Member BiggKidd
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I am worn slam out got a good 6 hours working on this today! Didn’t make it as far as testing though. I did however get a lot done. First I added another 35 or so pounds of sand and started a fire. It still needs more sand! Then I put the front cover back on after reinstalling the insulation. Welded up a broken hinge on the door. Got an el-cheapo 12v charge controller installed for all the 12v working parts. It’s already hooked to a tiny 12v battery and light. Hey I have light out there now! It will also be running the fan to draw air through the stove and the water pump to pump the water / antifreeze mixture through for cooling the modules. Got the water pump in place and mixed up 3 gallons of 50/50 and have it in the 5 gallon bucket that’s acting as a reservoir. Once I get it all up and running I have to run all the straight water out and see how much it takes to fill all the lines that will tell me how many feet of PEX I put in there in 2010! Yep this has taken a minute to make happen. It just wasn’t that high on the priority list. Anyway the stove got hot faster than I got things ready to hook up. So I cut it back off at 200f. Which reminds me I still need to remove the fan and cap the chimney incase it rains and to stop it loosing heat.
I THINK I am about ready to test the module lifter plate and 2 of the modules I never was able to get specs for next time I run it. While that’s happening I will drop the wiring to run over to the battery / power building and hookup the 48 volt charge controller for the main system.
TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY!
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Hoping to make an initial test run today on the lift system for the module plate. Also to make sure these modules can handle the heat, I never was able to find any specs on these particular modules. So I’m putting two modules on the plate when I test the lifters to test the modules at the same time.
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Got the lifter tubes and actuators pressed in today. They pressed in to easy so I also epoxied the tubes to the plate with JB Weld. Now that has to cure 24 hours.
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Lefty is gone. Turned out she has some problems she didn’t mention. The kind that require constant medication which she decided to stop taking and things went south. If she had been up front and more importantly stayed on her meds then it probably would have been okay. But as of yesterday she had to go in for treatment and is no longer welcome here. Things could have gone much worse but there were some very tense moments. I hope she can get back on the meds she needs and stay on them and wish her the best of luck in whatever she does next.
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Just sort of shut it down for the night. I pulled the fan that draws the air through. Stove temp is up over 300f inside that’s a LOT of stored heat considering the 12-1300lbs of mass there! I expect that will still climb a fair amount as there are a ton of coals still in the firebox, probably 2-3 gallons worth. They should burn okay without the aid of the fan and without it forcing cold air through 50 more degrees wouldn’t surprise me a bit. I will however be surprised if the temp isn’t still near or above 300f in the morning. I do need to figure out an automatic way for the air inlet and outlet to close once the temps drop to a certain point so it’s not cooling itself off after the fire dies.
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Waited a half hour and went and checked it again and the exhaust gas is 100% clean and clear! That’s a relief, I thought it might go ahead and clean up once it got up to temperature. I also ran across part of the problem. My dumb self forgot to install the firebricks in the firebox, I wouldn’t have noticed except I just knocked them over when I was carrying wood in the house for the night. Oops! Guess it’s a good thing I’m clumsy! LMAO There’s still a WHOLE lot to be done with this project but I think I’m close enough to try putting the module plate together to test that much and then maybe just maybe I can install and hook up the modules. I just want to make sure the lifters for the module plate work as they should before I go installing the modules and possibly fry them. I think they are going to play a key roll in how well this works or if it works at all as a set and forget system… I’m looking for the module plate to lift anywhere between 250 and 275 praying I get lucky and my redneck engineering comes out correctly! LoL
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The exhaust has cleaned up a fair amount. It was completely clean until I added another load of wood then again all my wood is wet so….. The top is up just over 200F the exhaust is just below that temperature wise. Tomorrow I will attempt to start putting the module plates together. The last load of wood I just put in will be the last load for today I expect that will push the temperature of the top north of 250f and maybe even past 300f. The new firebox may not burn as clean or completely but it’s working quite well regardless. It’s dang sure easier to keep burning and doesn’t require babysitting! This is just a prototype / proof of concept anyway so I really have nothing to complain about.
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Managed to drag my sorry old arse out and get the firebox installed. It’s all welded in and up and burning. It’s burning dirty though / incomplete combustion. Not at all happy about that. It could be the wet wood or partially the wet wood. Anyway the front of the firebox is up over 1000F and the exhaust is down around 130F. I’m hoping the burn will clean up once the heat exchanger is up to temp. If that’s the case then it’s just a cold start issue and the dirty burn will not really be an issue as once this thing is in use it will stay up above 200f inside.
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I’ve been back working on this project again finally. Made a little progress on the stove part been getting the old parts out and crafting a firebox. It’s rough and ugly but longs as it works that’s all I care. lol Still haven’t even started on the modules yet. The stove needs to function right first…
Spent the afternoon playing with the firebox rebuild. If the weather holds and I feel half decent it should be done tomorrow. Got all the old stuff out of the way and got the connector made. Just have to weld a return / diverter plate in the top of the firebox and the adaptor to the very top then cart everything down here and weld it all together and test the stove again. Crap just remembered I still need a way to fasten the door. I’m not driving 40 miles for a pair of hinges!
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I think what you’ve done so far and are doing is great. Once you get comfortable with the process look in to converting some of that heat back in to usable electricity!
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Pulled the drain plug on the pump right at dark last night. Went back this morning to continue pumping only to find running water can and does freeze! We’re talking a 3/8 stream shooting ten feet froze soilid with water still in the pipe and pump! Color me surprised.
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New water pump got caught in the last flood. It’s seldom that creek floods but it not only flooded but got up over top of the pump and filled the engine full of water. Brand new engine only been run one time. After getting all the water out including a cylinder full (exhaust valve was open) I was able to get it running after a few hours of fooling with it. There must have been a quart of water between the cylinder and crankcase. So it has another oil change and I also switched the pickup pipe from 1 inch to the 1.25 the pump calls for. That did seem to increase the flow of the pump considerably!
We have to lift the pump up on some sort of legs before it can flood again. Two – two and a half feet should about do it.
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She did learn a good bit in the time she was here. She wasn’t a bad person and was downright agreeable when she was under the influence of the proper medication. When she either stopped taking it or it worked it’s way out of her system that’s when things started going bad and just got worse as time moved forward.
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I’m just thankful I was able to get it running again.
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Not what I’d call a promising review! But it was two years ago.