so to keep them breathing.

On the other hand, I've only used about 100 gallons of propane since installing in November.

Steve

 

[hypothesis]

projectsho89,

Now that you have had the ET-73 running for a while, what is the battery life for the receiver and transmitter when left on 24/7? I'm interested in doing the same as you, but I'm finding mixed reviews on the web for battery life.

Thanks.

 

[projectsho89]

projectsho89,

Now that you have had the ET-73 running for a while, what is the battery life for the receiver and transmitter when left on 24/7? I'm interested in doing the same as you, but I'm finding mixed reviews on the web for battery life.

Thanks.

The ET-73 became unusable last January (2009) when a local broadcaster moved its signal to UHF 14 about 10 miles away at almost 1,000 kW ERP as part of the DTV transistion. Since the ET-73 operates on an adjacent frequency, it's reception got wiped out by the powerful DTV signal. By the time I figured out what had happened last fall, the ET-73 was long gone. As I recall, the battery life of the transmitter wasn't all that great when in continuous use.

I've since moved to data logging and am using wifi to my laptop that now usually sits on my table next to my recliner. It is far more useful since i can see the trends of the temperatures instead of just seeing a snapshot of the current moment in time.

The wireless outdoors thermometer is also now pretty useless.

 

[i'mstihlaguy]

projectsho89,

Now that you have had the ET-73 running for a while, what is the battery life for the receiver and transmitter when left on 24/7? I'm interested in doing the same as you, but I'm finding mixed reviews on the web for battery life.

Thanks.

I operate mine approx. 4-5 months a year but 24/7 and batteries only need changed once a year.

 

[hypothesis]

Thank you for the replies.

I run my furnace about 6 to almost 7 months out of the year. One set of batteries a year would be nice.

Wifi data logging sounds interesting. Might be a bit more that what I need, but it does sound interesting. I have wifi and a laptop. What all is involved in this set up?