Author Topic: A thread about nothing at all....  (Read 673232 times)

Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1260 on: January 23, 2014, 10:52:52 AM »
Its warmed up to zero here.    :_shudder_Emoticon
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Offline MrPepsi

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1261 on: January 23, 2014, 10:59:33 AM »
Supposed to be 66 here today.
Brent Johnson 
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1262 on: January 23, 2014, 11:18:22 AM »
18 here- want me to mail you an envelope of 'warm'? Going back down to zero or close to it tonight again.

Brian

Its warmed up to zero here.    :_shudder_Emoticon
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Offline stevewfl

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1263 on: January 23, 2014, 11:52:21 AM »
63 high here today, 59 right now. I took one of the ZX9's out that hasn't been ridden for a few weeks.  Had to wear gloves
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Offline Classvino

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1264 on: January 23, 2014, 12:20:47 PM »
(temps converted to Fahrenheit for your convenience...)

From a low of -33 last night, we've hit almost +5 today (sounds colder in Celcius : -36 last night, -15 today)

(Dreaming of 60F degree days...   Used to laugh when we'd go to Daytona Beach for Spring Break...  You could always tell who the Canadians were... : All the locals were wearing long pants and sweaters, and we wore shorts and t-shirts, and were the only ones in the water - everyone else stayed on the beach or wore wetsuits...  And we were all burnt bright red too...)

Jamie

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1983 CB1100F, 1977 GS850, 1974 KH750 H2, 1974 KH500 H1, 1975 KH400 S3, 1979 RD 400 Daytona......

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1265 on: January 23, 2014, 12:23:54 PM »
63 high here today, 59 right now. I took one of the ZX9's out that hasn't been ridden for a few weeks.  Had to wear gloves

I totally feel for you, Steve.... :D
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Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1266 on: January 24, 2014, 04:52:48 AM »
18 here- want me to mail you an envelope of 'warm'? Going back down to zero or close to it tonight again.

Brian

If it's not too much trouble? Better put the 'warm' in one of the padded envelopes.   :)
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1267 on: January 24, 2014, 05:46:00 AM »
I respectfully retract that offer.... I need all I can get to keep up with our little cold spell. The stove is making the trip but not 'in style'; temps. in the morning are dropping to the mid- 60's in the house after an overnight of around zero. Still, I cannot fault the stove as I am heating the whole house, two floors, with not other heating method (boiler is shut off, and I don't mean the thermostats but the actual boiler). Then again, it is a real problem to use this stove when it is 40 out and keep a continuous fire going so it really cannot be any bigger.

Brian

If it's not too much trouble? Better put the 'warm' in one of the padded envelopes.   :)
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1268 on: January 24, 2014, 05:46:14 AM »
Or better yet, a box truck.
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Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1269 on: January 24, 2014, 06:02:33 AM »
I respectfully retract that offer.... I need all I can get to keep up with our little cold spell. The stove is making the trip but not 'in style'; temps. in the morning are dropping to the mid- 60's in the house after an overnight of around zero. Still, I cannot fault the stove as I am heating the whole house, two floors, with not other heating method (boiler is shut off, and I don't mean the thermostats but the actual boiler). Then again, it is a real problem to use this stove when it is 40 out and keep a continuous fire going so it really cannot be any bigger.

Brian

I've been heating the house with our wood stove too. I pack it full right before bed and it keeps the house toasty all night long. I even have a nice bed of coals in the morning to get her roaring again.   :)
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1270 on: January 24, 2014, 09:46:22 AM »
I heat exclusively with wood (easy boys!) and have gotten pretty successful at it as well as pretty efficient; we convert the front porch from 'summer mode' to 'winter mode' and drive a trailer full of wood onto the porch, 2,500 lbs. or so at a time- "bringing wood into the house" means opening the front door and picking some up, then turning around and throwing it in the stove. :-)  Big stove too, nearly 10 cu. ft. firebox w/ catalytic combustor which makes a very efficient burner. Normal winter temps. in the house, day or night, are between 73 and 75 F. But when the temp drops to zero and especially if there is any wind at all, I cannot maintain 70 plus for a 9 hour burn.

I have been toying with the idea of going to a wood boiler and hot water storage for years but just don't want to spend the dough or make the effort and the older I get, the less the payback will be. But that would be a slick system: a clean burning wood fire once a day to supply all heat and hot water during the coldest part of the winter. In the summer, maybe as few as 2 or 3 fires a month to provide domestic hot water. Sorely tempting.... but pricey. :-(

Brian

I've been heating the house with our wood stove too. I pack it full right before bed and it keeps the house toasty all night long. I even have a nice bed of coals in the morning to get her roaring again.   :)
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1271 on: January 24, 2014, 10:33:55 AM »
As I said before, I used to heat our house exclusively with wood too. I've gotten back to that with the cold we've had lately, plus being retired and home all day helps too.   ;D

My stove isn't as large as yours but it also has a catalytic combustor. I don't know how large the firebox is but it'll hold a lot if you pack it right. My stove will also burn coal but since I don't have a source for coal I've never used it.

When it's zero outside, Bosco knows where the best seat in the house can be found.
[smg id=626]
It may not look like it but the top of that stove is 1,000f.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1272 on: January 24, 2014, 12:08:08 PM »
As youse guise know, I like to tinker with things a little.... Been burning wood for decades and have never been happy with the way it was being done, the stoves, the maintenance, the 'care and feeding', etc. So I designed and built one:



The combustior running at 1,450 degrees. You can barely see the combustor itself but it is the red thing in the view port.


34" wide (will take 30+ length wood (easy boys!) with ease) X 24 deep X 34 tall. Big stove. Top loader with three doors; I usually only use the small door so no smoke gets into the house but occasionally when something large goes in there, the entire top is also a hinged door. A fire plate 8" above the base plate with a 7" tall ash bucket, also 32" long (needs emptying three times per cord of wood and can be removed / re-installed while the stove is running). The "V" section in the front is a stainless steel water container that holds 2.4 gallons of water to keep the humidity in the house w/in reasonable bounds. It is part of the stove and welded in place. There is a combination draft door / fire staring door under the fire plate on the left hand side of the stove; to light it, I just throw in logs (no kindling needed or wanted) and then roll up newspaper and slide it in the access door (easy again boys!). Light the newspaper and burns length- wise and sends all heat up through a 6" X 6" hole on the other end of the stove directly against the wood. Very fast, easy starts and it sounds like a wind tunnel. The stove is quite user- friendly.

But still, it needs some time to light the combustor, requires some attention and just does not hold enough wood. And come to find out, we are all burning wood upside down. The correct way to burn wood is to pyrolyse it and burn the gas.... who knew? So I designed and built one of those. Looks like this:



Two doors on the sides, a draft inducing fan on top and the firebox itself is a stainless steel box with holes cut into it so the fire path is through the stove then down and out the 'basket' that holds the actual fire. The process is called gassification and it is really cool to watch. And it burns about as clean as natural gas; there are NO visible emissions. Once the fire exits the burn pit, it goes up the triangular colums on each side but only for three tubes at which point the passage is blocked and the exhaust gas has to pass through the tubes, go up the other side three tubes and repeat the process. This transfers the exhaust heat into the room and keep the exhaust temps down in the sub- 200 F range.

This is what it looks like running at about 1/2 throttle:


Note that the wood is above, the fire is in the middle (in the bottom of the firebox which the wood feeds into) and the exahust, flame and ash are moving straight down.

It all worked pretty well except for one pesky thing: when low on fuel, the box above (which is 60" tall) fills up with smoke and eventually enough oxygen to ignite.... inside the magazine portion of the stove. It does not explode but it most certainly does 'sneeze' in a spectacular way blowing out smoke / flame through every place possible, mostly the chimney which is spectacular if not a little dangerous. I never put it in the house as it never got to the point of having nice 'house manners'. What it needs is a sliding plate to block off the magazine's volume and follow the wood column down as it is consumed. Never got around to that but am kicking around the idea of putting in a plate 1/2 of the way up the magazine to see if that is sufficient to calm the problem down. Of course the stove has to reverse draft (burn 'up') to start a fire so whatever plate goes in there has to have some type of airtight door. All a big pain in the butt.... which is why I have not proceeded with it.

Brian


As I said before, I used to heat our house exclusively with wood too. I've gotten back to that with the cold we've had lately, plus being retired and home all day helps too.   ;D

My stove isn't as large as yours but it also has a catalytic combustor. I don't know how large the firebox is but it'll hold a lot if you pack it right. My stove will also burn coal but since I don't have a source for coal I've never used it.

When it's zero outside, Bosco knows where the best seat in the house can be found.
[smg id=626]
It may not look like it but the top of that stove is 1,000f.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

KiPass keeping you up at night? Fuel gauge warning burning your retinas? Get unlimited peace and harmony here: www.incontrolne.com

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1273 on: January 25, 2014, 12:49:51 AM »
I learned how to spell CND.  Simple, CehNehDeh.  I love learning new culture ;D

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1274 on: January 25, 2014, 06:13:42 AM »
It's 20 degrees here this morning....heat wave in progress.
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Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1275 on: January 25, 2014, 07:36:13 AM »
Agnes couldn't have Bosco hogging all the heat.

[smg id=628]
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Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1276 on: January 25, 2014, 07:37:31 AM »
That's an impressive stove Brian, both of them.    :thumbs:
Northern Illinois   Silverdammit '08 C-14 ABS

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Offline Conrad

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1277 on: January 27, 2014, 07:37:06 AM »
It's minus 10f at the moment, going down to minus 22f tonight (30 to 45 below with the wind tonight). Wind chill warning in effect till Wed morning.    :o
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Offline gPink

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1278 on: January 27, 2014, 07:39:18 AM »
 :)  Sunday 55F/sunny 200 mile ride  :)

 :(  Today 15F tonight 0ish  :(

Offline Rhino

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Re: A thread about nothing at all....
« Reply #1279 on: January 27, 2014, 10:54:47 AM »
:)  Sunday 55F/sunny 200 mile ride  :)

 :(  Today 15F tonight 0ish  :(

Me too. Great riding over the weekend and now 7F and blowing.