2019 ATC Photos

Here are some photos from the first few days of the ATC.

And here are some more...

Here’s a picture of the updated hot water heater by the showers. The changes included adding an insulated exhaust pipe with clean out; doubling the height on the heat riser; adding an extension to the wood feed to allow covering it with bricks while wood is in it; adding a P channel to the feed; and covering the riser with a nice metal outer skin.

Students learned several types of welding during the ATC and put it to use adding to the riser support.

We spent a day out at the lab doing various projects.

Wow Aaron!  That picture of Kay and the chainsaw is iconic!!!

Thank you for the pics :)

Additional work was done on the berm shed, replacing a post and adding the additional beams and girders to improve clearance and stability.

Now that the ATC is over I have time to post some pictures! Here are a few from the pressurized rocket water heater rebuild.

Thank you for the great pics and welcome to the forum Josiah!  So good to have you on here!

Okay... I’m confused. About a month ago, in the ‘stove driving underfloor heating’ thread of the Rocket mass heaters forum, Paul commented, “In that case, would you agree with me that most people tinkering with wood fire heating water in a pressurized system have a pretty good recipe to hurt themselves?“. And in another comment, “I think pressure relief valves can fail.”. And other ‘boom squish’ discussion.
And yet, here that exact thing is being built at the labs! What gives? (I’m not asking to be controversial, I’m genuinely curious, as I’m in the T&P valve camp and think what is shown here is just fine).

Julie Reed wrote:Okay... I’m confused. About a month ago, in the ‘stove driving underfloor heating’ thread of the Rocket mass heaters forum, Paul commented, “In that case, would you agree with me that most people tinkering with wood fire heating water in a pressurized system have a pretty good recipe to hurt themselves?“. And in another comment, “I think pressure relief valves can fail.”. And other ‘boom squish’ discussion.
And yet, here that exact thing is being built at the labs! What gives? (I’m not asking to be controversial, I’m genuinely curious, as I’m in the T&P valve camp and think what is shown here is just fine).

Note that this hot water heater:

   - was created and modified by experts in the field

   - has TWO pressure relief valves

   - the pressure relief valves are placed so they can be tested regularly and ARE tested regularly

And, frankly, I would prefer to replace the system with something that is not pressurized.

Not to doubt your experts or sound overly critical, but neither T&P valve is installed correctly. They ‘should’ work just fine, being at the top of the system, but by design- and code- the bulb needs to be inside the actual tank to work properly and be legal (and safer). Or are they JUST pressure relief and not temp (also not as safe)? If the latter, then a T&P added to the top of the tank would make this bulletproof. Hopefully drain piping was added to them after these photos were taken? That would be a nasty burn if you were nearby when one of those popped off and rained down scalding water.
I think this is a neat prototype, and very offgrid friendly in its simplicity. Maybe just needs more insulation, a shed roof to keep snow and rain off, and a willingness to fire it every day in winter so the pipes never freeze, or redesign the plumbing to be easily drained after use.

Julie Reed wrote:Not to doubt your experts or sound overly critical, but neither T&P valve is installed correctly. They ‘should’ work just fine, being at the top of the system, but by design- and code- the bulb needs to be inside the actual tank to work properly and be legal (and safer). Or are they JUST pressure relief and not temp (also not as safe)? If the latter, then a T&P added to the top of the tank would make this bulletproof. Hopefully drain piping was added to them after these photos were taken? That would be a nasty burn if you were nearby when one of those popped off and rained down scalding water.
I think this is a neat prototype, and very offgrid friendly in its simplicity. Maybe just needs more insulation, a shed roof to keep snow and rain off, and a willingness to fire it every day in winter so the pipes never freeze, or redesign the plumbing to be easily drained after use.

These are all excellent upgrade ideas Julie. I’ve heard that the relief valves have probes that go all the way into the tank itself, but I personally have not taken them apart to check. Since being here mid-June I have heard all the suggestions you made get bounced around by people here, so we don’t seem to be short on ideas.

One new thing that will get installed here ASAP is a pressure and temperature gauge that will Allow us to more accurately observe the internal goings on.

I fantasize about it being attached/inside a sauna mud room some day.

Cheers

My guess would be the valves don’t have probes, at least not the horizontal one, but I could be wrong. The hazard potential is not something to take lightly. I think the gauge is a great idea. I didn’t mention that because I figured it’s just one more thing the average person isn’t going to look at, or know what they are looking for, when all they want is a hot shower. The ‘trouble’ with wood is that, unlike propane or oil, there’s no way to create a system that automatically shuts down the fuel feed if it over fires (excepting pellet stoves with augur feed).
Given all these things, and that you will have multiple (and new and different) people using this, I certainly don’t disagree with Paul when he says “And, frankly, I would prefer to replace the system with something that is not pressurized.”.