New Shop Stove

[MTBob]

the only thing I can think of is it's to add water into the heat exchanger to make steam and blow the creosote out of it...

Ya, that creosote can be deadly. The heat exchangers I've used can easily cause the chimney temp to drop to a point where the flue gas condenses on the chimney. The creosote will liquefy and plate out on the heat exchanger. The trick is to keep the stack discharge temperature high enough so the gas won't condense.
A creosote fire is something to behold, once it takes off, it's kinda like a jet engine. It's wise to have some fire snuffing sticks near the stove. They are kind of like a road flare. Apparently burn out the oxygen and starve the creosote fire.

[Finney]

Thanks for the kind words. No idea about the BTU's. When it burning good you can only get about 3ft. of the heat exchanger. Yes I have a waste oil adder on the right side. I will be putting a water injector to control the creosote.

[Finney]

JNH92,
Attached is a rough drawing of heat exchanger.

[JNH92]

Now I see it....great illustration...thank you. That is some fantastic work...I wasn't aware of this creosote issue....is it really a big issue? Very curious! I burn alot of mesquite and oak in my fireplace and now you guys have me thinking.
Either way, great heater!!!

[Finney]

JNH92,

Creosote is more of a problem when burning green wood. I am really not concerned that much as the thinnest metal on the stove is 1/4". The stove in my old shop used to catch a fire once a year, no damage but a good show.

[DrBob]

Beautiful job, Finney! It DOES kinda look like the nose of the canon on an A10 at that ! I happened to have been in the service when that gun was first introduced. Saw a demo. They had it set up in a kitchen tent (canvas top no sides). There was a huge rack of ammo and a big fan. They told us to cover our ears and fired that monster. Great roar! when the fan finally blew away all the smoke the target was GONE and the rack of ammo empty! I later heard that on the first plane they mounted it to, the stream of ejected shells hit the fuselage and nearly caused a crash.

You might want to consider going to the local hardware and picking up a Carbon Monoxide detector. Just in case the heat inside cracks a weld and you wind up blowing monoxide gas into the shop. Cheap insurance.
Again, great job! DrBob

[Andy]

You might want to consider going to the local hardware and picking up a Carbon Monoxide detector. Just in case the heat inside cracks a weld and you wind up blowing monoxide gas into the shop. Cheap insurance.
Again, great job! DrBob

Or put a little restriction on the output side. That way the fan keeps the heat exchanger slightly pressurized and any leaks will blow air into the chimney vs sucking bad stuff out of the chimney.

[Finney]

Andy,
I am holding about 16in of wc in the air chamber with the fan running.

[Portable Welder]

I have a wood stove in my shop here in Michigan so I do alot of burning, I to have a chimney restriction which is a Magic Heat, I burn my stove pretty hard so there is never a need to clean the magic heat, when ever I have pulled the cleaner back and forth it never indicates any build up.

My smoke stack goes out the back, then up, then on a diagnal out the back wall of the shop to a 6x6x 3/16" wall square tube that I have mounted on a foundation.

I dont have to worry about a chimney fire or at least thats what I have thought.

I understand that the draw back of my heavy wall tube smoke stack verses a thin wall stack is that thinner wall pipe heats up faster IE giving a better draft.

I do notice every once in a while I come back to the shop in the morning and get a heavy dose of the creasote smell.

This happens about 3 times a year and I'm not sure why this happens.

Is it that that I get alot of condensation in the stack every once in a while and it runs down into the stove when its choked back.

Like I said I'm not a 100% sure.