What Is Boiler Commander?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
A twenty thirteen ten Wi b A and ask the
experts Brought you by Hamsarborcare Online Hamsarborcare dot com. That's
h A m MS Arborcare dot com. Great website to
learn more about ams Arborcare. Their telephone number eight sixty
six five nine six five three nine six. That's eight
six six five nine six five three nine six. Join

(00:32):
us this morning from hams Arborcare is Master Arborist Kevin Ham. Kevin,
how you doing this week?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Been great? Sean? You know for those willing to risk
their lives to catch a crappie out on the height, Yeah,
they're gonna get some opportunity to here.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
How and you've you bet it. You've been traveling around
a little bit this morning. What do you see in conditions? Why?
The road's okay, road.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Team, fine, the wind is pretty windy. Big trucks are
getting around a little bit, so the list might be
a little bit rocky today. So we're going out to work.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's uh.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I know you guys work out.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, and you guys of course work year round at
Ham's Arborcare. And that's something important to mention as we
as we look at the weather this is a really
really good time to be thinking oak pruning, for example,
getting on the schedule for March, getting that done while
the while the weather is as much as people wouldn't
think of this way, this is you know, we're talking

(01:29):
about kind of the perfect weather for taking care of oaks.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, yesterday it was just glorious. I was prune and oaks,
and it was I had summer gloves on. It's just
today I'm prune and oaks. It's a little different, but
you know, yeah, we're going hard all winter long and
we definitely have room left. So if you have oak

(01:55):
trees and we can see the dead wood in the wintertime, folks,
we can see the dead it. It's actually more visible
because the leaves aren't in the way.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
With that too, Kevin, as we talked somebout with Kevin
Ham of Hams Arborcare, one of the great things about
about working there's so many great things about working with
you guys at Ham's Arborcare. One of the cool things
is plant renewal, plant care renewal notices. You know, we
all get busy, life happens. We tend to you know,
if it's not like a pressing issue. Our nature for
most of us is with our busy lives is we

(02:26):
kind of put it on hold and we sometimes forget
about things. One of the nice things about when you
establish in work with Hams Arborcare, you guys are really
good about reminding people, for example, with you know, things
like oak pruning or other types of care. You guys
are really good about about getting people reminded that that
certain tasks need to be taken care of when it

(02:47):
comes to their trees.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, you know it's on our mind. We're already thinking
about spring, these soil injections and this is actually our
big year. We convert it in twenty sixteen from soil
injected EMRA lash boarder treatments to trunk injected. Oh, you
know that was back if you think back, you know

(03:10):
ten years ago it was still like arriving and the
DNR was saying, don't treat your trees yet, wait till
it arrived. And you know, it was arriving, and we
were already proactively doing soil injections just to slow down
what we couldn't see. And then in twenty sixteen we

(03:32):
converted over to soil injections. So this even year renewal.
You do every two years, right, so that twenty sixteen
crop of ash trees are coming up for renewal here
in twenty twenty six and so we have a big
cadre of ash trees and we've kept alive all this time.

(03:53):
And for those of you who have had ash trees
that were not treated, you know that they're already gone.
And and so we have many that are alive.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
And well are we seeing are the emerald ashboard is
finally starting to wane with with And I'm gonna guess
the unfortunate reason if they are, if we are seeing
fewer of them, is because we're seeing fewer of ash trees.
But are we seeing fewer in general or are they
still ferocious as ever? And so it's still abundant as ever.
Looking for your trees.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
We are on the back side of the curve, and
so they're they're decreasing, but they're still a lot of
I just work next door to an untreated ash tree.
It's still probably half alive. And that neighbor to the

(04:46):
client we were working for is kind of unwilling to
treat and it's kind of not removing it. It's kind
of sitting there becoming a hazard right in between two driveways.
But there are still living ash trees that are untreated.
So there is there is still you know, population out

(05:06):
there here and there that are are producing. And but
as as time goes on here perhaps one more cycle
it will be elongating this treatment cycle. Uh and maybe
you know, to three years, and so there'll be three
years in between.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Kevin, I I always feel myself as a bit of
an optimist to somebody that always looks for the silver
lining and things, and if there was ever a silver
lining to what's going on, and it's just a terrible situation,
what's happened with the ash trees. Uh. If there is
a silver lining, there's been plenty of wood for for
fires and other things. Unfortunately because of that, uh and

(05:45):
we and and what is a great resource for heating
and you know, firewood is a it's a very available,
readily available, very affordable option for folks. And we've talked
about I know you guys have the portage and may
boilers available at gameoftrees dot com and of course for
folks that want to stop in but you've been doing

(06:06):
it that way, but also for folks that have other
types of heating systems. That you would. Uh, we haven't
talked about a product called Boiler Commander, which is something
you guys offer at Hams Arborcare. What is that?

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, it's a fan modulator, to say it simply, it's
a you know, an electrical box that goes onto your boiler,
any any brand of boiler, not just Portage of Maine.
And there's a thermostat that goes into the flu just
as it's exiting the just above where exits the stove,

(06:44):
and it modulates the combustion fan. So you have to
have some Some outdoor boilers don't have a combustion fan
that blows right on the fire, but a lot of
them do. And if you have a fan, it will
modulate that fan to one hundred thirty percent. It'll it'll
modulate it up and get the fire going hard. And

(07:06):
then when the food temperature gets you know, to a
certain spot, it'll cut that fan down to thirty percent
or so, you know, So it slows the fan down.
And most fans they just come on, they go one
hundred percent until you get all the way to your
your temperature. Well, that fire is really getting hotter than

(07:29):
it needs to be. You know. My I'm watching mine.
I don't have the boiler commander on mine right away.
I want to. I want to run it for a
year without it, and then I'm going to put it on.
But I I know that when my fan kicks off,
my temperature continues to rise. So I it shuts off

(07:50):
at one hundred and eighty degrees, but it'll often rise
to one hundred and eighty eight. You know after the
fans off, Well what was what does that mean? It
means my my fire was burning hotter than it needed
to burn. And so if you modulate that fan down,
you will conserve wood because it's like okay, well we'll

(08:13):
start like cooling down. We're getting close to that time
of shutting off you know at service deps. But it's
all based off of the food temperature, so you can
you can gauge how hot your your exitsk is and
and it modulates the fans. So it's great technology and

(08:35):
you know, it saves wood.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's pretty amazing, you know, as we think about uh,
you know, opportunities to you know, there's energy costs we've
all seen, you know, whether it's whether it's heating oil
or natural gas or of things. I can get quite
expensive electrical. My goodness, if you're if you're heating with electric,
I I feel for you. One of the nice things
is is as we talk about being here in Wisconsin,

(09:00):
would and other things are readily available and and very
affordable and very efficient. As we talk about, you know,
like the portaeja Maine or of course the addition of
adding uh one of the one of those chimney thermostats
to your system is Uh. These are the type of
things is and why I know you started carrying Portagejamaine
and other things is these are really good options for folks,

(09:22):
especially if if you've got a supply of wood or
lumber or anything like that. Uh, It's a really great
way to keep your workspaces and your home comfortable, but
also do it affordably as well. With with with wood
being so available, yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
And it and it burns, you know, any kind of wood,
I know, like indoor fireplaces. You don't want to burn
high resinous woods like pine and cedar, and and and
you get creosote, and you don't want to burn wet wood,
you know, because you're your chance of creosot and the
chimney and then a you know, two thousand the green

(10:00):
chimney fire, and with these outdoor boilers you can burn that.
What currently, the last few weeks here, we've been burning
absolutely green wood, Like we cut down a green tree
really and we split it up right at the boiler,
and we've been throwing it right in there, and and
we're eating the building with it, you know, and you

(10:21):
think about efficiency, well, frost, you know, we haven't a
fund at the wood, so I really don't care about
the minutia of efficiency. But when when that boiler gets
the temperature and the fan goes off, then it just
sits there for you know, a couple hours, But that
wood is drying out during that couple hours, Like the

(10:42):
fire is not really burning, but it's warm enough that
it's burning the moisture off and it's going out the stack,
and the stack is short enough you don't have to
worry about a chimney fire, an outdoor boiler or anything
like that. And so then then the fan kicks on
later and blows all that excess moisture out it. It's
just you can burn wet wood, you know. And and

(11:04):
a lot of people that have you know, they make
fire with they don't really plan ahead very far. I mean,
there's the rare individual that has two years supply. So
I ain't never heard anything not two years old, you know,
And that's the way he does it. But that's that's
the minority. And most people are are kind of you know,
behind the gun, and they go cut wood when they're

(11:27):
during hunting season, you know, right before and when they
need it. Yes, and so these these outdoor boilers are
very forgiving of that procrastination fit. It's uh.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
As we talked this morning with Kevin Hamlet, it's a
great day to start those conversations. Great day to get
on the schedule at Hamsarborcare. Also a great day you're
doing all that hard work you're you're cutting down trees
or going to the office. You want to smell good,
look good. Don't forget about bio biochar body wash shampoo.
Of course you can learn more in order right online
a game offtrees dot com. That game off trees dot com. Kevin,

(12:02):
it's always great, always informative. Thank you so much for
joining us this morning.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Thank you, Sean, take care and again the website.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Haymsarburcaar dot com News comes you way next year. On
thirteen ten, WYB