Anyone have a "Suburban" Sugarhouse

[PapaSmiff]

I live in a suburban area of Massachusetts. I'm planning to upgrade from the turkey fryer to a wood-burning 2x4 and put it in my garage. Although I expect to burn only maple, oak, and birch, and I also expect to have AUF and AOF in the arch, can I make it safe enough for a suburban area?

Lately, I've seen some posts regarding sparks from the stack, and the problems that some have experienced with clogged spark arrestors. I'm getting a bit worried that I will be endangering my neighbors' property - let alone my own property.

Does anyone else have a garage-based, wood-fired evaporator in a suburban area? If so, what else must I do to reduce the potential for sparks? Will burning hardwood only, AOF and AUF, and a spark arrestor be enough?

[markct]

there is a member that goes by the name softmaple on here who has a very suburban sugarhouse in agawam ma right near the bridge and rotary there, he has a 2x4 setup in his sugarhouse but as of the last time i visited no blowers on his arch i dont believe. hopefully he will chime in on this post. as far as sparks i know my 2x8 with air over and under fire does throw some sparks but they rarely make it to the ground they usualy go out in the air so little danger

[PapaSmiff]

markct,
Yes, I know Mike (SoftMaple) in Agawam. I was planning to stop by and speak with him soon.
I'm also glad to hear that with your AOF and AUF that you don't get many, potentially dangerous sparks.

[C.Wilcox]

The old timers around here always shot holes in the top few feet of their stack to let cold air in. The idea was the cold air would help extinguish sparks before they left the chimney. I tried it on my arch two years ago before I upgraded to insulated pipe just to see if it would work like they said. I did it the boring way with a drill which wasn't nearly as much fun, but overall the holes in the pipe did seem to help a little, even with AUF which tends to throw a lot of sparks. I also got reduced amounts of black smoke due to the fresh air mixing with unburnt gasses and then burning at the top of the stack. If I were to try it again I would drill at least 2 feet of closely spaced holes about 2 feet down from the top of the stack. Give the air and the gasses time to mix/burn before exiting.

[maple flats]

I am not in a suburban area, but I had lots of sparks at each filling UNTIL I added AOF. I now see no sparks ever. I do not have any spark arrestor. My belief is that AOF burns so hot and so completely that there is nothing left to burn as it exits the stack. This was not true when I just had AUF, lots of sparks then. Also, some do but I do not need to shut the blower off to add wood, I just open the doors and add, nothing but heat comes out the open doors, no smoke and no sparks.

[RC Maple]

If i'm guessing right AOF and AUF are air under fire and air over fire but I haven't heard the terms before. I am also interested in the talk of spark arrestors. I have my 14x14 sugarhouse mostly framed up and I have a 4 ft deck on the end of it. I originally planned a 1 ft overhang there but the talk of sparks in recent posts makes me nervous about exposed wood decking. I think while I am in the construction phase I will extend my metal roof over the deck. How does AOF or AUF keep the amount of sparks down? Is a spark arrestor something you can just slip in your chimney pipe?

[RileySugarbush]

"How does AOF or AUF keep the amount of sparks down?"

Air under really can increase the combustion rate of the wood and the flow rate out the stack, both contributing to more sparks and maybe bigger ones too.

Air over, if properly done, will let you reduce the air under flow rate and also allow much more complete combustion right in your arch where the heat is wanted and more completely burn the embers. You can't expect to add AOF just by blowing air in there over the fire. It needs to be more carefully designed and requires a higher pressure blower to get the high velocity jets that promote good mixing and complete combustion.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

I am not in a suburban area, but I had lots of sparks at each filling UNTIL I added AOF. I now see no sparks ever. I do not have any spark arrestor. My belief is that AOF burns so hot and so completely that there is nothing left to burn as it exits the stack. This was not true when I just had AUF, lots of sparks then. Also, some do but I do not need to shut the blower off to add wood, I just open the doors and add, nothing but heat comes out the open doors, no smoke and no sparks.

So a Inferno arch form Leader . Is that AUF or AOF?