Author Topic: Biomizer Sawdust Burner (Read 184043 times)

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #25 on:** February 26, 2008, 07:01:33 PM »

I finished wireing the thermostat to the furnace fan today. That was a peice of history exposed

I traced the current thermostats wiring from the furnace to hole in the floor. At first it looked like the drilled two tiny holes and stuck the wires through. Figured there was no way I could fit any more wires through. Then with the flashlight the truth was exposed.

Gramps plugged the hole with a corn cob

Pulled out the cob and was able to fish the new wire up and next to the old thermostat. Tested it and all works great!

Also finished with the water heat exchanger. I built in a by pass in the event I want to isolate the water heater and I can also fill my boiler system with it.

Notice I did not call the water heat exchanger a "hot" water heat excanger. I got corrected this morning talking with one of the old farts at the coffee shop and he quickly informed me there is no such thing as a hot water heater. There are "water heaters" not Hot water heaters. I guess when you think about it that old fart did share some wisdom.

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #26 on:** February 26, 2008, 07:06:01 PM »

Forgot to mention. Looks like Friday is the Biomizer Install day

Everything is ready to go so hopfully we will be making heat quickly!

joasis · « **Reply #27 on:** February 28, 2008, 09:24:48 AM »

So, I forgot to ask what you decided about the warranty?

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #28 on:** February 28, 2008, 05:53:29 PM »

Looks like the Biomizer install is scheduled for Friday (tomarrow) at noon!

Sounds like they have had some issues with folks not screening their material and caused some problems. With so few in the field it became evident that you cant warranty stupid

Some folks just dont get it.

Because of that they have modified the warranty to not cover ~~stuipd~~ abuse.

JP Sinclair · « **Reply #29 on:** February 29, 2008, 02:18:59 PM »

Kirk- What was the issue with screening?. Too big of sawdust particles?

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #30 on:** February 29, 2008, 04:50:52 PM »

I guess they had some issues with long strands of wood binding up the auger.

They took one look at my fuel today and smiled

GOOD dry stuff!

We managed to get the unit in place, filled with water and fired off in about an hour or so. There is a minor issue with an access panel to the combustion chamber but I told them I can fix that this weekend. They were going to bring a new one out next week but no sense in that. I can modify it in the shop in a couple minutes. The top part of the panel is to long so it doesnt seel real well.

Anyone have any suggestions on the cheapest place to get anti-freeze? Need about 40 gallons of the stuff before I can start using it.

Buzz Sawyer · « **Reply #31 on:** February 29, 2008, 06:38:01 PM »

Maybe trucker related or tractor....farm related by the barrel???

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #32 on:** February 29, 2008, 07:56:57 PM »

The beginning of the muddy install

It hit 45 F here today and turned everything into a soup bowl. Just standing in the grass caused you to sink in several inches making the install a dirty day, but they Got-R-Done!

This is the control screen for the burner. Once they give me the IP address for the unit will be able to pull up this screen on my PC in the office and operate it from there. Its a touch screen control and very user freindly. I just hope it lasts.

Intallation and hookups.

Frank Pender - AKA "Tail Gunner" · « **Reply #33 on:** February 29, 2008, 09:28:29 PM »

Well done, Kirk. Now all you have to do is maintain prsoduction of sawdust. How many gallons of sawdust does that unit hold. Looks like about fifty.

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #34 on:** March 01, 2008, 07:47:23 AM »

I would guess the same. They said it would provide about 18 hrs of run time and maybe more or less depending on heat demand and fuel moisture. The dryer the better. They said it will burn 35% Moisture sawdust or less. My stuff is in the 6-13% range so it should rock!

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #35 on:** March 02, 2008, 09:56:27 PM »

I mixed up about 100 lbs of dried sawdust with the ground rice husk I have on hand. Ended up with about 160lbs of mix and the moisture count was 7% on what i checked.

As soon as we get a couple bugs worked out I will be able to start getting some heat out of the unit.

Frank Pender - AKA "Tail Gunner" · « **Reply #36 on:** March 02, 2008, 10:01:23 PM »

What kind of bugs are you talking about. I have a can of Raid, if you need it, or a bug zapper might work better.

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #37 on:** March 02, 2008, 10:08:55 PM »

I wish that was all it was.

Looks like a water temp censor is not working and we have hot gas's/smoke coming out from a bad weld on the combustion chamber and a missing O-Ring on the pump outlet.

I put in an O-ring that will work but have to wait for WM to let me know the fix on the water temp sensor and the weld issue.

JP Sinclair · « **Reply #38 on:** March 03, 2008, 08:47:59 AM »

You're a good man to help WM works the kinks in this thing Kirk. It's going to be a HUGE boon to all of us that run sawmills/wood shops. The savings on heating oil will pay for one of those units in no time. I have a long range plan to re-built the sawmill building with a big storage attachment. I think that little baby will be the cat's meow.

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #39 on:** March 03, 2008, 02:26:06 PM »

Well I spent several hours in the rain this morning and got a few bugs worked out on the burner. Minor growing pains is what I will call them

The unit has been heating my house and hot water for the last 3-4 hours and it looks promising!

Buzz, your are right on about the difference in the heat from the heat exhanger versus the propane furnace. Cant put my finger on it but I want to say there is more moisture still in the air with the boiler unit. I say that because my wife has not "shocked" me when she walks by and touches me

I like less static electricity.

Combustion chamber is rocking at 1400 degrees and the water in the unit is 180F, as is the water in my water heater in the basement. With it so hot from the boiler i wont have to worry about an electric bill to heat the water

Buzz Sawyer · « **Reply #40 on:** March 03, 2008, 02:42:03 PM »

I think gasputs out about EIGHT HNDRED DEG and yours now is one fifty ish sooooo maybe not cooking all the moisture out>>>>does it cycle the same>did youconsider my suggestions onanti freeze or squirrel cage?

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #41 on:** March 03, 2008, 03:23:41 PM »

Been keeping my eye out for a squirrrel cage fan. Right now the furnace fan kicks on about every 15-20 mintues for about 3 minutes then shuts off. Seems to be running less than when the propane furnace ran but not sure.

Still looking for the antifreeze. Need to go to town and do some shopping.

Frank Pender - AKA "Tail Gunner" · « **Reply #42 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:05:15 PM »

On the statice electricity, we seem to have more that Alice likes in the house and she then runs the humidifier. I always get a lot of static (electircity, etc.) from her, no matter what.

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #43 on:** March 03, 2008, 04:37:28 PM »

Carefull Frank, she may read this and give you a shock.

joasis · « **Reply #44 on:** March 03, 2008, 05:42:02 PM »

Send me Frank's number and I will call Alice and have a chat with her....

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #45 on:** March 03, 2008, 11:19:41 PM »

I filled the hopper at 4:30 pm with a mix of creasote sawdust and ground rice husk. It has burned about 1/4 of the hopper as of 11:30pm. If that average works out the hopper will last about 28 hours which is awesome in my opinion considering they thought I would get about 18 hours out of it.

The ash auger still has not pushed out the sand that is in the base of the unit upon deliver. It will be interesting to see how much ash there is going to be. So far none showing in the auger. Thats pretty efficiant burning if you ask me.

WM is coming out in the Morning to take care of a few things. I will keep you posted how things go.

Frank Pender - AKA "Tail Gunner" · « **Reply #46 on:** March 04, 2008, 09:05:03 AM »

How large of a fan are you looking for? I have a couple around here, along with a Parker.

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #47 on:** March 04, 2008, 09:31:54 AM »

I would have to measure the plenum. What Buzz had suggested was using that fan on a low speed and it could run almost continuous without the noise of the furnace blast fan.

seppi · « **Reply #48 on:** March 05, 2008, 09:35:24 AM »

Good morning, KEA ! I thought I'd check out this site & compare notes & info. Still waiting for our UNIT to be delivered. Hope things are progressing well at your site. I'll watch 4 E-mails on your progress.--- later.

Kirk Allen · « **Reply #49 on:** March 05, 2008, 12:39:55 PM »

Welcome to the site Seppi. It was good talking with you on the phone and I too look forward to success with the Biomizer.

First day was rough. Used up 10lbs of propane and new something was not right. Turns out the ceramic temp probe was wired backwards and the unit kept calling for propane. Boyed, with WM came out yesterday and put a new probe in and had the same problem. Swapped the wires and presto, ceramic temp came up like it should on the display.

We swapped out a fan that was intermittent and found a ceramic shield for the combustion chamber temp probe in the bottom of the combustion chamber. He suspects that during delivery or set up that it broke. Ceramic is delicate. They are going to ship me a new one to fix that but the probe still works.

I backed off the feed rate on the auger a little and brought my water temps down as I am only heating the house right now. I ended up using 1/3 of the fuel I used the day before and cant even notice any propane use. The cermic probe fixed the propane use issue.

This morning I had about a cup of Ash in the ash bucket. That part is pretty amazing. It truly burns up everything.

House is warm, water heater is piping hot even though I shut it off. I didnt think the hot water heat exhanger was going to work near as well as it does. Hats off to Central Boiler on that one!

Another benefit is our Kitchen floow is now warm! The PEX lines are directly under the Kitchen and they give off enough radiant heat to make a difference.

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Author Topic: Biomizer Sawdust Burner (Read 184043 times)