new boiler options. will I gain anything

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chumscustoms

Member
Jan 29, 2009
46
se iowa
I have a central boiler od furnace.
I love/loved it.
I use a ton of wood. Approx 20 cord a year. Last year was 24 is
I have a 20x100 home with two furnaces and duct systems.
I also have a rental house four feet (yes 4) away from my house.
I would like to heat them both with a furnace like I do now.
I am looking to see if there is a boiler choice that would seriously reduce wood.consumption.

Like i said this cb has done great for me for 5 years.
Just making sure I can't get a boiler that will cut my wood consumption down drasticaly
 
Well, most here use gassification boiler. Highly effiecent wood boilers. But you need to have wood seasoned at least one year. If you're burning 20+ cord a year, storing that much wood might be a problem. A gasser might cut that consumption to 12 cord?

Do you buy your wood or process it yourself? Are you talking 128 cu/ft cord or face cord?
 
I hope you're talking face cord! If not, I think you need to invest some cash into insulation/windows before you invest in another boiler. 24 full cord per year, even in an outdoor boiler, should be enough to heat most airplane hangers.

So you've only had the CB for 5 years? That's a big investment to throw in the towel after such a short period. Are you having problems with it or are you just trying to reduce wood use? And I must say this one more time - if you're talking 24 full cord a year you need to insulate...now...really.

And last - if we're taking face cord (8 full cord last year) that sounds about standard for a CB on an average house. I agree with flyingcow, you could possibly make a good dent in consumption with a gassification rig. The "insert gasser brand here" salesperson may tell you they can cut it in half but I wouldn't necessarily sign up for that.
 
I hope you're talking face cord!

I doubt it. Average of everyone i talk to seems to be around 10-14 cord. I got tired of it. looking forward to my EKO60 with storage. don't have much to offer, haven't fired it up yet. maybe in a week or two.

I am expecting to cut my wood numbers by at least a third, and I was at 12-13 cord last year by my estimates.
 
It is full cords.
I love burning wood. My houses and rental house have been getting insulation and windows done everyyear. My wood is normally wet maple and oak and elm.
I u der stand good wood can make a difference, and it puts out more btu. But seems like the good dry wood burns great but also burns fast. The model is a 6048 cb.
II not giving up on it. Just getting bummed on my wood consumption .
It's takes some serious cutting g to get a year ready and I don't have the room to get two years ready without moving the whole pile.

Just curious if there is a furnace that goes through less wood and will still let me heat 3 systems. Indoor or outdoor
 
It is full cords.
I love burning wood. My houses and rental house have been getting insulation and windows done everyyear. My wood is normally wet maple and oak and elm.
I u der stand good wood can make a difference, and it puts out more btu. But seems like the good dry wood burns great but also burns fast. The model is a 6048 cb.
II not giving up on it. Just getting bummed on my wood consumption .
It's takes some serious cutting g to get a year ready and I don't have the room to get two years ready without moving the whole pile.

Just curious if there is a furnace that goes through less wood and will still let me heat 3 systems. Indoor or outdoor
I had the same boiler, and was also very frustrated after last winter at how much wood I went through. I was at 3/4 cord a week in the coldest parts. It's going end up costing me about 4,000 to upgrade, but we'll worth it in my eyes. I enjoy burning wood, just not that much.
 
What r u upgrading to that is better

I'm almost done installing an EKO60 boiler with storage. I hope it's better, I'm in the same boat as you, just decided that I was done with the wood hungry Central boiler And started looking for a different way to do things, with the hopes of staying on wood, but gaining some efficiency. I found this place and it's been in the works ever since.
 
Describe your underground piping.
Central boilers underground insulated pex piping.
My run from the furnace to the house is approx 25 ft.
The pipe is 3 ft deep.
My water temp when up to fill operating temp, varies 4 to 6 degrees from furnace to temp sensor on basement at forced air furnace.
It then tees off and goes in my basement another 70 feet to my rental house and then back to the furnace
 
A gasser should cut your consumption by one third, but you do need dry wood. If you can find dead ash that will burn the same year you cut it. even if you had to buy wood to get ahead, it would be better than doing nothing to improve the situation. around here bought wood is still way cheaper than heating with oil, propane or electric. Maybe not in a C.B. but definitely with a good indoor gasser. You can put in in a shed if you want it outside. The outdoor boiler makers are making some gassers, but I'm not sure how they do on efficiency. It's nice to haves somewhere dry and warm to store a weeks wood also. Only downfall to most gassers is you need to split the wood a little smaller and it needs to be dry.

EDIT :The up side is, less wood burnt, no smoke, no stinky creosote and smell that goes with it, better for the environment.
 
Central boilers underground insulated pex piping.
My run from the furnace to the house is approx 25 ft.
The pipe is 3 ft deep.
My water temp when up to fill operating temp, varies 4 to 6 degrees from furnace to temp sensor on basement at forced air furnace.
It then tees off and goes in my basement another 70 feet to my rental house and then back to the furnace

So what's your total underground? I think I see 25' from furnace to house, but then more to a second house, then more back to furance? OK, I re-read - maybe 60' total? 5° seems like quite a bit of drop for only 25' - that is, if the temps are measured with equal accuracy at each end.

There are good & bad types of insulated pex - is it wrapped stuff? Or foamed? Not sure how wide-spread the good stuff would have been 5 years ago.
 
i think he's referring to Thermo-pex... http://www.thermopex.com/


I'v used that since '08. 50ft or so. The first 12ft are exposed in my garage(the unheated section) then is drops under ground for the rest of the journey to house. Solid one section, copper connects on each end in a heated space. I put my hand on the exposed stuff, in the dead of winter, and do not feel any heat coming off it. This section is just 7ft? from boiler. Water's flowing at 195f. So i think it holds heat well, rugged built for under ground too. A friggn bear to handle. BUT, I was told it was "1 1/4 inch pipe. It maybe on the outside, but not the inside. maybe an inch. Which was ok for me, as I'm only trying to move 100k into house. Been said here before, check I.D. of pex. Not all the same.

Now, if he has fittings to make turns, etc that are exposed to the ground or cold, obviously you'll loose a fair amount of heat.

Also, IMO not all gauges are going to be calibrated the same. 5f maybe in the gauges??
 
i have a essex 1000 and use 7 -9 cords in a 5000 sq. ft building.insulation pays off.i have baseboard hot water.
 
to the thread starter......insulation, the key to not burning 20 cords... lots of OWB here, and I know of no one burning thru that much! ..no sun with weather like 20 to 40 below 24/7 ... u sure your name ain't "big john" :)
 
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This is my last year of burning wood period.

I have burned wood for 32 years and It is no longer a
viable cost effective option and I am switching
to a coal stoker where I can obtain a much higher
efficiency and a seasoned thrown cord of mixed
hardwoods around here is $215-$230 dollars and
I can get a ton of anthracite rice coal for $175.00
per ton delivered when buying a triaxle load.

You have the same problems I have with a poorly
insulated home(s).

It will cost me less to install and own a cost more effective
hot water boiler that will keep my house warm and
use much less fuel. A good year for me was twelve cord of hardwood or 20 cord of soft wood slab wood(full cord) and 1,200 gallons of fuel oil for the September to May heating season.
/
You have to remember that every time you see smoke you are
losing potential heating energy.

You could install both a coal stoker furnace and a coal stoker boiler for
for half of what you spend on a forest eater(less than $12,000).
 
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This is my last year of burning wood period.

I have burned wood for 32 years and It is no longer a
viable cost effective option and I am switching
to a coal stoker where I can obtain a much higher
efficiency and a seasoned thrown cord of mixed
hardwoods around here is $215-$230 dollars and
I can get a ton of anthracite rice coal for $175.00
per ton delivered when buying a triaxle load.

You have the same problems I have with a poorly
insulated home(s).

It will cost me less to install and own a cost more effective
hot water boiler that will keep my house warm and
use much less fuel. A good year for me was twelve cord of hardwood or 20 cord of soft wood slab wood(full cord) and 1,200 gallons of fuel oil for the September to May heating season.
/
You have to remember that every time you see smoke you are
losing potential heating energy.

You could install both a coal stoker furnace and a coal stoker boiler for
for half of what you spend on a forest eater(less than $12,000).

I can't argue your facts above but based on your post history one might assume you work for the coal industry and/or that you are somehow being compensated on a "per post about anthracite coal benefits" basis. Using terms like "forest eater" does not necessarily lend itself to increasing credibility among the informed.

For what it's worth way back in 2003 our friends and Cornell University suggested that cordwood has a cost advantage when calculated on a cost per BTU basis when compared to coal. I don't know what, if anything, has changed since then.

http://www.cce.cornell.edu/Environment/Documents/PDFs/Heating with Wood and Coal.pdf

And last, coal is not renewable. Many hipster wood burners like to pat themselves on the back for being "green". There would be limited amounts of self aggrandizement available to the coal burner. This must also be included in the ROI calcs to paint a full picture.
 
I can't argue your facts above but based on your post history
one might assume you work for the coal industry and/or that
you are somehow being compensated on a "per post about
anthracite coal benefits" basis.

Using terms like "forest eater" does not necessarily lend itself to
increasing credibility among the informed.

For what it's worth way back in 2003 our friends and Cornell University
suggested that cordwood has a cost advantage when calculated on a
cost per BTU basis when compared to coal. I don't know what, if anything,
has changed since then.

http://www.cce.cornell.edu/Environment/Documents/PDFs/Heating with Wood and Coal.pdf

And last, coal is not renewable. Many hipster wood burners like to pat themselves on the back for being "green". There would be limited amounts of self aggrandizement available to the coal burner. This must also be included in the ROI calcs to paint a full picture.
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I never said coal was renewable.

any act of combustion creates exhaust flue gasses and the
average wood burner could not afford a catalytic converter
or water scrubber to clean the flue gasses in a gasser or an non gasser
OWB nor do I see the builders of these things making an effort to incorporate
a second induced draft fan and water scrubber for the flue gasses.

Nor do I see the use of kiln dry firewood from cull logs increasing other than the
for the users of romance bundles or wood fired ovens.

Every time you see smoke from a chimney one see's energy lost from
the act of incomplete combustion.

Edit: Coal stokers use either an underfed with an auger fed retort/burnpot or
or hopper fed method employing a pusher plate pushing the coal over the firebed
combustion method where the rice or pea sized coals pushed over a perforated metal plate/grate that has combustion air pushed through the drilled holes in the plate used to make the coal grate under the coal bed fire allowing it to burn red hot to a fine ash.

there are three types of stokers:

1. underfed retort/pot stokers (Tyler/Combustion engineering)

Pocono type:
a. flat bed stokers (used for wood pellets and coal)
b. slanted bed coal stokers coal only

End of edit.

Anthracite coal can burn down to a fine white ash or a red ash which contains
some iron residue.

Current cordwood consumption of OWB units with thier
inherently inefficient fireboxes and lack of water storage permitting
one to accomplish smoke free burns to heat water and fill an
adequate amount of hot water storage.

It all depends on ones availabilty of cordwood seasoned or unseasoned
burning green wood, garbage and tires does not help matters with OWB industry in general.

Anthacite coal has more available BTU per pound or ton than seasoned cordwood.

The amount of Anthracite Coal left in the ground in PA.
Colarado and Alabama translates to several hundred years of coal left to mine

I have never worked for coal industry,
I worked as a hardrock miner in a Halite mine(rock salt).
I am retired. I have burned coal in addition to firewood every
year and I am switching to an anathracite coal stoker.

After finding out my wood supplier was selling his thrown cord
frewood with a seven hundred percent markup from his purchase price
of $33.00 PER ton one wonders who is robbing who.

There is huge difference in burning anthracite coal compared to
bituminous soft coal which requires huge amounts of combustion air and
does not burn cleanly without the flue gasses being scrubbed and the
large amount of soft coal fly ash being collected.
 
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I never said coal was renewable.

any act of combustion creates exhaust flue gasses and the
average wood burner could not afford a catalytic converter
or water scrubber to clean the flue gasses in a gasser or an non gasser
OWB nor do I see the builders of these things making an effort to incorporate
a second induced draft fan and water scrubber for the flue gasses.

Nor do I see the use of kiln dry firewood from cull logs increasing other than the
for the users of romance bundles or wood fired ovens.

Every time you see smoke from a chimney one see's energy lost from
the act of incomplete combustion.

Coal stokers use an underfed combustion method where the rice or pea sized coal
is pushed over a grate that has combustion air pushed through a perforated grate
under the coal fire allowing it to burn red hot to a fine ash.
Anthracite coal can burn down to a fine white ash or a red ash which contains
some iron residue.

Current cordwood consumption of OWB units with thier
inherently inefficient fireboxes and lack of water storage permitting
one to accomplish smoke free burns to heat water and fill an
adequate amount of hot water storage.

It all depends on ones availabilty of cordwood seasoned or unseasoned
burning green wood, garbage and tires does not help matters with OWB industry in general.

Anthacite coal has more available BTU per pound or ton than seasoned cordwood.

The amount of Anthracite Coal left in the ground in PA.
Colarado and Alabama translates to several hundred years of coal left to mine

I have never worked for coal industry,
I worked as a hardrock miner in a Halite mine(rock salt).
I am retired. I have burned coal in addition to firewood every
year and I am switching to an anathracite coal stoker.

After finding out my wood supplier was selling his thrown cord
frewood with a seven hundred percent markup from his purchase price
of $33.00 PER ton one wonders who is robbing who.

There is huge difference in burning anthracite coal compared to
bituminous soft coal which requires huge amounts of combustion air and
does not burn cleanly without the flue gasses being scrubbed and the
large amount of soft coal fly ash being collected.
 
Back in 2007 when i was looking as wood boilers, I spent quite a bit of time looking onto coal boilers. There are a couple of dealers for boilers and coal up here. But not many people were using them, or so i thought. The cost compared to processed firewood(at that time it was $175 a cord up here) was very comparable. Sometimes i think, shoulda woulda.

I have a friend that has an old memco wood boiler, once winter sets in he will put in a shovel full of pea coal at night and that works great. Keeps the boiler heated up good until the am.
 
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